Sparkly Gently Falling Leaves

I think I had told you a few weeks ago that I had participated in some swaps.  I was able to share all of the Halloween ones with you, but I haven't been able to share all the Fall/Thanksgiving themed ones yet.  This is one that really knocked my socks off.  I love that she added some depth and texture to her layers and used sparkles to glam up the leaf!  I feel so lucky to have received so many good pieces of inspiration.  I hope you enjoy it, too!

Supplies used include: Gently Falling stamp set, Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (retired), adhesive pearls, the Word Window punch, and the Modern Label punch.

Papillion Potpourri Birthday

Here's a birthday card I created awhile back and never got around to posting.  I try to be humble, but I've got to admit that this is one of my favorites.  I just love all the textures, patterns and layers...don't you?  This was a fun card to make, and I'm curious to see what it would look like in different color combinations, so if you decide to try it, post a link to your creation so that I can see!

Supplies used:
Paper: Cardstock (Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Basic Black, Whisper White) and Sycamore Street DSP (polka dots, retired)
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Stamps: Papillion Potpourri (butterfly) and a retired sentiment
Other: rhinestones, Elegant Butterfly punch (coordinates perfectly with the Papillion Potpourri butterfly stamp), Little Leaves Sizzlet, 1-3/4" scallop circle punch, Delicate Doilies Sizzlet, Houndstooth Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Scallop Edge Border Punch
Tip:  I used the scallop edge border punch to layer black on black.  It adds a little depth and interest without being too distracting.  It's hard to see in the photo but it's along the bottom edge.  Also, I used Stampin' Dimensionals adhesive to get some depth to my layers.

Summer Silhouettes Birthday

I've been posting a lot of fall/Halloween cards lately and I decided to take a break, and show you a flowery one that reminds more of spring or summer.  I was inspired by this card.  As you can see, I changed it a bit by matting the stamped image and eliminating the bow.  But it still achieved a clean and simple look, which is what attracted me to the example.  I think it would also look pretty in a shade of purple or yellow.

Supplies used for this card include the Summer Silhouettes stamp set, the Simply Sketched stamp set (sentiment), cardstock (whisper white and primrose petals), ink (gumball green, basic gray, and primrose petals, the Modern Mosaic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, a Big Shot machine, and Primrose Petals 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon.

Punchy Halloween

Isn't this adorable? I received this in a swap awhile back and I love it.   I think this would be a wonderful card for crafty kids.  The ghost and owl are made using our Owl Builder Punch, and the moon is a circle punch.  I love how Nikki sponged the moon to give it some texture or depth! Not only would this be a great card to copy, but I love how it challenges me to look at my punches in a whole new way! 

Happy stamping!!!

Halloween Bash/Witches' Brew

As promised, here is another piece of Halloween inspiration.  This time it comes to you courtesy of Jessica Morgan via a swap we both participated in.  I love that she used the new Chevron Punch to create the gray accents.  And I also love the sentiment.  The font and arrangement of the text reminds me of an Old West "Wanted" poster, so the crumpled texture and frayed edges suit it well, in my mind.

Supplies used include: Witches' Brew Designer Series Paper, Halloween Bash stamp set, Chevron punch, cardstock (Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Summer Starfruit), a brad, and Basic Black ink.

Come back soon to see a punchy piece of Halloween art...until then, Happy Stampin'!!!

Witches' Brew/Halloween Hello

Isn't this a great card?  A few weeks ago I had posted a few Halloween swap card (one that I had submitted for the swap and I had received in exchange). This is another of the cards I had received in exchange.  I love how she kept simple to assemble and used the popular banner and damask-like motifs.  This stamp set (Halloween Hello) comes with a nice assortment of small Halloween images, and she used four of them on this card.

Supplies used include Witches' Brew Design Series Paper, cardstock (pumpkin pie, basic black, very vanilla), ink (pumpkin pie, basic black), and circle punches.

Thanks, Misty, for a great card!  Check back in a few days for more Halloween inspiration from another swap card I received.

Joyful Christmas

I knew as soon as I received the holiday mini that this stamp set - Joyful Christmas - would make its way into my collection and now I'm so glad it did.  I used it to make cards for a swap I was in and I'm so happy with how it turned out.  I love it when I can use lots of layers, lots of patterns, and lots of textures, and this stamp lends itself perfectly to those criteria.

This card is labor- and supply-intensive, but oh-so-worth it!  It will knock the recipients' socks off!

Here's what you'll need:
Paper: Season of Style Designer Series Paper, Cardstock (whisper white, crumb cake, cherry cobbler and old olive)
Stamps: Joyful Christmas
Ink: Old Olive (sentiment), Crumb Cake (to make the watermarks on the crumb cake layer), and Versamark (for the embossing)
Other: adhesive-backed rhinestones, paper snips (for "fussy cutting"), white embossing powder, paper piercer, Apothecary Accents die set, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper-Piercing Mat, sticky strip (to adhere the embossed layers together).

