Many Heart Valentine

This is what happens when I find myself with LOTS of time to craft. :) I've always wanted to make some of the projects I see in my Stampin' Success magazine that involve a zillion little pieces all put together. But, honestly, I never have the time to both create the zillions of pieces & put them together. It was a super fun cahnge of pace! All the little hearts were made with the smallest part of the Heart to Heart Punch. I was able to keep the shape of a large heart by adhering them all to a punch made with the Simple Heart Punch. With a focal image as complex as this one, I really didn't want to distract with a busy card front. So, instead, I kept things simple with just the frame & sentiment. This project will appear in my Valentine's Class in January. Don't worry, I've already punched all the little hearts out for you! I thought we could all benefit from my time off. :)

A Little Snowman for a Snowy Day

I wasn't going to post this little guy, but with the foot of snow outside this morning he just had to make an appearance. We made him at our team Xmas party (thanks again, Cindy!) and then I added his sign & attached him to the cool long cello envelopes from the Holiday Mini catalog. Of course, we also filled those cello even lopes with M & M's at my class this month. A little extra holiday chocolate is always welcome. The tiny little mini brads make him completely collapsible. Fun huh? Where did his arms come from? The Simple Snowflake Punch! However, I struggle with that punch. Does anyone else find it super hard to use? Worth it for those perfect little arms though. Hope this finds you warm and snug!

Not Your Typical Christmas Card/ Color Throwdown #167

I can always count on the folks at the Color Throwdown to provide inspiration. This week's colors (Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Pretty in Pink, & Riding hood Red) make for a fun Christmas card! I've been wanting to ink up the cute little snowman from the Button Buddies set and this color combo seemed playful enough for him. Of course, it doesn't show well, but I added an extra bit of sparkle by spraying my Pool Party background with Shimmer Mist before adding the Rhinestones. This card would be a quick and easy one to mass produce for a long Xmas card list. The Tag Punch for the sentiment & Northern Flurries Folder for the background keep everything fast & simple. Add a few Rhinestones for bling & round some corners to create a finished appearance. Time is always scarce this time of year, so I'll take all the short cuts I can get!

Stocking Mojo/ Mojo Monday #214

I've been looking forward to making this card for days! I knew the last project for my upcoming "Wintry Mix" class needed to use both the Stocking Punch and Holly Berry Bouquet paper, but I wasn't certain what it would look like. Then, I checked in with Mojo Monday this morning and saw a perfect sketch! There's a whole lot of texture going on here. I stamped both the Wild Wasabi background & the So Saffron circle first & then ran them through the Big Shot using different folders. Next, I decided that the designer paper needed a little something too. So I ran it through as well. After all the texture was added, I knew it was time to take out my sponges and get to work. I love the effect the sponging has on paper. I'm especially fond of what it did to the already distressed Designer Series Paper. Great fun. Finally, I added the little flower & rhinestone (colored in with a Sharpie). At first I thought a little bow was needed, but that really wasn't working with this card. Thanks again, Mojo Monday, for getting my wheels turning first thing on a Monday morning!

Color Throwdown #166: Love Birds

Never fear, there are more Christmas projects to come. However, I wanted to take a little break today to do the Color Throwdown challenge. As part of my return to the wonderful world of stamping, I want to get back into my challenge routine! As soon as I saw the colors for this week were Crumb Cake, Old Olive, and Baja Breeze I thought of the little love birds from Easy Events. There aren't any weddings going on in my world for a bit, so I thought they would make a lovely old time Valentine instead. There's nothing too fancy here although I did use stamps from several sets. It was fun just to play around to see what would work together. I also thought it was a great time to bring out my Victorian Crochet Trim to accent my little birds. We'll enjoy these feathered friends today while the sun still shines & return to wintry thoughts with the snow that's predicted for tomorrow!

Nothing is Safe from my Big Shot

I can't even remember where I saw or heard that you can texturize felt in an embossing folder if you just spray it with starch first. Perhaps at convention? Where ever I heard about it, that was the inspiration for my Holiday Mini swap card. There are sixteen of us participating this swap so I'll get lots of practice at making this little gem. I started off using my typical fall pallet: More Mustard, Bravo Burgundy, Cajun Craze and the like. That just felt too dark for this one though. So I lighted things up by using Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, & So Saffron instead. The leaves from Gently Falling are great 2 Step stamps and even include the little maple tree helicopters! That's my favorite bit about the set, so I had to include one on the card. I was even dedicated enough to cut it out. :) There is gold Smooch on there too, but hard to see in the photo. I think it will be more clear on some of my others for swap. A couple of times I got a little carried away. :) Now, I just have to finish the rest!

