Believe!

Good Morning! The weekend is finally here!

Here is a card that is posted today on the Memory Box Outside the Box blog as part of the new release blog blitz going on.  Be sure to check out the blog ... if you leave comments on the posts, you will be entered to win the featured die in each post.

This Poinsettia Flourish die is beautiful and so delicate, with lots of possibilities. This is a fairly clean and simple card, and you can see all the particulars on the Memory Box blog. Here's the link:  http://davebrethauer.typepad.com/outsidethebox/

Thanks for stopping by!

A Simple Merry

Merry almost Christmas!  Here is a simple holiday card that's fast and easy to put together.

I cut a 5" x 3.75" piece of cream card stock, and lightly sponged Peeled Paint Distress Ink onto this piece through one of my go-to stencils, Adornment ... love this stencil!  I went very lightly on the pouncing.  I cut the heart frame using the second and third largest hearts in the Glorious Hearts set from cream card stock and inked it with Peeled Paint.  From cream card stock, I cut the three separate snowflakes that come in the bundle, and then cut the Wintry Snowflake from dark green card stock.  I arranged this on top of and through the opening of the heart as shown.

I absolutely love how this die perfectly hugs this heart.  It perfectly hugs other shapes as well, and it's one of my favorites.  I cut another one from a rich red card stock, snipped off one of the red snowflakes, and added it to the heart center just for a pop of color.  I'll save the rest of the die cut for another card.  From the Moose Crossing stamp set, I snipped the "Merry" from the "Merry Christmoose" stamp, inked it in Fired Brick Distress Ink and stamped it as shown.  I added mounting tape to the back of the stenciled piece and adhered it to the card front.  I added mounting tape to the back of the assembled heart as well and adhered that to the top of the stenciled piece.  I added some glitter to the cream snowflakes for a little shimmer.  Easy peasy!!!

So glad you topped by.  I wish everyone the merriest Christmas and and a very Happy New Year!

Peaceful Birds

Oh my gosh, Christmas is coming so fast!  With that in mind, peace is the focus of my card today!

Clean and simple cards are my favorite style, with a little glimmer to top it off.  For the ornament frame, I used the third largest ornament from the Drop Ornament Layers set and the second smallest stitched circle from the Stitched Circle Layers set.  This circle fit perfectly inside the ornament, and I was able to cut them together from cream card stock.  I cut three of the Sketchbook Peace die, glued them on top of each other, and layered that over the frame opening.  I die cut the "fluffiest" of the three sprigs from the Floral Sprigs set, added red gemstones for the berries, and adhered that to the ornament as shown.  I added two of the birds from the Birds of a Feather Die.

I mounted the assembled ornament to a piece of light sand colored card stock that was embossed with a wood grain embossing folder, and then used foam tape to adhere it to the cream colored A2 card base.  With a few gemstones scattered around and a little Wink of Stella on the birds, this completed the card. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

Shimmery Shaker Ornament

Hello everyone!  Sherry here with a fun shaker card for you today!  Shaker cards are such a blast to make, and this one comes with lots of glitter and glam!



I wanted a shimmery background for this card, so I decided to use the Starry Night Background die.  I cut a piece of card stock to 5" x 3.75", die cut the background, and then layered it onto a piece of double sided tape, which exposed the "sticky" on the open stars.  I poured light blue Glitter Ritz on the openings, achieving the shimmer I was looking for.  I then die cut the second largest ornament from the Drop Ornament Layers from the glittered piece.  The ornament that is cut out can be used for another card.



I adhered a piece of acetate to the back of the glitter piece, then die cut another ornament from fun foam that was cut to slightly smaller than the glittered piece, and adhered that to the back of the that piece.  I gathered my sprinkles of beads, glass glitter and sequins, into the center of the card base, and then adhered the assembled front over the sprinkles to create the shaker portion.  I die cut all three of the Shimmering Snowflakes, plus one extra of the small one, from double sided tape, peeled off the top later, and covered the flakes with dark blue and gold glitter.  I did the same with the "Joy", and positioned them as shown.  



I had fun with this one, and hope you enjoyed it too!  Thanks for stopping by!

Starry Night Background

Shimmering Snowflakes

Drop Ornament Layers

Christmas is almost here! Yikes!

Once again I have gotten behind on posting here.  I'm sure I speak for most everyone, but I honestly don't know where the time goes.  As a way of catching up a little bit, I'm going to show several cards that I posted on the Poppystamps blog. 

I'll start with an all occasion card made with the Claudette Frame.  As can be seen, I snipped off one side to create room for the stem of the Elsa Butterfly Branch.  For the background on the card base and on the smaller piece added to the center of the frame, I used Shabby Shutters Distress Ink to sponge through the Textured Flourish stencil from Memory Box, which is sadly no longer available. There are a couple of new ones though that are just as ornate and beautiful, one called Adornment, and another called Lanthenay, which could also be used for this card.

I cut the Elsa Butterfly Branch from green card stock, and another one from a bright pink card stock.  I snipped the butterfly from the pink card stock and glued it directly over the green butterfly, and also did the same with the two flower buds.  I cut the Elsa Butterfly also from the pink card stock and glued just the center of it on top of the other pink butterfly, lifting the wings for dimension. I found some pretty pinl flower bling to add as shown.

Next is a fall card that was easy and fun to create.  The leaves were cut from white card stock and sponged with Distress Inks: Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint, and a touch of Fired Brick .  The dies used were the Maple Leaf Border and the Massa Leaf Frame.  I cut a square of white card stock just a smidge larger than the opening in the frame, stamped the sentiment, and then glued it to the back of the frame.  I added mounting tape to the back for dimension, then added the sponged leaves as shown, along with a little bling.  Very quick and easy!

Next is a Christmas card featuring the Small Luxe Poinsettia Outline die and the Small Luxe Poinsettia Background die, the Dianna Border die (one of my all time favorites dies), the Pine Sprigs die and the Frozen Flakes die. 

I first sponged the background using white pigment ink through the Memory Box Textured Flourish stencil.  After removing the stencil, I embossed the background with clear embossing powder, then arranged the poinsettia pieces and greenery as shown.  I cut one of the snowflakes from the Frozen Flakes die cut, curved the piece and added it to the center.  I found some plastic snowflakes in my stash and added them as shown.

I had so much fun cutting up the Frosty Flakes die cut that I ended up with the 3" x 3" card you see below.  I cut another die from a dark red card stock, snipping two of the snowflakes, and added a white one from the previously cut piece used on the card above.  I have friends who just love the little 3" x 3" cards, and honestly I get into another zone making these.  They're so much fun, and they're great to make in sets to give as gifts!

The last card for this time around is a very clean and simple Christmas card made with the same Small Luxe Poinsettia Outline die and Pine Sprigs used above.  I used mounting tape on a white piece of card stock cut at 3.75" x 5" and adhered this to the card base.  I cut a 1.5" x 4" piece of gold foil, cut one end Chevron style, and glued this to the front.  I cut another piece of white card stock, a little wider, same length.  I embossed that piece, and used mounting tape to adhere this on top of the gold, offsetting it as shown.

I cut three of the poinsettias from the gold foil card stock, shaped the petals, and adhered them one on top of the other, offsetting each one.  I glued three of the pine sprigs as shown, and mounted the assembled poinsettia just slightly to the left of the embossed piece.  Added the gold bling and sentiment, and it was done!

I hope you've enjoyed these cards and that you've been inspired to get those Christmas cards made.  It's coming fast!

On November 19th, I will be teaching a class at Ultimate Hobbies using a mixture of Poppystamps and Obsession Impression dies and a Memory Box stencil, so if you're in the area, I'd love to see you in class.  The deadline to sign up is this Friday, November 14th.  If you can't make the class, those cards will be posted on this blog after the class date.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Tag Hop!!

Today's the day!  Our Poppystamps design team will be posting some wonderful ideas on each of their blogs, so it's time to start hopping! If you are following along the blog hop, you should have reached me from Sherry Eckblad.  You can get all the details, including what candy we're giving away by clicking on the following link: Poppystamps Blog


I created a two-part tag just for fun.

