2018 Christmas Cards

Whew! November and December were busy months. I hardly had a chance to sit down and do the banking.

I sat down and made a few Christmas cards and now that they have been sent off, I can share them. Click for larger. Here is this year's Christmas card:

Christmas Wishes

Here's another card I made, but I didn't get around to sending any of them off. Oh dear! Late for this year, early for next, I always say. I like the tone on tone look and the shimmer paper really looked great when embossed with the Blizzard background thinlits die.

Have a safe and warm holiday season! Stay tuned for new exciting products in 2019...the Sale-A-Bration catalogue drops January 3rd :-)

October Stamping Project - Take Your Pick Tool Sipcase

October's project is a little different! It's easy to forget that papercraft is more than just cards :)

I learned from one of my team mates that it is totally a thing to make a box for your Take Your Pick Tool as the original box is quite flimsy. You can find the instructions on Old Stables Crafts. I took a different approach and made a slipcase for the box.

This is where the minute measurements of the Simply Scored board really shined.

I measured a sheet of Berry Burst cardstock against the box and carefully scored everywhere I wanted a fold. I wasn't sure how much paper I would need, so I trimmed the excess off.

Then, for the top, I personalized it with a scrap piece of Whisper White cardstock using the Petal Palette stamp set and 2017-2019 In-Color inks. Admittedly I printed out my name because it was too intimidating to stamp it out!

As for the Take Your Pick Tool itself, I love it. I love that the spatula can help you pop up any whoopsies that have been stuck down. The putty tips take the frustration out of affixing small details and it's easier to hold the bigger stylus than the one that comes with the Simply Scored board.

September Stamping Project - Grateful Heart Autumn Greeting Card

As a fall baby, I eagerly collect anything fall. It’s easy to have fall overlooked with Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas. It doesn’t help that fall is so short where I live - all it takes is a week of strong winds and all those lovely coloured leaves are gone. This year, September has been particularly rainy, so I enjoyed working with these colours - ones that I don’t typically use.

Thinking of You with a Grateful Heart

Supply list

• Very Vanilla 8.5x11" cardstock
• Whisper White 8.5x11" cardstock or large scraps
• Crushed Curry 8.5x11" cardstock or large scraps
• Blackberry Bliss 8.5x11" cardstock
• Cajun Craze 8.5x11" cardstock or large scraps
• Mint Macaron 8.5x11" cardstock or small scraps
• Falling for Leaves stamp and die bundle
• Layering Squares Framelits
• Crushed Curry ink
• Blackberry Bliss ink
• Cajun Craze ink
• Mint Macaron ink
• Big Shot, adhesive and Stampin' Sponges

1. Score a sheet of Very Vanilla cardstock, but don’t cut in half.
2. Stamp all over the right side of the sheet of Very Vanilla cardstock with stamps from blah blah. Try stamping in Mint Macaron and Crushed Curry first, then stamp again in Blackberry Bliss but offset.
3. When you are satisfied with your stamping, sponge around the edges with a little Cajun Craze. Cut the sheet in half and continue sponging.
4. Cut a 2” strip from a sheet of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. Cut in half so that you have 2 2x5.5” panels.
5. Die cut small leaf and flower shapes from Mint Macaron cardstock.
6. Die cut a square from Whisper White using the ~2.5" (inside) square framelit. Stamp sentiment in Blackberry Bliss ink.
7. Die cut a scalloped square from Crushed Curry cardstock using the ~3.5" (inside) scalloped framelit.
8. Die cut maple leaves from Cajun Craze cardstock. You can also just stamp the interior shape instead of die cutting it. Try mixing and matching colours too.
9. Time to assemble!

Now, if you are a keen SU fan, you might go, “Whoa? Mint Macaron? Blackberry Bliss? Are those current colours?” Yes, yes they are! I am especially thrilled that Mint Macaron returned along with a few other colours in the 2018 colour refresh. You can buy a sampler pack of paper, all the new inks or markers and try them out for yourself.

Sunday Sketch - September Stamping Project

Since I always post my projects at the end of the month, I decided to share the sketch for them at the beginning of the month. Check back in a couple of weeks to see how the sketch becomes reality. I already gave a hint about the colours :-) A sketch doesn't have to be very detailed - just enough to capture all the information necessary.

Stampin' Up! 2018 Holiday Catalogue Favourites

If it's one thing that you can count on, it's Stampin' Up! to release three catalogues a year - holiday, occasions and the annual catalogue. As a demo, I get sneak peeks of all of them and sometimes it's so hard to wait to show off the new products.

I think this year's holiday catalogue is stellar and better than last year's. There's a huge variety of stamps and greetings and paper, oh my! I'm not a Halloween person, so I steer right to the Christmas stuff. It may be too early to think about Christmas, but when you're a crafter, it's never too early! Sometimes I start my Christmas cards in August :)

Anyway, here are three of my favourite items so far - stay tuned for more! All are photographed on Joyous Noel Special DSP.

Merry Christmas to All

I bought just the stamps and not the bundled dies - I thought the stamps were more worth it. Sometimes you just want a single word to build your greeting or fit your space, so I felt this was a must have.

Feathers & Frost

Hehe, of course I had to get this cute little set because of the birds! The swashy leaves and berries was also inspiring along with the sentiments. I really liked the "hand stamped by" set - I can see using it a lot!

Buffalo Check

This hefty background stamp reminds me of some DSP from last year or maybe it was the year before - but it came in green. Now you can have the same pattern in any colour. So looking forward to using this. I think it will go well with the Hardwood background stamp or embossing folder.

Well, there you have it! Stay tuned for more favourites and my monthly stamping project.

August Stamping Project - You Fill Me With Happiness Teatime Card

I have to backdate this entry because it was a little late. As I mentioned a couple of months ago, we had an unplanned repair and it really upended things. I had to pack away a lot of craft supplies and we were packing and unpacking - who knew such a little thing could cause a big disruption? When my desk was set up again, I was so eager to play with all my new paper that I decided to make a variety of rectangular and square cards.

Supply list

• Very Vanilla 8.5x11" cardstock
• Whisper White 8.5x11" cardstock
• Vellum 8.5x11" cardstock
• Tea Room Specialty DSP
• Spot of Tea Framelits Dies
• Time for Tea Stamps
• Fresh Fig ink
• Big Shot, Stampin' Blends markers, adhesive, Stampin' Sponges and Stampin' Dimensionals plus scissor snips

1. I made rectangular and square cards. For the rectangular bases, I scored a sheet of Very Vanilla cardstock at the 4.25” mark and cut each sheet in half. I did the same for the square cards, but trimmed them to 4.25x4.25”.
2. Cut the fronts from Tea Time DSP. The fronts of the rectangular cards will be 3.75x5”. The fronts for the square cards will be 3.75x3.75”. An easy way to make a variety of card fronts is to cut 3.75” strips from the 12x12” DSP sheets, then trim into 5” rectangles or 3.75” squares.
3. Stamp the tea cup on Whisper White cardstock in Fresh Fig ink. Rich Razzleberry would also look great! Die cut each one.
4. Die cut a matching amount of the largest doily shape and set aside. Die cut some from vellum paper too if you wish.

From here on, the rest is up to you! I used up some scrap paper, used the leftover pieces of the DSP and just tried different arrangements to make some quick simple cards and more layered ones. As you can see from the samples, I made a couple of whoopsies. I didn’t realize that I scored some of the cardstock at the wrong point. A simple solution was to move the DSP front to the fold edge. Remember, arts and crafts is all about problem solving sometimes!

I added some small touches with Stampin' Blends markers and I could have used some ribbon here or there - but it was just so good to finally CRAFT, that I didn't want to get too crazy! Click on each picture for a larger view.

Sunday Sketch - August Stamping Project

So, I came up with a new idea! Since I always post my projects at the end of the month, I decided to share the sketch for them at the beginning of the month. Quite genius, if I do say so myself! Check back in a couple of weeks to see how the sketch becomes reality.