Christmas in May

These are the cards we made in the Christmas Club earlier this week. They are so easy to do, look really elegant, and are mailable without worries that the Post Office will want extra postage for a bulky envelope!

The heat-embossed silver trees really stand out on our Brushed Silver cardstock. I've tried it with gold embossing powder on the Brushed Gold, too, and it looks equally fabulous (if I do say so myself)!

Really loving that new blue In Color called Midnight Muse. Well, ALL the new In Colors are gorgeous, but you know me....I'm a big fan of blue!

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Come to Bethlehem (greeting)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Midnight Muse (available June 1st), Brushed Silver
Ink: VersaMark, Midnight Muse (available June 1st)
Accessories: Big Shot, Petals-A-Plenty embossing folder, Embossing Buddy, Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder, Heat Tool, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Frost White Shimmer Paint, Sponge Daubers

I'm Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

First of all, I want to wish my baby boy a happy birthday! You can stop getting older now. Thirty-five is a good place to stop. No, really....I can't be the  mother of a middle-aged man! Love you, Sweetie!

In yesterday's post I mentioned seeing a lot of pink this Christmas. Pink seems to be the "in" color this year, as far as the holiday goes, so I wanted to make a card the really made me break out of my comfortable rut. I could have gone with blue....it would have been soooo easy to do something in blue! Liking the layers and textures from yesterday's card, I made another, and here is what resulted (and another entry for Our Creative Corner's Christmas tree challenge!):

It's got some hot-diggity bling-blingity! Seriously, I wish there was a way for the camera to show just how sparkly the Silver Glimmer Paper is in real life. I love it so much, I'm not even hoarding it! (I know, can you believe it?!) I'm also not throwing away even the teeniest scrap, because I know I'll use it someday.

Lest you think I wasted a whole bunch under the embossed Top Note, that is actually the leftovers from a Glimmer Top Note I had cut previously. I just inlaid the embossed white into the opening! See? Nothing will be wasted!

Stamps: Short & Sweet
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Pink Pirouette Textured, Silver Glimmer Paper
Ink: Rose Red Classic
Accessories: Big Shot, Top Note Die, Stocking Accents Die, (can you see where I'm going here?) Perfect Polka-Dots Embossing Folder, Petals-a-Plenty Embossing Folder, Pretty in Pink Scallop Dots Ribbon, Basic Jewels Rhinestones, Stampin' Sponge, Stampin' Dimensionals

SUO Challenge 33, Holiday Colors!

The challenge this time at SUO Challenges is to make a project using your favorite holiday colors. It can be anything from a traditional red and green Christmas, to blue, silver and white for Hanukkah, to non-traditional holiday colors, as well.  I'm seeing a lot of pink for Christmas this year.

However, being an old-timer a woman of a certain age, for me Christmas is all about red and green (though I do love the cool look of blue and white for winter colors, too)!

This card qualifies for Our Creative Corner's Christmas tree challenge this week, too!

Stamp: Bells & Boughs
Cardstock: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi, Silver Glimmer Paper
Ink: Cherry Cobbler Classic
Accessories: Big Shot, Perfect Pennants Die, Elegant Lines Embossing Folder, Petals-a-Plenty Embossing Folder, Snow Burst Embossing Folder, Perfect Polka-Dots Embossing Folder, Lots of Tags Die Set (have I mentioned how much I love my Big Shot lately?), Cherry Cobbler Scallop Dots Ribbon, Basic Jewels Pearls and Rhinestones, Stampin' Sponge

Christmas in January

As threatened promised yesterday, here is the Christmas card for the January challenge. Those of you who have followed me for a while know that I vowed a couple years ago to never again be late on my Christmas cards, and to fulfill that vow, I challenged myself to make four cards per month through November so I'd be ready to mail them in December. Well, that was two years ago, and since then I've added quite a few people to my Christmas card list! So now my minimum is six cards, but by December I'll probably need more. :-)

My inspiration for this card came from Gretchen Barron's card. I just love that frame!

Stamp: A Flower for all Seasons, Baby Blossoms
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Deck the Halls DSP
Ink: Basic Black Classic pad plus Regal Rose, Rose Red, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, and Poppy Parade Stampin' Write Markers
Accessories: Petals A Plenty embossing folder, Big Shot, Basic Pearls, Old Olive 1-1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Wide oval Punch

Thanks for stopping by today!

Stayed tuned tomorrow for a Spring RAK!!!

Swappin' Christmas in July

Free at last!!!  While I have barely tolerated greatly enjoyed my time working these past few months, all good things must come to an end, and today was my last day at work.  Here I am, doing the happy dance:

Now, mind you, I will miss the income, and I anticipate that in a couple of months, I'll be griping about the bills.  But for now, I feel free as a bird, and I plan to spend some seriously QUALITY time in my stamp cave for the foreseeable future!!!

This card was made for a demo swap over at Stampin' Addicts.  I hope the other swappers like it!  It was a difficult decision on whether to make it elaborate and WOW them, or keep it fairly simple, so they could show their customers a card they could do without too much stamping experience.  It does use a few basic techniques - heat embossing, dry embossing, and sponging.

By the way, here's a helpful hint: The Cherry Cobbler cardstock that was cut for the dry-embossed band was cut the exact length of the white.  After running it through the Big Shot in the embossing folder, it 'shrank' a little bit, due to the peaks and valleys of the embossing.  You might want to cut your CS a bit long to make up for the shrinkage.  *Snerk* I can hear Elaine saying, "It shrinks?!"  (George, "Like a frightened turtle.")  Elaine, "I don't know how you guys walk around with those things."

Stamp: Gifts of Christmas (115372)
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler (119685) and Crumb Cake (120953) (why am I hungry all of a sudden?), Whisper White (100730), White Vellum Cardstock (101856)
DSP: Presto Patterns Specialty Designer Series Paper (117175)
Ink: Cherry Cobbler Classic (119669) and Soft Suede Classic (115657), VersaMark (102283), Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Marker (119681)
Accessories: Big Shot Die-Cut Machine (113439), Petals-A-Plenty Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (116824), Gold Brads (104337), Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (109129), Heat Tool (100005), Mini Glue Dots (103683), Stampin' Dimensionals (104430)

What We REALLY Made

Here's the gate-fold card we ended up making at the workshop last night. I wanted to use the Big Shot, so I changed the other card around a bit to incorporate the textured background.  Naturally, since the background was embossed, I needed to keep the image kind of simple.  The Ornament Punch and Delightful Decorations stamp made it easy-peasy.  Image and sentiment, all rolled into one!


I think I may have a class on bow-tying sometime soon.  I was surprised that half the ladies couldn't tie a bow with the ¼" grosgrain!  I won't mention any names, lol.  :-)



Stamp: Delightful Decorations
Cardstock: Garden Green, Very Vanilla
DP: Merry Moments Designer Series Paper
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories/Tools: Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Ornament Punch, Big Shot, Petals-A-Plenty Textured Impressions Folder, Styled Vanilla Hodgepodge Brad, Real Red ¼" Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots

A Little Experiment

I was so thrilled that Stampin' Up! started making embossing folders, because the depth of the impression is so much better than the Texturz Plates. (Note: if you lightly mist your cardstock with rubbing alcohol before using the Texturz Plates, the impression will be deeper, and the paper won't curl as much as with water!)

However, I found that our wonderfully thick cardstock tended to crack a bit, so I wanted to see if there was a remedy for that little problem.

Using the Petals-A-Plenty embossing folder (in the Holiday Mini catalog), I first ran the cardstock through the Big Shot using Tab 1 of the Multi-purpose Platform, as per the instructions on the MPP.  As you can see in the photo above, it makes a nice, deep impression.  But if you look closely at the photo below, you can see there are little cracks in the petals of the flowers.  

It will still look gorgeous on a card, and most people won't even notice, because they'll be so totally blown away by the overall beauty of your creation.

I found you can still get a lovely deep impression, without the cracking, by eliminating the Tab 1 of the Multi-Purpose Platform!  Just use the platform itself, with Tab 1 and Tab 2 opened out of the way.

Interestingly, I also tried spritzing the cardstock with alcohol to see if softening the fibers would help, and in both cases (with and without Tab 1), the paper cracked.  Go figure.

Well, I'm off to make some cards, and a new project I think you will like!  Have a great Wednesday!!!