Christmas card, Freshly Made Sketches #412

I'm very much enjoying coloring these days. It takes a little time, but is just plain old fun.
This is an Art Impressions design and the paper behind is Stampin Up Let It Snow DSP.
I used my SU watercolor pencils and my Aqua painter, it goes pretty fast.

I used my card today for the challenge this week at Freshly Made sketches.
The sentiment is from the Itty Bitty Christmas stamp collection, so many Christmas sentiments to choose from. 
If you look close you'll see the SU Ice Crystals as the snow.  I just put down some of the glue from the Fine tip glue pen and sprinkled on the crystals.   I also added a small border in black to bring it out, it just seem to enhance the design. 
Thanks for stopping in and checking it out.

Stampin Up, Christmas snowflake card

I decided to play around with the back side of one of the pieces from Feels like frost DSP.  They are all white and silver designs.  

I first used my brayer and the Night as Navy ink pad and inked up the piece of DSP, then very simply added the snowflakes in Sparkle Glimmer paper with a couple smaller ones in white, then added the sentiment and the ribbon.

The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Christmas stamp set, the ribbon is Seaside Spray metallic 1/4" ribbon, and I used reg Rhinestones for the small flakes and a blue one from the Nobile Peacock Rhinestone set, there are several colors in that.

The die for the sentiment is from the Rectangle Stitched dies.

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy the season, Christmas card, Freshly Made Sketches #410

Is there anything cuter then 2 cats and a dog singing Christmas carols?    What a fun set to color, I did all watercolor using my Aqua Painter.  I love that tool, I use it so much I need a new set. 
Check out Linda's Sketch challenge at FMS and join in.

I used red foil for the piece behind the image, and SU's new Ice glitter for the snow.  I simply put down some glue from the fine tip glue pen and then sprinkled on the Ice Glitter.  I gave it just a minute to dry and shook off any extra glitter that was still loose.

Thanks for stopping by. If you have questions, just leave a comment and I'll answer them the same way.  

Stampin Up, Wedding card

A fairly simple wedding card, the die does all the work.  I have 6 grandsons, altho all of them are old enough to be married, this is only the 2nd one to do so.  His older brother still isn't, he just finished college and is on to a new job.

So, the kids are headed to Disneyworld after their wedding, not to honeymoon but to work. They have both been accepted as interns there, it includes living quarters for married interns.   I know they are excited about that. It should be interesting to see how life goes for them, I love that they are so down to earth, I think things will go well.

The die is retired, I hung onto it just for a purpose like this. I hope you are inspired to do something similar.  

Peace, A Christmas card. Freshly Made Sketches #409

I joined SU in May of 2012, in June the new annual catalog came out and we started a year of celebration for SU's 25th year.   Each month there was a new stamp set, each were a compilation of past best of images.  This Nativity is one in a set of 4 Christmas designs from the past, now past once again. LOL

I decided recently that I had so many stamp sets that it was impossible to even think about using any of the older sets, there were just too many.  So, I sold a bunch and kept just my favorites that I couldn't bare to part with.  This was one.

I used a piece of DSP from the Toile Tidings DSP.  Red on one side and green on the other for all the patterns in this set.   Other then that I just used Very Vanilla  and Garden Green Cardstock.   Also, I embossed using the new metallic stamp pad in Copper and Copper embossing powder, and Copper foil for my scallop oval and sentiment. 
I just sprinkled on a few tiny pearls for accent.

If you are looking to purchase the retired stamp set it's called Best of Christmas 2013. I'm not sure anyone has it still to sell, but you never know.
So, here is a link to the FMS#409 sketch challenge that inspired me this week.  

And here is a photo of the stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by.

Perfectly Plaid with sparkle Christmas card

Here is a fairly quick card, given some elegance by using Silver Glimmer paper for the center tree. I stamped the trees on the side with Shaded spruce on white simply because I thought using the green to cut them out would make them too dark, I did sponge the edges a bit to enhance the tree look.
My base is Shaded spruce, I cut my white at 5 1/2 by 4. the plaid paper is cut just a bit smaller then the white so it doesn't show, or you can cut it the size of the white, cutting the white down a bit more so the plaid shows on the edges.
I punched out a tree from printer paper, laid it on the center, then put down my green trees where I wanted them, then brought in the glimmer tree so it was right where I wanted it.

The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Christmas stamp set. All small sentiments, all Christmas/holiday.

Thanks for stopping by,  I hope you got some inspiration today.

Itty Bitty Christmas Cling Stamp Set (En)

$22.00

Pine Tree Punch

$18.00

Perfectly Plaid Photopolymer Stamp Set (En)

$17.00

Silver Glimmer Paper

$5.00

Stitched Nested Labels Dies

$35.00

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Beautiful Boughs Christmas card for FMS#408

Are you still thinking it's too early for Christmas?  I'm seeing that in some of my crafts groups, but if I don't start early enough, I don't get it done.  I have all my cards to make and some sewing/quilty/embroidery to get done. I should start in Jan, then enjoy my next season, but by then I'm really tired of it. 

So hard to see here, the silver box under the black, it looks dark at the top, but does show well on the right side. 
I used Soft Seafoam, Basic black, Crumb cake, Soft Suede. The white looking branches are Sparkle Glimmer paper, and the sentiment is from Itty Bitty Christmas .  I love that we have a whole set of small sentiments to choose from in one set, so glad I got this. I cut my branches out with Multipurpose adhisive on the back side, that way after cutting I just pull the liner sheet off and stick it down.
So, there is the link to Freshly Made sketches,  go check out all the projects, and consider playing along.
And here is the sketch! Lots of fun stuff you can do with this.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope I've given you some inspiration today.

Poinsettia Christmas card and snowflakes

This is the 2nd poinsettia card made in a very similiar way, using a different Poinsettia.
The first is below this post.

I used Cherry cobbler and whisper white and Pear Pizzazz. I also used the Delicata Shimmery Silver ink, just stamped it on for the little snowflakes and stamped and embossed before cutting out the Poinsettia.  I used the retired SU  Music background to emboss.   I cut a piece of silver foil about 1/4" larger then my snowflake stamped piece for underneath.    I stamped and embossed the sentiment as well.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Stampin up poinsettia Christmas card, Just Add Ink #479 challenge

Inspired by the jai challenge this week.  Check it out here.

Besides these colors, I also used some silver. The holly on the center piece is stamped using the new Delicato Shimmery Silver ink.  It's the first embossing ink I've ever come across that looks great without embossing.  I did emboss it on the sentiment however.

I used the retired Peaceful Poinsettia stamps and Detailed Poinsettia dies. And that is just about all there is to this card, I did use a piece of silver foil so it shows on the outside edges of my center panel. 

I hope you got some inspiration from me today, thanks for stopping.

Ride with Me Thank you card, Paper Players #462

I really had to think about getting the set.  It didn't seem like one I'd use much, but hubby was very positive when I showed it to him, so I did get it, the whole bundle.  I'm still not sure how much I'll use the die for the truck, but it's really a fun set and very much on trend.
I'm playing with Paper players this week, I had a need for a thank you card for Thanksgiving dinner and now that is out of the way.   Our friends have a big week long Thanksgiving celebration where people come with their RV's  or even stay in the guest room or get a motel room.  Their friends and family have become friends of our over the years since we moved here and are too far from our kids to have dinner with them.

Check out the rest of the cards here.

I used my Aqua painter for the coloring on this card, the truck color was done to make it look like an old farm truck taking pumpkins to the patch or away from the patch.
I spent 20 yrs as a school bus driver and this so much reminds me of all the class trips in the fall, to pumpkin patches and apple farms.   Often my bus came back with a case of apple I'd bought for home, then there was always that very special apple dessert I had to buy.

You will find Ride with Me in the 2019/2020 annual catalog, buy it now and get the bundle price, my trees are from Winter Woods.
Colors used are: Soft Suede, Pumpkin Pie, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, black, Mossy Meadow and the new Belicata Silvery Shimmer for the metal parts on the truck.

Have a great pumpkin season and thanks for stopping.

Ride With Me Photopolymer Stamp Set

$21.00

Truck Ride Dies

$37.00

Winter Woods Cling-Mount Stamp Set

$23.00

Silvery Shimmer Delicata Metallic Ink Pad

$11.00

Silvery Shimmer Delicata Metallic Ink Refill

$9.00

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Quick and easy Christmas cards using Designer series paper

I've never done this before, usually I do my cards one at a time and post them often using a challenge for inspiration.  But this year I'm spending a lot of time making embroidered wall hangings for my children and I wanted some quick and easy but still beautiful cards to speed things up.