I have to apologize for the lighting on these pictures which, in spite of many tries, did not pick up the sparkle.  You'll have to trust me, there's lots of sparkle!  I embossed the Clarissa Ornament Background die and added the bling.  I had a pretty piece of Memory Box paper, and used it to layer a strip onto dark green cardstock, then added that to the tag base.  I cut apart the Breezy Wreath to make the leafy accent and added a Berry Sprig.  I love the Merry script and it fit perfectly across the bottom.  I cut three of the scallops from the Petit Four Border and added that at the very bottom.  I used the same paper for the inside tag, and again used a couple of the Berry Sprigs and the Petit Four Border to tie it all together. Did I mention there is sparkle?!  Here are links to the dies used:

[932] DIES- Clarissa Ornament Background	[967] DIES- Cursive Merry	Petit Four Border (959)	[824] DIES- Breezy Wreath
[977] DIES- Berry Sprig

This is the last stop on the hop.  Hopefully you've left comments on each of the blogs for your chance to win one of three prizes.  As mentioned in my previous post, you have until December 8th to leave a comment, and winners will be posted on the Poppystamps blog on December 9th.  For your convenience, here's a list of all the designers with projects today:  

Poppystamps Blog

Yvonne Dunlop

Chunyuan Wu

Diane Barney

Ira Huberts

Jean Manis

Jeanne Jachna

Kimberly Coleman

Lezlye Lauterbach

Mary McMillan

Michele Henderson

Patty Tanuz

Rudlis / Irena Kowalczyk

Sherry Eckblad 

Sherry Hester  

Thanks for stopping by and happy hopping!!

Poinsettia Thank You

I absolutely love the Small Blooming Poinsettia die and I’ve used it once again … well really, six times again … on this Thank You card.

The Diamond background was cut using the same cardstock as the base card to give it an embossed look.  I used a strip of ivory burlap behind the Lovely Tendril pieces, and arranged the gold and ivory poinsettias in a cascade fashion, then added a pearl to each of the centers.  I also used a glitter pen on the ivory petals to give it a little shine. Hope you like this one!!

Here's more news:  Poppystamps will be having a Holiday Tag Hop on Monday, December 2nd. Just click on the Poppystamps logo on the top right to begin! Be sure to hop to all of the blogs and leave a comment as there are three prizes to be given away and they're hidden amongst our blogs. You will have until December 8th to leave a comment for your chance to win.  Winners will be posted on the Poppystamps blog on December 9th. 

In the meantime, I wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

A Merry Little Christmas

I'm back from a much needed vacation and ready to start posting again!  Here is another simple Christmas greeting using more dies from the Poppystamps newest release.  The more I play with these wonderful dies, the more I love them!

I cut apart the Diamond Background die so that I’d have two rows of diamonds for a delicate border at the top.  I used the Lovely Tendril die on gold cardstock and adhered that to the card front.  The Clarissa Ornament Outline and Background  pieces were cut from  dark blue cardstock and I layered them for an embossed look.  I then threaded some gold twine through two gold jingle bells, and tied it around the top of the ornament.  I used the Pine Sprigs die to cut three sprigs, one light green, one darker green and one gold, and gathered them behind the ornament, then used mounting tape, adhered the ornament ensemble over the gold tendril.  I used a glitter brush to add highlights to the leaves on the ornament and on the border.  The “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” stamp was the perfect touch to finish the card.   

This is one of three cards we will be making in my upcoming classes at Ultimate Hobbies on Wednesday, October 30th, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. and 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.  Hope you enjoy, and so glad you stopped by!

[965] DIES- Diamond Background [956] DIES- Lovely Tendril [936] DIES- Pine Sprigs [934] DIES- Clarissa Ornament Outline [932] DIES- Clarissa Ornament Background [CS305B] Little Christmas

InLinkz.com

Do You See What I See

Here is a card featuring a couple of the brand new Poppystamps dies, Woodland Fawn and Trulani Wreath dies, along with the Mountain Top Trees and “Do You See What I See” cling stamps. There is also a matching die that goes with the Mountain Top Trees. What a great new collection from Poppystamps!

 

I always love to find alternate ways to use larger dies by cutting them apart and using the pieces on more than one card.  For this card, I chose to cut apart the Trulani Wreath in two places, using one of the cut pieces to peek through and around the oval opening.  Using red glitter on the berries gave them a sparkly pop, and I added the same red glitter to the fawn’s scarf.  I also fanned out the fringe a little.  I sponged a darker brown ink around the edges of the fawn, and gave its ears a bit of a bend to bring it a little more to life. Clear glitter around the bottoms of the trees also gives the look of shimmering snow.  

Love these new dies!  I know you’ll love them too!  Be sure to hop over to the Poppystamps blog (click on the Poppystamps badge on the right), and leave a comment for a chance to win the Charming Stars die!