Peace & Joy Card

 Hello again!  I've just come in from feeding the chickens that were scratching around in my front yard.  Yes, I said chickens.  Let me be clear, there's really one rooster and four hens and they aren't mine.  The neighbors to the right and left of us both have chickens.  The chickens on the left are nicely penned up and we only hear them once in a while.  The ones on the right would be called 'free range' I guess, meaning that they're in our yard at least once a day now.  Should I be outside every day checking under the bushes in the front in case they lay any eggs out there?  I surely know nothing about chickens, except how to cook the eggs and meat I get from the store, but maybe I'd better start learning.  😄  Anyway, that really has nothing to do with my card today, unless I get out my Hey Chick stamp set and create something with that.  Which really wasn't my plan for today at all.  Instead, I have another Christmas card that uses a little bit of this and a little bit of that to come together in a pleasing finished card.  At least, I think so.  Hope you like it!

I've had a pile of 2 1/2" die-cut Mint Macaron circles sitting on my desk for a good long while.  I'm not sure why I have them, but this was the day I was finally going to use them!  So the card was essentially designed around them.  And this is just a sampling of the finished cards made with those circles.

The card base is Shaded Spruce to go with the Mint Macaron.  There is a layer of Basic White cardstock both inside and outside that measures 5 1/4" x 4".  The outside piece is embossed with the Merry Melody 3D Embossing Folder.  It needed to be defined a bit more, so I used a Blending Brush and Crumb Cake ink to lightly go over the notes.  Before attaching this to the card front, a piece of Soft Succulent 1/2" Satin Shimmer Ribbon was wrapped around it and attached to the back.  The color is a little different from the Mint Macaron, but I felt it blended well because of the sheen on the satin ribbon.  The layer was then attached to the card front using Tombow Multi Purpose Liquid Glue.

I looked through my stash of sentiment stamps to find one to fit the die-cut circle.  I came across the new Framed & Festive stamp set that is only available until the end of the year.  This had a longer sentiment with the words I wanted as part of it.  I placed it on the Stamparatus and used a Shaded Spruce marker to color only the words I wanted.  I needed to stamp it twice to get a decent enough image.  Then I stamped the single pine branch from the Christmas Season stamp set twice (on page 44 in the Annual Catalog).  I used Shaded Spruce ink, and off-stamped before stamping on the circle.

The holly leaves from the Christmas Season set were stamped with Mint Macaron ink onto Basic White cardstock.  Then the centers were stamped with Shaded Spruce ink.  The pinecone was stamped with Crumb Cake for the solid stamp and Soft Suede ink for the detail stamp.  These were also stamped on Basic White.  After stamping, they were all die-cut using the coordinating Seasonal Layers Dies.

To attach this to the card front, the tip of the two holly leaves were adhered to edge of the circle.  The pinecone was attached to this with a Dimensional.  The whole focal image was attached with many Dimensionals holding it up right over the ribbon.  There were three of the gold Festive Pearls added to the card for bling.  At this point, I knew it needed something more, but was having trouble deciding what it needed.  My daughter had stopped in and suggested adding a bow made of gold trim.  It was tucked in under the pinecone and attached with a Mini Glue Dot.  Just what it needed!

The last thing needed on the card was the Basic White layer for the inside of the card.  I used a sentiment from the Hope & Peace stamp set.  It's stamped with Shaded Spruce ink over on the left side.  Then a pinecone was stamped in the corner using the same colors as before.  The single pine branch was stamped with Shaded Spruce ink that had been off-stamped before stamping.  This was stamped several times to fill it in nicely.  Then it was attached to the inside of the Shaded Spruce card.  Another small batch of Christmas cards finished.

I hope you aren't getting tired of the Christmas Season stamp set yet.  This has truly become my favorite stamp set this year.  So sorry to keep going back to it again and again.  I promise to pick a different stamp set next time I go downstairs to create!

Just wanted to post the links for the retiring list for you.  Just click on either link below to see the lists of either retiring or carry over products.

Chance Products from July–December 2022 Mini Catalog

Carry Over List

Thanks for stopping by again today.  I appreciate the time you take to check out my blog.  Leave a comment if you can.  I'd love to hear from you.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Fitting Florets Again

 Hello everyone!  Here we are back with another card using the new Fitting Florets Collection.  And this time there's an added bonus of it being a fun-fold card too.  To make it even better, I have two versions of the card also.  This is another design that Connie and I both made our version of the same layout.  Hope you like.

Here's my version of the card.  The card base is smaller than usual, 4 1/4" x 8 1/2".  It's scored in half with the fold to the left side.  Then it's scored from the top right corner to the bottom left folded corner of the front flap of the card.  I think you can see the scored fold in the picture.  My thumb nail is right near the bottom corner fold.  The card base is Evening Evergreen to match the Fitting Florets Designer Series Paper.

The 'heart frame' die was used to die-cut a piece of Silver Foil paper that measures about 4" x 4 1/2".  This die actually doesn't cut either an inside oval or an outside one - just the tiny hearts in the oval shape.  After die-cutting, I used Paper Snips to follow the edge of the die to cut out an oval frame.  Then I used the smaller of the other two oval dies to cut out both a Polished Pink cardstock frame and a Basic White inset.  I'm left with a white frame and pink inset for another project.

In the center of the white inset was stamped a sentiment from the Framed Florets Bundle using Evening Evergreen ink.  Then the Polished Pink frame was attached in the center of the silver foil oval using adhesive.  The inset was also attached to the center of the frame with adhesive.

One of the flowers in the set was stamped with Polished Pink ink on Basic White cardstock.  Two of the leaf clusters were also stamped on white with Evening Evergreen ink.  I used a Water Brush and extra ink to do a little watercolor on them before die-cutting them with the matching dies.  

A tall leaf spray was die-cut from Evening Evergreen cardstock and an extra spray of leaves was die-cut from Balmy Blue cardstock.  I'm sorry I forgot to write down what I was using as I went along and can't figure out what die set was used for the Balmy Blue piece.  I would guess that any similar bitty piece would work just fine.  These pieces were all attached to the frame, most with adhesive, but the flower has a Dimensional behind it.

The ovals are attached to the front of the card only on the bottom section by using adhesive.  Make sure the adhesive doesn't go above the fold or the card won't stand up as shown.

To finish the card, a 4" x 4" piece of Fitting Florets DSP was attached inside the card.  The sentiment was stamped on a 1/2" piece of Basic White cardstock using Evening Evergreen ink.  It was trimmed then layered onto a Polished Pink piece to frame it.  This was attached inside the card using Dimensionals.  It's at just the right angle to catch the front flap on the card and allow it to stand upright.  Cute, huh?!  The final touch is the little Festive Pearls in Cherry Cobbler color tucked into the design.  Now, on to Connie's version of this card.

As you can see, many differences here starting out with the card base color of Night of Navy.  She also added two half pieces of 4" x 4" paper - one in Balmy Blue and one is the matching DSP.  The Balmy Blue cardstock has tone-on-tone stamping with one of the little sprigs in the stamp set.  These two pieces were added to either side of the diagonal fold.

Connie did not use the hearts oval die like I did.  She did use the Silver Foil for the smaller frame and Basic White for the inset on this design.  The words are from the Framed & Festive set that is part of the Collection and it's stamped in Night of Navy ink.

She added the leafy spray die-cut from Night of Navy cardstock.  She also had a bitty die-cut of Balmy Blue and a smaller one from Silver Foil that are added for interest.

Last picture shows the inside of the card and has it standing upright.  The sentiment comes from the Framed & Festive set also.  It's stamped on Basic White with Night of Navy ink and then framed with Polished Pink.  

The inside of the card has the same print as the front of the card to carry the design inside.  The sentiment is attached with Dimensionals.

As the finishing touch, she added several pink dots to match the design of the DSP print.  A slightly different take on a Christmas card, don't you think?  But lovely just the same.

So, there you have it.  We have used the same layout on the cards we made and that's about all that is the same about them.  Have fun making your own version of our fun-fold card.  I'm sure you'll come up with something wonderful and uniquely yours!

If you're enjoying seeing the possibilities of this Fitting Florets Collection, consider purchasing this for yourself.  Or you might want to get only the parts of it that appeal to you.  Either way it works.  The fun ideas just keep flowing and hopefully I'll have more ideas to share for using this Collection in the future.   If you're ordering soon, please consider using the Host Code shown at the top of the post.  Thanks for stopping by again to see what's happening.  Love to hear from you!

Happy stamping and creating!

Sharon

Framed and Festive Card

 Good day to you!  Hope all is well in your section of the world.  My sister Connie has gone home, and I definitely miss her already.  We've had such fun creating together and that has left me with many cards to share with you that we made during the week and a half she stayed here.  I hope you enjoy sharing our creativity.  It's been a real blast stamping along with someone again.  The community of stampers is such a special blessing and I really miss hanging out with other stampers and sharing in their creativity.  There is just some special boost to creativity when you're sharing ideas and fun.  Nothing like it in the world!  That's why I miss stamping on a regular basis with all of you so very much!  Ok, time to get away from the teary eyes and mushy stuff and on to a card today!

When Connie was here, many times we would start with an idea that we planned to make the same, but somewhere along the way our cards would diverge into different directions.  This card was one of those kinds of ideas.  They were going to be the same card with the same DSP and die-cuts, but well...  What can I say?  

We wanted to use the new Fitting Florets Collection that you can order early on November 1st.  Part of the Collection is only available until it sells out, the rest will be in the next Mini Catalog.  What?!?  Yes, the Framed & Festive word set, the Gold Swirls, and the Fitting Florets DSP are only available while supplies last.  So, we wanted to make something special with these items while we still could!

Here is my version of our card.  This card uses some of the new Fitting Florets Collection that I think is so pretty!  We both started with a Basic White cardstock base that measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and is folded in half to form a regular card.  We used a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of the Fitting Florets 12" x 12" Designer Series Paper.   Isn't this print lovely?  We both used the largest Deckled Rectangles Die to cut the edge of the DSP to give it some extra interest.  It was attached to the white card base with adhesive.

We die-cut the frame from Evening Evergreen cardstock.  Love the crimped edge on this oval.  I set the inner oval aside for use on another project when I get around to it.  For the white oval, we die-cut the larger oval frame and just used the center.  The inside of this oval is just a bit bigger that the other and gives you a little edge to attach behind the frame we used.

The sentiment is one of eight from the new Framed & Festive stamp set.  It's stamped in Evening Evergreen ink a little over to the right side of the oval.  Had to leave room for all the lovely sprigs on the left side of the card!  After stamping the sentiment on the white oval, it was attached behind the frame with adhesive.  The ovals were then attached to the card front using Dimensionals.

The greenery sprigs are also part of the Fitting Florets Collection.  I die-cut two of the leafy sprigs from Soft Succulent cardstock.  Up to this point, I was hoping to add touches of gold to the card so I could use the Gold Adhesive-backed Swirls from the Collection, but I just didn't like the look of gold with these colors.  Now silver on the other hand was perfect!  Two of the open leaves were die-cut from Silver Foil paper and arranged with the other leafy branches.  And here is where Connie and I really parted ways in our designs.

I loved the idea of a pop of Real Red added to the card.  Don't know what I was thinking here.  Well, yes, I do.  I was thinking this ribbon was still current, but it's retired.  Drats!  Oh well...  I tied a small bow using the 3/8" Organdy Ribbon and attached it with Mini Glue Dots to the center of the greenery.  To stay with the red accents, I sprinkled five tiny Real Red Rhinestones in among the greenery leaves.  Aren't they just perfect tucked in there? 

Ok, you've seen how I finished my card.  Now it's time to see how Connie finished hers.  I'd ask you to vote on whose you prefer, but I'm afraid you'd all pick Connie's creation because it's lovely!

Here's her design that sticks with the cool, crisp green and white tones only.  Let me try to address all the differences between our cards.  First of all, something I didn't even notice before - her focal images are not centered but raised up a little higher.

Connie also used a different sentiment from the Framed and Festive stamp set.  And the little swirly doodad under Noel is from the Hello Harvest stamp set.  

Connie didn't use any of the small open leaf die-cuts, but she did cut leafy sprays from Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen, and also Silver Foil.

She added a touch of Frost White Shimmer Paint from my retired stash to brighten the Evening Evergreen leafy spray where it overlaps onto the same color frame.  It just helped to have a little definition there.

I had made a double bow from the Silver and White Twine but didn't use it, so Connie used it on her design.  It's attached with a Mini Glue Dot.  Worked much better with her card.  

Lastly Connie used five of the Rhinestone Basic Jewels in clear to stay with the green and white theme for her card.

There you have it.  Two designs using mostly the same pieces, but each have our own creative touch added to them.  Can you see why we were so excited to use these new items?  Aren't they simply gorgeous?  The sentiments in the set are strictly for Christmas, but everything else in the collection can be used year-round.  Definitely a plus in my opinion!

Hope you enjoy seeing two ideas at a time here.  I have a few more cards that Connie and I both made that I want to share with you over the coming days.  Hope you'll check back often to see what the latest posting is all about.  And yes, please feel free to comment on our ideas.  I love to hear from you.  And I promise I won't get too upset if you like Connie's ideas better than my own.  I'll get over it!!  Thanks for sharing this time with me.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon