Rustic Christmas Greetings for The Paper Players

I had a great day yesterday with my stamp class down in OK Falls!  Lots of laughs especially when I realized I forgot to bring down the key ingredient in one of the cards!  We managed to make do though, but I hate when I do that! Sigh!  I got home after doing a little extra shopping and set out to create a project for The Paper Players' latest challenge:

When I saw this inspiration photo for the colour challenge, I immediately wanted to somehow case it! I love this outfit.  I was experimenting with braiding strips of Very Vanilla cardstock to make the cable knit on the sweater, but I didn't have a clue how to create the clothing shapes so I went back to using regular stamp sets and framelits, and I chose Bright and Beautiful which coordinates with the Stars Framelits. I kept the rustic look however.

• I used Crumb Cake as the neutral colour in my design and added splashes of the challenge colours of Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow and Very Vanilla.
• I stamped the largest star from the Bright and Beautiful stamp set twice, once in Crumb Cake and once in Mossy Meadow and then die cut them with the Star Framelits.  I hand trimmed the center of the Mossy Meadow star and mounted it on the Crumb Cake star.  Then I stamped the smallest star from the set, which is identical to the center of the largest star, in Cherry Cobbler and die cut it with the smallest of the Star Framelits. Each layer is popped up on dimensionals.
• The back panel of Crumb Cake is embossed using the Lucky Stars Embossing Folder and the Big Shot.
• The plaid DSP in Cherry Cobbler is from the Trim the Tree Designer Series Paper Stack.  I have to say that it's one of my favourites.
• I find that the combination of the Burlap Ribbon and the Venetian Crochet Lace Trim creates a really rustic combination, perfect for the look I was going for.
• The sentiment, stamped in Mossy Meadow ink is from the Watercolour Winter Too stamp set, which is meant to coordinate with the Watercolour Winter Simple Created Card Kit.  I rolled the ends of the sentiment and curved it up in the middle, mounting it with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Thanks for popping by today.  If you are in the area Saturday, join me here:

I'm going to have lots of Christmas cards, Christmas kits, and Christmas treat boxes for sale along with my retired stamps and accessories.  Hope to see you there.

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

Bright Beautiful Wood-Mount Stamp Set [135026]	Bright Beautiful Clear-Mount Stamp Set [135029]	Watercolor Winter Too Photopolymer Stamp Set [136819]	Trim The Tree Designer Series Paper Stack [135824]	Crumb Cake 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [120953]
Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [101650]	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad [126975]	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad [126966]	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad [133645]	1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon [132140]
Venetian Crochet Trim [134581]	Lucky Stars Textured Impressions Embossing Folders [135817]	Stars Framelits Die [133723]	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine [113439]	Paper Snips [103579]
Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]

Country Christmas

I absolutely love plaid and so I was dying to use the red and white plaid from the Trim the Tree Designer Series Paper Stack from the Holiday Catalogue. On the Creative Escape Retreat last weekend, I finally got it out and started to play with some designs.  With the plaid and the doily and the woodgrain stamp on the triangle trees, this definitely looked like a Country Christmas card.

I was always fascinated by Scottish culture and lore. When I was a young teen, my parents took me to a live performance of the musical, Brigadoon and that was it! I was hooked. I constantly dreamed of having Scottish heritage and living in the highlands with the bagpipes swirling and the mists rising from the heather and wearing my clan's tartans.  The closest I got was marrying my hubby, who has Scottish descendents and I married into the Cooper clan with their own tartan.

Here's a closer look at my card:

• I used the stamp set, Bright and Beautiful, for the star image and stamped it in Sahara Sand ink, stamped off once. This makes the image light enough so that the sentiment, from Get Your Santa On, can be stamped in Real Red to match the tartan. The Star Framelits die cut it for a sharp clean line.
• The triangle trees were stamped with the hardwood chevron image from Truly Grateful and punched out with the Triangle Punch. The front one is popped up on dimensionals.
• The beautiful ribbon is Whisper White Satin Ribbon, a beautifully smooth and shiny fabric that looks so classy on any card. You can also get it in Gold, Silver and Very Vanilla.
• The sequins are pulled off the Gold Sequin Trim and glued on with a tiny drop of Tombow Multipurpose glue.
• The card base is Sahara Sand cardstock.

There are only a couple of days left in two promotions from Stampin' Up!  Both end on Friday.

