John Deere Greetings

I have a brother-in-law, a retired pilot, who is a rancher now and loves all things country.  He is a tractor aficionado as long as the make is John Deere!  No other will do.  He even has a vintage John Deere tractor as yard decor! 

I'm actually not sure how many other men would relate, but I know that my little grandson, Parker, loves tractors already and he's only two!

Any how, I was designing a variety of birthday cards for my Birthday Stamper's Dozen and I wanted a masculine card, and decided a tractor image would work:

• It features the Hardwood Stamp on the Crumb Cake background stamped in Soft Suede ink.  The Natural Chevron Ribbon goes around it and the panel is mounted on the Always Artichoke card base.
• The tractor is from the set Harvest Blessings and it is stamped in Always Artichoke ink on Very Vanilla and die cut with the Circles Collection Framelits as is the Always Artichoke matte, one bigger framelit than the tractor.
• The sentiment is from Bring on the Cake stamp set and it, too is stamped in Always Artichoke ink on Very Vanilla and the little flags cut on each end.

• The tractor image and it's matte is mounted on dimensionsals to pop it up.

And there you have it, with very little mess and fuss, sure to please the farmer or rancher in your man!

Time for another round of Weekly Deals:

    

2012-2014 IN COLOR DESIGNER SERIES PAPER STACK Price: $26.95 $20.21	ADORNING ACCENTS TEXTURED IMPRESSIONS EMBOSSING FOLDERS Price: $10.95 $8.21	BETSY'S BLOOMS STAMPIN' AROUND STANDARD WHEEL Price: $7.95 $5.96	COASTAL CABANA 3/8" RUFFLE STRETCH TRIM Price: $12.50 $9.38
EVERYTHING EASTER ENSEMBLE - DIGITAL DOWNLOAD Price: $16.50 $9.90	LARGE RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS Price: $6.50 $4.88	MIDNIGHT MUSE 3/8" STITCHED SATIN RIBBON Price: $12.25 $9.19	STRAWBERRY SLUSH 3/8" RUFFLE STRETCH TRIM Price: $12.50 $9.38

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today!

Product List

132016	126452	128490	121958
133032	133035	105119	120953
101650	126972	126978	132982
130911	113439	104430

As You See It Challenge American Thanksgiving Card and BLOG CANDY!!

It's time again for a new As You See It Challenge, #12 this week.  I have so many readers from our neighbour to the south that I wanted to honour them with a Thanksgiving card, as American Thanksgiving is coming  up next week.  In Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving in October, so I wondered why there was that difference. A little research found that the first Thanksgiving in North America was actually celebrated in Canada.  The English explorer, Martin Frobisher, celebrated it in Newfoundland in 1578, in gratitude for having survived the long trip over the Atlantic Ocean, as he searched for the Northwest Passage to the Orient.

Canadian Thanksgiving follows a European focus of giving thanks for the harvest, and in the north, harvest comes a lot earlier than it does in the US.  Thanksgiving was declared an official holiday in Canada in 1879 and celebrated in early November.  After the two World Wars, however, that date often interfered with our Remembrance Day, so it was changed to the second Monday in October in 1957.  So now you know!

Here's the AYSI Sketch for this week:

How cute is this??  So creative, Amanda!  And what's even cooler is that this week there is BLOG CANDY to win!         The Stampin' Up! Pop & Place Holiday Gift Tag Bundle!!

                                   

We figured it might be handy for you to have a stash of handstamped tags for the upcoming holiday season.  This bundle includes the Pop & Place Holiday Gift Tags Book (which includes 70+ tags in five paper designs, 2 pages of each design) plus the coordinating Christmas Tagables Photopolymer Stamp Set. These gift tags are perfect for making cute tags for any gift this holiday season.

Create a project, upload it (pinterest, public Facebook pages, Splitcoast stampers, or your blog are all great options) then click the LINKY button on the ASYI Challenge Blog and paste the web address of your project.  Just like that, you are eligible to WIN the Pop & Place Holiday Gift Tag Bundle!  *Only residents of North America are eligible to receive the prize.*

We hope you will enjoy playing along with our challenge!! Can't wait to see what you come up with!! 

This is what I came up with:

• I've been missing my Sweater Weather Design Series Paper, so I got that out and used some of the same colours that are in those designs.  Soft Sky is the card base and Crushed Curry and Chocolate Chip make up the rest of the palette.
• I used the Harvest Blessings Stamp set with some Chocolate Chip ink for the image and sentiment on the main panel.  The sentiment on the card base is from Truly Grateful.

• I didn't have anything to make rickrack borders, so I was idly searching my supplies for something that would work, when I spied my Chevron Border Punch!  Aha!  I punched out a few of those bad boys and lined them up across the bottom of the card.  Then, just for the heck of it, up the left side of the image panel as well.
• I love the little random placement of the Chocolate Chip candy dots!  Just adds to the charm of the design.  

