Day 12: Wonderful Wreath

When I saw the "Wondrous Wreath" stamp set in Stampin' Up's Holiday catalogue I knew it was one I was going to "have" to have!  When it arrived I realized it was even better than I imagined.  It's a "2-step" stamping set.  Usually that means I've got to pull out my stamp-a-ma-jig and try to line things up.  Generally getting frustrated in the process.  Because "Wondrous Wreath" is a photopolymer set it is TOTALLY clear AND it has nifty little tabs on it to aid in lining up the layered stamping!

I stamped 3 layers on this wreath....the Old Olive "base", Mossy Meadow darker leaves, and Cherry Cobbler holly berries.   All without my Stamp-a-ma-jig!  Yay!

To add a little more texture and "step-up" my card, I coloured some Pearl Basic Jewels with my Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities and then put them on some of the stamped holly berries.

Colour your Pearl Basic Jewels with Blendabilities to "step-up" your card

Click here to see Day 11 of the "Twelve Days of Christmas Cards".

Happy Stampin'

P.S. Place an order with me before November 30th and receive FREE shipping on your entire order :)

Day 11: Happy Winter (FMS 164)

It's hard to believe that December is only days away.  I'm left wondering where November went and realizing I'd better get going on getting the rest of my Christmas cards made and sent out.  Not to mention decorating the house, baking cookies, and all of the other fun things to do before Christmas actually arrives!

For today's "Twelve Days of Christmas Cards" card I used this week's sketch from the lovely designers over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I love the simplicity of the sketch and the endless possibilities it conjures up.

Here's what I did with it (this time):

I love this colour combination; Cool Cabana and Real Red.  Using the Cool Cabana Blendabilities markers allows you to explore the different "saturations" within that colour.

Consider "stepping up" this card by using the Filigree Frame TIEF or by adding some sparkle through Rhinestone Basic Jewels or Dazzling Details.

Click here to see Day 10 of my Twelve Days of Christmas Cards posts.

Happy Stampin'!

Day 10: That's shiny ;)

So, I got side-tracked off my Twelve Days of Christmas Cards postings.   I got distracted on Friday by taking one kid to the doctor because of an endless cough and a little bout of stomach flu.  No worries, I'd have the weekend to catch up, right?

I was SO excited to have a weekend with "nothing" going on.  No parties, no places to go, no big errands to run.  I had a breakfast date with my son and then my lovely father-in-law arrived.  He not only brought us winter tires and put them on the car (THANK YOU, THANK YOU!), he took the kids away for a few hours!

Yay!

That's shiny!

Okay, so put aside stamping for a bit...let's go Christmas shopping for the kids and out for lunch.  It was great, we went to our favourite Indian place, then across the street to our favourite toy store and topped it off with a yummy holiday drink before heading home.

I fully planned on capping off my wonderful day by spending the late afternoon and evening stamping and watching a movie with my husband.

Cue the stomach flu!

Yuck!

I'm beginning to feel myself again and got stamping again this evening.   I turned to CAS -- Colours and Sketches and The Paper Players for colour and sketch inspiration for today's Christmas card:

I LOVE this colour combination and the sketch is so versatile.

That's shiny!

 The Metallic Silver (Encore) ink adds a little bit of "shininess" to the tree in the forefront as well as the Letterpress Winter snowflakes in the background.  Here's a better look at it:

Use Encore Silver ink to add some texture to your Christmas trees

Happy Stampin'!

Click here to see Day Nine of the Twelve Days of Christmas Cards.

Day Ten: A Merry Little Wish

A number of weeks ago Stampin' Up! held an event for demonstrators in my city.  I always enjoy getting together with other stampers and crafting, especially when I don't have to do the prep :)   It's also fun because I always learn something new.

At this particular event, we used the Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities markers to colour Basic Pearls!  I wanted to use that technique again and found that using them to decorate a tree from the Festival of Trees stamp set was perfect.

Use Blendabilities markers to colour your pearls

Here's what the whole card looks like.

Here's another tip:  Did you know that you can curve the Photopolymer stamps?  That's what I did here to make them "hug" the circle.  They are "bendy" stamps and you just have to adhere them to your clear blocks with a little curve and you're all set to go.

Try stepping up this card by using the "On Point" TIEF to emboss the circle.

Click here to see yesterday's Twelve Days of Christmas Cards post.

Happy Stampin'!

Day Nine: Seasonally Scattered

Scattered.....that's a great word for today!

Wednesday is my busy day!  You know that day of the week when you feel like you have to do everything.