Tip: When "fussy cutting" something, I find it easier to turn the paper rather than turn the scissors...you get a cleaner cut that way.  Also, try to slowly close the scissors as you can rather than lots of jagged open-close movements.

Festive Flurry/Winter Frost Swap Card

I might’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: I’m a sucker for snow: snowflakes, snowmen, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, snow angels…if it involves the cold, fluffy, white stuff, I’m in!!!  So this past spring when Stampin’ Up! retired their snowflake die from last year, I was a bit disappointed.  Until I got to thinking about it and realized that SU! Is hardly ever snowflake-free, so perhaps that meant something bigger and better was in the works.  And boy, was I right!  The holiday mini catalog that was just released on August 1^st has not only a set of snowflake dies, but a set of snowflake stamps that coordinate well with it. The good thing? It’s different enough from previous snowflake products that I could justify adding it to my collection! The best thing? If you buy it as a bundle you save 15%!!!  The bonus? It also pairs beautifully with the new Winter Frost Designer Series Paper.  So the first thing I did was create this card for a swap that I was in.  I hope you enjoy it!  This may be the first card I did with this bundle, but it won’t be the last, so check back to see what else I come up with! 

This card brought me a little out of my comfort zone...which is always a good thing! I had never used glitter on a stamping project before...can you believe that?  So, after stressing a bit, I sought some advice from some stamping friends and learned how to use our Heat 'n' Stick Powder.  As it turns out, that was really fun and not worth the worry!

Stamps: Festive Flurry
Paper: Winter Frost DSP, cardstock in Whisper White and Island Indigo
Embellishments: Silver Glitter
Ink: Versamark, Pool Party (for the inside)
Tools: Big Shot, Apothecary dies, Festive Flurries dies, ovals dies, heat tool

Tips:

• The white die cut shape behind the oval was created by cutting out the die from the Apothecary die set and then cutting the die cut shape in half and adhering one half to each end of the oval.
• To use glitter, stamp your image with Versamark ink onto your desired background paper.  Sprinkle Heat 'n' Stick powder over it.  Tap off the extra back into the container for re-use.  Heat it using your heat tool.  You want to heat it just until the powder turns shiny and liquidy.  Do not overheat it or it won't work.  You'll know you overheated it if it turns from shiny to matte and/or if it turns brown, like it's burned.  While it's still liquidy, sprinkle your glitter onto it.  Tap off the extra back into the container for re-use.  Quickly reheat the glittered image to set it. You will see the glitter glisten as it settles into place.  Let it cool, and then you can die cut the image.  I use a fine paintbrush to remove the extra glitter that is clinging around the image.
• Save 15% by ordering the Festive Flurries bundle (you get the stamps and coordinating dies for 15% less than it would cost you to buy them individually).
  
  

So Sorry/Gently Falling Swap Card

This is the second card I made for the swaps in which I participated.  This is probably my second favorite of the four I made.  I LOVE textures, layers and patterns and this card did all that for me!

I started out with a Chocolate Chip cardstock base.  Then I added another layer of Chocolate Chip, but this layer was 1/8" smaller on each side and had been run through the Big Shot using the Wood Grain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  Then I added the layered focal piece.  I created that layer by stamping one of the Gently Falling leaves onto a piece of Sweater Weather Designer Series Paper with Early Espresso Embossing Powder.  I heat-set the leaf, then cut it by hand using my Paper Snips.  I adhered it with Dimensionals to the Very Vanilla layer.  The Very Vanilla layer is 2-1/8" x 4".  I stamped Gently Falling leaves onto it using Crumb Cake ink and "So Sorry" onto it using Early Espresso.  I mounted it onto an orange piece of paper from the Sweater Weather DSP which was an 1/8" large on each side.  I then mounted that onto a piece of plaid paper from the Sweater Weather DSP pack.  This plaid layer is 1/2" large on the right side, and 1/4" larger on each of the other three sides.  Between the orange layer and plaid layer, I added a piece of Crumb Cake Seam Binding.

Stamps:  Gently Falling, So Sorry
Paper: Sweater Weather Designer Series Paper, cardstock in Chocolate Chip & Very Vanilla
Embellishments: Crumb Cake Seam Binding Ribbon, Early Espresso Embossing Powder
Tools: Paper Snips, Heat Tool
Tips: When cutting fussy items like the leaf, I find it easier to hold the image and turn it rather than trying to turn the scissors as you go around the image.  I also find that using smooth, long cuts rather than lots of short, fast movements help keep the cut more smooth.

The design could easily be used for anything fall or Thanksgiving related by simply changing out the sentiment.  Also, by changing the color scheme to blues and green, you could make this card into a masculine card for that special man in your life for his birthday, Father's Day or an anniversary.

