January - Card-making Kit of the Month

Here's a new idea I'm going to try in January. If it's an idea people like I will continue it monthly.

CARD KIT OF THE MONTH for January



In the card-making kit you will receive EVERYTHING necessary to make these 2 cards EXCEPT ADHESIVE and a scissor to cut the ribbon. The card-kit includes 2 made cards so that you can use them as a guide. There are supplies for 10 more cards, 2 of each kind. You can customize or change your cards if you like. You can also choose the sentiment(s) you would like:
- "simply said from the heart...thank you"
- "a friend is someone who makes it easy
- "love you much"
- "happy Easter"
- "happy birthday"
- "wonderful mother"
- "dear father"

The cost for this card-kit is ONLY $24. If you're not in High Level, AB I can mail it to you for the cost of shipping. Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing January's card-kit. Please order by January 12, 2010!

In addition, I am featuring Stampin' Up! products which I will give a discount on if you order in January. Again, all the supplies to create the 2 cards are included in your card kit. These featured items are to purchase if you would like to own them and use them on your other projects.
10% OFF:
- Wide Oval Punch (pg 186-187)
- Full Heart Punch (pg 186-187)
- Small Heart Punch (Occasions Mini pg 11)
- 1/2" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon (pg 182)
- Cottage Wall designer series paper (pg 160)
- Simply Said stamp set (pg 51)
- Well Scripted stamp set (Occasions Mini pg 19)
- sticky strip (pg 192)

If you want to get some FREE Stampin' Up! products from January 5-March 31, 2010 Stampin' Up! has its biggest sale of the year - Sale-A-Bration! Look at my website or ask me for more details. If you like ribbons I will be holding a RIBBON SHARE in January as well.

Here are some photos of what will be included in the kits (including punched items and ribbon). Remember: There will be enough supplies to make 5 of EACH card. You can also choose the sentiment(s) you would like in your kit. For even more fun and customization - the patterned paper is double-sided so you can choose which design you would like to feature.

New set with color challenge

I got my new set "Vintage Vogue" yesterday (available for sale in January) This is my first creation with it. I used the colors from Splitcoast's color challenge - So Saffron, Mellow Moss, Rose Red.


The large flower with the eyelet center is popped up. The butterfly is from a die cut with the Big Shot. The butterfly was also stamped with Rose Red. I used the scallop edge punch on the bottom and attached a strip of green which doesn't extend all the way down, so when the card is lying closed you can see a strip of very vanilla at the bottom.

Stampin' Up! supplies: Vintage Vogue, So Saffron ribbon (retired), eyelet, scallop edge punch
Colors: Very Vanilla, So Saffron, Rose Red, Mellow Moss

Ejoy challenge this week

My Ejoy Variety Challenge for you this week is to take time to think about and make genuine and meaninful encouragements to those around you. You could comment on people's creative works. You can let your children know how special they are. Notice something great about your spouse and encourage them. Everyone needs to be loved. Each person may have a different way which love is expressed more meaninfully to them. It could be:
- encouraging words
- spending time with them
- doing something for them
- giving gifts
- touch
This week and throughout this season I hope you will ENCOURAGE JOY!

Hope you have a wonderful season where stress doesn't get the best of you. After all, we should enjoy Christmas, right?!


{If you want a card-making challenge you can see my posts for Ejoy challenges from previous weeks and complete one of those}

Layers and texture!

Today my card is made for Pals Paper Arts Challenge - Crushed Curry (my least favorite color!), Soft Suede, Old Olive.

I wanted to offset the card a bit and not center it. I added quite a few layers, of course layering the boho blossoms and the oval sentiment.
A few added touches - texturz embossed very vanilla panel, patterned paper, ticket corner punch and brads.

Flower Shop #2

I went back to my local gift store and they ordered 40 more flower cards! Just wanted to show you what I made for them. I did 5 of each design. They wanted half Christmas and the other half a variety. I tried to make a variety of styles.



Left Top - "tis the season" Paper pieced tree and sponging around
Right Top - "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" Creative uses of scallop square punch. I drew some rows of dots with blue and white.
Left Bottom - "warmest wishes" I used the negative image of my snowflake die and put an eyelet in the center
Right Bottom - "May the blessings of Peace, Hope, Love be your gifts this Christmas and throughout the coming year" Love how this one turned out so elegant! Gifts of Christmas with a bit of DSP on the edge.



Left Top - "from me to you" Very simple stamped lighter images on the bottom. Scallop edge with piercing on top
Right Top - "Thinking of You" Photo Corners punch and boho blossoms punch with some grid DSP
Left Bottom - "With Sympathy" I stamped first with white, then purple overtop. I inked two of the edges with purple
Right Bottom - "Just because I care..." Layered oval & modern label punch. The "grass" is sponged with green.

