JINGLE JOY

 

Sending you joyful wishes 

for the best holiday season!

PLATINUM SNOWFLAKE

Do you love snowflakes? I do! I have so many stamp sets and dies that  feature snowflakes! 

 

For the beautiful snowflake in this card, I embossed it with Platinum Embossing Powder. To reinforce the snowflake theme, I used a snowflake embossing folder for the background.

The words were die cut from platinum-colored metallic cardstock I had in my stash.

I love the little square of Specialty Designer Series Paper behind the snowflake piece that I bought on the Clearance Rack awhile ago. Isn't it perfect?

Set at an angle, you can see all the shimmer and elegance.

SUPPLIES:

White cardstock

Misty Moonlight cardstock

Platinum/White Specialty Designer Series Paper

Platinum Foiled cardstock

Best of Snow (an ANCIENT stamp set, but I love the snowflake!)

VersaMark Ink

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine

Merry Christmas die

Embossing Buddy

Heat Tool

Platinum Embossing Powder

Stampin' Dimensionals

Opal Rounds

DIRECTIONS:

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

Cut a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Misty Moonlight cardstock. Emboss this with a snowflake embossing folder. Adhere it to the card base.

Cut a 2 1/4" square of white cardstock. Rub an Embossing Buddy over the piece. Stamp the snowflake in VersaMark ink in the center. Add Platinum Embossing Powder to the stamped snowflake and use the Heat Tool to emboss it.

Cut a 2 1/2" square of platinum and white Specialty Designer Series Paper. Adhere the embossed snowflake to this.

Use Stampin' Dimensionals to add the completed square to the embossed piece, with even margins at the top and the sides.

From platinum-colored foiled cardstock, die cut the sentiment. Add this to the card below the snowflake.

Finish with an Opal Round in the center of the snowflake.

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Be as unique as a snowflake: 

Embrace all your dimensions.

- Viola Shipman -

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Snowy 

Smiles.

JOYFUL POINSETTIA

Do you love gatefold cards? If you're like me, you adore the look of them. Rather than opening traditionally like a "nornal" card, a gatefold card opens from the center. I think this type of card is extra striking especially if you have a focal point as gorgeous as this poinsettia.

I then like to add the sentiment to a tag that opens from the opposite gate than the poinsettia.

I got the idea to use this beautiful retired poinsettia stamp as the focal point for my card when I came across, while sifting through my Designer Series Papers stash, this scrumptious flocked design with poinsettias and their leaves. 

Unfortunately, this DSP is no longer available, however, I just want to remind you to keep your eyes peeled for new additions to the Clearance Rack, as happened this week. That's where I manage to find a LOT of wonderful buys, things that are retired that I really don't NEED, but they are great to have for future projects.

After stamping the poinsettia and a trio of the leaves with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, I proceeded to color it with Stampin' Blends. Then, of course, I fussy cut the components. 

One other thing that I'd done with this flower in the past is to stamp and color certain portions of the flower a few times. Cutting out petals here and there, then adding them to the main flower with Stampin' Dimensionals, you can create a lovely three-dimensional flower. Very easy to do, just a little more time consuming.

Following is a tutorial to create a card similar to this. If you don't have the exact materials I used, there are many other products that you could substitute to come up with an equally wonderful card.

SUPPLIES:

White cardstock

Flocked Designer Series Paper

Joyful Christmas stamp set (retired <sigh>)

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Stampin' Blends in Light and Dark Poppy Parade, Light and Dark Just Jade and Dark Daffodil Delight

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine

All That Dies set, page 162, Annual Catalog

Deckled Circles Dies set, page 63, retiring Mini Catalog

Holiday Rhinestones or any other coordinating gems

DIRECTIONS:

Cut a piece of white cardstock in half, to 5 1/2" x 8 1/2". With the Simply Scored, score it at 2 1/8". Flip the piece around, and score again at 2 1/8". Fold on the score lines. You should get a gatefold that meets nicely in the center. Reinforce the scores with a bone folder.

From flocked Designer Series Paper, cut two pieces that measure 1 7/8" x 5 1/4". Another option, if you don't have this flocked paper, is to use white cardstock that you have embossed.

Adhere these pieces to both of the gates, being sure they line up nicely.

Stamp in Memento Tuxedo Black ink the poinsettia, as well as the leaves. Color these as you wish.

Fussy cut the poinsettia components. Put the flower together as you wish.

From white cardstock, die cut a circle that measures 2 3/4" across using the Deckled Circles dies. Adhere the poinsettia to this circle. Put adhesive only on the left side of the circle and add it to the left gate so the point of the flower reaches the top of the DSP; then there is room for the sentiment.

From white cardstock, die cut a label using the die from All That Dies that is a rectangle measuring 1 1/2" x 2 1/2". In black ink, stamp your sentiment. The poinsettia and the sentiment came from the retired Joyful Christmas set.

Putting adhesive ONLY on the right side of the sentiment label, glue this to the right gate.

Add a trio of matching gems around the sentiment.

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Christmas will always be 

as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand.

- Dr. Suess -

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Joyful

Smiles.

FOILED FLOWER

It's been a minute since I wrote and published a blog post. I apologize for that, but life has been throwing a little more at me lately than I am comfortable handling. I promise I will try to do better from now on.

A little more than a month ago, I posted a card, Foiled Rose, I made with pretty much the same technique as I used in this card.  I so loved working with the foil that was wrapped around some chocolate I had purchased from Aldi that I thought I'd make another card with more of the foil.

The look on the foil with this card is much less harsh looking that the first attempt with the rose. That one looked more like crumpled foil, while I think this one looks a bit more refined. I crumpled it a little less and flattened it a little more. If you know what I mean.

As before, once I was happy with the look of the foil, I gently folded the excess to the back of the cardstock I'd used for its base. Then the edges were taped in place.

To make the card look a bit more ephemeral, I used Vellum Cardsock for the flower, colored with Stampin' Blends, to rest on. I like the contrast between the feel of the vellum and the silvery foil.

The base of the card was a brushed silver cardstock, which complemented the foil nicely. Basic Rhinestones also added to the complementary look, to pull it all together.

What about you? Do you throw away your garbage? Or do you look for ways to reuse it in your creative endeavors? 

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Nature abhors waste. And so should we.

- Hendrith Vanlon Smith, Jr., CEO of Mayflower-Plymouth -

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Foiled

Smiles.

#365birds AUGUST 2023

August was a difficult month to concentrate on my #365birds challenge. All told, over that time, our precious granddaughter, 15, was in the hospital for 8 1/2 weeks, as the result of first an open heart surgery, followed a week later by the placing of a pacemaker, after which things did not go as planned or hoped. My heart was completely with her and her parents during all of this. I used my drawing as Creative Therapy. At least, it took my mind away from this awful time once in awhile.

So, I present to you a handful of my Creative Therapy birds. As I always do, above each bird, I will note which day of the challenge it was, the name of the bird, as well as any other pertinent information I gleaned about it.

day 267 - tufted coquette

northeastern south america

day 268 - nicobar pigeon

southeast asia

day 269 - coppersmith barbet

indian subcontinent

day 270- american bald eagle

north america

day 279 - mealy amazon parrot

central america and south america

day 274 - blue-eyed cormorant

west coast of southern south america

day 273 - fairy pitta

northeast asia

day 280 - european robin

most of europe, north africa, central asia

day 281 - blue-capped tanager

bolivia, colombia, ecuador, peru, trinidad, tobago and venezuela

day 282 - emerald-bellied puffleg

colombia, ecuador, peru

day 285 - blood pheasant

nepal, sikkim, myanmar, tibet and china

day 287 - white-browed woodswallow

australia

day 292 - king vulture

central and south america

There are two things I really should mention. Stella, our granddaughter, is something of a miracle girl in that she is back in high school fulltime and has resumed all of her normal activities. The doctors are thrilled with the performance of her heart, as well as the pacemaker. 

Also, I have finished my #365birds challenge. As you notice, I am sharing birds I drew in August, still a couple months away from completion. Stay tuned to learn what I am doing now!

As always, if you would like prints of any of my birds, please reach out to me. I would love and be honored if you owned one of my birdies!

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Pray, and let God worry.

- Martin Luther -

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Worry

Bird

Smiles.