WATERCOLOR SNOWFLAKES

I almost hesitate to mention how adorable Endless Wishes, one of Stampin' Up!'s photopolymer stamp sets is (was). Why? Because it proved to be so popular that it is no longer available. Hopefully you jumped on the bandwagon and got yours while they could still be ordered.

Endless Wishes, a phenomenally versatile set, was a perfect choice for the technique I used in this card.

This technique involves randomly inking up one of the clear acrylic blocks with the side of the brush end of Stampin' Write Markers, in this case, a mix of blues and purples. After you have the entire block covered with color, spritz it lightly with water, and stamp onto your choice of paper. Different papers give different results. So, try it on a variety of paper scraps to see which effect you prefer. 

Please note: If you spritz with TOO much water, the colors bleed into each other unpleasingly. Practice with papers and amounts of water before turning to your actual project. I love it when the colors aren't perfect -- a little white showing through, uneven edges, a little blending. As in the photo above.

Once your background is dry, stamp your image over it. You can either leave the image(s) contained within the parameters of the watercolor area, or expand beyond the borders, like I did. 

To be honest, I loved the way my watercolor snowflakes looked once I finished the eight of them. BUT, I did not like the way the overall card looked. They sat around, lonely and unloved, for quite awhile. I finally decided to cut the first cards up, saving just the snowflakes on the blues and purples, and try again.

I discovered that leaving the card pure and very simple was the way to go:

Aren't those snowflakes just adorable? And don't they look happy?

Grab your acrylic blocks and Stampin' Write Markers and give this fun technique a try!

Smiles.

JOY

The girls who attended my November Stamp-In created a really pretty wreath card utilizing the Daydream Medallions stamp set. So easy, but looks so classy!

Remember how I punched the star for the card in this post from the leftover Real Red glimmer paper I had made for a workshop project? This was that project.

I wanted to add some "berries" to this wreath, and couldn't decide what to use, when my eyes landed on the beautiful blue glimmer paper I had previously made for this card. And I thought, why not? So, following the same directions as here, I created a strip of Real Red glimmer paper, and punched the "berries" out with a standard paper punch.

If you would like to give this card a try, here's how:

Supplies:

Perfect Punches stamp set 

Daydream Medallions stamp set

Naturals White cardstock

Pear Pizzazz cardstock

Real Red cardstock

Real Red ink

Old Olive ink

Big Shot

Floral Frames Collection Framelits

Paper Punch

Real Red Ribbon

Stampin' Dimensionals

Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder

1 3/8" Circle Punch

Glue Dots

Instructions:

Emboss a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of Naturals White cardstock with the Big Shot inside the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder. Adhere this piece to a standard size, 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", Naturals White card base.

In Old Olive ink, stamp the largest and the second largest medallions on the Pear Pizzazz cardstock. Using the second largest and the third largest of the Floral Frames Framelits, cut each of the medallions out with the Big Shot.

Use the appropriate sized Framelits from the Circles Collection to cut out the center of each of the medallions. Adhere the medallions together with a few Stampin' Dimensionals to form a wreath

On a scrap of Naturals White cardstock, stamp "Joy at Christmas" in Real Red. Punch it out with the 1 3/8" Circle Punch, and adhere to the center of the wreath with a Stampin' Dimensional in the center.

Tie a bow with the red ribbon, and adhere it to the wreath with a Glue Dot.

To make the berries for the wreath, punch them out of the glimmer paper you made, and attach them to the wreath with green glue.

Joyous

Smiles.

THANKSGIVING WISHES

I just wanted to wish you all an enjoyable, safe and 

blessed Thanksgiving Day.

(You can find the original blog post featuring this card with the directions HERE.)

Grateful

Smiles.

PLEASANT PHEASANTS

I turned to my trusty MDS to create the focal image on my Thanksgiving card for this year. Autumn Harvest has two beautiful pheasants facing each other.

After perusing images of pheasants I found on the Internet, I was able to "color" mine so they were fairly close to actual coloring. Without the shading, I ended up with a more color-blocked image of pheasants. The coloring tool in MDS makes this an easy and fun process.

Once the pheasants were sized and colored the way I wanted them, I copied and pasted the duo seven times on a sheet of white cardstock, and printed it out.

The skinny strips of two pheasants facing each other sat on my work table for a few days. OK. Now what?

Rounding the corners and sponging the edges with Cajun Craze was a step in the right direction. I turned to my Framelits. The large frame from Apothecary Accents in Always Artichoke was the perfect shape and size for my birds. But it looked a little bare, needing another layer. I opted for a Cajun Craze oval from the Ovals Collection Framelits. I popped up my pheasants atop the layered Framelits with a few Stampin' Dimensionals.

Laying it against the chosen Naturals White cardstock base . . . whoa . . . Not good at all.

I grabbed another set from the Holiday Catalog, Truly Grateful, and stamped the wood background twice in Cajun Craze on Naturals White. After trimming this piece to the exact size of the wood, I sponged all the edges with Cajun Craze. Oh yum.

This whole unit adhered to the card front with only the bottom edge of the card sponged in Cajun Craze was just right.

P.S. I used the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig to get my sentiment placed on the Cajun Craze oval.

Pleasant
Pheasant
Smiles.

BEADY POINSETTIA

As you already know, I am in love with one of Stampin' Up!'s new Christmas stamp sets, Joyful Christmas. You've seen it on my blog a few times already. This is probably not the last time you will see it on Paper Seedlings.

Joyful Christmas is an exquisite set, begging to be used with a wide variety of techniques. This card happens to feature paper piecing once again.

This was one of the projects at my November Stamp-In workshop:

They had a choice of several red/pink-toned Designer Series Papers in a small print, as well as several greens. It seemed that, no matter which print in any color they chose, it was always a gorgeous-looking flower when they were finished.

Since the center of a poinsettia flower is those weird yellowish things, I thought yellow beads would work great on the card.

Even though the center of the flower was going to be covered by beads, I did paper piece in yellow the stamped center of the flower. As you can see in this closeup, the one bead -- upper right -- that didn't land on top of some of the yellow paper doesn't look quite as nice. So, if you do one of these cards on your own, be sure there is yellow paper underneath all the beads, especially if the beads are somewhat transparent as these are. Opaque beads would work just fine, even without the yellow paper under them.

If you'd like to give my card a try, here you go:

Supplies:

Apothecary Art stamp set

Curly Cute stamp set (retired, so so sad)

Joyful Christmas stamp set

Small-print red/pink and green Designer Series Paper

Naturals White cardstock

Basic Black cardstock

VersaMark Ink

Black StazOn Ink

Big Shot

Petals-a-Plenty Embossing Folder

Yellow beads

Paper Snips

Heat Tool

Black Embossing Powder

Stampin' Dimensionals

Tombow Multipurpose Adhesive

Embossing Buddy

Instructions:

PLEASE NOTE: This is another project where your Embossing Buddy is your BEST FRIEND!

Emboss a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of Naturals White cardstock in the Big Shot inside the Petals-a-Plenty Embossing Folder. Adhere a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Basic Black cardstock to a card front created from an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Naturals White cardstock. Adhere the embossed piece over the black.

After first rubbing the paper well with your Embossing Buddy, in VersaMark, stamp the poinsettia twice on red/pink Designer Series Paper (DSP). Cover the images with Black Embossing Powder. Heat to emboss. Repeat this same process with your choice of green DSP and the leaf image, except stamp the leaf three times. Also stamp the center berries once on a yellowish DSP.

Carefully cut out the full poinsettia, then the smaller center part of the flower. Adhere together with a Stampin' Dimensional. Cut out the three leaves, and glue them to the back of the flower petals. Cut out the center berries and glue them in place. Use Tombow Multipurpose Adhesive (green glue) to attach the poinsettia to the embossed surface.

Dot green glue onto the stamped berries, and place yellow beads over each of the stamped ones. Set this aside. The beads stay wobbly for some time.

Ink up the banner portion of the Apothecary Art stamp with VersaMark and stamp it onto a scrap of Naturals White cardstock AFTER RUBBING IT WELL WITH YOUR EMBOSSING BUDDY. Cover with Black Embossing Powder, and heat to emboss. Stamp the sentiment in the center of the banner and heat emboss in the same manner.

Cut out the banner. Adhere it to the embossed background with pieces of Stampin' Dimensionals.

Beaded

Smiles.

NOEL AND HOLIDAY SALE

This month's Paper Pumpkin?? Adorable! I was so thrilled when my red Paper Pumpkin box arrived in the mail, and could hardly wait to open it. Contained inside my box was a kit to make four darling Christmas cards:

I was enamored and wanted to get started right away. Unfortunately, much as I needed a creative escape RIGHT THEN, Life coerced me to put it off for a day. 

Last night, after enduring a rough day, I promised myself I would sit down an CREATE! And I did.

I fell in love with the darling little star garlands. In fact, I thought they were SO cute, I wanted to show them off a little better than what was given in the instructions. So, I cut off a miniature garland of six stars, and draped that across my tag. I glued down only the two end stars, so the rest wiggle and twinkle. 

Since it already said "NOEL" on the front of the card, I opted to omit the longer sentiment on the bottom of the tag. 

I stamped the cute red star in the "O" of NOEL, as in the directions. And called it finished. Cute cards!

However, as I slept, I realized I could make it just a tad more my own.

For my workshop last Monday, I had made a strip of Real Red glimmer paper (my homemade variety), and there was a little left over. So, I grabbed my retired little star punch from Stampin' Up!, and punched out stars from my glimmer paper. I then popped them up over the red stamped star with a piece of Stampin' Dimensional. By doing this, I added a bit more dimension, besides echoing the glitz in the stars in the garland.

I realize that by doing this, I ended up not using either of the stamps that came in the kit. No matter. I am positive I will be putting them to good use on another Christmas card!

Anyway, now I have some more of the darling garland and two stamps left! Yay!

Here's my take:

Just a quick FYI for those of you not familiar with Stampin' Up!'s Paper Pumpkin monthly subscription. Each month, your kit comes with EVERYthing needed to create that month's project, except adhesive. This card was very very easy to create. The striped cardstock was scored and ready to be folded, the Very Vanilla tag came diecut and with "NOEL" preprinted on it. Very Vanilla envelopes were included. Actually, for this kit, you didn't even need adhesive because it came with Stampin' Dimensionals. The cute star garland was precut and packaged. Two clear-mount stamps, the star and "Wishing You a Merry Christmas", were included, as was a Real Red Stampin' Spot, and very concise instructions. It's a win-win situation all around! And LOADS of fun!

* ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * 

I'd like to announce some EXCITING STUFF! 

Starting Wednesday, November 20, and running through Monday, December 2, Stampin' Up! is holding a 

HOLIDAY SALE! 

During these 13 days only, you can get incredible discounts -- up to 50% off! -- on some of your favorite products. 

 *** ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, ONLY, THEY ARE HAVING A 24-HOUR SALE. DURING THOSE 24 HOURS, YOU CAN SAVE 30% ON THREE PRODUCTS: THE STAMPIN' TRIMMER, THE SIMPLY SCORED DIAGONAL PLATE, AND MANY MARVELOUS MARKERS. THIS 24-HOUR SALE ENDS AT 11:50 P.M. (MOUNTAIN TIME) ON NOVEMBER 20. ***

Check out the flyer here: HOLIDAY SALE

Don't forget to name me as your demonstrator 

when ordering these fabulous deals!

Holiday

Smiles.

HOLIDAY GARLAND

I recently finished a holiday garland for my mom's birthday. The paper I used in the the garland, unfortunately, is not Stampin' Up! paper. But the ornaments were created with the Holiday Ornaments Framelits which coordinate with the Ornament Keepsakes stamp set that was introduced to such high acclaim last year and is still available for order. (Ornament Keepsakes is item number 128051 in Clear and 128048 in Wood. The Framelits, item number 127816, sell for $24.95.) I didn't use all of the dies, just an assortment of five of them to make the garland.

Since I was planning to mail the garland, I wasn't sure how to package it for safekeeping. I hit upon some semi-stiff cardboard and gently wound the garland around it to keep it nice, neat and untangled.

To further protect it and to make good storage for it when it's not in use, I grabbed my new favorite tool, the Envelope Punch Board. After finding the dimensions of  the garland-wound cardboard, I used the trusty measuring guide on the Envelope Punch Board, and made the perfect-sized envelope!

To make it easy to open and close, plus add some style to the envelope, I added two circles of cardstock created with the 3/4" Circle Punch and secured to the envelope with brads. I then knotted a length of crochet cotton (baker's twine would work wonderfully too!) around the top circle. Now, just like professional envelopes, the string can be wound between the two circles to hold the garland neatly.

Pleased

Smiles.