I also have never been one who liked to rely on DSP for so much of my card, but this years paper is THE most gorgeous I've ever seen and I really wanted to show it off.

I confess, I didn't buy the whole snowman stamp and punch set, just the DSP, so I cropped this out using an oval die, Cut some branches from Peaceful Boughs dies out and layered it all over the backside of one of the papers in the Let it Snow DSP.  If you really want some sparkle you could use glimmer paper for the branches.

The Oh Holy Night card, (that sentiment is a die I had from long ago). Was done using It Feels like Frost DSP, my favorite of all the new papers.  So many different scenes to be used and each one is gorgeous.   So, I didn't do much, just cut my die, and put on a stitched square piece, added the one small branch both out of Silver foil, and also punched out 3 stars for it, so quick. 

Warmest Winter Wishes card, done on the stunning copper embossed Brightly Gleaming DSP. I used a small strip of copper foil in each side of the DSP, added some foil die cut leaves and a sentiment, again so quick and easy. 

And my last one, done one Toile Tidings DSP, one side of this is all in red the other all in green and there are several different scenes throughout the pack.

That's about it for today, I hope you can take away some inspiration from these and do your own.  Thanks for stopping by.

Merry Christmas Tall tree, #PaperPlayers challenge #460

For the past several years I've been holding onto 2 packs of red #10 envelopes, and I think I've only used one. I bought them after Christmas one year because they had them marked down to 50cents a pack, but I just never could decide on a design for that size.
So, go over here to see what the team has done with this challenge.

 

So, this week the Paper Players has a tall card  challenge, so did I make this sized for those envelopes? Nope, I thought about it then ended up using a 4x6 envelope size, so this is just a tad under that to fit inside.

I made my tree by simply embossing the retired poinsettia folder onto Whisper White then I colored in a few of them just because I love color.  The first layer is one of the new DSP's.  The side of this paper is the really popular one with all the gorgeous frosty scenes, but the back side is fabulous on it's own. Several different designs using silver.

After embossing I used my trimmer to cut the large triangle, then used a tiny piece of copper I had laying around for my trunk.  I stamped and fussy cut the tiny poinsettia for the top and that was about it.

You could easily do this on a standard A2 card, just cut your tree smaller.  The die I used for the sentiment came from the Beautiful Boughs bundle set.

Feels Like Frost Specialty 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper

$14.50

Beautiful Boughs Dies

$35.00

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Tis the Season Christmas card, Freshly Made sketches#403

I love what the team did at FMS for clean and simple, but I never really like my own. I usually prefer to put color all over the place using watercolor and?   But here it is.  For some reason, for someone who doesn't do can well, I do love the challenge over at FMS.

Check it out for yourself.   

 I do love the contrast with the Night of Navy and the white, I also added just a touch of glimmer paper for fun.   And of course, an embossing folder.  If I had to pick just one tool, the embossing folders would be that tool.   So much bang for your buck and they are under $10.

Right now I'm on a mission to get my Christmas cards done inbetween Machine embroider/quilting projects for my gifts.  Then I slipped in a couple of Fall ME/quilting items.    The only thing I've managed to complete are cards, but I'm working on it.

I do hope I've given you an idea or two, this weeks card is a combo of new and retired product.  I just decided this year, I had to use some of those wonderful retired sets I love so much. 
Happy Stamping.

Poinsettia Christmas card, Freshly Made Sketches#402

Inspiration for this card came from this weeks sketch at fms#402.  Lately I've been using a lot of different colors for my Christmas cards, that's always fun. But today I've used Merry Merlot and Shaded Spruce for a more traditional look.

The plaid is from Wrapped In Plaid DSP, and the holly is from the Detailed Skate dies.

The team cards are really special this week, be sure to check them out.  

