More Snowflakes

 Hello again.  Just can't seem to get enough of that flocked and/or iridescent snowflake vellum.  It sure is gorgeous and I've got another card idea for you using this paper.  This time around the card is a fun fold so it's even better yet!  Come along and see what else we can make using this fabulous vellum paper.

I love adding blue tones when using this snowflake vellum to make you think of icy temperatures.  It just gives me the brrrrr-y chills thinking of freezing temps and snow crystals blowing in your face when you're outside.  This time I chose to use Tahitian Tide cardstock for my blue tone.  Yeah, the name sure doesn't fit the cold weather, does it?  But I think the color worked out nicely here.  

Start with an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of cardstock.  Score this at 2 1/8" and 4 1/4".  Fold the center over like a regular card and then fold the left-hand side back to the front to make a Z-Fold card.

Then I cut the Snowflake Vellum Specialty Paper.  The flocked dotted vellum is cut to 2" x 5 1/4".  The flocked snowflake vellum is cut at 4" x 5 1/4".  I added the dotted vellum to the front section of the card.  There is adhesive only underneath the area with the focal piece.  It's brought right to the folded edge.  Next the snowflake vellum was added to the inside back layer.  Make sure the adhesive is added only to the underside of the flocking, so it doesn't show when the card is finished.

The focal point on the card is made from using one of the Fabulous Frames Dies.  These are found on page 171 of the Annual Catalog.  This frame is the perfect size to showcase the Wonderful Snowflakes I wanted to use in the center.  If you don't have this die set, you could always use something similar.  I cut this twice - once in Basic White and once in Tahitian Tide so I would have the outer and inner frame pieces.

One of the Wonderful Snowflakes found on pg 45 of the July - December Mini Catalog was attached to the center of the Tahitian Tide rectangle using a Mini Glue Dot.  This was positioned inside the white frame and Tombow Multi Purpose Liquid Glue was placed on only one half of it, then it was attached to the folded front panel of the card.  I made sure it was dry and secure before going any further with it.

A small banner was die-cut from Basic White cardstock using the Stylish Shapes Dies.  The sentiment was stamped on this using Tahitian Tide ink.  It was attached over the middle of the snowflake using three Dimensionals.  A bow was made using the White Glittered Organdy Ribbon.  It was attached to the card front with Mini Glue Dots.  Three of the white iridescent Seasonal Sequins were attached to continue with the dotted look.

A piece of Basic White cardstock was cut to measure 1 7/8" x 5 1/4".  The sentiment used is from the Decorated with Happiness stamp set.  It's stamped with Tahitian Tide ink.  A snowflake from the Season of Chic set was inked with Tahitian Tide ink, off-stamped, then stamped on this panel for added interest.  I added 3 partial snowflakes.  The panel was attached to the inside left of the card as shown.  And the card is complete.

These were all made when my sister was visiting.

The Orchid Oasis card uses a sentiment from the Hope & Peace stamp set.  The snowflake was raised higher, so it wasn't covered over so much with the sentiment. The vellum used wasn't the flocked, but the iridescent pieces in the same set.  Lovely!  The middle card has the vellum switched, so the snowflakes are on the left and the dots are inside.  Also, the ribbon used is the retired dotted and flocked ribbon to carry the dotted vellum look even further.

Hope these ideas inspire you to play with this lovely vellum specialty paper.  It really does make beautiful cards.  Thanks for stopping by to see what's been happening here.  A quick medical update - it looks like the Cardioversion is working.  Praise God!  Hope my energy will start increasing quickly.  Yes, I do get impatient at times.  Anyway, for those of you praying about this, thank you!!!

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Gold and Green Christmas

Hello there!  Hope you're staying warm and dry today.  Wintery weather has hit us here in Boiling Springs, South Carolina.  It's rainy and cold outside - only 40 degrees for a high today!  And it was only 28 degrees when I got up this morning.  Yikes!  What happened to our warm and sunny weather?  Ok, is this because I was bragging about how wonderful it was?  My bad!  Well, since it is so gray and ugly outside, it sounds like the perfect day to be inside stamping and creating!  So that's just what I'm going to do. 

My card today uses a mixture of dies and DSP from several different bundles/suites.  After putting them together, they ended up working nicely to make this card.  The idea of the card all started with the Lights Aglow DSP gold foil print of Christmas trees on an Evening Evergreen background.  You can find this gorgeous 6" x 6" paper pack on page 31 of the July-December Mini Catalog.  These prints are just fabulously elegant.  So of course, I had to use some of the very elegant Gold and Rose Gold 6" x 6" Metallic Specialty Paper found on page 139 in the Annual Catalog.  Don't they look wonderful together?  

The brushed Gold Metallic Paper measures 3" x 4".  The print DSP measures 5" x 3".  Since this comes in a 6" x 6" pack, cut off 1" from the bottom to use for something else, and cut in half lengthwise to get enough to make two cards.  I mean, if you're going to make one Christmas card, why not make at least two at the same time?   Double the cards in just about the same amount of time.

I'm getting ahead of myself here.  Let's start with the base of the card first.  That is Evening Evergreen cardstock cut to measure 4 1/4" x 11", scored at 5 1/2" and folded in half.  This makes a top fold card.  The first layer is a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock that measures 5 1/4" x 4".  Cut two of these - one for the front and one for the inside of the card. 

The brushed Gold Specialty Paper is added next.  I cut this so the 'brushed' look goes across the card.  This is attached to the card front with Multi Purpose Liquid Glue.  Then that 3" x 5" panel of the DSP is attached to the center front of the card.

Next comes the ribbon.  About a 16" length of Gold & Vanilla Satin-edged Ribbon was tied around the layers.   I'm guessing at the length of the ribbon because I always make the bow before cutting the ribbon.  The bow is positioned near the left edge of the card.  This ribbon is one of the hidden finds in the July-December Mini Catalog.  It's really beautiful and at 3/8" wide, it's just the right size.

The sentiment is next and is from the Decorated with Happiness set in the July-December Mini Catalog.  Oh yes, have I mentioned before that I really like this set?  And while I had this set out, I die-cut the ornament from Gold Foil Paper.

The sentiment is stamped onto a Very Vanilla piece of cardstock using Evening Evergreen ink.  Then it was die-cut with one of the dies from the Painted Labels Dies.  This one is an elegant shape that fits the greeting nicely.  It has an embossed edge around it to dress it up some.  

The sentiment was attached to the card front with Dimensionals above and below the ribbon.   This leaves the ribbon free so it can slide through to position correctly on the card.  The die-cut ornament is tucked in under the ribbon with only a Mini Glue Dot holding it at the top.  The gold Festive Pearls are the added bling for this card.  I wasn't too sure how all five of the different gold tones would work together on the card, but I love the sheer glitzy elegance of the card.  Hmm, is that a weird thing to put glitzy and elegance in the same sentence?

I didn't end up taking a picture of the inside of the card.  I used the sentiment from the Decorated with Happiness set stamped in Evening Evergreen ink.  I also added some pine branches coming in from the top in Evening Evergreen ink.  I used an old gold ink pad from a few years ago to stamp one of the ornaments and a few 'sparkles' inside too.

Now for the big news!  Stampin' Up! is having a huge Seasonal Sale!!  From Nov 15 - 18, most every punch (10% off), stamp (15% off), dies (20% off), embossing folders (20% off) and DSP (20% off) in the main catalog is on sale.  No Specialty DSP or Hybrid Embossing Folders are part of the sale.  Follow this link to see what is on sale!  https://www.stampinup.com/categories/sales-specials/seasonal-sale   You don't want to miss out.  And if you place an order, please consider using the Host Code shown at the top of the blog page.  Thank you!

Hope you were inspired to get started on your Christmas cards today.  Or if you've already started, keep at them so you can get them finished in plenty of time to get them in the mail.  Don't be like me still making the last few cards I need the week before Christmas!!

Happy stamping and creating (and shopping!),

Sharon

Decorated with Happiness Idea

 Welcome friends!  Hope you've been out to vote today, or maybe you did the early voting thing.  There was construction and a detour on our way to voting.  Guess it was our day to do a little back-roads exploring.  We got to go through an area we hadn't been in before, probably won't be going back again either.  LOL  Oh well, at least we made it out to vote!  Now on to the fun stamping stuff.  Today I have a card, well two cards, that I want to share with you that uses the Decorated with Happiness Bundle that's found on page 27 of the 2022 July-December Mini Catalog.  I saw a card that Wendy Lee made that sparked my imagination.  I just had to give it a whirl, and of course put my own spin on it.  Then I started making changes to my changes and overthinking the whole thing.  So I have two cards with minor changes between them.  You can let me know which you prefer or maybe the changes really don't make much of a difference.

Here they are, and I must say that I'm having trouble picking out the changes in the pictures.  In real life, they're more obvious.  Oh well, here goes.  The card base is Basic White Thick cardstock that measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored at 4 1/4" and folded in half.  There is a Basic White stamped layer that measures 5" x 3 3/4".  This is backed with a layer of Mint Macaron that measures 5 1/4" x 4".

The stamped layer has the pine branch stamped multiple times around the outside of the card.  It was off-stamped after inking for each branch.  (This is the right-side card) One of the sentiments from the set was stamped with Mint Macaron ink (full strength) tucked in the pine branches.  On the left-side card, the pine branches were off-stamped twice for each stamping to give it a lighter look.  Again, the sentiment was stamped full strength.

This is a closer look at the right-side card.  The pine branch was die-cut from Mint Macaron ink for both cards.  One change on this card is using a Blending Brush and Mint Macaron ink to darken the edges of the pine needles on this one.  It was needed to show up better on the darker stamping of the background.  The branch was attached to the card front with Tombow Multi Purpose Liquid Glue.

The stamped ornaments on both the cards used the same colors - Fresh Freesia, Sweet Sorbet, and Orchid Oasis.   The Fresh Freesia was stamped full strength, but the other two were off-stamped on the outline.  The center fill-in stamps were all off-stamped before stamping.  They were all die-cut with the coordinating dies.

A light brushing of Wink of Stella was added to the ornaments.  Then I spattered some Wink of Stella over the whole card.  Lastly, the bling was added on this card.  I used the lovely Iridescent Rhinestones.  I really like how they sparkle and twinkle on the card like Christmas lights on a tree.  

A closer look at the left-side card also has a few changes.  I used the smaller 'sparkle' stamp and Balmy Blue ink to add them around the evergreen area.  With the lighter off-stamped green tones, these showed up nicely but weren't overpowering.

The layout and coloring of the ornaments is a little different here.  It really is only to make the balance of the ornaments better, and to fit on the card.  It really wasn't intentional, just worked out that way.

On this card I used my favorite standby bling of the Clear Rhinestone Basic Jewels.  Also, there's just a light brushing of Wink of Stella on the ornaments for some added glitz.

The inside of both cards has a sentiment from the Hope & Peace stamp set.  It's stamped with Mint Macaron ink.  There are also pine branches added on the edges to carry the theme inside of the card.

There you have it - the left or the right card.  Which do you prefer?  Or doesn't it really make a difference at all?  The changes do really stand out in person, but the camera just doesn't do the cards justice at all.   I don't think I should tell you which one I prefer.  You'll just have to guess!

Thanks for hanging out with me again today.  I so appreciate you taking the time to stop by to see what's been happening.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Simply Christmas

Hello Friend!  Hope you're having a great week.  Our weather here started to look a little bit like autumn, then the temperatures started creeping up into the mid 90's again.  Yup, that's just way too hot for autumn! I feel sorry for my grandson running cross-country in this heat.  I get worn out just thinking about it!  Whew!  So, let's think about the up-coming winter weather instead, and Christmas in particular.  I've been sharing a few card ideas with you and have another one to share.  When I saw the set called Decorated with Happiness in the 2022 July - December Mini Catalog, it just called to me.  It's a fun Christmas set with sketch-y style designs that I thought would be fun to create with.   I wanted a crisp, clean look to the card that would be easy to replicate in multiples.  But I didn't want it to be boring.  Here's what I came up with for you.

It definitely has a crisp, clean look to it, but with the off-set layers it isn't too boring as far as I can tell.  Let me know what you think about it!

The card starts out with a base of Basic White Thick Cardstock that measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored at 4 1/4" and folded in half to make a side-opening card.  The first layer here is the regular Basic White cardstock that measures 5 1/4" x 4".  The card is built up onto this piece.  

I liked the idea of a layer of Real Red cardstock but just didn't want the same look as usual.  So, this piece is cut 2" x 4 1/4".  It's attached with adhesive flat to the white layer about 1/2" from the left side.  Before attaching, I ran it through the embossing machine using an old, retired folder - the Subtle Embossing Folder from a couple years ago.  I still love the 'subtle' texture this embossing folder gives.

The next Basic White layer measures 3 1/4" x 2 3/4".  I used the Decorated Pines dies to cut a large pine bough from Garden Green cardstock.  After figuring out the placement on the small white layer, I used the Stamparatus to stamp the sentiment with Real Red ink.  The sentiment is from the For Unto Us stamp set.  Oh dear!!  My mistake - I thought it was still available in this year's catalog, but it isn't.  Which is too bad because I really like it.  So sorry!!  Obviously other sentiments would work here.  Just make sure it fits in the spot.

For the ornament, I backed a piece of Gold Foil with the Foam Adhesive Sheets found on page 127 of the Annual Catalog before die-cutting.  This made it nice and thick for the card, and you just peel off the backing just like Dimensionals to add to your card.  Easy peasy.  I tied a piece of the Gold Simply Elegant Trim through the ornament and tied into a knot for "hanging" on the tree.  A Mini Glue Dot was placed under the knot to hold it in place.

At this time, I used Dimensionals to attach the larger white layer to the card base.  Then the smaller white layer was attached over the Real Red and the white layers with Dimensionals.  This was placed more to the right side of the card front about 1/2" from the open edge.

After trying to decide what to use for the bling on the card, I settled on the retired Gold Glitter Enamel Dots that I had left over.  I much preferred the gold of these which matched the Gold Foil of the ornament the best.  I wish Stampin'Up! held onto the embellishments for more than a year.  It never gives me enough time to use them up and they are always way too lovely to get rid of.  

So there you are, three retired things used on this card which I thought would be all new items when I started out.  As Winnie the Pooh would say, "Oh bother!"  Now I'm going to have to go and remake the card with all current items just to prove I can!  Hrrumph!

Hope you're finding time to get your fingers inky and have some fun.  It's always a good day when I can get creative.  

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon