Beary Comforting: A Paper Pumpkin Thing

Happy New Year to everyone!  I'm thrilled to have you visiting my blog today as part of the "A Paper Pumpkin Thing" hop.  This month's kit, Beary Comforting, is full of adorable elements to make some great cards.  I love the drawing style of the bears and accessories along with the colors.  The palette is not too crazy nor too blasé, it's beary comforting.

This card is based on a 4 1/4" x 11" piece of Soft Suede Cardstock.  I also included a Soft Seafoam circle cut with the Layering Circles Dies.  I love the way this duel scored card easily folds over the circular greeting layers.  It's simple to create yet packs a big punch of pizzaz.

This second card is a classic "pull on the tab pop up card."  I created it on a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" Rich Razzleberry Cardstock base and added a layer of Calypso Coral.  The main layers and window were cut using the Stitched Nesting Labels Dies.

It's always fun to receive a Paper Pumpkin Kit and then sit down to stamp and craft.  It's also fun to make alternative projects using elements from the kit.  Keep hopping to get more and more ideas using the pieces from December's Beary Comforting Kit.

Cue the Confetti it's Monday Montage

I made this spunky card a while back and thought it would be good to share for our Monday Montage Hop.  Cue the confetti because there are just a couple days left of 2020; it's almost time to ring in a New Year!

This party themed card features the Playing with Patterns Suite.  I've used the Pattern Play Stamp Set, Playful Alphabet Dies, Playing with Patterns DSP, and the Playing with Patterns Resin Dots. That's lots of the suite!

I did pull out a couple other set of dies to complete this card.  For the greeting I grabbed the Rectangle Stitched Dies to perfectly frame the words.  And, to make the shaker globe I used the Snow Globe Scenes Dies and a matching Snow Globe Shaker Dome.

I have included a couple home made touches.  First, I hand punched my own confetti from Whisper White, Crushed Curry, Purple Posy, and Night of Navy Cardstocks.  Second, I threaded my sewing machine with yellow thread to add the whimsical stitched frame around the entire card.

Thanks for stopping by.  If you are working in reverse and clicking "back" you will be joining Dani.  Or, click on the "next" to hang out with Julie for a bit.  I do wish you all a happy and safe New Year.  May 2021 be awesome for you all!  Enjoy and keep on stampin'.

#TGIF295 Tree Tags

Right now I am in need of tags to match some of my gift wrap.  So, I combined our "Christmas Tree" inspiration theme challenge at #TGIF295 with my need for red and black tags.

With time flying by and a super long list of things "to do" I thought I would jam out some quick and easy, yet still super fancy gift tags.  These Real Red, Basic Black, and Whisper White tags match my wrapped packages perfectly.  I love the touch of Plaid Tidings DSP in the punched tree window and the red Wonder Gems finish the tags with just the right amount of pretty.

Wishes and Wonder for Monday Montage

I'm so glad to have you visiting today, or tonight, to check out our Monday Montage Blog Hop.  We are all stampers who love Stampin' Up! products and we get a kick out of sharing what we've been creating.  For me, I have loved stamping with the Wonder of the Season Suite of products which include the Wishes and Wonder Stamp Set and the North Pole Wonder Dies.  These stamps and matching dies are just my style.  I've made tons of cards, boxes, tags, and bags with this bundle so I thought I would share just a few.

This first card is rather striking in real life.  It includes no stamping.  Instead I highlighted the Wonder of the Season Specialty DSP.  The paper is gorgeous with it's red and gold foil designs.  I fussy cut this beautiful bell image, layered it on a gold and white text paper, and mounted it on a Basic Grey card base.  WOW, the gold, white, and grey is SO rich.

For the "Merry Christmas" greeting is used the Word Wishes Dies to cut Brass Foil.  I have a huge love for the brass color foil as it is super vibrant.  Do you see the row of triangles at the bottom? That's the edge of  the tag from the North Pole Wonders Dies.  Always look close for multiple ways to use your tools.

I can't say it enough that "I love the look of this card!"  The mix of colors, textures, sparkle, and layout just make me happy.  This is one of those cards that I'm just thrilled with the finished look.

My colors are Misty Moonlight, Basic Grey, Balmy Blue, Whisper White, and Vellum.

All the glitz comes from Wink of Stella, Basic Rhinestones, Balmy Blue Glimmer Paper, Silver Foil, and Frost White Shimmer Paint.

I colored the sleigh image with light and dark Stampin' Blends in Seaside Spray, Misty Moonlight, Smokey Slate, and Gray Granite.

The Wonder of the Season Suite includes a ribbon combo pack and some gems.  The gems are red and clear with gold flecks and swirls.  They are super pretty.  In the card below you can see the clear gems.  I tied the card with some of the gold cord that comes in the ribbon pack.

I love the simplicity of the color palette of this card.  Smokey Slate, Misty Moonlight, Whisper White, and a touch of gold.  

I wish you a joyful Christmas season and happy time doing a little blog hoppin'.  Your next stop is with the beautiful Julie Warnick.  I'm heading there too to see just what crafty creating she has been doing.

to Julie

to Dani

Time Saving Tips for Christmas Cards

When needing a few more Christmas cards and time is short I CASE, copy and share. I believe the easiest and fastest project to copy is one of your own! That is just what I did for this no layer streamlined card. My second time saving tip is to use your current most favorite stamp set. Right now the Peace and Joy images are number one on my list of best holiday stamps. When crafting with stamps (and colors) you're passionate about I believe the artist in you is set free to stamp up a storm.

My card is one layer/cardbase of Thick Whisper White.  I used a sponge brayer to add color Magenta Madness to the bottom half and Seaside Spray to the top.  I love how the two colors blend in the middle.  I stamped the images with both my sponge colors as well as Misty Moonlight and Highland Heather.  To get the perfect color blending on the "peace" image I used a Stamparatus.  The last color of ink I used was Night of Navy for the "to you and yours."  Take a close look at the Basic Rhinestones--they're pink.  A quick touch of a Magenta Madness Stampin' Blend and the silver gems glow a bright pink!

Classic Winter Colors

Lately my go to holiday colors include pinks and turquoises! I know that's not the typical, but I am not very normal. I like things a tad funky. With that said I do also have a soft spot for classic winter colors. These three colors, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, and Misty Moonlight are featured in our latest Hand Stamped Sentiments Challenge.

I chose to make tags that incorporate the challenge colors. I found that the Trimming the Town Designer Series Papers fit the color challenge, and my stampin' mood, perfectly. I made three because lets be real here, if all the supplies are out and you've got a good design, then make multiples. I always need lots of tags at this time of year.

The tags are based with a Stitched Nesting Label in Crumb Cake, a favorite neutral of mine.  Then I layered a Trimming the Town DSP circle which I cut using the Stitched Shapes Dies.  The next set of dies I grabbed were the Joy Dies because I love how they layer and make a strong visual statement.

I tucked a couple Old Olive leaves behind the greeting which I punched with the Sprig Punch. Misty Moonlight In Color 2020-2022 Ribbon tops each tag and is tied off with threads pulled from Real Red Braided Linen Trim. My last little touch for each tag is a trio of red Wonderful Gems.

Creation Station: Ice Ice Baby

Being that it's the beginning of December we, the Creation Station Design Team, decided to create projects suited to the chilly season. Our theme is "Ice Ice Baby." How fun is that? I love this theme because is gives me the big green light to use as much sparkle, shimmer, and shine as I want and then maybe if I want to, I can add more and more!

For my spin on our "icy" theme I thought a winter scene snow globe style card would be a perfect. I've used lots of cool products on this very chunky card. First things first, what stamp set did I use? That's easy, I inked up the Still Scenes Stamp Set. I grabbed Smokey Slate Ink and a few Stampin' Blends.

A chilly themed card called for a few musts. One, I had to use Shimmer Paste! You may not be able to see it, but the pine trees behind the winter scene are smeared with the glorious Shimmer Paste. Second, there had to be sequins and beads to shake in the snow globe. So, I sprinkled in lots of Snowflake Sequins. I even added more Adhesive Backed Snowflakes outside the snow globe.  

I can hardly wait to send you off to see what Mikaela has made to fit our Ice Ice Baby theme. Hop over and give her some love. Best wishes for a Merry Christmas Season.

#TGIF293 Hey There Friend

It's color challenge time at #TGIF293.  I blew this challenge!  For some reason I wasn't paying close enough attention to the details and I used the WRONG blue color.  I used Seaside Spray instead of Balmy Blue.  Both hues are soft shades of blue and are fabulous colors to have in your collection. (oh well, onward and upward, on with the show)

For this uber cute friendship card I inked up two stamp sets.  For the Highland Heather background I used Pattern Play, thanks to Melody Hyde for her inspiration, and for the greeting and donkey I used Darling Donkeys.  The second set is coming soon.  This January and February this charming set will be available as part of Stampin' Up!'s Sale-a-bration.

Don't you just love my Smokey Slate donkey with blue hooves, ears, and muzzle?  I am all for using challenge colors to create in fanciful palettes.  Who says it has to be realistic?  I love the unusual.  So, here's what I did to color the donkey.  I stamped the image with Smokey Slate Ink and then used Stampin' Blends in Smokey Slate and Seaside Spray.  I grabbed a Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Blend to add a hint of purple color to the Basic Rhinestones.