I've actually gotten quite a few cards completed for Christmas, that's a good thing because I've decided to make embroidered  wall hangings for my family for Christmas and that's taking a lot of time.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Quick and easy Christmas card

Just a quick upload today to show you how easy a Christmas card  can be.  This is a piece of the new Holiday DSP Feels Like frost.  I added the deer, santa and sleigh and the sentiment. Done. 
There are so many different designs to this DSP, and so many sets with things you can add and ways to add them. 

I hope you enjoyed and it gave you some inspiration. Thanks for stopping.

Dove of Peace Christmas, Just Add Ink #473

I know, I haven't been posting much lately.  I am working on Christmas cards, but otherwise I am having a great time making embroidered, quilted wall hangings for my family for Christmas. 
This stamp is retired, but I didn't get to use it much way back when I bought it and it just seemed perfect for this card. 

The DSP is Brightly Gleaming.  So many beautiful, metallic patterns! Then there is the other side.  Also beautiful patterns, but not metallic, so a very nice and usable pack. 
So, my inspiration this week was from Just Add Ink. Check them out here.

As you can see, I chose Metallics and twine.  My bird is also embossed in Copper, which of course makes is super easy to color.  I didn't take a lot of time with the coloring this time. I just used my Aqua Painter and ink pads put lightly put down just 2 colors, Soft Seafoam and Pretty Peacock.  The leaves are from the Lovely Flowers Edgelits, it just seemed to fit in.

I also added some Frost Shimmer paint, if you look close I think you can see it on the leaves.  It's hard in a photo, but beautiful in person.  Sorry to say, the gold twine is also retired, couple of years ago I think, but I'd love more metallic twine.

As an alternative you could stamp the dove on vellum, color the back side and have a whole different look. 
Thanks for stopping by.

Metallic Ornament card, Freshly Made Sketches #400

So, this is a very special week at FMS.  Their 400th week of doing the sketch challenge.  Go on over and check out the team cards and the special  doings.

And, here is the sketch.

Now, about this card, it is so hard to get a good photo of metallic shine.  I'll post another photo down a bit that might help with that.  I used one of 2 sets of ornament stamp and die sets that I have that retired.  If you have one or both of them, you are going to want this DSP! Look at all the matching and metallic shine.
If you don't have one, then the Christmas Gleaming bundle is for you! Personally I think one of these ornament sets is mandatory.  And be sure to get the DSP, which just happens to be by the same name.
This is my 2nd time using the new copper metallic ink. And I am in love.  If you are going to do a resist technique, then you need to emboss, but if not, you can have that gorgeous bright shine just by stamping with these new inks. Besides Copper, it comes in Silver and Gold and there are refills.
My supply list was very simple, I used Very Vanilla, Pretty Peacock and copper.    And I used the retired Ornament Keepsakes stamp and die set, Merry Christmas dies, And the  metallic ink pad.

 I think the shine shows up better in the photo.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope I have inspired you.

Merry Christmas Dies

$28.00

Celestial Copper Delicata Metallic Ink Pad

$11.00

Brightly Gleaming Specialty Designer Series Paper

$14.50

Watercolor fun, A Christmas Card. Paper Players #456

A Bit of play with the Pigment sprinkles.  I would have done Red and green, but there is no red unfortunately, but I think the Bermuda Bay and Gorgeous Grape will do very well.  I actually ended up with way more color then I wanted, I just forgot how little it takes.  So, I had to dab and take some off, spread around, dab some more.  Take my word for it, tiny amounts to start.

I'm in love with this bundle, it's called the Free Skate stamp set with dies to match.  In order to keep the color down on the skates, I used Pool Party CS. I could have used the Posy CS instead, but went with this.

Before I go on, you'll want to check out the challenge to see what everyone else did.

Now, to start with that copper color that looks embossed, isn't.  This is a new metallic we have in the Holiday catalog. It comes in Silver and gold as well as the copper.  As you can see it looks wonderful, shiny and bright even without embossing and it dries fairly quickly.
So, here is a better look at the copper.

After stamping and coloring in the other colors, I just took a tiny drop of refill ink and used it to brush in the copper for the blades.   I only got copper, but I am for sure going to add the silver and gold to my next order!

Free Skate Bundle

$45.00

Free Skate Cling Stamp Set

$21.00

Detailed Skate Dies

$29.00

Christmas Layers Dies

$29.00

Celestial Copper Delicata Metallic Ink Pad

$11.00

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