You know that one when you've got dishes EVERYWHERE and there are toys EVERYWHERE and you'll be lucky to have breakfast cleaned up before supper starts because you're just running from one thing to the next?   That's today!

Of course, it doesn't help that I don't organize myself ahead of time and I self-indulge by lying in my warm bed in the morning instead of getting up.

You'd think I'd learn right?

Nope!

I do it EVERY week!

What's the definition of insanity again?

....better not go there :)

So I needed to make a quick card for today's post because I didn't have one ready ahead of time (of course).   The Seasonally Scattered stamp set is PERFECT for a quick (and pretty) card!

Add a little "All is Calm" DSP and the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punched border and you've got a pretty little card.

I can't wait to play with this stamp set more.  There are so many possibilities!

Click here to see yesterday's Twelve Days of Christmas Cards post.

Happy Stampin'!

Day Eight: Work of Art Wreath

Today was a great day to hole up inside and do some stamping.  It was really blustery here and very cold!  I'm not sure how I feel about -21C with windchill but I am loving the snow.  

For today's card I turned to an "everyday" stamp set, "Work of Art".  By alternating the small "smudge" using Mossy Meadow and Old Olive you can create a really pretty wreath.  

Add some holly berries by using Candy dots (I used the Cherry Cobbler from the Regals set).

Again, a super-easy card that doesn't use any punches or the Big Shot.

Click here to check out yesterday's Twelve Days of Christmas Cards post.

Happy Stampin'!

Day Seven: Variations on a Theme

Happy Monday!  It's another snowy morning here in my corner of the world and the kids are loving it!  There's not quite enough here to build a snow fort yet but I think some snowmen will be built after school : )  Isn't it pretty?!

The view from my window this morning

As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I get to decide my work hours and schedule.  Sweet!  I really enjoy running what I call "Make and Takes" for my friends and customers.  A group of ladies come by house to make cards and take them home.    It's very fun!

Sometimes people have to cancel last minute and I'm left with a whole bunch of pre-cut card templates to use up.  I was cleaning some of these up a few weeks ago and created two different Christmas cards to use up the supplies I cut in the spring.

Card 1:

I used Festival of Trees and some Frosted Sequins for this card.   

Card 2:

Use different colours on the Wondrous Wreath stamps to create pretty wreaths.

Personally I like Card 1 better.  I used a lot more textures on it using my TIEFs and the Frosted Sequins.   But I do like the colours (Lost Lagoon and Mossy Meadow) for card 2.  

Tip:  Sponge a little colour onto Tea Lace Doilies to help them stand out again Whisper White card stock.

Click here to see yesterday's Twelve Days of Christmas Cards post.

Happy Stampin'!

Day Six: Wintery Wishes

The snow has started falling here...yay!!!  I admit that I LOVE the snow and I'm excited it's here early this year!  Bring on the wintery fun....snow forts, snowball fights, skating, and most importantly, an excuse to have hot chocolate!  Yay!

Today's card reminds me of the dusting of snow we've got right now.  I was inspired by a beautiful card I saw on Pinterest that used the same colour scheme and stamps.

I love the look that the Tea Lace doily brings to the whole card and the subtleness of the stamping.

To create the look, use White Craft ink to stamp onto the Crumb Cake paper and also to sponge some on to create the "frosted" look.  Bling the whole thing up with some Basic Rhinestone jewels.

Click here to see yesterday's Twelve Days of Christmas Cards post.

Happy Stampin'!

Day Five: Endless (wishes) Possibilities

I'm a musician by training.  More specifically, a music teacher.  Last weekend I was able to attend the Ontario Music Educator's Association conference for the first time in many years (I've been on parental leave).  It is a FABULOUS conference with HUNDREDS (close to 1000) music educators converging on a city for 2 days of learning, reconnecting and having fun!  It was so exciting to be back and reaffirmed in me my love of teaching and desire to return to the schools.

One thing (of many) that I took away from last weekend's conference that my job as a music educator is to unlock the "Master Builder" in all my students so they can see the millions of possibilities when creating and performing music.  

Awesome!

Daunting!!!!!

That concept, of course, is easily transferable across all art forms, including paper crafting and stamping!  

So exciting!

And SO daunting!

I cannot count the number of times I've sat down at my desk and been so overwhelmed by all the possibilities I am paralyzed....

....so for these cards I chose one colour scheme (Lost Lagoon, Blackberry Bliss and Sahara Sand) and one stamp set (Endless Wishes).

The second is variation on the theme:

Again, they are simple cards that can be used as a template to create a bunch to send out to your friends and family.