All those little sentiments sure come in handy on occasions like this!

Rich Razzleberry and Cottage Wall

I love this color combination! It came from Color Dare. CD46 - Rich Razzleberry, Kraft, Taken with Teal. I got to use my lovely Cottage Wall DSP as a focal point here to show it off!

The sketch is from Diva Coffee Break Designs.

There's texturz embossing with the Big Shot on the Rich Razzleberry panel in the background. I used a scallop edge and corner rounder punch. I tied 2 ribbons at the same time for a bit of a different look.

Simple weave

Here's a cute and simple card I made with just one stamp. I layered two scallop squares behind it to create some very fun and easy corners. I framed it with just some tiny strips of paper "weaving" it and using brads in the corners. Maybe there's something here that will inspire you!

EjoyVC14

I posted a card earlier this week for this challenge. Here's my second one.
It's a SKETCH with a TWIST - use 1 ribbon AND 1 other type of embellishment. I'd love for you to be inspired and play along. This is EjoyVC14! Please upload your creation here so I can see it. If you're uploading to an online gallery you can use the code EjoyVC14 so I can find it!



My card uses 3 stamp sets - Embrace Life, Framed with Love, Kind & Caring Thoughts. I'm also using my new Cottage Wall DSP!



Here's a close up of the flowers. I curled the edges. I added a bit of sponging and white gel pen. I pierced along the Rich Razzleberry Frame. The one flower has a cute latte button.



Here's a close up of the bottom. The stamp from Framed with Love is done in white, with the sentiment on top.

Here's the sketch if you need it. I hope you can see it...

3 squares

Here's a cute and easy card I made today in about 2 minutes. I started with an older sketch, perfect for my new stamp set!

There's a row of piercing below the ripped paper.

White and red

Here's my card for today's WHITE challenge at Splitcoast Stampers. We were to make a card with only white cardstock and embellishments, with only one color ink.

There's a white layer on this card, that I edged with the red marker on top. On the bottom it's done with scallop edge punch. The image is from my new Framed with Love set and the sentiment is from Kind & Caring Thoughts (hostess set). I also pierced a patterned.

Have a great Friday everyone.

Christmas inspired by PPA

Here's my card for Pals Paper Arts Challenge. This week it was an inspiration challenge. We were to look at a photo and make a card from that. I hope I'm all done my Christmas cards, so I had to make a very Christmas-y looking photo useable for me! This is what I came up with and I LOVE how it turned out!

Only one stamp is used.... Elegant Thank You. Doesn't it fit perfectly in the scallop square punch! I also layered large oval punch behind that. Also used ticket corner punch on the corners. Here's a close up of some of the details.



Thanks for looking!

Guy card? and sneak peek

I started this card with the color challenge from Splitcoast - Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Black. I immediately thought it would make a great guy card. I kept it simple, but I love how the layering looks. The dessert for the challenge was glitter! I thought a glittery wolf might look nice and it did turn out well. I stamped with craft black, then poured glitter on. The ribbon is brown and fuzzy. Here's a closeup...



By the way, this card is also a sneak peek for next week's Ejoy Variety Challenge. I'd love it if you would come play!

Happy Monday

I got a chance to remake a card and am much more pleased with the result. Love the colors and simple layout. The piercing really makes it something special.

Stampin Tips:
1. If you don't like your card someday you can get a chance to go back when you have a fresh brain and redo it. Although the card can't be that horrible that you can't give someone joy by sending it to them!
2. Layer punches. This one is simple. It's just boho blossoms punch. But you'd be surprised at the fun looks you can get by combining a few punches.

Hope you have a great day!

EjoyVC13 - technique

I thought it was time for another technique challenge! I chose one of my favorite techniques, even though I don't do it very often - Wet Paper Watercolor.
To do this technique I used my aquapainter brush (or you can spray the paper with a waterbottle). I wet the paper, then stamped on it. I used my retired spectrum pad to get multicolored look. Once it was dry I stamped over it again. Here's a close up:



I also used another technique for the snowman image - Rock'N'Roll. First I inked my image with light blue, then with the ink pad I rolled the stamp edges in the darker blue.

I hope you join along with me for my variety challenge this week. EjoyVC13 - Wet Paper Watercolor Technique! Please link your creation to Mr. Linky and if you load to an online gallery please use the code EjoyVC13 so I can find it! I'd love for you to be inspired to create with this great technique!

