Mark's 50th birthdayI

I haven't posted in a really really long time! I went to Minnesota in September of 2016 and when I got back it was one thing after the other! First Halloween, then Thanksgiving and then, of course, Christmas! And, like every other year, I got sick! It seems that every year, around the holidays, I come down with something! This year wasn't any different! I ended up in hospital the week of Valentines! Still not sure what's going on with that, so I won't bore you with the details! Onto something pleasant, my eldest son will be turning 50 on March 6th! I keep telling him he's catching up with me! I made this card from black and gold paper (gold shimmer) and used the Number of Years bundle, this includes the stamps and the dies! I love this set and have used it a number (no pun intended!) of times for birthdays and anniversaries. It was quite simple to make, I die cut the 50 from the center of the black mat which was then laid on top of the gold mat. I stamped and die cut the banners for the 'birthday' and 'TH' sentiments and then glued the two mats to the black card base. I then 'dressed' it up a little bit with the gold accents. Didn't want to do too much as it is, after all, a masculine card! I hope you like it, it's simple but very nice I think! If you would like to purchase any of the products I have used please visit my online site, there is a link to it at the top right of this post!

Reason for the Season triple stamping

A while back I saw a demonstration on triple stamping so I thought I'd give it a go! Of course, I had a Christmas card in mind and I wanted to use the Reason for the Season stamp set that I got towards the end of 2015. It also comes with a Festive Flower Builder punch that you can use to punch out the poinsettia in any color you like. I was concentrating more on that, I made a wreath which I will post a little later, but I must say the punch makes the most beautiful flowers! But today, I finally got the stamp set out, and here is my card

On the smallest (the top) whisper white layer, after creating a mask for the sentiment, I embossed it in Gold. After layering the three white mats (using a little bit of snail on the back of each of the top two pieces to hold them together), I covered the sentiment with the mask and embossed the poinsettias using gold embossing powder. The stamp set is a triple stamp, so I stamped the second part of the flower (the petals) in Cherry Cobbler and the leaves in Garden Green. Now, when you've finished stamping, there are white spaces left within the flower and petals themselves and I didn't particularly like the look. I wanted the flower to be totally 'red'. So I took my Real Red Stampin' Write marker and filled in those white spaces and similarly using my Garden Green marker to fill in the leaves. I also used Crushed Curry to paint the middle of each flower. I was happy with the result, so now it was time to actually 'layer' the layers so to speak! The card base is Real Red and the Whisper White layers are matted with Gold foil. And for the final touch, I used my Wink of Stella pen to brush the flowers and petals! The picture doesn't do it justice, but then pictures rarely do! In person, I think it is a beautiful card! It does take a little while to make, but I think the end result was worth it, plus I really enjoyed 'painting' the flowers!

As always, if you would like to purchase any of the products that I have used here, there is a link to my Stampin' Up online store at the top right of this post. Or, if you would prefer, you can always send me an email, link also at the top right of this post. Thank you for visiting my blog today! 

Snow Place like the woods!

Well, I can't seem to stop making Christmas cards! It's such a beautiful season of the year, it makes my heart smile! The inspiration for this card came from a card that Tina Zinck created with the Merry Mice stamp set (one which hasn't reached my mailbox just yet!), it is so cute, take a hop over to her blog The Serene Stamper and take a peek! So anyway, I thought I'd put a snowman in the woods instead! Here's my card

The base of my card is Whisper White with a Pool Party Mat. The top layer began with Whisper White, I took the Woodland embossing folder and sponged Pool Party, Island Indigo and Marina Mist onto it and then stamped the Christmas tree from Lovely as a Tree onto the embossing folder over the blue inks. Once this was done I ran it through the Big Shot. I took a little Crumb Cake ink on a sponge and lightly brushed it over the birch trees to add a small amount of color to them. I then sponged the entire mat with Versamark and sprinkled Iridescent Ice embossing powder (retired from Stampin' Up) on top and heat set it, not sure if the picture is picking that up too well but it's a beautiful sparkly winter effect. I stamped the snowman from the Snow Place set, colored him with stamp 'n write markers and then fussy cut him. I used some burlap ribbon, frayed the edges and placed it along the bottom of the mat with a little vintage wooden snowflake and a snowflake sequin on top. The sentiment is a non-stampin' up image, but it was the one that I thought went best with this card. I really enjoyed making it and loved the way the Christmas trees appear to be behind the birch trees, so many things can be achieved using this embossing folder, images and ink! I hope you like my card, should you need any of the items I have listed, you can order them from my site which is listed at the top right of this post. I would really appreciate your business. Also, if you need a holiday or annual catalog, just drop me an email and I would be glad to send them to you.

Christmas Pines 'Tis the Season

Oh Boy, do I really really love this set - Christmas Pines! I made another card today using this stamp set and the framelits. For the first time I'm going to enter into a sketch contest! Each week Freshly Made Sketches has a new sketch (this week it's number 254) for you to enter if you choose, so I figured, why not, let's give it a go! This is the sketch

and this is my card

The card base is Cherry Cobbler with a Whisper White mat that has been embossed with the Softly Falling embossing folder. I stamped the pine leaves first in Garden Green and Old Olive and then cut some out using the framelits and attached them around the stamped images. I used the framelits again to cut out the three pine cones using the copper foil and Chocolate Chip paper. Under the pine cones I wrapped some copper metallic thread around the pine leaves to give it some added interest and then finished it off with a triple bow of linen thread. The sentiment is also from the same stamp set, Christmas Pines. I had fun making this card, I hope you like it! 

All of the items I used are from Stampin' Up, so if there are any items you would like to purchase, a link to my online store is at the top right of this post. I would truly appreciate your business!

Christmas again!

Well, I think I must be on a roll cause here I go again, this time with two Christmas cards! The first one is using the Christmas Pines set again and I was inspired by a card made by Shelly Godby, I followed her design but used copper paper to mold one of my pine cones. The card base is Garden Green, I coupled that with Mint Macaroon (the ferns, the DSP and the ribbon, which, by the way, is soft linen, so manageable and easy to make a bow). I first stamped the ferns on the card base and then kind of followed them on by two-tone stamping them on to the mat of Whisper White. I then die cut some more ferns and put them on top of the stamped images to give it more depth and dimension. The cones are both stamped, but the top piece of the larger one to the left is die cut with copper. As I have said before, Christmas Pines is a beautiful set and the possibilities for use are endless!

Now, on to my second card! This is using a new stamp set, Jar of Cheer, once again a beautiful Christmas set that you can find on page 25 of the new Holiday catalog! It coordinates with the Everyday Jar Framelits from the main catalog on page 192. It's a sliding pop-up card, when it's open it stands on it's own! For paper, I used Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla and DSP from the 'This Christmas' stack. I made a shaker with the jar, cutting all the pieces using the framelits, stamping the candle, coloring the image with my markers (So Saffron, Garden Green with a little Pumpkin Pie in the flame) and filling it with snowflakes. These snowflakes I have had for some time, I got them in a kit from Gina K. Designs last year I think. Making a shaker is now so easy as Stampin Up has come out with foam adhesive strips (page 182 of the main catalog) that you can actually stretch around your image, whatever shape it is! Awesome! Behind the jar is a tree from the stamp set Lovely as a Tree, one of the oldest stamp sets Stampin Up has, thank goodness, it's my favorite - LOL! I used the 'thumping' method to color the tree (thumping is using markers, minimum of 2, to color the tree then 'huff' and stamp). Behind the tree, so to speak, I stamped snowflakes, using Soft Sky, stamping off first, just to give a little added interest. I added Dazzling Diamonds to the tree (unfortunately retired from Stampin Up, but you could use Wink of Stella) to make a beautiful sparkle in the background. When it's 'popped-up' the sentiment shows at the bottom. Again, a wonderful stamp set that I can see myself using a lot this Christmas!  

I hope you like my two Christmas Cards, if you need any of the supplies used to make them there is a link at the top right of this post that will take you directly to my on-line store. I would really appreciate your business! Also, as an aside, I have instructions for making the pop-up card if you would like them, my email is on my on-line website, just shoot me a line and I'll be glad to send them to you.

Christmas Pines

Well, I finally jumped on the 'Christmas in July' bandwagon, except that mine is in August! I just received my shipment of goodies from the new Holiday Catalog and the first set I wanted to play with was Christmas Pines along with the coordinating thinlets, Pretty Pines! This is a gorgeous set and you too will be able to order it in 10 days! If you have a catalog, it's on page 19 and if you don't, please let me know and I will be glad to send you one! It has 22 photopolymer stamps and 13 dies in the bundle and, I can tell you, I love it! I know I always say that, but it's true, and truly Stampin' Up outdoes themselves every time! So, on to my card. I used a sketch from a blog I follow, CARDTV  Mary doesn't stamp much, she uses her Cricut machine, but just recently she provided us, her followers, 14 sketches which I thought were awesome! I started with a card base of Very Vanilla, a mat of Cherry Cobbler (another No.1 color in my opinion!) and a top layer of This Christmas DSP. The three squares are cut in Very Vanilla with the Layering Squares Framelits. The two cones in the middle have a top layer (cut with the dies) of the new Copper paper - love it! The cones either side are embossed with the, also new, copper embossing powder. I colored two of the pearl basic jewels with a copper Sharpie pen and placed them at the top of the cones. The foliage beneath and around the cones I filled with cuts from the Pretty Pines thinlets, covering the 'mistletoe' also with pearls and wound around that is some of the (here we go again!) new copper metallic thread - awesomeness! The sentiment is also from the same stamp set.I hope you like it, I think I'm going to be using this set much more in the not too distant future!

Washi Tape!

Today I have a thank you card I made for a friend who very kindly make me some of her famous Zucchini Bread! I'm usually the one who bakes around here, so I was very pleasantly surprised to say the least! It was so good, very moist, I definitely couldn't have made it better! So, on with my card! It's taken me a while to 'latch on' to Washi Tape, but I'm so glad I got a pack of the new Floral Boutique Designer Washi Tape, it's awesome! Because I wanted to use all three of the Washi Tapes, I decided to make a monchromatic card, I've never done one before and I must say I'm very pleased with this one.  I used the Touches of Texture stamp set (page 141 of the new yearly catalog), it consists of 15 stamps in all, I love this set! I also used Vertical Greetings (page 109 of the catalog), this is a set of 9 stamps and a first for Stampin' Up in the vertical greetings category - love it! So my 'mono' color is Night of Navy, another of my very favorite colors from Stampin' Up. What's also great is the fact that there is a whole suite of products that match exactly to Night of Navy! You just can't go wrong. So to match my Night of Navy Card base I used ink, stamp and write marker, and Bakers Twine all in Night of Navy! I actually stamped, tone on tone, on the card base with another of the stamps from Touches of Texture, not sure if you can see that or not. To color the flower I used my marker to put some ink around the center and then used the Wink of Stella pen to blend it to the outer petals and I did this on the dragonfly as well. I'm not sure if you can see the beautiful shimmer it gives in the picture, but it's gorgeous in person, so to speak! To give the card a nice finishing touch I put a metal rimmed pearl in the center of the flower. I hope you like this card - and I hope my friend does too!