Love Mingos (Take One)

Hello! So sorry for the prolonged & unintentional disappearance. I ended up working five days last week instead of two. That combined with the normal holiday craziness left NO time for stamping. I have to admit that I feel a bit rusty today. There's been a card itching at my brain for about a week though and I just had to get it out. This is the first attempt. Perhaps there will be another. While looking at some of the stamps from Simply Said not too long ago, I thought that one of the "flowers" would make a great palm tree if combined with the stem stamp from Cottage Garden. I knew I would have to give it a try at my next opportunity. What do you think?The card layout is very loosely based on the Mojo Monday sketch from last Monday (the day I intended to make this card!). It was nice to have training wheels of a sort to get me back in the groove! You'll be seeing much more of the Valentine Defined set from the soon to be released Occasions Mini. I think it's a real winner & it has flamingos!!! How can you go wrong with them? I hope you all are getting the itch for card making too. Check out my SU website for January class dates. Such fun we will have!

A Little Gift

It's almost class time, but I wanted to take a moment to post this little gem. I saw this idea for a tiny hand sanitizer gift at a class given by my friend, Cindy, and just knew I would have to make one of my very own. So, when I found them on sale at Bath and Body I knew it was meant to be! Such a quick and easy way to spruce up a little gift for teachers, co-workers, and the like. We'll make them at class this afternoon and on Thursday too. Let me know if you would like to come over for Thursday's class. There is still room available! :)

Roasted Turkey

I have made several punch art turkeys in the past. Usually they involve the Scallop Circle Punch. However, when my dear friend, Marge, showed me the idea for this roasted little bird I knew I would have to include it in this Sunday's Holiday Punch art class. Isn't he something! the bulk of the bird comes from the XL Bird Punch while the little drumstick bone is from the Owl Punch. They are all still bird parts, so I guess it's not that big of a stretch, huh? My husband thought that the Small Oval Punch made far too small of a platter, so I upgraded to the Large Oval Punch. That way he has plenty of room. It was a little difficult to settle on a color for my little bird, but I found that More Mustard sponged with the same came out a sort of golden brown. Soft Suede or any of the other browns looked like I'd managed to burn the bird. And while that might happen if I were cooking one for real, in the wonderful world of stamping, I can make a perfectly golden brown bird each time! Then I used some of my favorite stamps from the Grateful Greetings set to create sentiments for inside & out. I had a student in one of my classes this week point out that she likes to have as little room as possible to write after she's finished stamping, so I added a few flourishes from the Priceless set too. Now it's just ready to sign & send for the big Turkey Day!

Simple Snowman

Whew! Last card for my adventure tonight. I had another card in mind but it involved punches that were already in use in another card & there's no way I'm going to make a big crowd have to share between tables. So, I came up with something different.

He's super simple, but I do like the set-up. The Northern Flurries folder fits so nicely on the Top Note. It's hard to tell in the photo but the embossed snowflakes are given a little extra pop by the addition of some shimmer mist (small spray bottle of alcohol mixed with a good serving of Shimmer Paint). It really helps them to stand out. I thought about adding some snowflakes to the Razzleberry layer, but in the end simplicity won out. I sure hope the ladies tonight like what I've come up with for them. It's always great fun to meet new stampers!

Candy Cane Christmas Bag

Yeahy! Another bag idea came to me and, while it's pretty out of the box for me, I really do like it. I knew I wanted a white bag base & that I wanted to use the Candy Cane Christmas designer paper. So, I started to look through the sheets & realized that they ornaments reminded me of those from "Tree Trimmings" especially with that little bow connecting them all. Then I looked through my scraps of cardstock than coordinate with Candy Cane Christmas & came up with two sizes/shapes I thought would be fun. Oh, and I still hadn't used my new Glass Glitter so I added it on with the help of Sticky Strip. Of course I couldn't leave out my Candy Cane buttons either! They are a bit big for most of my card projects but are able to add just the right touch to a gift bag. Okay, I'm off for another day in fourth grade. Think of me tomorrow morning when I'm a substitute with a Halloween party. :) Every day is an adventure!

