PEEKABOO LEAF

Although Mother Nature must not have gotten the email, it really is still autumn. Really.

Another leaf card for you! 

At my monthly Stamp-In this past Monday, this is a card my girls made as one of their four projects. It's a good way to use up some fall feeling retired Designer Series Paper. 

An easy card to create, it still is markedly handsome.

Popping up the diecut leaf panel with Stampin' Dimensionals is a great way to create the feel of dimension. Notice the shadows at the edges of the leaf. 

The beautiful diecut label encasing the sentiment is done with a die from the Ornate Frames dies, found on page 53 of the Holiday Catalog. I sincerely hope that Stampin' Up! decides to keep this die set in the next Annual Catalog! Even though it was touted for Halloween in the catalog, the frames, both fairly plain and extravagantly ornate, are wonderful for use any time of the year.

Following are the directions and supplies list needed to make a card similar to this.

SUPPLIES:

Mossy Meadow cardstock

Cream cardstock

Fall colored Designer Series Paper

Retired sentiment

Gorgeous Grunge

Mossy Meadow ink

Big Shot

Stitched Shapes dies (page 196, Annual Catalog)

Ornate Frames Dies (page 53, Holiday Catalog)

Seasonal Layers dies (page 195, Annual Catalog)

Stampin' Dimensionals

3/16" Braided Linen Trim (page 174, Annual Catalog)

Glue Dots

INSTRUCTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Mossy Meadow cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Adhere a 3 1/4" square piece of autumnal Designer Series Paper to a 3 1/2" square of cream cardstock.

From a 3" square piece of the cream cardstock, die cut a maple leaf in the center with the leaf die and the Big Shot. Once again, run the piece through the Big Shot, but this time centering the diecut leaf with the Stitched Shapes square die that measures about 2 5/8" square.

Adhere the diecut square centered over the DSP with Stampin' Dimensionals.

From the 3/16" Braided Linen Trim, tie a bow and attach it with a Glue Dot to the stem of the diecut leaf.

Adhere this finished piece to the card front, leaving even margins at the top and sides.

Stamp the multi-lined stamp from Gorgeous Grunge in about the center of the remaining green space on the card in Mossy Meadow ink.

On coordinating cream cardstock, stamp the sentiment in Mossy Meadow ink. Cut the sentiment out with the long die from the Ornate Frames Dies. Adhere this over the stamped lines with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Autumnal

Smiles.

PINECONE JOY

Before I get started with my regularly scheduled blog post, I must make an exciting announcement. 

I am honored to have been chosen as the Papercraft Superstar on the crafty website Cut Out & Keep this week, Monday through Sunday.

Throughout the week, a new tutorial from me will be added each day. There is also an interview about me. The link to this honor is Papercraft Superstar. 

The team at Cut Out & Keep have been having trouble linking up my social media accounts, with the exception of Twitter, to the post. So, if you'd like to follow me on any of the social media platforms, you can link up through my blog. 

If you are interested, please take a few minutes to check out the post. And, be sure to come back each day to keep up-to-date on the tutorials. 

Thanks, Cat, for naming me Papercraft Superstar!

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Today, while spending time in my Creation Station, I couldn't resist doing a resist card. I just couldn't resist typing that sentence. Irresistible, eh? What a dork.

Following is the seasonal card I ended up with:

I started the process with a quarter sheet of Old Olive cardstock, rubbing my Embossing Buddy over the entire surface, then stamping in VersaMark ink the lovely evergreen branches from a long retired stamp set that I still love dearly.

As always, I started my stamping in the center and worked outward to the edges. I covered the stamping with clear embossing powder and then used the Heat Tool to set the embossing.

The photo below shows how it looked after this step. Notice that after the embossing, even though the embossing is clear on Old Olive, the branches appear much darker than the cardstock.

Once the embossing was cooled, I started sponging Old Olive ink over the embossing, leaving some places lighter, some darker, for variety. I followed that with some Soft Suede ink. The photo below shows the start of the brown coming in.

After I finished the sponging, I set the piece aside to work on the rest of the card.

Before I proceeded with the rest of the card, I cut the embossed piece down to 3 3/4" x 5" so as to allow a mat and the card base.

I knew I wanted to use the evergreen branch again in my focal point. But, I also wanted to add the pinecone that came in the set to the branch.I stamped the bough in Old Olive onto a cream colored cardstock. I first inked up the pinecone stamp with VersaMark ink and followed with Soft Suede ink. This way, even though I don't actually have Soft Suede embossing powder, I can still emboss my pinecone and have it be brown. After stamping the pinecone, I covered it with clear embossing powder and heat set it. 

