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.

TRULY GRATEFUL

Combining four Stampin' Up! sets results in a beautiful Thanksgiving card. The sets used in this card include: Gorgeous Grunge, Wetlands, Truly Grateful and Teeny Tiny Wishes.

The sketchiness of the line drawings of the goose from Wetlands and the row of acorns from Truly Grateful works well to give just the right amount of visual punch. Texture and "faux" texture coming from the Houndstooth embossing folder and the lines in Cajun Craze from Gorgeous Grunge are nice counterpoints to the images. Cardstock in Cajun Craze and Sahara Sand are a good fallish combo with the Early Espresso ink.

Interested in giving this card a try?

Supplies:
Gorgeous Grunge stamp set
Wetlands stamp set
Truly Grateful stamp set
Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set

Sahara Sand cardstock
Cajun Craze cardstock

Early Espresso ink
Cajun Craze ink

Big Shot
Houndstooth Embossing Folder
Paper Piercing Tool and foam mat
Silver 1/8" Mini Brads

Instructions:
Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Cajun Craze cardstock in half, creasing well with a bone folder.

In Cajun Craze ink, stamp the lines from Gorgeous Grunge onto the lower right corner of the card front.

Run a 2" x 3" piece of Cajun Craze cardstock through the Big Shot inside the Houndstooth Embossing Folder. Distress the edges with your fingernail. Adhere this piece to the upper right corner of the card front.

Stamp the acorns three times in a row in Early Espresso on a 1 1/2" x 3" piece of Sahara Sand cardstock. It is easier if you do the middle one first. Adhere this directly underneath the textured piece.

Stamp the goose in Early Espresso a little towards the top of a 2 1/2" x 4 1/4" piece of Sahara Sand cardstock. Add the Happy Thanksgiving in Early Espresso towards the bottom.

With the paper over the piercing mat, pierce three holes in a row centered underneath the sentiment. Insert tiny silver brads.

Adhere this completed piece to the card front.

Smiles.

FESTIVE FLURRY

You haven't missed one of the many wonders in the current Stampin' Up! holiday catalog, called Festive Flurry, have you? HAVE you?

The bundle consists of the stamp set and matching Framelits. The largest of the four snowflakes measures a little over 4", while the smallest is a precious 2". By letting the Framelits do all the fussy cutting -- the EASY way -- you are treated to luscious detailed snowflakes without all the work.

This set simply begs to be made into ornaments, and that's just what I did:

This photo, taken more at an angle, shows the dimensionality of the ornament, achieved by separating the  various snowflakes with Stampin' Dimensionals.

My basic colors, on top of the Whisper White, were Bermuda Bay and Embossed Silver. When I stamped the two snowflakes in  Bermuda Bay ink, they seemed flat and without dimension and richness. What to do? I ended up first inking the stamp with VersaMark, then with Bermuda Bay. I added Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder to the stamped images, and heated to emboss.

The same process can be used with Clear Embossing Powder in place of the Iridescent Ice. A more subtle look, but it's still embossed. Isn't this a great way to do embossing in ANY color??!? And so easy. 

The center of attention is one of the Frosted Finishes Embellishments found on page 28 in the same catalog. M photo simply cannot capture the true elegance and sparkle of these pieces. When I first saw them in the catalog, I thought they were pretty, but not for me. However, once I got sight of them up close and personal, I discovered they were true works of art. 

To balance the bling somewhat, I added Basic Rhinestones to the tips of the largest silver snowflake. 

So the reverse side of the ornament didn't feel left out, I used the second largest Framelit to create a snowflake from Bermuda Bay cardstock. I then stamped the coordinating snowflake in Bermuda Bay on Whisper White, this time without the embossing, and layered it flat on top of the Framelit snowflake. So, even though I don't plan on this side showing <much>, if it happens to turn, the view will still be a pretty one.

Flaky
Smiles.

FRENCH FOLIAGE CASE

If you  have read my little About Me on my blog, you will discover "I need to use my creativity every day in order to stay happy and sane." Well, I'm not completely sure about the "sane" part, but creating certainly does boost my happiness quotient. And days when I miss out on doing something creative are days like . . . well, without sunshine to someone who suffers from SAD. Very sad indeed.

Sometimes, if I've had a rough low self-esteem day, and I don't have any pressing projects, I treat myself to a bit of a challenge to cheer myself up. I randomly reach into the stack of all the pages I have saved for years, and do whatever is on the selected page. It could be a new or forgotten technique, a photo of a good card layout, a 3-D project. Whatever it turns out to be is my assignment.

Recently I had one of those days, and this is what I randomly chose for my personal creativity challenge:

I believe I had saved this page from an old issue of PaperCrafts magazine. Of course, being created with the French Foliage stamp set -- one of my all-time favorites -- was a big draw in selecting it to save. The artist of this original card was Angela Fehr. If you're reading this, Angela, thanks for the challenge. Lovely card!

My version of this card is here:

I distressed my card more than the original, both by adding sponging -- on the edges and sporadically across the design -- and working those edges. I brought a little more of the Cherry Cobbler into play by mounting it onto that color, as well as framing my sentiment with it.. 

To create the mat for the sentiment, I used the tabbed label from the Apothecary Accents Framelits set. To change the label up a bit, I sliced off the tab on the left side. I then used the remaining tab as a resting place for my button with baker's twine. Oh, the sentiment is from Blooming With Kindness. 

Ah, after that, I feel so much better.

CASEing

Smiles.

DAYDREAM MEDALLIONS

The Daydream Medallions stamp set in combination with the Floral Frames Collection Framelits is a marriage made in heaven. Stampin' Up! is so smart that way!

Add layers, Stampin' Up!'s scrumptious red hues, embossing and an elegant antique brad, and you have a winner.

How would you like to try your hand at this 4 1/4" square card? Here you go:

Supplies:

Daydream Medallions stamp set

Cherry Cobbler cardstock

Whisper White cardstock

Cherry Cobbler ink

Raspberry Ripple ink

Primrose Petals ink

Strawberry Slush ink

Big Shot

Fancy Fan embossing folder

Floral Frames Collection Framelits

3/16" Corner Punch

Stampin' Pierce Mat

Paper Piercing Tool

Antique Brads

Stampin' Dimensionals

Glue Dots

Instructions:

Fold a 4 1/4" x 8 1/2" piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock in half, creasing well with a bone folder.

Run the front of the card through the Big Shot inside the Fancy Fan Embossing Folder.

Round the two open corners of the card.

On a half sheet of Whisper White cardstock, stamp the largest medallion in Cherry Cobbler ink, the next largest in Raspberry Ripple, the second smallest in Primrose Petals, and the smallest in Strawberry Slush.

With the appropriate Framelits, cut out each of the medallions, using sticky notes (or the Magnetic Platform) to hold the Framelits in place.

Stack the three largest cut-out medallions, separating the layers with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Place the smallest medallion over the Piercing Mat, and pierce a hole in the center. Insert an Antique Brad into the hole. Adhere this piece to the rest of the stack with Glue Dots.

Use green glue to attach the completed medallion to the card front. Or, you could adhere it to the card base with a couple of Stampin' Dimensionals for added dimension. 

If you are organized, this project would be simple enough to do assembly line fashion for multiples of the card. Switch it up to your favorite color combination!

Smiles.