Priceless Thanksgiving

Wow, when I first purchased the Priceless set I had no idea it would become my "go to" holiday stamp set. So far I've used it for Christmas & Valentines and now it was a natural choice for a Thanksgiving card too. Its versatility is excellent! Who knows where it will appear next. :)

It's been quite a while since I participated in the PPC Color Challenge of the week & I was excited to see them have fall colors this time. Cajun Craze, More Mustard, and Pear Pizazz fit the bill nicely for a Thanksgiving color palate. I started off thinking about using this sentiment with leaves, but really wanted something different. That's when I laid eyes on Priceless and remembered the very punchable flower circle. I think it has great fall possibilities. Of course, I had to tinker with the layout a few times to find all the needed little touches, but all turned out well in the end. It's always a fun card when at the end you've inked up nearly all the stamps in the set!

Sweet Snowglobe Glitter Cup

Okay, so I knew this one would be hard to photograph...but I had to try. On this card I added one of our Sweet Treat Cups to the top of the Sweet Snowglobe stamp & added in a bit of Dazzling Diamonds glitter. That way, when you shake the card you can have snow fall! Of course, a little glitter stuck to the front of the cup, so it blocked the camera's view a bit. I couldn't resist shaking it before photo time! The 3D nature of the Sweet Treat Cup means that the post office wouldn't like this card much unless you place it in one of our padded envelopes first. I think it would be great to put inside a gift bag or a box of presents you send off. That way there's no worry about getting your snowglobe crushed before it arrives!

Spooky Eyes

This morning was just one of those days... I was so sure I didn't need to leave the house until seven thirty & then it dawned on me that I needed to be AT WORK by seven thirty! Ooops. Of course, that didn't come to me until about 7:25. Therefore, we have an afternoon post. :)

I checked out Splitcoast Stampers to look for fun Halloween ideas and saw these little eyes made with the help of the XL Bird Punch. They make a perfect completion to my Shimmer Paint spider web card. Don't you think? I have fun with the strictly Halloween sets but I also enjoy making holiday stuff using my everyday toys. Just a couple more projects to go before our Halloween class!

Thankful Pumpkin

I'm absolutely guilty of sleeping in this morning. It was still dark & the covers were nice and warm... That's why my Mojo Monday will have to wait until later. :) However, I put together this little number last night so I still have something fun to share. For such a simple card, I hate to admit to how long it took me to put it together!

I started out knowing I wanted to use the little pumpkin die along with a 2 1/2" Circle as my centerpiece, but nothing else. Then, the Woodland Walk paper seemed like a great idea (it took a bit to decide which sheet of course). Next I needed a sentiment, but this one didn't fit if I oriented the card the way I had planned. So I switched that around. The oval didn't quite do it for me which caused me to add the Designer Label punch. Oh! Then I remembered having Hodgepodge Hardware that matched. Twill tape & corner rounding came in there somewhere too. The real problem was that the pumpkin looked wrong all alone. It took FOREVER for me to discover that all I needed were a few flowers from Designer Paper to finish the job. Whew! That gives you an idea of my design thought process. Messy, huh? Rarely do I have a whole card figured out in my head before I start. Most of the time I'm wandering down this twisty path. It's a fun adventure either way!

Paisley Swap

Here's another little sneak peak for the Holiday Mini Catalog! This time, it's one of my very favorites: Paisley Prints combined with the new wheel: Paisley Party. As soon as I saw the set I knew I wanted to use these leaves with a reinker/baby wipe ink pad. Such fun! Oh, I also couldn't resist using one of the new punches from the Holiday Mini. See what sort of goodies you are in store for come September 1st! My sponging really made this one work. I used More Mustard ink to sponge the oval behind my sentiment as well as the edges of the stamped images. It really made the card come together. To be honest, I was a little worried about fall cards now that Really Rust has retired. I depended on it in combination with More Mustard as a big part of my fall pallet. I'm very pleased with how Cajun Craze filled in today! It along with other new colors like Early Espresso and Pear Pizazz made a great fall color combo.