Lots of Beary Cute Cards

 Happy Friday to you.  What a week it's been with the heavy rains, high winds, and flooding going on around here.  Today it's supposed to start in on more of the same.  Wish we would have gotten a bit of this rain in the summer when it was so hot and dry.  Is there some way to gather up some of the rain and save it for future reference?  Hmm.  Something to think about.  Before the rains started today, I made a quick trip to the Post Office.  I had a stack of cards to mail to the shut-ins from church.  It was a large stack, so I figured I'd be better off taking them there rather than waiting for our mailman to take them all.  Even though the cards were designed in December and some of the items are now retired, I figured you might like to see the cards that were mailed for January.

I love the wintry look of the card.  It's a good  fit for January cards, right?  Let's walk through the steps to make this card.

I started with a card base of Gray Granite that measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".  It's scored and folded in half as usual.  The layer with the Aspen Trees is Basic White Thick cardstock.  It measures 4 1/8" x 5 3/8".  The die was laid in the center of this and run through my Big Shot.  I went through and back again to get a good cut on all the tree limbs.

The Balmy Blue print paper behind this is from A Walk in the Forest Designer Series Paper that was in the Winter Mini Catalog.  I liked how both this print and another snowflake print looked peeking through the trees.  This paper was cut at 4" x 5 1/4" so it's just a tiny bit smaller than the die-cut layer.  It's attached with adhesive at the edges and a few strategic places in the center of the die-cut.  Then it's attached to the card base with Dimensionals.

The bear is from the Beary Cute Bundle that wasn't carried over from the Winter Mini which is too bad in my opinion.  It was stamped with Basic Gray ink to give him a nice dark outline.  The scarf is from the same stamp set and was stamped with Balmy Blue ink.  It was punched out with the Bear Punch.

The sentiment is also from the set.  I love both the wording and the font used on this set.  (I'm hanging on to the set especially because of this sentiment.)  It's stamped in Gray Granite ink on a 1 1/2" x 1" strip of Basic White cardstock.

The bear is attached near the bottom with Dimensionals.  The sentiment is attached about the middle and on the left.  It's attached with Dimensionals also.

The added bling for these cards were three clear Rhinestone Basic Jewels.  I thought that they went well with the frosty feel of the card.

One last look at the stack of cards mailed out today.  It took a bit of time to assemble all of them.  I was thinking of you, Sue, when I was cleaning out all the bitty pieces in the trees.  I know you love your die-cuts, and so do I!

Sorry that most of today's card is using retired products.  But if you have the Beary Cute stamp set and punch, this gives you another idea on how to use it.  Thanks for stopping by to see what's being stamped today.  I need to get back to my new stamps and papers and get crafty!

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Trucking Along in the Woods

Hello there.  Ready for another quick card?  This one was inspired by my daughter who loved her grandpa's old red truck.  It's fairly quick to make because you have dies and punches to do all the work for you.

Stamps:  Trucking Along, sentiment (?)

Cardstock:  Balmy Blue and Basic White

Ink:  Real Red, Garden Green, Basic Gray, Night of Navy

Extras:  Walk in the Woods Designer Series Paper, Truck Punch, Aspen Tree Die, Banner Pick A Punch, White Frost Glitter (retired), Basic Jewels Rhinestones in clear

Just another shot to get a better look at some of the details.

Die-cut trees layer.  Add DSP behind it only on the edges.  Layer onto card base.  Stamp truck and punch out.  Stamp tree and fussy cut.  Attach to card front.  Add sentiment.  Rip a strip of Basic White for snow area and attach.  Add glitter and let set up.

 Hope you're enjoying this card blitz and something peaks your curiosity.  Give these ideas a try!  

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Aspen Trees Birthday Card

 Hello, hello!  Hope you're having some decent weather.  We've got rain again and these gray days are really getting to me.  It's supposed to stop and get below freezing soon.  Will that be better?  Oh my goodness, I might even admit to missing snow!  Oh heavens!!  But at least with a snowfall, you've got at least one day where it's sparkling white, pristine, and so beautiful.  I've got to start working harder to be appreciative of all this rain.  What are some things about the rain that I can be thankful for?  Come on guys, help me out here!  While you're thinking of some good reasons, let me share a card with you.  It was necessary to make a few masculine birthday cards again.  This is one of them...

Here I go with the Aspen Trees Die set again.  LOVE this set!  This is one of the carry-over items from the winter Mini Catalog for which I am very grateful!  At Christmas I had made some nighttime cards, but this one is a daytime, spring or summer looking card.  I really enjoy using my Blending Brushes to get a softly blended background.  You can make it as soft and pale or as bold and bright as you like.  Just my kind of card.

I started by cutting a Basic White piece of cardstock to measure 5 1/4" x 4".  Then I die-cut the Aspen Trees in the center of this and set aside.  I thought I might add a smudge of color at all the "cuts" in the sides of the trees but decided against doing that.  For some reason, I just like the clean white look of the trees as is.  

Next, a piece of Basic White cardstock that measures 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" is cut.  On this piece, I used a Blending Brush and Balmy Blue ink to blend in a sky from the top to about 2/3 of the way down fading out at the end.  Using another Blending Brush, I blended Old Olive ink up from the bottom.  This was faded into the Balmy Blue area.  Afterwards, I lightly blended in some Garden Green ink to brighten the grassy area.  When I was happy with the colors, this was layered under the aspen trees using Multi Purpose Liquid Glue around the edges and touches of the glue on some of the tree trunks.  Make sure your background piece doesn't show around the edges!  If it's a little too big, trim it before putting the glue on it. This was all added to an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" folded Garden Green card base using Dimensionals to make it stand out.

The leafy pieces were cut from a retired piece of DSP that had multiple green tones.  Four of these leafy pieces were cut then positioned on the card front.  After the positions were decided, each piece had dots of Multi Purpose Liquid Glue on the back to hold them in place in the centers.  The edges of the leafy pieces are very loosely attached so they look more dimensional.

The sentiment is from the Peaceful Moments set.  It's stamped on a Basic White piece using Old Olive ink.  It's then punched out with the Label Me Fancy punch found on page 153 of the Annual Catalog.  Before attaching to the card front, the top half was blended with Balmy Blue and the bottom half has Old Olive ink softly added.  Then it's attached to the card front using Dimensionals.

Since this was to be a masculine birthday card, I didn't want to add any glitz and glitter.  Not too many guys really care for that.  But I did add a double bow of Linen Thread to the left side of the label.  A rolled Mini Glue Dot holds it in place.

I hope you like this card with the blended background.  I find I love adding the blended ink behind the focal point of the card.  For some reason, I find the process of blending ink onto a background to be very calming.  This I could do for a good long while without getting bored.  There's just something about getting the colors just the way I want them to be, adding a little more here or there.  Then being able to add another color over the base color to get a different blend altogether.  It makes me feel so creative!  Maybe it's time for you to get your Blending Brushes out and have some fun!  Did you notice that there are Small Blending Brushes now too?  And a Storage Unit for both sizes of brushes is found on page 67 of the January-April Mini Catalog.  Now there's an easy and handy way to store your brushes.  Woo Hoo!!

Thanks for coming by again.  I really appreciate you taking the time to see what's going on here.  Hope you enjoy my ideas.  Some are very simple and straightforward, but how many of us really have three hours to spend on each card we make?  I know there are times I spend that amount of time and more to make a special card for a very special occasion.  But most of the time our card creations have to be made a little quicker.  So I try to offer you a mix of both.  Hope that works for you.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Aspen Trees Snowfall

Good morning, friends.  What another lovely autumn day outside.  I really could get used to these days that are sunny with blue skies above and crisp weather all around.  I haven't been spending too much time outside though.  For some reason I seem to be stuck downstairs in my stamp room.  But Connie is there right alongside of me, and we've been busy!  Today's card is one that I made right before she arrived but have been too busy to post.  But it's one I thought you really needed to see.  In my humble opinion, it's simply gorgeous!  Tell me what you think of it.

Isn't this a wow card?  I love the look in person because it has such a lovely shimmer over the twilight sky with the stark black tree trunks to offset it with the pop of the white snowflake to wow.  Here's the instructions in case you're inspired to make one of these too.

I started out by die-cutting the aspen trees into a Basic Black cardstock piece that is cut to 5 1/4" x 4".  The trees are cut right in the center.  

Then I cut a quarter piece of Basic White cardstock at 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" to color in my twilight sky. This is larger than I needed, but I planned to trim it down after it was finished.  I used Blending Brushes and these colors:  Fresh Freesia, Highland Heather, Orchid Oasis and Starry Sky inks. 

I started blending on the bottom with Fresh Freesia which is the lightest color.  I blended the color up about a third of the cardstock piece.   Switching to Highland Heather ink, I blended in an area a little bigger than 1 1/2" across going down into the Fresh Freesia color and then up.  Next was blending the Orchid Oasis color down into the Highland Heather and up.  Lastly was the Starry Sky blending up and becoming quite dark at the very top.  I hope you can see clearly how the colors were blended into each other across the whole card.

Next, I wanted to add some snow or stars to the card.  That was easily accomplished by spattering Wink of Stella across the whole card.  Set aside to dry for a few minutes before going on with your project. Just a reminder - remove everything out of the way!  Yes, I seem to have some Wink of Stella sparkles on a couple of ink pads.  I should know better, and I thought I did.  But a reminder is always a good thing.

The lovely background that you just made now needs to be trimmed down a little to fit behind the black trees.  The cardstock was trimmed down to 5 1/8" x 3 7/8" to be just a smidgen smaller.  Multi Purpose Liquid Glue was used on the back of the trees and frame to attach the two pieces together.  Then Dimensionals were used to pop it up on the card base.  I tried several different colors to see what went the best with my twilight sky and I chose to use Orchid Oasis.  It seems to compliment the sky tones the very best.

Now for the sentiment for the card.  I love the song Silent Night and this sentiment seemed a perfect fit for the card.  It's from the Peace to You stamp set found in the July - December Mini Catalog on page 41.  The set has four sentiments that I've found work nicely with so many of my card ideas lately.  I seem to be a little fixated on this set, but when something works - use it!  This time it's stamped with Orchid Oasis ink onto a 1/2" strip of Basic White cardstock.  I like these skinny sentiments because they don't cover up too much of your lovely design, but still pack a punch.  It's just trimmed straight to fit the card and attached with adhesive.

I was excited that I could add one of these gorgeous, iridescent Wonderful Snowflakes.  So pretty!!  They are easy to overlook in the Mini Catalog on page 45.  It took me a while to find them myself.  But they are well worth finding.  You get 24 snowflakes in a package so you can add them to lots of projects.  And did I happen to mention they are so very pretty?  Ok, one was added to this card.  It's attached with just one Dimensional right in the center.  Do you see the center of the snowflake is just the right size to use a Dimensional?  Brilliant planning, right?

After checking through my stash of bling, I actually went with a retired sequin assortment that matched the card colors perfectly.  I used the Woven Thread Sequin Assortment from several years ago.  The sequins are iridescent in shades of pinks, rose, turquoise, and purples.  So how could I not use them?  Sorry they are retired, but sometimes you need to use what works.  Five of these were added to the card design using Multi Purpose Liquid Glue.  And there you have it.  Another card ready to mail off to some lucky recipient to share some Christmas joy.

Hope you're getting started on your Christmas cards.  A lot of the stress of making so many cards evaporates when you get an early start.  I'll have more ideas for you coming up soon.  Connie and I have been busy stamping and creating all kinds of lovely cards that I'll be sharing in the coming days.  Hope you'll check back often to see what else I have to share with you.  Blessings and many hugs!

