4 Views of Christmas

I wanted to see how this would look using 4 different types of "sparkle." This is a simple card to make. You just have to determine which look you like the best.

Materials needed to do all 4 versions:
Old Olive card stock  4 1/4 5 1/2"
Tempting Turquoise card stock 4 1/4 x 5"
 Basic Gray card stock  4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Evergreen stamp set (#127973)
Calm Christmas stamp set (#132739)
Clear Embossing Powder (#109130)
Gold Embossing Powder (#109129)
Dazzling Diamonds Glitter (#102023)
Heat Tool (#129053)
Heat & Stick Powder (#100625)
Season of Style Designer Washi Tape (#132155)
Patterned paper 2 x 3 1/2"
Whisper White card stock
Pear Pizzazz ink
Old Olive ink
Primrose Petals In Color ink
Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)

1. Place a strip of Washi tape across the center of the card stock.
2. Use 2 step stamping to stamp Christmas trees from the Evergreen stamp set on white card stock. Use the lighter color, Pear Pizzazz, for the solid tree and the darker color, Old Olive, to stamp the highlights on top.
3. Stamp the highlight stamp from Evergreen stamp set with VersaMark over the trees. Use Heat & Stick Powder and glitter, or embossing powder and your heat tool to add to the trees.
4. Cut out the tree loosely around the outside edge. Adhere the tree to the small patterned paper or pop it above the paper with Stampin' Dimensionals. Adhere this to the center over the Washi tape.
5. Add the "Peace on Earth" greeting to the top of the card.
The first card picture here has clear embossing powder on the tree. You can't see it but you can feel it.

This tree is simply 2 step stamped with nothing else added. Because the Tempting Turquoise card stock is a little smaller, I stamped Peace on Earth on the top & bottom of the base card. I then centered the card front on that.

This tree has Dazzling Diamonds glitter on it. It's hard to see on here but you can see it on the card. Because the Tempting Turquoise card stock was a bit smaller, I adhered it to the center of the front section of a basic gray card base.

This tree has the tree outline in gold embossing powder. I think it is the one that shows up best but it's just in whatever look you are wanting.
On the last 2 cards, I also stamped the greeting on white card stock and punched it out with my Extra large Oval punch (#119859). One of them I adhered directly to the card stock. The other one I popped up with dimensionals.

I hope you enjoy seeing different ways of doing the same basic design and I hope that this gives you different ideas on how to make cards using different mediums.

Getting Ready for Christmas

I know that it's still 3 months until Christmas but as all crafters know, if you want to have things ready in time, you've got to start making them now. Whether it's hand crafted gifts or cards, the good crafter plans ahead. Well, I'm not planning so well this year. Usually by now, I've got 80-90 Christmas cards ready & waiting for addresses but not this year! I've made 6 or 7 different cards so far but have not decided which one I want to use for this year's card. I may just make several of each & send out a variety this year. Here's the first one for you to start getting your own ideas.

This is a fun card if you like glitter. This is hubby's favorite one so far but I'm not the biggest glitter person!

Materials needed:
Marina Mist card stock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Dazzling Diamonds glitter (#102023)
Heat & Stick Powder (#100625)
Heat Tool (#129053)
Calm Christmas stamp set (#132739)
Midnight Muse In Color ink or Night of Navy ink
Versa Mark  pad (#102283)

1. Rub the VersaMark pad across the bottom half of the Marina Mist card stock making a curvy pattern at the top part. Cover the area completely with VersaMark. Be sure there are no empty spaces.
2. Using a clean sheet of paper to collect the excess powder, sprinkle the entire section of VersaMark with the Heat & Stick powder. Shake off any excess powder and pour excess back into bottle. Heat the powder until it looks almost liquid.
3. Sprinkle Dazzling Diamonds glitter over the wet heat & stick powder. Shake off excess and pour into bottle. Heat set the glitter.
4. Stamp the dove with Midnight Muse ink on the top left hand side. Stamp the Peace on Earth greeting with Midnight Muse on the center right, above(not on) the glitter section. This stamp set includes a great greeting that you can stamp on the inside of the card. "Wishing you a calm & blessed Christmas filled with the true peace of Christ the Lord." I like this greeting so much that I think I will use it for the inside on matter which outside design I choose.
I'll post more Christmas card ideas, here & there as I continue to post various fall cards.

Grateful Glitter

Here's another fun glitter fall card!

Materials needed:
Tangerine Tango cardstock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" plus extra
Whisper White cardstock 2 3/4 x 4 1/4" plus extra
Truly Grateful stamp set (#131733)
Chevron Embossing Folder (#127749)
Brayer (#102395)
Sponge Dauber (#102892)
Tangerine Tango ink
More Mustard ink
Brights Brads Collection (#119740)
Extra Large Oval Punch (#119859)
Large Oval Punch (#119855)
Epic Day This and That Washi tape (#131269)
VersaMark ink pad (#102283)
Heat and Stick powder (#100625)
Dazzling Diamonds Glitter (#102023)
Heat Tool (#129053)
Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)

1. Rub the Tangerine Tango 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" card stock with VersaMark ink. Rub this over half of the card with a nice solid layer. Sprinkle heat and stick powder over it. Use an extra sheet of paper to catch the excess powder. Tap off excess onto the paper and pour it back into the container. Use the heat tool to heat the heat & stick powder until it is shiny. Sprinkle glitter over the powder. Tap off extra and put excess into glitter container. Use the heat tool to set the glitter. Lay this piece aside.
2. Ink the Chevron Embossing Folder with Tangerine Tango ink to do the Color and Emboss technique. Emboss the 2 3/4 x 4 1/4" piece of white card stock with the embossing folder and your Big Shot machine. Adhere this piece to the left hand side of the glittered tangerine tango card stock placing it about 3/4" from the left edge. Place a strip of orange Washi Tape down the side of the embossed piece and the side of the Tangerine Tango piece.
3. Stamp the wheat staff on white card stock with More Mustard ink. Punch it out with the Decorative Label punch or a similar punch. Use the sponge dauber and More Mustard ink to ink the edges of the label. Add Stampin' Dimensionals to the back of this piece. Place it in the center of the Chevron embossed piece. 
4. Use the Extra large oval punch to punch out an oval from the extra Tangerine Tango card stock. Stamp your greeting on white card stock and punch it out with the Large Oval punch. Adhere the greeting on to the Tangerine Tango oval.
5. Attach the greeting ovals to the right side of the card with brads.
This gives you another bright & glitterly card to send to friends.

Fall Thanks

With fall almost here on the calendar, I felt like doing some fallish colors. This card could be used for Thanksgiving or just to thank someone for a special deed or time. I'm not real big on Halloween and may or may not do any Halloween cards. I do like the oranges, reds, and browns of fall though and enjoy doing things with them. Hope you enjoy this card.

Materials needed:
Whisper White cardstock
Tangerine Tango cardstock 2 1/2 x 3 1/2"
Kraft cardstock
Tangerine Tango ink pad
Crumb Cake ink pad
Truly Grateful stamp set (#131733)
Curly Label punch (#119851)
Extra large Oval punch (#119859)
Modern Label punch (#119849)
Sponge Dauber (#102892)
Chevron Embossing Folder (#127749)
Brayer (#102395)
VersaMark ink pad (#102283)
Heat & Stick Powder (#100625)
Dazzling Diamonds Glitter (#102023)
Hung Up Cute Clips (#129389)
Candy Dots Brad Bases (#132293)
Brights Candy Dots (#130931)
Heat Tool
Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)

1. Use your Brayer to ink the embossing folder with Tangerine Tango ink to do the Color and Emboss technique. (Click the link for instructions for this technique.) Emboss the white cardstock with the Chevron embossing folder and your Big Shot.
2. Rub the VersaMark ink pad on top of the Chevron embossed cardstock so that the ink sticks to just the raised lines on the right half of the card. Using a piece of paper to catch the excess powder, sprinkle Heat & Stick powder over the card. Shake off excess. Pour excess from paper back into Heat & Stick container. Use your heat tool to heat the powder just until it get shiny.
3. Using paper again, sprinkle the Dazzling Diamonds glitter over the Heat & Stick powder. Tap off excess. Pour excess glitter back in glitter container. Use your heat tool on the glitter to set it.
4. Stamp the wood grain pattern with Crumb Cake ink onto white cardstock. Stamp the acorn with Tangerine Tango ink and the "Thankful for..." greeting with Tangerine Tango ink. Cut out the rectangle around the wood grain pattern. Cut out the acorn. 
5. Use the Modern Label punch to cut out the greeting. Dab Tangerine Tango ink on a sponge dauber and ink the edges of the Modern Label punch.
6. Punch out an Extra Large Oval and a Curly Label from Kraft cardstock. 
7.  Adhere the wood grain pattern onto the Tangerine Tango cardstock rectangle. Adhere the acorn on top of the Kraft oval. Place a Stampin' Dimensional under the Kraft oval. Place this in the center of the wood grain stamped card stock. 
8. Place a clip arrow on the bottom of the wood grain piece. Add dimensionals to the back of the Tangerine Tango and place on the left hand side of the card slightly overlapping the glittered area.
9. Adhere the Curly Label punched piece to the right hand side and place the greeting over it. Attach the greeting with brads.
10. Adhere the card front to the card base and you are finished.
Have fun with the glitter, dimension and clips on this card!

Boy with Balloon and Flag

Materials needed:
Island Indigo cardstock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Crushed Curry In Color cardstock 3 3/4 x 1 3/4" & a scrap at least 3 x 3"
Whisper White cardstock
Versa Mark Pad (#102283)
Staz On Ink pad, black (#101406)
Watercolor Paper (#122959)
Crushed Curry In Color ink pad
Little Friends stamp set (#122667)
Hearts a Flutter stamp set (#129252)
Hearts a Flutter Framelits Dies (#130159)
Brights Collection Brads (#119740)
1/2" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon So Saffron (#113699)
Heat and stick powder (#100625)
Dazzling Diamonds Glitter (#102023)
Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)
Modern Label punch (#119849)
Word Window punch (#119857)
3/16" Corner punch (#119871)
Stampin' Markers, 2-3 shades of each color used
Blender Pen (#102845)
Heat Tool

1.  Using Staz On ink, stamp your image on watercolor paper (cardstock will work but watercolor paper is better). Color the image with your Stampin' Markers and blender pens. You need 3 shades of most of the colors you want. Start coloring with the lightest color first. Then use the blender pen to smooth the color out. Add the medium color color next to the areas that you want shading. Blend that color. Use the darkest color last to complete your shading. (For a tutorial on this, go to SplitCoast Sampers and search for Marker Layering).
I'm still playing around with the skin colors. On this little boy, I used Saraha Sand and Creamy Caramel for his skin tones.
2. Adhere the completed image to the Crushed Curry cardstock. Put a Stampin' Dimensional under the balloon. Use the Corner punch to round the corners. Adhere this section to the front left hand side.
3. Adhere a stip of ribbon about 5 1/2 -6" long down the right side of the card wrapping the ribbon ends around the edge of the card.
4. Stamp your greeting on white cardstock with Crushed Curry ink. Punch it our with the Word Window punch. Place that on a Crushed Curry punched with the Modern Label Punch. Punch holes on each end of the Modern Label and the Island Indigo cardstock. Add Marina Mist brads to hold it in place over the ribbon.
5. With Crushed Curry ink, stamp a tag image from the Hearts a Flutter set on white cardstock. Stamp the same image on top of it with a VersaMark pad. (If you are worried about lining it up, use a Stamp-a-ma-jig [#101049]. Since I almost always use clear mount stamps, I usually just eye-ball it.)
6. Lay a sheet of paper on your table to catch the excess and sprinkle the tag with Heat & Stick powder. Tap it off. Heat the powder with your heat tool to melt the powder. Sprinkle the Dazzling Diamonds glitter on top. Heat it briefly.
7. Use the  Hearts a Flutter die that matches your image and your Big Shot to cut it out. Place Stampin' Dimensionals on the back and place it over the ribbon near the center.
8. Attach the card front to a card base and get ready to mail!

Cherry Blossom Card

I posted a quick tip one day last week about using stickers that can be found on sheets of postage stamps and other places. Here are some more details about the card that I posted that day.

Regal Rose cardstock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Gumball Green cardstock 2 x 4 1/4"
Polka Dot Parade DSP (#126902) 1 3/4 x 4"
Whisper White cardstock 2 x 4 1/4"
Fabulous Florets stamp set (#123027)
Primrose Petals In Color ink pad
Tenny Tiny Wishes stamp set (#127802)
Gumball Green 3/8" stitched stain ribbon (#126848)
2 brads from 3/16" Subtles Brads collection (#119738)
Word Window punch (#119857)
Trio Flower punch (#109183 retired)
Dazzling Diamonds glitter (#102023)

For the stamped flowers, I used the "stamp off" techniques. It's very simple. I loaded my stamp up with the color and then stamped the image 3 different times on the cardstock without reinking. That gave me 3 shades of the same color on the cardstock. Then I inked and stamped 3 more times. After I cut the cardstock to size, I inked the edges with the  cardstock directly to the ink pad.

Hope you have a great time stamping!