My next step was to fussy cut the pinecone. I tried to cut as close to the stamping as I could but still leave a sliver of the cardstock showing. After cutting it out, I attached it to the branch with a Stampin' Dimensional in an attempt to make it look a bit more realistic.

Wait a minute! Before attaching the pinecone permanently, I laid it in place to see how I would die cut the oval. To tie a little more of the green into the composition, I softly sponged the edges of the oval in Old Olive ink. THEN I attached the pinecone to the branch, leaving it to extend beyond the oval.

To continue with a little more of the extending, I stamped the word "joy" from another retired set and fussy cut that also, gluing it flat to the oval, but letting a bit of it join the pinecone outside the oval.

The card still looked too bare for my liking. After searching through my Stampin' Up! ribbons, I came across this really old striped ribbon. Even though it is actually retired Chocolate Chip, it coordinated well enough with the Soft Suede to be pleasing.

Since, at this point I'd already adhered the resist background to the card base, it was too late to wrap the ends of the ribbon to the back of that piece. Instead, I cut it to the exact length I needed for the space and fringed both ends. I know the fringing doesn't show up too well in the photos.

Do you enjoy doing the many variations on the resist technique? I really love the rich look it gives to a card's background. Give it a try!

Before you go, don't forget to check out my Papercraft Superstar page!

Irresistible

Smiles.

SENDING PRAYERS

The other day my husband posed a great question, one that is quite thought-provoking and quite FRUSTRATING. He wondered why we get winter weather six weeks before winter actually begins, while we never get an early spring. Winter just continues to linger. Hmmm. The best answer that I could come up with was "Wisconsin?"

With that said, as long as a few leaves are lingering here and there in our neighborhood -- not many though! -- I thought I'd share with you one more autumn leaf card.

A very simple card, I think it provides exactly what the occasion calls for. Sending Prayers. As simple as that. 

To color my single maple leaf, stamped from the beautiful Colorful Seasons set (page 56), I chose a selection of autumn-flavored Stampin' Blends. Although I really must admit that I've never actually seen a true purple leaf. Oh well. It works.

After I colored in my leaf, I used the coordinating die from the Seasonal Layers dies on page 195. I also cut from Early Espresso paper the bare branch from the same set of dies.

Since Old Olive was one of the colors I used in my leaf, I matted part of the card in the same color cardstock. I do like the way the leaf falls outside the boundaries that contain the branch.

The panel that holds the branch, as well as the leaf were popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals, giving the card a modest amount of dimension.

I don't mind making sympathy cards; I just mind needing to send them out. 

If you're in the Midwest as we are, I hope you are experiencing fall weather instead of all the snow some of us are already enduring. Take care.

Prayerful

Smiles.

GINGERBREAD HOUSE

Being a huge fan of our Stampin' Blends and coloring with them, I was immediately smitten with the <really inexpensive> stamp set, Yummy Christmas, found on page 23 of the Holiday Catalog. It features 11 stamps, four of which are used on my card: the peppermint candies in the corners, the cute gingerbread house, the Christmas tree, and the cool hand drawn scalloped edge all around the card.

This is the card the girls at my October Stamp-In workshop created. Before they started, however, I warned them that, of the four projects they would be making that day, this one would be the most time consuming, although I reassured them that they could put as much or as little effort into their card to suit their taste and ambition.

It was wonderful to watch the girls working so hard on their Christmas scenes. Just like little elves!

Only a few Stampin' Dimensionals give the card a little lift here and there:

A closeup of the gingerbread house with the wreath popped up 

to look more "realistic":

To create a snowy look to the sky, 

I had the girls brayer on White Pigment Ink through a dotty stencil.

Just another view of the dotty snowflakes, as well as a few "real" ones:

Following is a tutorial on how to create your own little winter scene.

SUPPLIES:

Balmy Blue cardstock

Whisper White cardstock

Yummy Christmas (page 23, Holiday Catalog)

Itty Bitty Greetings (page 30, Annual Catalog)

Whisper White Craft Ink (page 180, Annual Catalog)

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Stampin' Blends in assorted colors

Sponge Brayer (page 181, Annual Catalog)

1/2" Circle Punch

Paper Snips

Stampin' Dimensionals

Basic Patterns Decorative Masks (page 35, Holiday Catalog)

Snowflake Sequins (page 43, Holiday Catalog)

DIRECTIONS

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Balmy Blue cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Stamp the edging about 1/8" from all the edges of a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Whisper White cardstock. Adhere this to the card base.

You will be working next on a 3 1/4" x 4 1/2" piece of Balmy Blue cardstock. Lay the polka dot stencil over this piece, using tape to hold it in place. Ink the sponge brayer with Whisper White Craft Ink by rolling it in one direction over the ink pad several times. Once you have enough ink picked up, brayer it across the stencil a few times, reinking each time. There! You just made snowflakes! Gently peel the tape away and adhere this piece over the edged white piece.

On a scrap of Whisper White cardstock, stamp the peppermint candy four times. Color them with red and punch them out with the 1/2" circle punch. Add one candy to each of the four corners. These will cover up where the edging looks a little funkyy at the corners.

On Whisper White cardstock, stamp the house in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, as well as the Christmas tree. If you choose to pop up the wreath, also stamp an extra wreath. Using the Stampin' Blend markers in the colors of your choice, color in all the components. You can do as much or as little in this area as you'd like.

When finished coloring, fussy cut the house, the tree and the extra wreath if needed. Using Stampin' Dimensionals, adhere all the pieces to the card front.

On a 1/2" x 1 1/2" piece of Whisper White cardstock, stamp the sentiment in black ink. Add it to the background with a few Stampin' Dimensionals.

Add some snowflake sequins to the snowy sky.

After the workshop, I made another of these cards for my mom to use as a little sit-around Christmas decoration. I made it exactly the same as this one, with one exception. I re-stamped and colored the gingerbread man, fussy cut him and popped him up over the original gingery guy. 

Gingery

Smiles.

AN EXPERIMENT THAT WORKED

Yesterday, sitting in my Creation Station, with nothing really pressing to on the docket, I decided to do a little experiment. And it worked!

The 4 1/4" square card shown below is the result of this experiment. Just what was so experimental about this ordinary looking card you ask?

The wreath in this beautiful old set consists of several steps. The first step is the bulk of the wreath. A second layer adds additional leaves to make it look more three dimensional, while the final step is a stamp that adds the berries to the wreath. Little tabs at the tops of each of the stamps help you in making sure each of your layers is aligned nicely. 

Then, if you have the coordinating die set, you can simply die cut your wreath, and the bow that you stamped separately, if you chose that option. 

I only have the stamp set, so in the past, if I've wanted to use the wreath, I needed to go through all the steps, then fussy cut it. Otherwise, I could just stamp it onto the surface on which it was going to be used, so then there is no need for cutting.

Well, yesterday I was in the mood to use my Stampin' Blends. But the leaves on this wreath are solid, not line art. So, here's where the experimenting comes in.

Shown below you can see my first step. I inked up the base stamp (the only stamp I used in this card) with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and stamped it off first on my scrap paper, the wreath shown to the leaft. I then stamped it again -- without re-inking -- on a piece of Whisper White cardstock. The resulting image is the wreath shown to the right. Three of the leaves have already been colored in, just to see if it was going to work.

I used seven green Stampin' Blends -- those shown below -- to randomly color in the leaves until the wreath was completely colored in. I'd wondered if coloring over a lightened black -- or a gray, once it is stamped off -- would result in bright enough looking leaves. Well, wonder no more. It works.

To add the berries I randomly added dots of Light Cherry Cobbler and Dark Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends. 

As you can see, the leaves turned out very well, not too subdued at all, as I had feared they would be.

As I noted previously, I do not have the dies to cut this wreath out. 

The photo below shows the wreath lying upon its bed of Blends all fussy cut.

At this point, I was happy with my wreath. But I wanted to do something further with it. Even though the stamp set comes with a stampable bow to adhere to the wreath, I wanted a more realistic bow for my wreath. To make my bow, I used three lengths of Cherry Cobbler baker's twine that I've had for some time and tied a bow. I used a Glue Dot to attach it to my wreath.

I ended up making a 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" card with the wreath as the only focal point. I mounted the wreath with Stampin' Dimensionals onto a 3 3/4" square of the woodgrain Designer Series Paper that is now retired (darn!), added that to a 4" square of Cherry Cobbler cardstock, then to a neutral card base.

A closeup of the colored and fussy cut wreath with its Baker's Twine bow:

I know I constantly say this, and you probably wonder why I don't do something to alleviate the situation, but the colors in my photos don't quite do it justice. It is much more vivid than is portrayed here. You are all aware of the true depth and richness of Cherry Cobbler. Picture that.

I was so pleasantly surprised at the success of my experiment! I have discovered, through this very scientific process, that if you stamp off a solid stamp before stamping it onto your desired cardstock, it is very possible to color it with Stampin' Blends. And it was very easy to do! Give it a try sometime with a solid stamp you have.

Have I mentioned that I simply adore the Stampin' Blends? I now possess all the colors in which they are available -- as of yesterday, when I got my last three pairs. I have been using Copic Markers for years -- in fact, I have more than 200 of them! -- and, while I love them, I actually think the Stampin' Blends are more fun to play with. And I am always so happy with the results.

Experimental

Smiles.