Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope you all are enjoying your families and the holiday spirit. This is a card that shows the reason we are all able to celebrate this marvelous holiday! I fell in love with this stamp set when I first got my holiday mini way back when. I think I own almost every nativity set that Stampin' Up! has created and they seem to have a new one every year! I love each one and Stampin' Up! has made some great ones! This is this years nativity set.

Stamps: Rejoicing in Christmas

Ink: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso

Card Stock: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Scallop edge punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, aqua painter, Early Espresso taffeta ribbon, Shimmer

paint, finger dauber, Square Lattice embossing folder, sponge

Remember with all the family and gifts that the real reason for the seaon is the birth of a little bitty baby!Rejoice in the birth of our Savior! Merry Christmas!

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

One Sketch, Three Cards

Well I had some time earlier this month to play with a sketch challenge at Stampin' Addicts! Paula is very creative with the challenges and I love to play along! Here is her design:

This sketch came from our FABULOUS Idea Book and Catalog, page 69 to be exact! I loved this sketch from the moment that I saw it! I had several ideas come rushing to my brain and I just had to stamp them out. I will admit that I did rotate the sketch but other than that, I stayed pretty much with what we were given!

Here's my first card!

 Stamps: Big on Christmas

Card stock: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Very Vanilla

Ink: Early Espresso

Accessories: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso and So Saffron markers, Top Note die, 2-way glue,

 Dazzling Diamonds, Very Vanilla satin ribbon, Jolly  Holiday DSP, dimensionals

I did stamp the tree on Old Olive cardstock and cut it out. I'm not sure if you can see but there is Dazzling Diamonds on the star on the top of the tree. Isn't it pretty?

Well, here's another card! The top note is a little bigger and the sketch is rotated but still the same sketch! On this one, I stamped the ornament on Very Vanilla card stock and colored with markers and Platinum shimmer paint.

Stamps: Big on Christmas

Card Stock: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Very Vanilla

Ink: Early Espresso

Accessories: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, and Early Espresso markers, Jolly Holiday DSP, Platinum shimmer paint, aquapainter, Top Note die, Very Vanilla satin ribbon, dimensionals

Now for my favorite card! When I first saw the sketch, this is what I had come to mind right away. I have to admit that my hubby wasn't too happy with me because supper was a little late that day! Oh well, I got my card made and everyone ate! All works for me!

Stamps: Come to Bethlehem
Ink: Old Olive

Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler

Accessories: Jolly Holiday DSP, Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder,

Champange shimmer mist, finger dauber, Top Note die

Now you need to check out some challenges and create your own fun cards! I pray that you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

November Club projects

I have a hostess group that meets every month. We make several projects every time we meet. These are the projects that we made in November. This card is very simple but I was pretty excited with the way it turned out! I did change it a little from what my ladies all stamped but you get the idea! The snowflakes have Platinum shimmer paint on them. I also stamped the ornament and the sentiment with shimmer paint on them. What I did to do this is ink up the stamp in the color that I wanted and then using a finger dauber, I sponged on the shimmer paint and then stamped.

Stamps: Tags til Christmas, Short & Sweet

Cardstock: Whisper White, Marina Mist

Ink: Marina Mist

Accessories: Platinum shimmer paint, finger dauber, Marina Mist ribbon, Northern Flurries embossing folder, Ticket corner punch, ornament punch, dimensional

These hand sanitizers have been all over the place. They are super fun to make! I followed directions from somewhere but not sure where. I made several extra and then sold them at a vendor fair that I was part of (hence the sign in the background!).

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Dot, Dot, Dot

Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Poppy Parade, Whisper White, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Basic Black

Ink: Poppy Parade, Soft Suede

Accessories: Wide oval, scallop circle, 1/2" circle, snowflake punches, crop-a-dile, 2-way glue, dazzling diamonds, dimensionals

Here's the inside. I didn't do anything to it. Ran out of time!

The last project we made required each member of the club to bring along a mini muffin tin. We punches scallops from Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler (don't you just LOVE this new, rich red? I do!) and circles from Holly Jolly designer series papers. I printed the numbers from my computer and we punched them with the 1/2" circle punch. Add some magnets and you have a great Advent calendar! We were trying to figure out what you could put behind the scallops as little gifts other than candy. Quarters are my favorite!

Edited to add: In searching for something else this evening, I found a picture of this advent calendar exactly like mine! The other one was posted this summer. I must have seen it and forgot! Mine has therefore been CASEd!

Stamps: none

Cardstock: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White

Ink: none

Accessories: 2 3/8" scallop circle, 1/2" circle and 1 3/4" circle punches, Old Olive striped ribbon, magnets

Now, don't you want to be making cool projects like this every month? Call or email me and we'll get you into a group and make some more fabulous creations!

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

New technique!

I found this technique on someone's blog. I'm sorry I don't remember who's. I'm not very good at that! Anyway, to do this you take a piece of wax paper and run it through your Big Shot in an embossing folder. Take 2 pieces of glossy cardstock and make a sandwich with the embossed wax paper and the glossy sides of the paper in the middle. Take a piece of copy paper and lay it over the top of your sandwich. Using an iron, iron over the the sandwich. Take out the glossy papers and brayer over them with whatever color you want. I chose Real Red for these cards. When you are done, your glossy cardstock has a little different pattern on them. These cards are CASEd with a little of me added to them!

Here's the other piece of glossy all put together!

Stamps: Season of Joy

Cardstock: Glossy, Whisper White, Real Red, Basic Black

Ink: Basic Black, Real Red

Accessories: Wax paper, Plenty of Petals embossing folder, Basic Black grosgrain ribbon, brayer, dimensional

Can you see the differences in the flower layer of these cards? Try out this fun and easy technique but remember to NOT use the iron that you use to iron clothes! Sometimes the wax paper can get onto the iron and then all over you clothes, ask me how I know! (My hubby wasn't too happy with me either!)

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

Christ is Born!

I made this card just for the fun of stamping! I don't get a lot of time just to stamp. This one just came to me! The only problem is that I didn't have any Cherry Cobbler ribbon so I had to die my own. I used the whiet organza and Cherry Cobbler reinker with a little water and got the ribbon the color that I needed it. The "Christ is Born" is embossed on vellum.

Stamps: Christ is Born

Cardstock: Natural White, Vellum

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, VersaMark

Accessories: Organza ribbon, gold embossing powder, Always Artichoke

 marker, Cherry Cobbler reinker, Crop-a-dile

Sometimes, when I think something it doesn't always work out on paper. I'm thrilled with this one! It turned out exactly the way I had it pictured in my head! Love that!

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

Simply Just Believe!

We were blessed this year and able to take 2 vacations! The other vacation was to the Upper Penisula of Michigan with my hubby's family. That's the 6 of us, his sister and her family (4), his other sister and her family (anothter 6) and his parents. We rented a house for a week and stayed together! No your math isn't rusty, that's 18 under one roof for a whole week! Needless to say, there were some tense times but mostly enjoyable! I was able to steal away from all the commotion and stamp. I had just received this beautiful stamp set and I had to use it! My oldest daughter, Abi, picked out these colors. She seems to have a great eye for colors! I like the the focal point on this card. Although I did struggle with cutting around it free hand to get the layer!

Stamps: Just Believe, Woodgrain

Cardstock: Concord Crush, So Saffron, Whisper White

Ink: Concord Crush, Whisper White

Accessories: Organza ribbon

These cards are pretty simple but that's OK! Simple is good too. Simple can keep you focused and ready for the more complicated. It's also really hard to do too much with that many people wanting to know what you are doing and you have limited supplies!  I LOVE these colors together!

Stamps: Just Believe

Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Concord Crush, Whisper White

Ink: Daffodil Delight, Concord Crush

Accessories: Daffodil Delight grosgrain ribbon

This card is my favorite of the three. The scallop embellishment I had seen somewhere else but I thought it was cool so I added it to my card! Love that the circle in this set fits in one of our punches!

Stamps: Just Believe

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla

Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon, 1 1/4", 1 3/8" and scallop circle punches

Well, I hope you take a few supplies with you the next time you are on vacation! You might be surprised what you can get done! This helped me realize that I don't need all those fancy tools! Oh, who am I kidding, we all need ALL the tools! :)

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

One layer cards

This past summer we went on a GREAT vacation to South Dakota. We rented a cabin for the 6 of us (my hubby and our 4 daughters and me) out in the middle of no where. There wasn't any cell reception or internet acess. We didn't have a stove, only a gas grill. No tv or radio! It was one of the best vacations that we have ever taken! We did hiking in the hills, bike riding, game playing and of course some stamping! My youngest daughter, Belle just LOVES the stamp set Make a Monster. I purchased this in the clear mount and she can get the eyes right where they are suppose to be. She helped me pick these colors (not that we had much choice as I only brought a few colors with us.) and which monsters to stamp. Then we stacked them!

Here's one set.

Stamps: Make a Monster, Silhouette Sentiments

Cardstock: Whisper White

Ink: Basic Black, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Melon Mambo

Accessories: Pear Pizzazz ribbon, aquapainter

These were stamped in black and it seemed too bold so we tried again. She picked different monsters then too! I used the tuft of hair for grass! Thought this was a cool idea but I'm sure I saw it somewhere. I don't usually come up with things like that on my own!

Stamps: Make a Monster, Silhouette Sentiments

Cardstock: Whisper White

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Melon Mambo

Accessories: Pear Pizzazz ribbon, aquapainter

I have really been enjoying making one layer cards. They aren't as easy as you would think they would be! I think this style is one of my favorites to create. I've made this in the past with snowflakes and a Christmas greeting. This card was a make n take at my workshops in August. I was trying to showcase the new In Colors. Although, I did forget to stamp Blushing Bride on this one! Oh well, you get the idea!

Stamps: Circle Circus, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Cardstock: Whisper White

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Crushed Concord

Accessories: Pear Pizzazz ribbon

Go try your hand at some one layer cards! Have fun too!

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

Wisemen from afar!

In October, Stampin' Up! challenged their demonstrators to make phone calls and book 5000 workshops in one day! I was able to book 7 workshops on that day! Several of them were booked for November. So I created this card to do as our make and take. Actually, I think I saw this on another website and I CASEd it! I did change it up to make it mine but the original idea isn't mine! I love the torn edges of the layers. The best way to get the edges to look the same is to stack them on top of each other and then tear. Such a simple trick to keep the edges looking a like! The star has dazzling diamonds on it.

After my workshops were over, I had paper cut up for more projects and no more workshops! So I like to put them together so that I have cards on hand. I also use these cards as gifts, sell them at my church to raise money for a project at church or I send them to the troops to mail back to the states and their families. Anyway, I decided to play a little bit and I added embossing and silver shimmer paint. I'm not sure that I love this card. It seems too busy to me but I've created worse!

This is another version of the card. This one has lots of sponging on it. It's hard to see all that sponging but it does look pretty good in real life.

Stamps: Come to Bethlehem

Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Basic Gray, Whisper White

Ink: Rich Razzleberry

Accessories: Rich Razzleberry ribbon, 2-way glue, Dazzling Diamonds, Modern Label punch, sponge, dimensionals, petals-a-plenty embossing folder, silver shimmer paint, finger dauber

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley