Simple Christmas

Here is a recent Christmas Card I made using my latest purchase "Spotlight on Christmas."  I'm a sucker for a stamp that goes with a punch - this set has mutiple stamps that were made for SU punches.  Makes for a quick and easy project, especially if you are making a lot of them!  The base card is Kraft, which I stamped randoml with the swirl in Sahara Sand ink.  I crimped the chocolate Chip and Riding Hood Red band (I'm on a Crimping kick lately!).  For the rest and I used Riding Hood Red ink on Very Vanilla card.  I punched out the Poinsettia with the 5 petal flower punch.  and the "joy" circle was punched out with the 11/4 circle punch and matted on a RHRed circle which was punched out with the 13/8 circle punch.   A couple of red brads finished the main flower, and I was done!  I utilised the "rule of three" here:  3 poinsettia, 3 brads, and the band is placed on roughly a third of the card.

I'm pleased with the way it turned out; simple enough to mass produce, but enough detail to keep it interesting.

Here is a beautiful Thank you card from my clever friend Barbara.  Isn't it gorgeous?  She's used the Polka Dot background stamp with Cheep Talk.  Love how she has cut out and popped up the pear.  So cute!

Recycling Retired Make & Takes

I was cleaning out my craft lair on the weekend (don't die of shock! I didn't say I finished the job, LOL) and found a lot of old Make and Take packets from the past 12 months of classes, workshops etc. A Make and Take packet is a paper bag filled with cardstock and ribbon etc cut and prepared for someone to make a card in a workshop or class environment. I found a dozen I'd made for a workshop I did during Sale-A- Bration in the beginning of the year - I massively over-prepared. I decided to make up the cards for my own personal use throughout the year, as my store of cards has somewhat depleted.

I particularly thought I'd make some sympathy cards because when there is a crisis, the last thing you want to do is think about a card to make, yet it is so very appreciated by the recipient.

Because I'm a Gemini, I get bored easily if I'm doing a repetitive task. I challenged myself to make each card slightly different while using the same prepared cardstock and colours in all of them. Please note that the cards were made with Groovy Guava, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla. Groovy Guava is retired, and no longer available for purchase. I really love this combination, which is funny because I HATED Groovy Guava when I first saw it, and didn't even purchase any until it had less than six months to go.

Anyway, the main theme here is that even if you use exactly the same colours and sizes of cardstock, you can get completely different cards. Try it yourself sometime!

The ingredients are as follows (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated):

Stamps: Polka Dot BG, Sanded BG, En Francais BG, Organic Grace, Echoes of Kindness, Garden Whimsey, Best Yet, Really Retro, Sincere Salutations

Paper: Groovy Guava (retired), Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla

Ink: Groovy Guava (retired), Chocolate Chip, Versamark

Other: Groovy Guava ribbon (retired), Eyelet Border Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch, Sponges, Felt flowers, buttons, twine, half pearls, clear embossing powder, heat gun, pewter brads, large chocolate chip brads

Girly Cards

Two little girl's birthday parties this weekend, and I had fun making these girly cards, inspired by the colours in the pretty Always DSP. I've noticed that Garden Whimsey is my "go-to" stamp set when I want to make something for a little girl. It makes it very easy!

I also had my 4 year old daughter help me make the wrapping paper - very cute and a lot of fun. All I do is take some Butchers Paper (buy it by the roll at IKEA), the stamps and inks that match the card I made, and let my daughter go to town on it. The result is a one-of-a-kind cheap as chips wrapping paper that coordinates with the card you spent hours slaving over.

The card base is so saffron, with pumpkin pie , whisper white and pixie pink and the little flower accent is punched out of pink pirouette with the three for you punch. The medallion uses the scallop circle punch, the circle punches and a pretty brad. I used the new eyelet punch and the crimper for the border on the bottom - I like the corrugated effect. I got the idea from Michelle Habib's presentation at Convention.

Same layout, same stamps, this time a Pink Pirouette card base.

I added some sparkle with my 2 way glue pen and dazzling diamonds glitter, and sponged the edges of the butterfly panel.

I hope the girls liked them!

Keesh's Sketch Challenge

Yes, I am doing a lot of challenges lately, instead of things like, oh, laundry for example.  Why do you ask?

Makeesha made a sketch challenge, and I needed to make a card for a new baby girl, so.....here it is!