Joyful Christmas

 Materials needed:

Joyful Christmas stamp set (#131805)
Old Olive card stock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Night of Navy card stock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Whisper White card stock
Scallop Edge Border punch (#119882)
Primrose Petals In Color ink pad
Old Olive Stampin' Writer marker
Sponge dauber
Stampin' Dimenionals (#104430)
Top Note Bigz Die (#113463)
Big Shot machine

1. Using Primrose Petals ink, stamp the poinsettia from the Joyful Christmas stamp set on white card stock. With scissors, cut around the outside edge of the flower. Color the berries with the Old Olive marker. Adhere it to the center of the Old Olive card stock.
2. Stamp the "Joyful" greeting from the stamp set on white card stock. With your scallop edge border punch, punch around all four sides of the greeting to make a scalloped rectangle.
3. Use a sponge dauber to daub ink on the edges of the greeting.
4. With the Top Note die, cut out the Night of Navy card stock. Be careful to line it up carefully as you will be using the outside part of this. Put the center label part aside to save for the card on Wednesday.
5. Use Stampin' Dimenionals to adhere the Top Note "frame" to the Old Olive card stock. Watch to keep the poinsettia in the center of the framed area. Put 2 dimenionals on the back of the right hand side of the joyful greeting. Put adhesive on the left side of the greeting back. Place the greeting over the frame on the left hand side. The dimenionals on the right side will have this even across the poinsettia.
6. Adhere the card front on a card base. Add a greeting or note on the inside. There is a great one in this stamp set. And you are ready to send this Christmas greeting to a friend.

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.

Layered Poppies

I just love the Simply Sketched Hostess stamp set! Here's a card I made with it today.

Materials needed:
Simply Sketched hostess stamp set (#129672)
Framelits Window Frame Collection dies (#129021)
Island Indigo cardstock, 4 1/4x 5 1/4"
First Edition Specialty DSP (#121878) 4 x 5 1/4"
Marina Mist cardstock 4 1/2 x 4 1/2"
Whisper White cardstock
Watercolor paper (#122959)
Staz On Black ink
Melon Mambo marker
Gumball Green marker
Primrose Petals marker
Rose Red marker
Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)
Blender pen (#102845)
3/16" Corner punch (#119871)

1. Use your corner punch to round the corners of your patterned paper. Adhere the patterned paper on top of the Island Indigo cardstock.
2. With your Big Shot and Framelits die, cut the Marina Mist cardstock. The die I used is 3 3/4" square. Adhere this in the center of the patterned paper.
3.  Stamp the flowers with the Staz On ink onto watercolor paper. Use the marker layering technique to color the image. Cut this out with your scissors. Place Stampin' Dimensionals on the back of this image.
4. Use the brush end of the Melon Mambo marker to color the flower part of the stamp. Use the brush end of the Gumball Green marker to color the stems. Huff your breathe on the stamp to moisten it. Stamp 2 images with this on white cardstock. Using the stamp the second time will give you a dark image and a lighter image, as you see on the card.  Cut these out with scissors.
5. Adhere the 2 stamped flowers on the Marina Mist Framelits Window on each side. Pull the protective covering off of the Stampin' Dimensionals on the 3rd flower. Place it in the center of the Window, between the other 2 flowers.
6. Adhere the card front on top of a card base and be ready to send it at your next occassion!

Tag in a Pocket

Materials needed:
Birthday Basic DSP (#130145) 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Summer Starfruit card stock 2 3/4 x 2 1/4"
Whisper White card stock
Chalk Talk stamp set (#130634)
Chalk Talk Framelits dies (#129983)
Candy Dots Regals (#130932)
Ice Cream Parlor ribbon (#123613)
Raspberry Ripple In Color ink
Coastal Cabana In Color ink
Simply Scored Scoring Tool (#122334)

1. Stamp the tag from Chalk Talk with Raspberry Ripple ink on white card stock. Use the Chalk Talk Framelits die and your Big Shot to cut out the tag.
2. Score the Summer Starfruit card stock 1/4" from the edge on 3 sides. Fold. Add adhesive to the folded edges and press onto the center of the patterned paper to make a pocket.
3. Place a Candy Dot on each corner of the pocket. You can use brads here, either colored ones or put the coordinating candy dots on the Candy Dot brads if you want to secure the pocket more strongly but I didn't feel it necessary.  The candy dots give the impression of brads by themselves. Slide the tag into the pocket.
4. Cut 12" of ribbon. Wrap the ribbon around the card front and tie in a knot.
5. Adhere the card front to a card base and you are done.

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.

Swinging Circle Card

The new Thinlits Circle Card Die is fun and makes making circle cards so much easier. The old way to make a card like this was a lot of cutting, pasting, & adding string between layers. Now with the Circle Card die, you just run it through your Big Shot and decorate! Fun & easy!

From this angle you can see that the circle flips back & forth to make a really fun card when it's standing. When it comes out of the envelope, it is closed & looks like this.

Open give you this look.

So how do we make this fun card? Here goes!

Materials needed:
Circle Card Thinlits Die (#133480)
Tangerine Tango card stock 5 1/2 x 6"
Epic Day This and That DSP (#130814) 5 1/2 x 6"
Whisper White card stock
coordinating patterned paper (what I used is 2-3 yrs old)
Perfect Punches stamp set (#120516)
Really Good Greetings set (#130333)
2 3/8" Scallop Circle punch (#118874)
Extra large oval punch (#119859)
1 3/4" Circle punch (#119850)
Chevron Border punch (#132154)
Old Olive ink
Stampin' Dimenionals (#104430)

1. Run the Tangerine Tango card stock and the Epic Day patterned paper through your Big Shot. You can probably run them through at the same time but it depends on your machine. Fold the Tangerine Tango card on the fold lines. If you will fold these back & forth a few times it will move easier.
2. On the patterned paper, cut on the score lines. Lay the patterned paper so that it will fit around the circle area and up to the score lines. This will leave you with about 3/4" of Tangerine Tango open. Adhere the patterned paper to cover both sides of the Tangerine Tango card stock.
3. Use the Chevron Border punch to cut out some V shaped chevron pieces from Tangerine Tango card stock. You need 3 pieces. If you have used the punch before, you might have some pieces left over. I had some left from the Harvest Blessings card with the tractor. Adhere these pieces pointing down on the bottom right side of the card.
4. Punch out 2 scallop circles from the coordinating patterned paper. Adhere them to each side of the swinging circle.
5. Stamp the birthday greeting from the Perfect Punches stamp set and the "all about you" greeting from the Really Good Greetings set in Old Olive ink. Use the extra large oval punch to punch out the birthday and the 1 3/4" circle punch to punch out the all about you greeting.
6. Pop up the birthday greeting with Stampin' Dimensionals and place on the front circle. Adhere the other greeting to the back of the circle.
7. You can sign you name or write a short note on the 3/4" strip of Tangerine Tango on the inside or write more on the back of the card.

Harvest Time

 For me, the color of fall is orange. This card uses the Tangerine Tango orange in the cardstock and the patterned paper to give a nice fall look.

Materials needed:
Harvest Blessings stamp set (#126452)
Afternoon Picnic patterned paper (#131390) 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Whisper White cardstock
Tangerine Tango card stock 3 1/2 x 4 1/4"
Old Olive card stock 2 3/4 x 3" plus extra scrap
Really Rust ink
Chevron Border punch (#132154)
Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)

1. Stamp your tractor image with Really Rust ink on white cardstock. Cut out, leaving a slight white border around the edge. Stamp your greeting and cut out the same way.
2. Adhere the tractor to the Old Olive rectangle. Adhere the greeting to Old Olive cardstock and cut around the edge.
3. Use the Chevron Border punch to punch the top of the Tangerine Tango card stock.
4. Use Stampin' Dimensionals to pop up the Old Olive and tractor image on the Tangerine Tango card stock, below the Chevron. Adhere this to the patterned paper. Adhere the greeting below the Tangerine Tango using Dimensionals.

5. Stamp the scripture on the inside of the card with Really Rust ink. Using the negative pieces from the Chevron punch, adhere an odd number of them to the inside under the message/greeting.
6. Add your own note and sign your name and you have a great fall card that will work well for a man or a woman.