Here are the supplies you need to create this card.  Just click on the links which will take you directly to that product in my online Stampin' Up! Store, where you can shop 24/7.

• Harvest Blessings Wood-Mount Stamp Set
• Harvest Of Thanks Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Truly Grateful Wood-Mount Stamp Set
• Truly Grateful Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Sweater Weather Designer Series Paper
• Soft Sky 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
• Crushed Curry 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
• Chocolate Chip 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Chevron Border Punch
• Neutrals Candy Dots
• Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad

Thanks for dropping by, and Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Welcome to the weekend, stampers!  And here in Canada, it's a long weekend where we celebrate Thanksgiving!  My girls and their families are coming home and we're going to play with the babies, shop, cook delicious food and just enjoy each others company.  I hope the weather is nice so we can get some good walks in as well. (We're going to need them!!)




I love the colour challenge from the Pals Paper Arts this week:

The Design Team came up with some amazing samples.  Click on the link and check out Brian King's card. He created an amazing background and I admit to being totally influenced by it.  All the DT samples are a hard act to follow, but here's my interpretation:

• I really, really like this colour combination of So Saffron, Cajun Craze and Always Artichoke!  It is such a perfect look for fall.
• My stamp sets are Best of Fall and Harvest Blessings.  I love the leaf stamp from Best of Fall and the sentiment is from the same set.
• The Deco Label Framelits are a perfect focal point for this card.

• I usually stamp the light colours first, but this time I started with the two darker colours, Always Artichoke and Cajun Craze, then I overlapped them with the So Saffron giving some varied colouring without muddling up the image, because the So Saffron is such a pastel.
• The Always Artichoke Seam Binding Ribbon cuts up the background a bit, keeping it from overpowering the focal point.

Hope your weekend goes well and you don't eat too much turkey and pumpkin pie!  Leave me a comment about your favourite Thanksgiving traditions.

Stamps:  Best of Autumn (c134390);  Harvest Blessings (w132016; c126452)

Paper:  Always Artichoke (105119), Cajun Craze (119684), So Saffron (105118) and Very Vanilla (101650) cardstock

Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Always Artichoke (126972), Cajun Craze (126965) and So Saffron (126957)

Accessories:  1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon in Always Artichoke* (retired)

Tools:  Deco Labels Collection Framelits (130102); Big Shot (113439); Stampin' Trimmer (126889)

Best of Autumn Stamp Set

Big Shot

Deco Labels Collection Framelits

Harvest Blessings Stamp Set

Stampin' Trimmer

70 Years Young

Yesterday, I went to a birthday party for a good friend. He turned 70!  (Yes, I have friends that are that old!)  He is an amazing guy with more energy than many half his age.  He is also mischievous and loves to tease and has a sharp wit!  Art and his wife, Michelle, have been our close friends for many years, but we don't see them as often since they moved out in the country a ways. However, when we do get together, the conversation just picks up where it left off in an easy and relaxed way. Good friends are like that!                                                                   

I made a card for his 70th birthday and I wanted it to be really special.  It's not everyday that someone turns 70, you know.  (Well, to be truthful, I guess everyday someone, somewhere, does turn seventy, but I don't know them!) 

                     

• Art was a farm boy growing up, so I chose the Harvest Blessings stamp set.  I absolutely love that old tractor image and I used Cajun Craze ink to stamp it with.  
• The sentiments are both in Early Espresso and the top one is a compilation of stamps from the Memorable Moments stamp set.  I used a Stamp-a-ma-jig to get them lined up just the way I wanted them.
• The DSP in the background is from the Sweater Weather collection.

• The shape of the front panel is a die cut made with the new Deco Labels Collection Framelits.  I sponged around the edge of the Very Vanilla label with Cajun Craze to add some definition to it.
• I added another piece of Very Vanilla cardstock in behind the label to tone down the business of the plaid pattern and to show up the burlap ribbon a bit better.
• There's those versatile little Candy Dots again, this time in Early Espresso to match the sentiments.

Here's the inside, because I really liked the other sentiment from the Harvest Blessings set but didn't have room on the front:

• I know that Art feels blessed because he has a large, close extended family, and because he has a strong faith that sees him through the rough times and the good times!
• The image and sentiment are also from Harvest Blessings.

Speaking of harvests, we're STILL trying to pick and disperse all our nectarines and plums.  If you want any, just let us know!  We're drowning in them!!

Stamps:  Harvest Blessings (w132016; c126452); Memorable Moments (w132039; c126682)

Paper:  Sweater Weather DSP (132184); Cajun Craze (119684), Early Espresso (119686) and Very Vanilla (101650) cardstock

Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Early Espresso (126974) and Cajun Craze (126965)

Accessories:  1 1/4" Burlap Ribbon (132140); Neutrals Collection Candy Dots (130934)

Tools:  Deco Labels Collection Framelits (130102); Stamping Sponges (101610); Stamp-a-ma-jig (101049)