Click here to see yesterday's Twelve Days of Christmas Cards post.

Happy Stampin'!

Day Four: Ornamental Pine

It's hard to remember a time before I had a Big Shot or very many punches.  But it did exist, and yes, I did manage to make some pretty decent looking cards!

Keeping in mind that many of my friends don't own Big Shots I designed a card for my Christmas Cards Make and Take that deliberately didn't use one!

No Big Shot.  No punches.

 Not bad, eh?  By using a variety of textures (card stock vs. linen ribbon vs. Dazzling details) and depths (Thank You Stampin' Dimensionals!) you can create an interesting card very quickly!   No punching! No embossing!  Just stamps, ink and scissors!

Use different textures to create interest.

Attention dear reader:

You CAN create a beautiful card WITHOUT a Big Shot!

but it's REALLY, REALLY fun to have one too :)

Click here to see Day Three of the Twelve Days of Christmas Cards!

Happy Stampin'!

Day Three: Celebrate the Season

This is a card that we did last week at my Christmas Cards Make and Take.  Remember the theme?

Simple yet pretty!

For Christmas cards you want to be able to get out as many as possible is as little time as possible because, really?  Who has time?!

Use Washi Tape in different combinations to create different looks

Washi Tape and Gorgeous Grunge are a perfect combination for any card!  Add a little Christmas tree and some Frosted Sequins and you're all set!

The great thing about the All is Calm Washi Tape is that there are 5 (yes FIVE!) rolls to choose from!  The possibilities are endless.  So for all you who like to have a little variety in your cards, you can have the same template and supplies yet they can all be slightly different!

Yay!

Click here to see Day Two of Twelve Days of Christmas Cards.

Happy Stampin'!

Day Two: Joy Sparkles

For Day Two of the "Twelve Days of Christmas Cards" I'm posting one of my favourites!

If you haven't already noticed, I'm a big fan of simple cards!  Especially Christmas Cards.  When you've got a ton to produce it's just SO much easier when there a just a few elements that can be done quickly.   It's even easier when there's no stamping involved!

Simple, yet elegant Christmas Card

For this card I started with an idea that I saw on Pinterest of a card my friend, Leena had created.  I really liked how she used the Mosaic punch with the Glimmer Paper.  Somehow that morphed into me using the same idea but with Coastal Cabana and Real Red as my feature colours.   I punched one "Mosaic" out of  Real Red Glimmer Paper and then two from the Silver Glimmer Paper.  By sponging Bermuda Bay ink onto one of those I was able to create a third colour of glimmer paper.

Sponge ink onto Silver Glimmer paper to create a new colour

I wanted something to go over the Mosaic punched peaces but not to cover them so I used the "Joy" die out of my Wonderful Wreath Framelits dies.  To anchor the whole thing I used the Real Red 3/8" Satin Ribbon (Holiday catalogue) and the Silver 1/8" taffeta ribbon.


Just a note to the wise, be careful how you orient your Whisper White card stock in the Mosiac TIEF or you'll end up with your shapes running the wrong way : )

Click here to see Day One of the Twelve Days of Christmas Cards : )

Happy Stamping!

Day One: Easy Christmas card

I am continually moved by our Remembrance Day ceremonies here in Canada particularly as our WWII veterans age and pass on.  They were the ones that liberated my grandparents in the Netherlands and, for that, I will always be grateful.  They sacrificed their youth so that other youth could be free and that has had an enormous "trickle down" effect.  So, I'll send a huge "THANK YOU" out into cyberspace to those who have served and continue to serve our great country.

Now that Remembrance Day has past here in Canada, I feel more at liberty to post Christmas cards.  I've been working on Christmas cards for a number of weeks now but it always feels a little "wrong" to post them before we've taken the time to remember the huge sacrifices made for the freedom we now enjoy. 

Freedom to celebrate Christmas, for one! 

Freedom to have and spend money on the "extras".....

...like supplies for this card:

Super simple Christmas card

This is the Christmas card my parents will send out this year.  They are SO simple to make!  I've spent about 15 minutes each day for the past two days cutting and stamping for 25 cards and I'm almost ready to assemble....that's 30 minutes for 25 cards!!!  I'll probably only need another 20 and I'll be done! 

Awesome!

Simple is key!

Use Fast Fuse or Sticky Strip adhesive to adhere the Cherry Cobbler 1" Sheer Linen Ribbon

This is the first in a "Twelve Days of Christmas Cards" thread.  Tune in tomorrow for the next installment!

Happy Stampin'!