Holiday Homes for The Paper Player's Tic Tac Toe

Well, welcome to fall!  It was supposed to be the first day of school here in British Columbia, but due to a labour dispute they are still closed and could be for an extended period.  Very hard on everyone involved.  It also poured with rain for the afternoon, so definitely a fall feel to the air.

I am creating some designs for my Technique Night classes this week and the theme is the new Holiday Catalogue, so I have been trying to use a variety of different projects from the catalogue.  This was the first time I had inked up the new Holiday Homes Photopolymer stamp set and I had a lot of fun with it!

This week, The Paper Players have a Tic Tac Toe Challenge:

I love these challenges!  They are so much fun to do and give you lots of alternatives.  I decided to use the top row, Birthday, Green and Buttons.  Here's my design again:

• I used Mossy Meadow both as the card base and for the grassy ground in the picture.  I ripped a couple of strips of Mossy Meadow cardstock and adhered it to the Very Vanilla panel to make hills, but before I actually glued it down, I used a couple of pencil dots to locate where I would stamp the other images. The background DSP is from the Colour Me Autumn collection.
• The trees in Baked Brown Sugar ink were placed on either side of where I wanted to locate the house. The pumpkins (Tangelo Twist) were as well.
• The house was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on a scrap piece of Very Vanilla.  I then used Blendabilities markers to colour it in warm tones of Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler and Daffodil Delight. It was a wee bit tricky due to the small size of the image, but the small tips made it easier. It was then die cut with the coordinating Homemade Holiday Framelits and added to the panel using Stampin' Dimensionals to pop it up a bit.
• I stamped the little leaves stamp 4 times to look like leaves swirling in the wind.  I used regular markers in Mossy Meadow, Tangelo Twist, Crushed Curry and Cajun Craze to colour them before each stamp.  The sentiment is from So Very Happy and is stamped in Cajun Craze ink.
• Love the new Gold Basic Metal buttons.  It was very easy to thread the Linen thread through the holes and tie a small bow in it.

This set is a very versatile one.  It has little accessories from a wreath on the door, to bats flying overhead, a street light, a snowman and Santa's sleigh flying overhead. And because it's photopolymer, it is easy to see exactly where you're placing everything.  This is a good value, and even better because you can bundle it with the Homemade Holiday Framelits and save 15%!

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

Holiday Home Photopolymer Stamp Set [135095]	Holiday Home Photopolymer Bundle [137631]	So Very Happy Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134234]	So Very Happy Wood-Mount Stamp Set [134231]	Color Me Autumn Designer Series Paper [135820]
Mossy Meadow 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [133676]	Cajun Craze 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [119684]	Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [101650]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment [130995]
Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Crumb Cake Assortment [131004]	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment [130998]	2014-2016 In Color Stampin' Write Markers [133654]	Regals Stampin' Write Markers [131262]	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad [126965]
Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad [133646]	Baked Brown Sugar Classic Stampin' Pad [131174]	Homemade Holiday Framelits Dies [135857]	Gold Basic Metal Buttons [133763]	Linen Thread [104199]
Big Shot Die-Cut Machine [113439]

A Birthday Card for Little Boys for Mojo Monday

Well, I am concentrating on little boy  birthday cards lately for the simple reason that I'm going to need a lot of them in the coming months and years.  I already have 3 grandsons and 1 granddaughter, and I just learned last week that the grandbaby we are expecting in January will also be a boy! I had three daughters, who I love dearly, but no sons, so I didn't get to experience raising boys.  My girls are helping me make up for that by supplying many little grandsons for me, and I'm loving it.  (And Cedar, you are a special little granddaughter, too!)

I used the Mojo Monday sketch for this week as a rough basis for my layout:

I had fun designing the front of the card using the Boys Will Be Boys stamp set.  It has such cute images and they are images of things little dudes like, such as anything to do with technology or building!

• I'm loving the colour palette of warm, autumn colours here, including a sheet of water-coloured Crushed Curry from the Colour Me Autumn DSP in the new Holiday Catalogue.
• Finally, I'm getting around to using the Striped Grosgrain Ribbon which I love!  It has a great bold look to it, adding another dimension to the project.

And speaking of dimensions, this card has a surprise inside:

• This is an example of the Building Block Pop Up Technique which you can see in a little more detail here!  I'm not going to give you much in the way of details, because this is one of the sample cards from this month's Stamp of the Month Club.  Find out more here.

And it's Tuesday, so here are this week's weekly deals!

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

Boys Will Be Boys Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134138]	Boys Will Be Boys Wood-Mount Stamp Set [134135]	Hip Notes [wood] [133501]	Hip Notes [clear] [133504]	Color Me Autumn Designer Series Paper [135820]
Crushed Curry 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [131199]	Always Artichoke 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [105119]	Cherry Cobbler 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [119685]	Crumb Cake 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [120953]	Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [101650]
Always Artichoke Classic Stampin' Pad [126972]	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad [126966]	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad [131173]	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad [126965]	Arrows Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [132187]
Crushed Curry 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon [134555]	Postage Stamp Punch [122344]	1" Square Punch [124094]	Stampin' Trimmer [126889]	Envelope Punch Board [133774]
Paper Snips [103579]

Time for a Little Merry

Time for a little merry!  I'm just saying that there is so much going on in the world today that is evil, and dangerous and worrisome, that I think we need a "Merry Break"!  And this is not to make light of the devastating events that are affecting so many in the world, but a conscious effort to stay positive and healthy amidst all the bad news we've been hearing.  Wars, terrorism, dangerous disease outbreaks are inundating the news each day and tempting us all to despair or panic. I know that I am relying on my faith to keep grounded in all of this. I hope you have something sustaining you.

This was a design I came up with for my first Christmas Stamper's Dozen!  I know, making Christmas cards in August seems ludicrous, but with one Christmas class per month for four months, people who attend all four will have 48 Christmas Cards with which to send Christmas greetings to family and friends!  I like to go all out to help my customers get into the Christmas mood.  I put a Christmas wreath on my door, add a couple of Christmas decorations to the house, play Christmas music, and have a Christmassy snack and beverages.

• Of all the new stamp sets in the Holiday Catalogue that just went live last Thursday, I think Seasonally Scattered is my very favourite!  I love the leaves and curling vines on the Thanks stamp.  I can see the scattered dots on the Love image being inked up in varying shades of pink and red for Valentine's Day, but I love this Christmas image with so many different snowflakes.  I haven't found two alike yet.
• I stamped the image in Versamark ink and added White Stampin' Emboss Powder and heat set it.  It shows up well on the Island Indigo cardstock.  I've added two types of All is Calm Designer washi tape, both silver, to make top and bottom borders for the front panel.
• I love the Brushed Metallic cardstocks and I used silver for this card.  It's so rich looking. And it shows up so well on the Coastal Cabana card base.

• Notice that little snowflake charm on the Silver Baker's Twine at the top of the card?  It's the new All Is Calm Snowflake Embellishments.  It looks here as if the Baker's Twine is threaded through the eye at the top, but the metallic baker's twine is too thick.  I just attached the snowflake with a glue dot or two to make it look like the twine going through.

Hope you are enjoying your long Labour Day weekend!  Still one day to go!  Get in that one last swim or campfire and then let's gear up for fall!

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

Seasonally Scattered Wood-Mount Stamp Set [135020]	Seasonally Scattered Clear-Mount Stamp Set [135023]	Brushed Silver 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100712]	Coastal Cabana 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [131297]	Island Indigo 8-1/2 X 11 Card Stock [122923]
Versamark Pad [102283]	White Stampin' Emboss Powder [109132]	All Is Calm Snowflake Embellishment [137383]	All Is Calm Designer Washi Tape [135844]	Heat Tool [129053]
Silver Baker's Twine [132976]