The First As You See It Challenge

This is so exciting!  The "As You See It" Challenge Blog is posting its very first challenge today!  It's such an honour to be on the Design Team with some pretty awesome card designers!  I hope you'll take the plunge and submit an entry, or at least try it out on your own.  Amanda has created a really amazing sketch challenge for us today.  Here it is:

I dug into my Holiday Mini stuff and brought out the Thankful Tablescape Simply Created Kit!  I'm excited to use if for my Thanksgiving table decor, but since I won't be having 10 dinner guests, I felt I could use a bit of the material on a card, specifically that GORGEOUS Birch Paper Ribbon!!  Here's what I came up with:

• This gives me a very masculine, monochromatic card, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I love the combination of texture and  different shades of neutrals!
• The biggest problem with this sketch is actually getting all the flags lined up properly.  I started trying to do it on the back of the birch bark piece, but since the four small flags were on top I had to glue those to the back of the panel first.  This made it very difficult to judge where to place them without the Very Vanilla Core'dinations flags.
• I finally figured out that the best way was to glue all the flags to the card base first, then add the birch bark panel last.  DUH!  So much easier!

• I used the Magnificent Maple stamp from the Holiday Mini, for an accent behind the Naturals Designer Button, threaded and tied with some Linen Thread.
• The sentiment is from the Four You stamp set and is stamped in Early Espresso ink right onto the Birch Paper Ribbon (which is mounted on some Crumb Cake cardstock).  The bark colouring shows through the sentiment in places which adds a distressed look.
• The smaller flags are cut from some Sweater Weather DSP.

So there's the first one under my belt!  I can hardly wait to see the designs all of you come up with!  I'll be looking for yours!

Stamps:  Magnificent Maple (w131868); Four You (w130535; c130538)

Paper:  Birch Paper Ribbon (as part of the Thankful Tablescape Simply Created Kit (133463); Very Vanilla Core'dinations cardstock (as part of the Neutrals Collection Core'dinations) (129956); Sweater Weather Design Series Paper (132184); Early Espresso (119686), Crumb Cake (120953) and Very Vanilla (101650) cardstock

Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Chocolate Chip (126979) and Early Espresso (126974)

Accessories:  Linen Thread (104199); Naturals Designer Buttons (127554)

Magnificent Maple Stamp

Neutrals Collection Core'dinations cardstock

Stampin' Sanding Block

Sweater Weather DSP

Thankful Tablescape Simply Created Kit

Four You Stamp Set

Back to Routine

There can be something comforting about getting back into routine.  As much fun as summer vacations can be, when there is very little in the way of scheduled activities, after a while it does get boring and the body feels the need for a little structure again.

Fall is the time for most people when that structure resumes, with kids going back to school and many people returning to home and work after taking advantage of the warm weather for vacations.



In our family, we have many fall birthdays starting in October and carrying on through to December.
Because I'm going to need a lot of them, and many masculine cards among them I designed a fall themed birthday card for the Paper Players Challenge #161.


This is what I came up with:

• I wanted to feature products from the Holiday Mini catalogue because that's the theme of my Technique nights this month, so I chose the Season of Style Designer Series Paper for the background panel on my base of Baked Brown Sugar.
• I decided to echo the large polka dots on the DSP with a couple of circles cut with the Circles Collection Framelit from Chocolate Chip and Old Olive cardstock.
• I used the Magnificent Maple Stamp  to collage stamp several leaves using Crumb Cake, Old Olive and the new Metallic Gold Encore Inks.

• The sentiment is from Bring On the Cake stamp set and it is stamped in Chocolate Chip ink.  
• To embellish I used a Designer Button from the Neutrals Collection and added a snippet of Natural Trim.
• I was wondering how well the metallic ink would clean off the stamps, having had some unfortunate results with metallic ink prior to becoming a Stampin' Up demonstrator, but this Gold Encore ink cleaned off like a dream with the Stampin' Mist Cleaner and the Stampin' Scrub!

So enjoy your routine, but make sure to save some time for creativity!  It cleans the dust off your soul!

Stamps:  Magnificent Maple (w131868); Bring on the Cake (w128490; c121958)

Paper:  Season of Style DSP (132340); Baked Brown Sugar (131296), Chocolate Chip (102128), Old Olive (100702) and Whisper White (100730) cardstock

Ink:  Metallic Encore Pad in Gold (132141); Classic Stampin' Pads in Crumb Cake (126975), Chocolate Chip (126979), and Old Olive (126953)

Accessories:  Designer Buttons in Naturals Collection (130031); 7/16" Natural Trim (129287)

Tools:  Circles Collection Framelits (130911);  3/16"Corner Rounder Punch (119871)

Bring on the Cake Stamp Set

Circles Collection Framelits

Magnificent Maple Stamp Set

Natural 7/16" Trim

Season of Style Paper Stack

Get Well, Shelli

Some of you may know that Shelli Gardner, the co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up was badly injured in a

horse endurance race when her horse stumbled, threw her, then rolled over her. She is in hospital in Salt Lake City with a fractured wrist, pelvis and many bruises.  Read the amazing story of her strength through all this here.

I wanted to send my get well wishes in a card to Shelli and I thought that Perfect Plum would be a good colour for a get well card.  So it would double as an entry in Dynamic Duos' Challenge #68:

Here's my card, which is now winging it's way to Riverton, Utah to Shelli:

• We had a choice in this challenge of another colour to pair with Perfect Plum and I chose Smoky Slate along with the neutral Whisper White.
• Pleasant Poppies background stamp, inked up in Perfect Plum, does all the work on the front panel.  I just added a double bow for interest in Whisper White 5/8" Organza Ribbon.
• The sentiment is from Wetlands!  Perfect for this kind of card.  

• A new set I hadn't yet tried, called Blessings from Heaven, provided both inside sentiments, one in Perfect Plum and one in Smoky Slate.
• Whenever you want an inside panel for your cards, the Top Note Bigz Die will die cut a perfect one for you, with lots of room to write your own personalized greetings.

I am so glad to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator for such a great company, and able to create cards like this in minutes and send them to someone who really needs to know that others care!  Wishing Shelli a quick recovery with less pain each day!

Stamps:  Pleasant Poppies (w132061; c129499); Wetlands (w126695; c126697); Blessings from Heaven (w128487; c123052)

Paper:  Perfect Plum (101889), Whisper White (100730) and Smoky Slate (131202) cardstock

Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Perfect Plum (126963) and Smoky Slate (131179)

Accessories:  5/8" Organza Ribbon in Whisper White (114319)

Tools:  Top Note Bigz Die (113463)         

Pleasant Poppies Stamp Set

Wetlands Stamp Set

Blessings From Heaven Stamp Set

Top Note Bigz Die

                                                                                       

Three Dog Night

"Jeremiah was a bull frog!  Was a good friend of mine.  Never understood a single word he said, but I helped him drink his wine.  And he always had some mighty fine wine."

Does anyone remember those lyrics?  It is a song by a group called "Three Dog Night".  The song is titled "Joy to the World".  I think of it whenever I see that Christmas sentiment, Joy to the World, because at a church I used to attend every Christmas Eve (because our church didn't have a Christmas Eve service)  they used to sing the Three Dog Night version and it used to bug me big time.  It just didn't seem appropriate to me, given the other lyrics of the song.  It just wasn't Christmassy to me.

But this card is Christmassy, from the music to the ornament to the sentiment, I think it's a unique but very seasonal card.

• Because music is a big part of my Christmas, I love having a music score on my Christmas cards.
• I like the Basic Black, Very Vanilla and Cherry Cobbler (with just a dash of Old Olive and Chocolate Chip thrown in) colour palette.
• I used the Apothecary Accents framelit to die cut the sentiment, which is from the Joy to the World Stamp Set.  I cut two more of the same shape from Basic Black cardstock to create the matte for the shape.  I cut one in half lengthwise (after cutting off the knobs at each end) and glued each side on the side of the sentiment shape but extending about 1/8".  I cut the other in half widthwise and added it to the left and right side of the shape, again extending it about 1/8".

• The Christmas ornament is stamped with an image from the Christmas Collectibles stamp set in Cherry Cobbler and punched out with the Christmas Ornament Punch.
• I stamped the fir bough from the Special Season stamp set, first in Old Olive and then in Chocolate Chip.  I hand cut the pine cones and adhered them to the fir bough before using a glue dot to adhere the whole thing to the top of the ornament.

At my September Technique Nights we are focusing on the Holiday Mini Catalogue and this is one of the cards we will be making.  Come on out, either Wednesday or Thursday evening, Sept. 4th or 5th!  We'd love to stamp with you.

Stamps:  Joy to the World (w131796; c131799); Christmas Collectibles (w131772; c131775); Special Season (w131766; c131769)

Paper:  Modern Medley Design Series Paper (126926); Basic Black (121045) and Very Vanilla (101650) cardstock

Ink:  StazOn Jet Black (101406); Classic Stampin' Pads in Cherry Cobbler (126966), Old Olive (126953) and Chocolate Chip (102128)

Accessories:  1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon in Cherry Cobbler (120992); Regals Collection Candy Dots (130932)

Tools:  Apothecary Accents Framelits (127003); Christmas Ornament Punch (132152)

Apothecary Accents Framelits

Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon

Christmas Collectibles Stamp Set

Christmas Ornament Punch

Joy to the World Stamp Set

Regals Collection Candy Dots\

Modern Medley DSP

Labour Day and Fall Begins

Wow!  Where did the summer go?  It's the beginning of September and Labour Day!  School starts tomorrow, then Thanksgiving and before you know it, it will be Christmas!  Whoa!

It is a holiday today and I am celebrating with my family, so just a short follow-up to yesterday's banner post today!  Banners were used extensively in the Trade Union movement, so I guess that a banner is a good thing to blog about on Labour Day.

I wanted to show you the Fall Banner I created as an alternative to the Halloween Banner at my class on September 18.  Here it is:

• I created my own rosettes using Sweater Weather DSP and the Simply Scored Scoring Tool.  
• I used the kit to create the backgrounds on some of the pennants and the letters for the word A-U-T-U-M-N!
• I used some ribbon from the Halloween Banner Kit and some of my own for the little ties between each pennant.

• The leaves are cut from Champagne and Red Glimmer Paper and the circle on top of the second pennant was stamped with the tree "cookie" and the acorn from the Truly Grateful Stamp Set.  I used the Two-Way Glue Pen around the edge and dipped it in fine Gold Glitter from the Holiday Mini.

If you would like to make this banner, register for my Halloween Banner or Fall Banner Class on Wednesday, September 18 by following this link.

Happy Fall!

A Banner Day!

Did you know that banners have been around since the Old Testament times?  Moses used them to keep the Israelites in line during their trek through the wilderness.

Ancient Romans would decorate them with a coat of arms and hang them at their doors to identify their house.

 Ancient Japanese warriors would wear them on their armour.








Banners were everywhere during Medieval times, on castles, in battles, at feasts!

Trade unions in Britain brought them back into use with symbols identifying their trade in popular May Day parades.

So banners aren't new, but they are a beautiful way to enhance your home decor during special seasons or to decorate for events such as Halloween.  Stampin' Up has come out with a series of banner kits in the new Holiday Mini Catalogue.  The basic set is the Build a Banner Simply Created Kit which includes 18 blank canvas pennants, some jute twine and alphabet and image stencils.  

Then Stampin' Up created a Halloween Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit and a Christmas Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit.  These are loads of fun to work with.  Today I'd like to share with you the Halloween Banner I created and will be offering as a class on Wednesday, September 18, along with an Autumn Banner that I designed myself.  I will show you the Autumn Banner in the next post.

The lighting and background colouring leave a lot to be desired, but you get the idea!  Oh, my goodness!  So much fun to make, and not difficult with most of the pieces cut for you.  You have many choices you can make so as to make it your creation.

• You can see the three shapes of pennants in the kit, six of each shape!  
• There are precut and scored paper strips to make two of the three rosettes pictured here.  I used the Simply Scored Scoring Tool to make the third one of paper in the Witches' Brew Design Series Paper.
• I used a sponge dauber along with the background and letter stencils to create the patterns on the pennants.
• The circles for the top of the rosettes are included along with the cutouts embossed in glittery black.
• Ribbon and accessories are part of the kit as well, but I added a few of my own.

If you are interested in making one of these super cute banners, you can register here.

Products:  Build a Banner Simply Created Kit (133507); Halloween Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit (132698)

Extra Products:  Jumbo Sticky Rounds (127852); Sticky Strip (104294); Witches' Brew DSP (132185);  Sponge Daubers (102892); Summer Starfruit (126839) and Tangerine Tango (111349) cardstock; Classic Stampin' Pads in Early Espresso (126974), Summer Starfruit (126991) and Tangerine Tango (126946); Chevron Ribbon in Basic Black (130010); 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch (118874); Simply Scored Scoring Tool (122334)

Build a Banner Simply Created Kit

Halloween Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit

Jumbo Sticky Rounds

Simply Scored Scoring Tool