Come back tomorrow to see the cards I received in exchange for this one.  They inspired me, I hope they will inspire you, too!

CAS'ing a Hoarded Card!

It’s confession time:  I’m a hoarder.  There, I said it!  I’m a craft hoarder.  I love collecting paper, embellishments, knick knacks, gewgaws, sketches, etc.  Anything that can be used to create or inspire my work.  I’m sure you have NO idea what I’m talking about, right? ;)  Well, recently I decided that it has gotten a little out of hand.  So, in an effort to use what I have, I decided to tackle this project.  You see, a few years back my upline sent me this wonderful card using a stamp from the then-current Faith in Nature set:

 

 It was just too beautiful to actually use.  So I set it aside so that I could make more like it for my stash, with every intention of eventually using that card.  Well, the best laid plans sometimes fail and I just came across that card again.  The Faith in Nature set is now retired, so I decided to make it using current Stampin’ Up! product, and the result is very nice, if I do say so myself.  See for yourself:

 

 As you can see it’s not exactly the same as the prototype, but that is the charm of CASe’ing (Copying And Sharing Everything) – use the original as a starting point and modify it to fit your own tastes, or in my case, to fit what you have on hand! 

The good news is that my version uses current stamping supplies so you can re-create these cards yourself.  The stamp sets are Teeny Tiny Wishes ("thinking of you" sentiment") and Simply Sketches (flower image and the sympathy sentiment).  The Simply Sketches stamp is a hostess set that you can get for free with an order or party of $150 or more.  The gray card was made with the new Smoky Slate ink and cardstock, Basic Gray ink and cardstock, and Whisper White cardstock.  The yellow card was made using So Saffron ink and cardstock, Basic Gray ink and cardstock, and Whisper White.

A little tip: to get the squares of inked color, I pressed an acrylic block onto the ink pad and then onto my piece of Whisper White to get a faint, inky square.  Then I stamped my flower image and sentiment over that in Basic Gray ink.  I found that the images were more visible if you used lighter colors for the square ink "splotch".

Thanks for checking in on me…have a great day!

Halloween Happiness Swap Card #2

Yesterday, I shared with you a card that I made for a swap using the Halloween Happiness single stamp and the Witches' Brew Designer Series Paper.  Today I'm back to show you an awesome alternative.  This is a card I received back in that swap, so it was designed by someone else.  I didn't get her information, so if you are the original artist, feel free to let me know.  In any case, I was surprised that there were some similarities in our cards, but her card a few twists that I loved.  First, she stamped the pumpkins in two colors like I did, but she left off the greeting and then she cut it out by hand and mounted it on some Stampin' Dimensionals to give it some depth.  LOVE that!  And then, as you can see from the photo below, she used a funky fold and put the greeting on the inside.  Pretty neat, huh?  It sure gets my mind spinning with possibilities.

Supplies used for this card include Witches' Brew Designer Series Paper, Halloween Happiness Stamp Set, Cardstock (Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, and Summer Starfruit), a brad, ink in Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black and a shade of green, and Stampin' Dimensionals.  The funky fold she used is called the Fun Fold and you can find a tutorial for it on my upline's (Dawn Olchefske's) blog here.

Hope you are enjoying the first days of fall!  I will be posting more fall and Halloween-themed cards and crafts here in the coming months, so be sure to check back...

Until next time, happy stamping!!!

Halloween Happiness Swap Card

Hello, stamping friends!  It's been awhile, hasn't it?  Well, I thought I'd pop in tonight and show you a card that I created recently for a swap that I was in.  If you're not familiar with a swap, you gather a group of people either online or in real life and you each make a set number of identical cards.  Then one person gathers them and distributes one of each card back to each participant.  That way you get back many different cards.  It's a great way to get a nice stash of cards using materials that might be different from your own.  This is the card I made to send everyone.  I've always been more of a happy or cutesy Halloween-type person rather than the ghoulish and scary type, so when I saw this single stamp, I knew it was just my style.  I also don't do much for Halloween crafts, so I couldn't justify a full new Halloween set, but at $9.95 and one stamp, I felt like it was justifiable.  So enjoy!

Stamp: Halloween Happiness
Paper: Witches' Brew Designer Series Paper, Cardstock in Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, and Early Espresso
Other: Tasteful Trim die, button and linen thread

Tip: In order to get several colors on your stamp, cover your whole stamp with Pumpkin Pie ink, the color over the words with Basic Black and the stems/leaves with Early Espresso.  Then breathe or "huff" the ink to remoisten it and stamp it onto the paper.

It's not too late to get started on your Halloween projects, and I'd be happy to help you do so...just let me know!  Also, check back tomorrow for another example using this great set!

Until then, happy stamping!!!