Stampin' Up! stamps: Two Cool Dudes, Branch Out (snowflakes), Season of Joy (sentiment)
Colors: Ballet Blue, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Brocade Blue, White

Friday 2 card challenge - LSC248

Here are my two cards for today's Limited Supplies Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers. The challenge was to make 2 cards with different layouts from the same image and colors. I got this gorgeous color combination from Stampin Addicts. So Saffron, Always Artichoke, Rich Razzleberry. I really love Rich Razzleberry from this year's In Colors!


My first card takes a layout from Clean&Simple Stamping. On both cards I popped up the flowers with stampin' dimensionals.


This card layout I made up! I decided to change the placement of the eyelets on this one, so they weren't in the flowers. But I miss that brightness in the flowers from the first card.

Stampin Up stamps: Embrace Life, Delight in Life, Goody-Goody-Gumdrops
Punches: Word window, modern label, oval, scallop oval, corner rounder

Two cards on Thursday

I've been making so many cards recently, I thought I would upload 2 today!


The first one is for the Diva Coffee Break Design sketch. It uses a portion of the sizzix die "Join the Cheer". I added a bit of piercing and a designer brad in the "o". Fun sketch!


This one is for Pals Paper Arts KISS challenge - Keep it Simple, Sweetie! Nothing hard here, just a horizontal slot punch and tied ribbon. I inked the sentiment and snowflakes in Chocolate Chip ink on Chocolate Chip paper so its fairly faint.

Butterfly

Here's the card I made last night that I'm quite pleased with.
I made it for a challenge on Splitcoast - CC246 - Old Olive, Bermuda Bay, Pretty in Pink
I also used the Fall-to-layout from Clean&Simple Stamping - FTL67

I texturz embossed with the Big Shot using small dots and large dots. The butterfly is textured and the pink panel and Bermuda panel.

Stampin' Up! supplies: Butterflies die, texturz, scallop edge, scallop circle, circle punch, eyelets
Colors: Kraft, Bermuda Bay, Pretty in Pink, White, Old Olive

Remake to Easel

I took one of my favorite cards and make it an Easel Card. I think it really adds a lot to the card and I love it! It's really easy to make. I made 3 slightly different with different ribbons. This was one of the cards my stamp club made.


Here's the side view. It's just half a piece of cardstock folded in half, then folded in half again. I attached a quarter piece of the same color green cardstock on top of that for the card front. It is flat just like a regular card, but then when it opens up you can prop it up to stand up. I used a row of brads to keep it up.

Here's a close up of the ripping and piercing details. I used a stamp from Autumn Days and colored with marker. Then just stamped in a circle shape. It creates this wonderful wreath.

This is the bottom panel. The texturz embossing came out so lovely! The button is covered with crystal effects. The sentiment was cut out with oval punch and popped up.

Stampin' Up! supplies: Autumn Days, sentiment from Gifts of Christmas, Big Shot, texturz, ribbon, brads, snowflakes die, button die, crystal effects, oval punch
Colors: Old Olive, White, Kraft

Ejoy 2 fold - again!

I made another card today which also fits with my Ejoy challenge. I folded and tore the paper as well. This card is also for CAS42 on Splitcoast - Sponging. It uses FTL68 from Clean & Simple Stamping I love the layouts on that site. I think I'll use this one again!

My card uses Boho Blossoms punch - layered. I love how that looks. I sponged around the outside and on the flowers. There's a row of piercing on the pink.

Stampin' Up! supplies: Fresh Cuts, Boho Blossoms punch, eyelets, double stitched ribbon (retired)
Colors: Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry. There's no white on this card!

EjoyVC12 - TWO FOLDS

My challenge for today.... TWO FOLD. I'm not talking about the type of fancy card fold, but I'm talking about a piece of paper on your card as your decoration. Have two folds on the decorative part of your card front (or other project). I'd love it if this was an inspiration for you to be creative today. I welcome you to come play along. Please link your creation to Mr. Linky and you can use the code words EjoyVC12 if you're uploading to another online gallery.

Here's my card for this challenge...I thought it would be fun to use a lot of In Colors - Rich Razzleberry, Dusty Durango, Bermuda Bay, Soft Suede (and neutral Sahara Sand). I thought the tree looked kind of cozy in its little "blanket". Here's a close up of some of the extras.
Stampin' Up! Supplies: Branch Out, Sincere Salutations, little leaves sizzlit die, Big Shot, oval punches, pewter jumbo eyelet, linen thread. Don't forget the piercing and tearing!

Sketch x2

Today I thought I'd quickly do 2 cards for the sketch on Splitcoast Stampers. I like how they both turned out. I made them both with My Digital Studio. Can you tell I'm loving that program! The nice thing about making them by computer is they are easy to e-mail. I know e-mailed cards are not nearly as nice and don't have the 3D paper-crafting effect, but it's better than nothing! When a situation comes up, you don't want to wait a week for the card to get there!

Today or tomorrow I'll get back to paper-crafting with paper, not just computer. I need to make an EASEL card! Never tried it yet, but am excited to. Stay tuned to see the finished product.

EjoyVC11 ~ Color choice

Here's my second card for the Ejoy Challenge. The challenge this week is a color choice. Use white and chocolate chip and one other COLOR/COLOR group of your choice. On this card I added BLUES. On the other card I added PURPLES. I'd love to see what you come up with. Please play along and show me your creation for this challenge. The code word is EjoyVC11. You can link with Mr. Linky on the bottom too. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you play along!

Stampin' Up! supplies: MY DIGITAL STUDIO

Colors: Tempting Turquoise, Not Quite Navy, White, Chocolate Chip

Another Sneak Peek - Digitally!

Here's a card I made today. I'm LOVING the My Digital Studio program. I think one of my favorite things is playing with papers, embellishments and stamp sets that I don't own.
For this card I started from scratch but it still took less than 10 minutes. I thought the layout was pretty unique. I love the stitching!!

This is your sneak peek for the Ejoy Challenge coming up. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but come play along again in a few days! Thanks to those of you who have been playing along!

MY DIGITAL STUDIO!!!

I just got MY DIGITAL STUDIO yesterday and have been playing with it. This is the first card I made. The program is sooooo easy to use and I love it! I highly recommend it!!! Watch out, scrapbooking room, I might not be visiting you as often!

I started with a designer card, but changed the colors and elements. I just kept the layout and stitching. This program is so easy to manipulate. I absolutely love it!!!

This card is for the Limited Supplies challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. You are to make a THANKFUL card with a bird on it. Fun and easy challenge and I think this card took about 5 minutes to make!

3 Clean and Simple cards for you

Here are 3 of the cards I've made this week. I haven't posted for a while so I thought I'd share all 3 today! If you are planning on coming to my next card-making class you may be making one or more of these! Simple card. I used markers to color the image with brown and red. There's also a row of piercing and scoring lines. I love this color combination!
Stampin' Up! supplies: Little Holiday Wishes, brads, Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Kraft, White

So elegant! I used Autumn days to stamp in the shape of a wreath. I love the added piercing and tearing. The white background is embossed with texturz.

Stampin' Up! supplies: Autumn Days, texturz embossing, Big Shot, bravo burgundy ribbon, always artichoke, white, kraft, ruby red

Clean layout with pop-ups! I used various shades of blue and used a circle punch to cut out some smaller snowflakes and pop them up with Stampin' Dimensionals! The one snowflake by the greeting has a clear rhinestone in the center. I also used word window punch to layer blue behind it so it looks like a shadow.

Stampin' Up! supplies: Snow Swirled, circle punch, rhinestones, word window punch, Bashful blue, white, night of navy, brocade blue

Thanks for looking. I should be getting MY DIGITAL STUDIO anyday now and am so looking forward to playing with that!!!

RECIPE for fun! EjoyVC10

Hi there challenge lovers! This week is another recipe challenge! Please join along. I'd love to see your card, you can link below with Mr. Linky. If you upload to a gallery, please use the code EjoyVC10!

So, what's the recipe...
1. Use ONE ribbon
2. Participate in TWO challenges!
3. Choice - Use THREE punches/die cuts And/OR use THREE different textures
4. Embellishments in FOUR corners!

The recipe for my card...

1 Old Olive Striped Ribbon

2 Challenges - EjoyVC10 and SASC34 (a sketch from Stampin Addicts)

3 Textures - black textured paper, silver embosssed image, distressed edges

3 Punches - Ticket corner punch, corner rounder, horizontal slot punch

4 brads in the corner

I just found the Stampin Addicts this week. It's a fun website. If you have time, check it out.

Happy tags

Here's the card I made this morning! Again I combined some challenges to have a starting point for this card. I started with colors from Pals Paper Arts challenge - Ruby Red, Taken with Teal, Basic Gray.
I used a sketch from a few weeks ago from Clean & Simple Stamping - Fall-To-Layout #64

The taken with teal strip is texturz embossed. The star is a die cut. I created the tags with word window punch, a circle punch, eyelets and linen thread. I poked a hole in the happy sentiment and threaded through there and tied it. Very simple card layout and a nice way to use the sentiments from the Happy Everything stamp set. Here's a close up so you can see some of the details better:

Stampin' Up supplies: eyelets, linen thread, texturz embossing, word window punch, circle punches, Happy Everything stamp set, Stars die cut

Colors: White, Basic Gray, Ruby Red, Taken with Teal, black

Winter Wonderland

Outside enjoying winter!

Our first snow pictures of the year.