Gift Card Holder

 This is a gift card holder that uses the Top Note Die. You use an 85.X5.5 sheet of cardstock and score it at 3-1/4, 4-1/4 and 5-1/4 along the long edge, fold into a mountain fold and then fun it through the Big Shot with mountain fold edge inside the Top Note so that edge is not cut. Then I used the Word Window punch to make the slot for the gift card in the middle of that mountain fold, gluing the edge opposite the slot together. I uwed the 3/5x5 notecard and envelopes from Stampin Up! to make this card. Since the holder gives you space to write a note and sign your name you can just cut the notecard in half and use one as the base to mount the holder and I used the other half to stamp the lasso, hat, and star. The ribbon is run under the glued holder and then tied. It's easier to make than it sounds! CASE from Linda Heller.

Halloween Treats

Here are two little treat bags that I made for Halloween. I used the Top Note Die to make the topper for the bag by just folding it in half lengthwise. The label on the cookie treat is from the Merry Everything stamp set and Happy Halloween expression comes from the Good Greetings stamp set.

The kettle and expression on the cider/cinnamon stick treat is from the Tee-Hee-Hee stamp set. The cookie treat was quick to make with the Note Tag Punch. I had to fussy cut the kettle, but did use the medium oval punch for the expression. I was experimenting a bit on these projects. I wanted to try to emboss using the new stamp pads. I found that your pad needs to be good and wet and you must stamp it and quickly apply the embossing powder. Otherwise, the ink dries too quickly and the embossing powder won't stick and you get a spotty effect at best. 

A Banner Thanksgiving

This cute banner idea is a case from Dawn Olchefske. You use the Oval framelits to make the banner. It sounds more complicated than it is! The leaves were cut using the Autumn Accents Die Cut. I love the metallic buttons from the holiday catalog. So pretty! Sadly I have used all but one 6x12 piece and a few little scraps of my color Me Autumn Designer Series Paper.

Color Me Autumn for Thanksgiving

I'm working on a few more Thanksgiving cards this week. Here's one that uses the For All Things and Good Greetings stamp sets with the Color Me Autumn Designer Series Paper. It's all tied together with some Hello Honey ribbon. I love the texture of this ribbon!

CD Calendar - October, November and December

October is a haunted house with bats flying around; all stamps in the set.
November is leaves and pumpkin also in the set.
December is a holiday wreath and Santa and reindeer also all in the set.
Tada! All done using the Holiday Home stamp set.

CD Calendar - July, August, September

July's fireworks were made using the star from the Holiday Home stamp set and adding the tails using the white gel pen.
August is sunshine!
September is an apple orchard. I stamped three trees then added red apples using the darkest Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities marker. Then I used the Old Olive Blendabilities to make the tree leaves. Each tree was fussy cut.

CD Calendar - April, May, June

I wanted to make April showers... so I took the string of lights from the stamp set and inked just the tip of the light bulbs with Smoky Slate, then I rubbed that edge up the cardstock at a slant to make the rain. I colored the house in grey tones using my Blendabilities to add to the rainy day feeling.
For May I wanted to make May flowers but since there isn't a flower in the stamp set I decided to make blossoms instead... Cherry blossoms. I used the snowflake stamp set to make the blossoms then added just a touch of green in the tree branches using a marker. I put the trees in a row to resemble an orchard.
June is sunshine and green trees! I stamped the tree and then used my Old Olive Blendabilities to make the leaves. I wasn't thinking about the bleed that occurs through the card stock. So, I had to be sure to place the calendar over that blur on the reverse page.The sun was made freehand using a Blendabilities marker. This time I was thinking about the bleed but just made another sun on the reverse (see August tomorrow).

Holiday Homes Calendar

I have been making CD case calendars for many years. After seeing the framed Holiday Houses for a Year on Butternut Sage Designs I decided to use the Holiday Home stamp set and Homemade Holiday framelits to make this year's calendar pages. The top photo shows the CD case set up to display the current month and store the extra pages. You do have to take the case apart and put it together "wrong" to get the display "easel".
I challenged myself to only use stamps in the Holiday Home set.
January was pretty easy since there are snowflakes and snowman included in the set.
February also was easy since the set has a cute little heart and I used the lamp post also in the set. A word of caution when using photopolymer stamps... they stick to everything! I used most of the stamps as I was making the calendar pages. I needed a clean block so I pulled the lamp post off a block and did not put it away in the case. When I was putting everything away I couldn't find that stamp. I searched everywhere on my desk top. Then I began to search on all surfaces. I had already put so many things away. After searching for well over 30 minutes I finally found it stuck to one of the ink pads I had used and put away. So, my advice, "Put the stamps in their case as you finish using them."
For March I used the heart stamp to make the clover and then grabbed my marker of the same color and made the stem free hand.
The next three months will be posted tomorrow.

4x4 Calendar

 I'll be busy making calendars for our church's silent auction in November. This is a 4"x4" calendar I made last year for a friend and I'll be making similar ones for the auction. I picked a pack of Designer Series paper that had lots of colors and then designed my monthly pages around those colors. The cover used two pieces of the paper mounted on a piece of coaster board. For the monthly pages I just used a piece of card stock and added a piece of the DSP to the bottom.

 I looked through my stamp sets, punches and die cuts to see what I had that could be used for each month's page. Then I looked through my ribbon and buttons to see what I had to add some bling.

 The cover, back page and monthly pages were all punched with two holes at the top and then I used binder rings to hold it all together.

It was a lot of fun to make the pages and my friend was thrilled to get it. Guess I'll have to make her one for 2015. 

Rotary Alphabet

I wanted to make a special card for my sister who is receiving the Distinguished Alumni award from the seminary she graduated from later this week.
I've used a lot of retired product here but did use my new Alphabet Rotary stamp to add "Distinguished Alumna to the print background. There are lots of similar products that could be used to make this card in the current catalog.

Festival of Trees Gift Tags

These gift tags were made by using the scraps on my desk top after making a Christmas card for a Shoebox party in November. I used the Festival of Trees photopolymer stamp set and coordinating tree punch. This photopolymer set is fun to create with. I've got more tags I want to create now! The Designer Series Paper is All is Calm and trimmed with some Silver Foil Sheet strips. I've threaded the white Taffetta ribbon, white baker's twine and the 1/8" silver ribbon in the holes punched when using the Scallop Tag Topper punch

Give Thanks

This card uses Color Me Autumn Designer Series Paper to create a background and a piece of Cajun Craze cardstock double cut with Banners Framelits to make a focal point. The expression comes from the Good Greetings stamp set. Candy Dots add a little more dimension to the card. CASE from Mary Fish.

I'm Thankful For...

This card uses some of the new things I got in my latest Stampin' UP! shipment. The stamped image is just a portion of the I'm Thankful For stamp. This is a single stamp sold in the Holiday catalog. The YOU letters were cut with the Little Letters Thinlits.  I used Color Me Autumn Designer Series Paper for the background and pulled the Mossy Meadow, Cajun Craze and Crushed Curry color trio from it.

It's Your Birthday

The stamped images from this card are part of the Big News set. I like using DSP to come up with color combinations. This cared is Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight and Tempting Turquoise. The strip of DSP is from the Sweet Taffy pack.

ho! ho! ho!

This card is a CASE from Dawn Olchefske. It uses one of the Apothecary Framelits to make the Santa's beard. Just cut the largest framelit in the set using Whisper White Cardstock and then cut it in half to make the beard. The stamped expression is from the FREE hostess Good Greetings stamp set. It is full of fun expressions and is available through October 31st.
The belt and buckle are pieces of Basic Black card stock, a strip for the belt and another punched square for the piece in the buckle. The buckle is a size larger punched square of silver glimmer paper. The card is so stinking cute and easy!
Today is the last day the Apothecary framelits and glimmer paper on offered at a special price in the weekly deals.

Two cards today that take the stamps and create something new! I love how Dawn Olchefske (upper card) and Connie Babbert (lower card) used the stamps to create these Works of Art.
The sun on the top was made using a round circle of stamp rubber that was the center of a stamp in a retired set. This was the very first stamp I put to my Tangelo Twist ink pad. Since the pad was really juicy and I wasn't thinking about that I got a splattered edge to my round image. Happy accident!
The bottom card uses the "line" brushstroke image as the stem and the smallest of the rectangular brushstroke stamps to make the leaves and petals for the flower. So pretty. A few rhinestones scattered on the card give it added sparkle.
That's it for this week. I had fun using the Work of Art stamp set and didn't even make all the cards I've pinned using it. I'll keep playing with it. When I use a stamp set I begin to see ways to create other cards with it. The pinned cards are like a springboard for me to get my creative juices flowing.
Have a great weekend!

Today's card is another CASE from Deb Currier. I wish I could get a better photo. I used the Banner framelits to cut a piece of vellum and then I punched the top edge of the banner with the Scalloped Tag Topper punch. The vellum was adhered using mini glue dots hidden beneath the button and heart.  All the stamp images come in the Work of Art stamp set.

Brushstroke Background

This is another quick and easy card using the brushstroke stamp from the Work of Art stamp set with the image from theFigts of Kindness stamp set. I wanted to keep this card simple but you could easily take it to another level by moving the stamped image up a bit and adding a ribbon or bow at the stem. This is CASE from Vicki Burdick. And think of all the different color combos you could use for the background!

Fabulous Work of Art

Today's card is a CASE Mary Fish at Stampinpretty. This is a really quick card to make, The only part that takes much time is cleaning the stamp between the colors. I really like the new InColors but hadn't opened my Tangelo Twist stamp pad until making this card! I'll be using these colors some more for fall cards.

Work of Art for this Week

For this week I've decided to feature the Work of Art stamp set from Stampin' UP! When I first saw this stamp set I knew I wanted it. I've had it for some time and have used it a bit but had never really played with it. There are so many cards I've pinned to my CARDS board on Pinterest using it so, in celebration of World Card Making day I pulled it out and created cards. I'll be sharing one each day of this week.

Today's card is really very simple and a CASE from Deb Currier at ARTfelt Impressions. 

I used the Natural and Old Olive Two Tone Trim from the Holiday catalog. The zig zag image was stamped off (ink up the stamp then stamp on scrap paper before stamping on your card stock) to give a lighter impression. 

The card stock for the base is the Naturals Ivory from Stampin' UP! That was a happy accident. I'm running low on Very Vanilla and waiting for my order to arrive. So, decided to use the Naturals and it really looks nicer with the trim than the vanilla would have. I love it when things just come together.  I don't know if you noticed it but there is a little rhinestone gem inside the hear. It adds just a bit of sparkle to the card. 

Happy Monday, Happy stamping!

It's a Cupcake Kind of Day!

Today's card uses a piece of Designer Series Paper from the Lullaby pack. I punched circles from pieces of card stock and scattered them on the DSP. Tied a ribbon and placed the largest circle over it with dimensionals. Then I got out the Cupcake Builder punch and retired Create a Cupcake stamp set and made the cupcake with the cherry on top. Have you noticed the new Cupcake Party stamp set on page 58 in the Stampin' Up! catalog? I'm adding it to my Christmas list because the images are so darn cute!

Age Awareness

Here's another card using the Age Awareness photopolymer stamp set. I love how easily you can mix and match the expressions when using photopolymer sets. The Designer Series Paper is from the Flowerpot pack. One of my siblings has a birthday this month and since he's a bit older than me (not quite 14 years) I just had to rub it in a bit. The inside expression says, "You look way better at this age than I thought you would." It also comes in the Age Awareness stamp set. And he does look pretty good for his age... all my oldest sibs do. Hope it's in the genes!

Petite Pairs Stamp Set

Here's two cards using the Petite Pairs stamp set that is currently on sale October 1-6 from Stampin' Up! It's a great set as the expressions can be used paired or alone. The top card also uses the Age Awareness stamp set and the layout design is a CASE from Linda Heller. 

The bottom card is a repeat design from a previous post. But if you missed that one it uses the Homemade Holiday framelits to make the arrows. Just use the tall skinny house framelit and cut of the chimney after you run the DSP through the Big Shot. I've used up some retired DSP scraps and the last of my retired More Mustard cardstock. Yippee! More room for other card stock and it's on sale now, too until October 6th!

Happy October! Happy stamping!