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Aspen Trees in Blue & White

Happy Saturday, friends!  Hope you're doing well today and enjoying your weekend.  Today's post continues with another card featuring the Aspen Trees Dies.  When the July-December Mini Catalog came out, I fell in love with the Aspen Trees Dies on page 46.  But for some reason I wasn't crazy about the bird in the set.  In fact, my sister and I had a discussion about it.  I didn't think it looked right and she thought it was a perfect representation of a bird in winter.  Oh well, we can disagree on that, but we both thought the Aspen Trees Dies were awesome.  I still feel that way after using them on multiple cards!

Here's my first version of a wintry night.  I love the crisp blue and white colors together with a hint of sparkle.  And when you're holding this card in your hands, it's even better because I used Snowy White Velvet Sheets to cut the aspen trees.  So. you've got that extra dimension of 'touch' added into the design.  Lovely.  You can find this lovely paper in the July-December Mini Catalog on page 37.  It's easy to miss, but well worth looking for.

My design starts with a Snowy White Velvet Sheet that's cut to 5 1/4" x 4".  Then the aspen trees design is die-cut from the center.  I wanted a dark blue print to go behind it that would give the impression of a snowy night.  I found this print in the Sun Prints DSP.  It really looks like ferns and weeds in white on the dark blue background, but behind the die-cut trees it works.  It's cut just a bit smaller than the Snowy White Velvet and measures 5 1/8" x 3 7/8".  I used Tombow Multi Purpose Liquid Glue on the back of the white paper and attached them together.

I was trying to decide whether I could use a ribbon or not, when I spied the silver 1 1/2" Metallic Mesh Ribbon in my stash.  It's so delicate and fine, but with a silver sheen that looked great with this design.  I cut a length about 6-7" long and attached it on the back of the layers with adhesive.  Then the layers were attached to a Night of Navy card base which measured 11" x 4 1/4".  It's scored at 5 1/2" and folded in half to make a top-fold card.  The layers were attached with adhesive to keep them flat.    

For the sentiment on the card, I chose to use the Hope & Peace stamp set found on page 40 of the July-December Mini Catalog.  The sentiments in this set are turning out to be my go-to choice lately for Christmas.  This time the sentiment was stamped with Night of Navy ink onto a Basic White scrap of cardstock.  It's then die-cut with the Deckled Rectangles Die set.  This gives it a little extra interest and I thought it paired nicely with the tree trunks.  It wasn't too large and didn't cover up too much of the design either.  For the layer behind it, I die-cut the next larger size from Night of Navy cardstock.  But it was too large, so I repositioned the die-cut piece and trimmed it again taking off about an 1/8" inch from the top and side.  This still gives it the layer, but it's a snugger fit.   This was attached to the card front using Dimensionals.  It's placed right over the wispy silver mesh ribbon, but it doesn't hide it completely.

The last addition to this card is the bling.  I tried so many options - Festive Pearls in silver, Iridescent Pearls, Sparkle & Shine Sequins, Opal Rounds, Iridescent Rhinestones, Seasonal Sequins in white, and Elegant Faceted Gems.  There were some good choices in there.  But I kept coming back to the plain old standby of the Rhinestone Basic Jewels.  The plain rhinestones gave it an "icy" touch of bling that seemed to fit the card perfectly.

That's it for this latest installment of the Aspen Trees Dies and what to do with them.  There are still more ideas to share concerning these dies.  Every time I have them sitting on my table I start to envision even more ideas.  Did I mention I really love these dies?  Definitely worth every penny!  Hope you give them a try too.  And if you get them in a bundle with the Perched in a Tree set, let me see what you've made with the stamps.  Maybe you can convince me I need those too.  I've got to admit, the set does have fabulous sentiments in it that I wish I owned.  Hmmm.  Maybe I need to put that back on my wish list.  (And don't forget to order more of the Snowy White Sheets so I can make more of these cards!)  😄😄😄 

Thanks for stopping in again to see what's going on here in my little world.  It's quiet for the moment, but my sister is coming for a visit in another week if all goes well.  I'm so looking forward to stamping and creating with her again.  We just have such a great time bouncing ideas around and feeding on each other's enthusiasm and creativity.  Look out, you're going to be seeing some more comparison cards too, where we start with the same basic pieces and each work it our own way.  That's always fun.

If you're placing an order soon, please consider using the Host Code shown at the top of the blog post.  It is so appreciated!  Of course, with any order placed, you receive "punch card points" from me that you can redeem later.  Any questions, please get in touch.  Please post a comment too so I know you've been here.  I'd love to hear from you.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Aspen Trees Card

Hello friend!  Still feels like fall is in the air, so I'm going to stick with my fall themed cards today.  Did you happen to get the Aspen Tree Dies at the end of Sale-a-Bration?  I did and I'm so impressed with them.  They are still available in the July-December Mini Catalog on page 46.  You can get them alone or as a bundle with the Perched in a Tree stamp set.  Right now, I'm just focusing on the dies alone.  I've fooled around making a few cards with the dies and I love them to pieces!  So many different ways of working with them.  I think I need to share a few ideas that I've come up with myself, and others that I've CASed and changed up a bit.  Either way, I love the look of the tree trunks against whatever background you choose to use.  The various possibilities just boggle the mind.

This is the first card I made with the dies only that I'd like to share with you.  Doesn't this card speak autumn days to you?  I love the colors together.  

For this card, I started with Very Vanilla cardstock that measured 5 1/4" x 4" that I die-cut the oval tree trunk image from.  This gave me just a small amount of space on all four sides for the die to fit.  After die-cutting, I lightly brushed Crumb Cake ink with a Blending Brush just on the tree trunks to give all the detail cuts more definition.

The dotted striped DSP behind the tree trunks is from the Rustic Harvest DSP that I've been using a lot lately.  All the prints are so rich in color and design, it's almost hard to decide what to use first!  I cut this piece just a wee bit smaller than the Very Vanilla layer so I wouldn't have to worry about it peeking out behind when layering together.  I attached them together with Multi Purpose Liquid Glue.  Then they were attached flat to a folded card base of Cajun Craze that measured 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".

The die set has two leaf dies that I believe are aspen leaves.  I chose the larger one to die-cut some gold foil cardstock.  Can you see all the fabulous detail of veining that's right in the die?  It really shows up beautifully on the gold.

I wanted to use the Leaf Label and Amber Gems on this card for an accent.  The Leaf Labels are made of kraft paper, so they don't match Crumb Cake cardstock too well.  To change up the color a little, I used a Blending Brush and Early Espresso ink to darken the center of the maple leaf some.  This added some contrast to the Crumb Cake that I used on the sentiment.

The sentiment comes from the Charming Sentiment set, and I used the Sentiment Silhouettes dies that coordinate with it.  They're found on page 38 in the Annual Catalog.  It is stamped with Early Espresso ink onto Crumb Cake cardstock and then die-cut.  What a nice way to add a sentiment without lots of cardstock hiding everything around it.  

Now it's time to put all the pieces together.  The maple leaf was attached first with adhesive.  This is over to the right side.  Then the gold foil leaf is angled partially over this onto the left side.  It's attached with adhesive also.  Then the sentiment is popped up over both of them using Dimensionals.

As an accent, I used two strands of Linen Thread to make a small bow.  This was tucked in by the stem of the aspen leaf.  It was attached with a "rolled" Mini Glue Dot.   

Three of the Amber Gems were scattered around the design.  Since the maple leaf die-cut is really a label with hole in the top of the leaf, one of the rhinestones landed there to cover it.

That's it for today's card.  I love the colors and look of this card.  At first, every time I looked at the Aspen Tree Dies, I kept seeing autumn ideas in my head.  But I'll be sharing a card soon that is definitely Not Autumn themed at all!  Stay tuned for the next installment of the Aspen Tree Dies!

Thanks for stopping by again.  Please leave a comment to let me know what you think of the card.  I always appreciate hearing from you.  Thank you for all of the orders that have been coming in.   You ladies are all so wonderful and I love each and every one of you!  Thank you!

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon