Month: November 2015

Christmas Cards, Stampin' Up!

Simple Christmas

smackey2012

Hello everyone! I really like the bare elegance of today’s card. It took me a few tries to get it right. The Real Red cardstock against the Gold Foil Paper reminds me of classic Christmas movies.

Gold Side

At first I had done the “Merry Christmas” in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and watercolored a little real red along the left side and bottom of each letter. It wasn’t working for me so I tried the Gold Embossing. I really like how it works with the Gold Foil Paper and pulls the card together.Gold Foil

I realized while making this card that I used gold embossing in a few card designs last year too. It seems I really like embossing with gold on Christmas cards.  Leave me a comment below and let me know if you have a favorite technique for your Christmas cards.

Gold Foil Close Up

I suggest embossing a sentiment on the inside of the card in gold as well. It looks really pretty against the Real Red cardstock.  I wanted to show you this on my card, but I couldn’t get the lighting right to take a picture. You’ll have to try it for yourself.

I hope you are inspired to do some gold embossing on your Christmas cards. I think you’ll have fun!

Joyful stamping!

~Stephanie

Christmas Cards

Christmas colors? Why yes!

smackey2012

Hello everyone! Today’s card is a Christmas card with non-traditional colors: Night of Navy and Bermuda Bay. I was inspired to create this card by one we made awhile ago at a team meeting.

I wanted to follow the design of the card we made, but I didn’t have the stamp sets we had used. I had to resort to using retired stamp sets to create my card. I wanted to share it with you anyways so that you could be inspired by the non-traditional colors. I love them!

joyful

You could easily duplicate the look of this card by using the snowflakes from the Flurry of Wishes stamp set. The awesome snow flurries punch will cut out that cute little snowflake just perfectly.

I hope you are inspired to create with some non-traditional colors on your Christmas cards this year. 🙂

Leave me a comment below and let me know if you prefer traditional Christmas cards or like experimenting!

Joyful stamping!

~Stephanie

Christmas Cards, Stampin' Up!

Silent Night of Navy

smackey2012

Hello everyone! I am very excited to show you the newest Stampin’ Up! catalog! Or at least to show you the cover. 🙂 This catalog, the Occasions Catalog (a.k.a. Spring/Summer Catalog), will go live in early January.  Stay tuned to my blog for sneak peaks in the coming weeks!

IMG_3571

I got my hands on a copy of the new Occasions Catalog at Stampin’ Up!’s first OnStage event on Saturday. OnStage is a one day mini conference where Stampin’ Up! demonstrators get to play with lots of new product from the Occasions Catalog and receive training and information on these products and how to share them with customers. It was a blast!

I also have a Christmas card for you today. I am bringing back the Sleigh Ride Edgelits Dies and coordinating Jingle All the Way stamp set from a few previous posts, Jingle all the Way, Merry Everything, and Not a Christmas Card.

Silent Night

I have seen lots of night skies on cards with these edgelits dies. I decided to create one too. I sponged Night of Navy ink onto Whisper White cardstock using Stampin’ Sponges. I liked a dark sky, but you could do a lighter sky if you like that better. Leave me comment below and let me know if you would have preferred a lighter night sky, or if you are with me on the dark sky.

Silent Night Front

Here is a close up of the precious little stars and cozy little houses.

Silent Night Close Up

I hope you are inspired to use some edgelits on your next card or to try your hand at some sponging. I can’t wait to start showing you previews of products from the Occasions catalog in December!

I invite you to enter your email in the box in the upper right hand corner to receive email notifications of my blog posts.

Joyful stamping!

~Stephanie

*Note: An additional product needed to create this card is the Big Shot (113439).

Christmas Cards, Stampin' Up!

Silvery Christmas

smackey2012

Hello everyone! I know we haven’t yet celebrated Thanksgiving in the U.S., but in the papercrafting world Christmas starts early. 🙂 I will be posting a lot more Christmas cards in the next few weeks as I begin making cards to send out, as well as sell at craft fairs.

Christmas

Today’s card is a silver & navy themed card. I was inspired by a gold themed card I saw on Pinterest. Here is a link to the original blog post. The Night of Navy layer is 3″ square and the Whisper White layer is 2 3/4″ square.Christmas Front

Below is a close up of the cute little sentiment banner and silver embossed Christmas Tree. The cute little star is from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack.

Close up

I hope you are inspired to begin working on your Christmas cards. If you’ve never handmade them before, I strongly encourage you to give it a try. You will get lots of appreciate comments. 🙂

Joyful stamping!

~Stephanie

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Birthday Cards, Stampin' Up!

Starry Birthday

smackey2012

Hello everyone! Today’s card was inspired by another one of those “I’ve had this product for forever and have hardly used it.” 🙂  The product in question was the Confetti Stars Punch. I’ve used it to create confetti for shaker cards, but never to create a negative image like seen below.

Stars

Lately I’ve noticed a trend in vertical sentiments and I’ve decided to hop on the band wagon. I thought it went really well with the vertical strip of stars. The sponged background was created by: 1) sponging the Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, and Real Red inks onto a strip of 1 1/8″ x 5 1/2″ piece of Whisper White cardstock  2) applying the glue stick to the inside of the star strip and 3) pressing the sponged strip color side down to the glue.

Straight Stars

One product I have NOT been neglecting is the curly line stamp that frames the sentiment on this card. I think I have used it on every other card I’ve made in the last month. 🙂

Up Close Stars

I hope you are inspired to use some products that you haven’t used for awhile. If you are in need of some ideas, I encourage you to visit Pinterest and simply type the name of the product in the search bar. You’ll get lots of ideas.

Joyful stamping!

~Stephanie

 

Congratulations Cards, Stampin' Up!

Butterfly Congrats

smackey2012

Hello everyone! I have another card today that uses a wooden accent from the Expressions Natural Elements pack. I think these make the coolest sentiments. This time I chose “Congrats”.

Angled Congrats square edge

I CASEd (Copy and Share Everything) this card from p. 120 in the Stampin’ Up! 2015-2016 Annual Catalog, as I did for the card from my last post, Blooming Thanks. I definitely deviated more from the original in today’s card. I recently heard the suggestion to change three things about a card when you CASE it. This helps you make the card your own, rather than just copying it exactly. But that can be fun sometimes too. 🙂

Angled Congrats

Here’s the same card, but with rounded corners. Which do you prefer? Leave me a comment below and let me know if you like the square corners or the rounded corners better. I think my vote is for rounded.

I hope you are inspired by today’s post. Try some rounded corners on your next card. 🙂

Joyful stamping!

~Stephanie

Stampin' Up!, Thank You Cards

Blooming Thanks

smackey2012

Hello everyone! I have been on a thank you card kick this past month due to the many gifts we have received for Scarlette since her birth (4 weeks ago!). The inspiration for today’s card comes from p. 120 in the Stampin’ Up! 2015-2016 Annual Catalog.

Angle Thanks

I didn’t have the exact stamps sets used on the card in the catalog, but I liked the design of the card, so I switched it up a little and worked with similar sets that I already owned. I also used Melon Mambo ink instead of Rose Red as pictured on the card in the catalog.

Thanks

I used a flower from the “Crazy About You” stamp set. Although there is a leaf image in this set, it was disproportionate to the flower so I used a leaf image from a retired set “Fall Fest”. There are lots of current stamps sets with leaf images to choose from as well. The piece of Designer Series Paper measures 1 1/2 x 5 1/2″.

Close Up Thanks

I just love the wooden accents from the Expressions Natural Elements pack. There are 5 each of 3 expressions; “Thanks”, “Congrats”, & “Celebrate”.

I hope you have been inspired by today’s card. I encourage you to incorporate something unexpected, like a wooden accent, onto your next card.

Joyful stamping!

~Stephanie

 

Birthday Cards, Punch Art, Stampin' Up!

Neapolitan Birthday

smackey2012

Hello everyone! Today I have another sketch challenge for you. This one is from Freshly Made Sketches. I always enjoy the sketches from this challenge blog. I really like the unique vertical sentiment on this sketch. FMS210

I am glad the sketch reminds the papercrafter that any shape can be used. I was inspired to pull out my Sprinkles of Life stamp set and my Tree Builder punch. I chose to make my ice cream Neapolitan because I ate some the other day and it was delicious. Reminds me of my childhood. 🙂IceCream2

Here is a close up of the ice cream scoops. All the stamping is done in Soft Suede. When I stamped the “Happy Birthday” it kind of looked lonely so I filled in around it with a curly line stamp from Tin of Cards stamp set. I really like how it turned out.

IceCream3

The Sprinkles of Life stamp set is the Ronald McDonald House stamp set for this year’s annual catalog. Part of the proceeds of this stamp set support the Ronald McDonald House charities. It is a very versatile set. Check out Pinterest for more project ideas.

Thanks for reading! I hope you have been inspired by this sketch, stamp set, or punch. 🙂

Joyful stamping!

~Stephanie