Earn this amazing and versatile sentiment set, Good Greetings, by hosting a qualifying party with me before Friday.  Thursday and Friday are booked so that leaves today.  How fast can you get something together!  Call me!

Or how about earning a pack of DSP a month for six months, just by becoming a demonstrator like myself and joining my team! Not only is Stampin' Up! a good business opportunity, but it is also a warm, accepting and creative community!  Products for 20% off?  Advance ordering from new catalogues?  Who wouldn't want to?  Click on "Join My Team" in the top menu and follow the links or give me a call or an email.

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

Bright Beautiful Wood-Mount Stamp Set [135026]	Bright Beautiful Clear-Mount Stamp Set [135029]	Get Your Santa On Photopolymer Stamp Set [135761]	Truly Grateful Wood-Mount Stamp Set [131730]	Truly Grateful Clear-Mount Stamp Set [131733]
Trim The Tree Designer Series Paper Stack [135824]	Tea Lace Paper Doilies [129399]	Sahara Sand 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [121043]	Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100730]	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad [126976]
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [126949]	Whisper White 5/8" Satin Ribbon [134549]	Gold Sequin Trim [132983]	Stars Framelits Die [133723]	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine [113439]
Triangle Punch [133375]	Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive [110755]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]

Hooray! The 2014 Holiday Catalogue is Here!

It's time to get your Christmas Mojo on! And Thanksgiving! And Halloween! And just plain Fall and Winter! Shake off the dust of Summer and get your imagination primed, because the Stampin' Up! 2014 Holiday catalogue is here! Are you excited? You should be! Here's the link: (Click on the photo)

I have already mailed out copies to my active customers, but if you didn't receive one in the mail, email me or call me and I will see that you get one.  If you want to be on my catalogue mailing list, all you need to do is to be an active customer in the 2 months preceding the catalogue's premiere.

And here's a bonus for you:

Any orders that come in from today, August 28 until Sunday, August 31, I will be paying the shipping for you!  

In order to take advantage of this offer, please email me your order and I will see that it is submitted with the others and I will deliver it to you!

*If you want more than your budget will allow (join the club), stay tuned for product shares!

 And here, in true hunting lodge colours, is a card featuring the new Ornamental Pine stamp set:

• The cool thing about the pine branch image is that you can ink up the needles and the branch in separate colours straight from the stamp pads quite easily because of how they are arranged. The pine cones are a separate stamp.
• Lots of texture here with the Woodgrain Embossing Folder used on the Chocolate Chip background, the Dazzling Diamonds glitter and the Linen Thread figure eight bow.  
• The glitter was added to the card after the 2 Way Glue Pen was applied to the top of the branch, a few needles and the pine cones.  For a better hold on the glitter, you could use the Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the same images in VersaMark ink, but just slightly offset.  Then you would cover the image in Heat and Stick powder and heat set it.  Add the Dazzling Diamonds glitter and reheat to set.  Or you could used Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder for a similar effect instead of the Heat and Stick and the glitter. (I did neither of these options because it is for a Christmas Stamper's Dozen and it would take way too long and require cleaning the stamps each time.)

• The main image was die cut using the Deco Label Framelits and the matte was die cut with the same size framelit, cut in half and added to the top and bottom, offset by about 1/8".  The Deco Label framelits have a little point in the middle of each side and I snipped that off before adhering it on the back because it would look a bit bizarre cut in half.
• The Designer Series Paper rectangle at the bottom of the card is from the Trim the Tree Designer Series Paper Stack.  This is a great value with forty-eight 4-1/2" x 6-1/2" sheets for $8.50.  You get 4 ea. of 12 double-sided designs.  These are great traditional designs, many of which are appropriate for designs other than Christmas cards.
• This card is entered in The Paper Player's Challenge #210:

                                              

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

Ornamental Pine Wood-Mount Stamp Set [135104]	Ornamental Pine Clear-Mount Stamp Set [135107]	Trim The Tree Designer Series Paper Stack [135824]	Garden Green 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [102584]	Cherry Cobbler 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [119685]
Chocolate Chip 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [102128]	Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [101650]	Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad [126979]	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad [126966]	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad [126973]
2-Way Glue Pen [100425]	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter [133751]	Regals Designer Buttons [130029]	Linen Thread [104199]	Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [127821]
Deco Labels Collection Framelits Dies [130102]	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine [113439]	Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive [110755]	Mini Glue Dots [103683]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]