More Nests in Winter Cards

Hi again!  Since I was playing with the Nests in Winter DSP yesterday, the paper was still sitting out on my desk.  Yes, I know.  I should have put it all away.  But then I wouldn't have been inspired to make some more cards with those cool die-cut birds.  I can't believe how easy it is to make a card using those birds instead of having to do all the stamping and coloring myself.  Yes, I still like to do all the coloring.  But sometimes I'm just looking for quick and simple.  Don't you have those days too?  Anyway, that's my excuse for today!

Like I said, all this stuff was still sitting on my desk, the DSP, the stamps, the dies.  Oh my, what a mess!  But I saw the die-cut birds and the Pool Party printed DSP and it got my creativity going full speed.   This time I wanted to make a light and airy card with the birds, but still do a quick fun fold.  Let's get creating!

I started with a 4" x 4" square piece of this Pool Party print.  It resembled a snowy sky, so that was the starting point.  With only a 4" x 4" piece to work with, I had to get creative with the rest of the card to accommodate that piece.

The card base is Basic White Thick cardstock that measures 11" x 4 1/4".  It's scored at 5 1/2" then 1" is cut from the front edge.  The Nested in Winter DSP print was attached to the front flap using adhesive.

Inside the card, a 1 1/4" strip of Pool Party cardstock has been added. Prior to attaching it, the strip was embossed using the Snowflake Sky Embossing Folder.  This gives it a subtle snowy appearance that complements the DSP print.

The Nested Essentials Dies were used on this card too.  A different sentiment from the Perched in a Tree stamp set was used this time.  It's stamped near the top with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I thought the sentiment about singing would coordinate well with the birds.

These birds are from the Nests in Winter DSP that was used on the previous card.  Both styles of birds are die-cut with the coordinating dies.  This makes it so easy to have the birds, branches, and berries all cut and ready to use.  

The birds are attached just below the sentiment using adhesive.  Then the entire tag is attached to the card front using adhesive.  I let part of the tag set below the edge of the layer.  

To add a little subtle bling to the design, a knot was made in a 5" strip of Glittered White Organdy Ribbon.  This gives just a tiny bit of sparkle.  It's attached at the top of the label tag using a Mini Glue Dot to finish the card.

Final look at this pretty snowy looking card for Christmas.  I've just about run out of this snowy DSP print, so I need to get more before I'm ready to sit down and make my own Christmas cards.  That's not a good time to run out of one of the main pieces of my design, now is it?

Off to do a little more creating!  I can't wait to finish a series of cards using the Peaceful Evergreens set I've been working on.  I'm sort of in the middle of those and need to figure out how I want to finish them.  Come on back for the next Christmas installment.  Or maybe I'll have another Thanksgiving card or two up my sleeve.  You never know!

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon  

Winter Birds Card

Hi all.  I've been planning ahead for all the cards I need to send out for Christmas, and I've been on a roll.  Today's card is a fun fold that's easy as pie (make mine pumpkin please!).  You can make three of these from one 12" x 12" piece of designer paper, so that's what I did.  Hope you love this idea!

Isn't this a wonderful card with a sweet country feel that's just right for Christmas?  Your first step to making these cards is deciding which piece of dsp that you're going to use.  For my cards, I chose one of the pretty prints from the Nests of Winter Designer Series Paper that you can find in the Mini Catalog.  I love the mix of stripes and the birds coordinating on the card to make it special.

On the 12" x 12" piece with the prints positioned properly, score at 2 3/4" and 6 5/8".  Then turn the paper 1/4 turn and cut at 4" and 8" to get 3 sections that measure 4" x 12".  This will be the main part of your card.

I used a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of Garden Green cardstock for the card base.   This is attached to the folded dsp.  I used "green glue", but you could use the adhesive of your choice.  

The tag on the card front is from the Nested Essentials Die set.  I liked that it slightly overlapped both sides of the turned back flap.  The sentiment is from the Perched in a Tree stamp set.  This was in the Online Exclusive section if you don't have it yet.  The bird is die-cut from another print of the Nests of Winter DSP pack.  I just love how easily you can die-cut a whole stack of these birds and another set of birds too with the coordinating die set.

The ribbon is the Wild Wheat Rustic Striped Ribbon.  This has such a nice golden tone to it.  In the catalog I thought it looked stiff, but it's a nice ribbon that's very pliable which makes it easy to use.  It's attached to the point of the label with a Mini Glue Dot.

For the inside of my card, I cut two different sizes of Basic White cardstock for the sentiments.  The one on the left is 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" square.  The right one is 3 1/2" x 3 3/4".  Both of these sentiments are ones I've owned for a good while.  I was looking for something with a religious tone to the sentiment and had a hard time finding what would work.  They are both stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  Then they're attached with adhesive.

After giving it much thought, I'm leaving these cards bare.  That's right, no bling!  Oh my, what is this world coming to?   Do you think that some bling is needed here?  If so, what would you use?

Thought I'd share the picture of all three cards together.  Since there's almost no stamping and no coloring at all, these cards can be made in a minimum of time.  But they still look special.  Maybe you'll add this idea to your Christmas card stash this year.  If you don't have this particular DSP, try something else that works.  Let me know what you made!

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Use Up Those Bits and Pieces

Hello again.  I mentioned yesterday at the end of the post that I'd share the card made from the leftover pieces that were die-cut to make the card for that day.  I made a quick card that uses those bits as promised and I added a few more bits and pieces that I had sitting around.  Let's get creative.

This card is all based on the two pieces of the Delightful Floral Designer Series Paper that was the focus on yesterday's design.  They were originally cut out with the 2nd largest rectangular die from the Nested Essentials Die set.  

To match the DSP, I chose to base my card on a piece of Fresh Freesia cardstock to pull out that color from the DSP.  There is a Basic White layer that measures 5 1/4" x 4".  To add interest, this piece was embossed with the new Eyelet 3D Embossing Folder.  Seems like I tend to grab this one whenever I want an embossed layer lately.  It's just such a pretty pattern to tuck behind your designs.  After embossing, it was attached to the card base with "green glue".

After playing around with the two pieces trying to place them this way and that, I decided it needed another piece of DSP in the mix to balance the design.  There was another piece of the same DSP but in a Fresh Freesia shade that was perfect.  It measures 4" x 1 1/2".  This is attached down the center of the card front using adhesive.  

The two rectangular pieces of DSP were staggered on the front and attached with adhesive also.

The sentiment was a little tricky.   I wanted something that fit the design and wasn't too big.  I loved the size of this little sentiment.  And it fit right onto this interesting sort of rectangle.  Both the sentiment and die are from the Wonderful Thoughts Bundle.  Perfect.  The sentiment was stamped with Pretty Peacock ink in the center.  Then it was added to the design using two Dimensionals to attach it.

There were two butterflies cut from Fresh Freesia cardstock using the Meadow Dies.  These are attached with a Mini Dimensional under the body part of each butterfly.  

For a little bling on the card, I used three of the Purple Fine Shimmer Gems in the berry color.  Two of the smaller gems are attached to the bodies of the butterflies.  The larger gem is attached at the bottom of the design.

That's it for this design using up the leftovers from other card designs.  I know you all have those bits that are too good to throw away, but if not used they start piling up to a formidable stack.  Don't forget to through them every once in a while, and then play around creating with these odd bits and pieces.  It can be a lot of fun and you never know what fabulous design you'll create!

A big heads-up people!!  Stampin' Up! is having another free shipping day on Tuesday May 21st only!!  You must order at least $75 to get the free shipping.  If you've been considering placing an order, why not wait until the 21st?  Combine some new stamps/bundles along with cardstock, ink, and or other goodies and take advantage of the free shipping.  You can always combine your order with a friend if you can't spend that much.  Happy shopping!!!

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon 

Peek A Boo Windows and More

Hello friends!  I've just gotten back from our trip to the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter.  Oh my!  How fascinating and a truly thought-provoking couple of days.   It was amazing to visit the ark and get a glimpse of what life might have been for these eight people and all those animals.  Just the work of feeding and watering each of them each day would have been so time consuming.  If you ever have a chance to visit these two places, please go.  You'll be amazed, but hopefully enlightened too.  Okay, I came home wanting to make a thank you card for my grandson's teacher for allowing me to tag along on this class trip.  Well before the trip, I had seen a couple videos that featured this style of card that was new to me.  Of course, I forgot to save the videos for future reference.  Duh.  So... that means I'm sharing my version of the cards that I saw a week or two ago.  Here we go...

When spending a little time talking to his teacher, she mentioned she liked flowers a lot.  So this is the card I made first.  I love this pretty Delightful Floral DSP.  I needed a DSP print that the front and back sides coordinated nicely, because both would be showing on the card.  The DSP measures 10 1/2" long x 4" wide.  If you have a print that is directional like this one, make sure it is cut up and down so the print is correct on the finished card.  You also need a coordinating piece of cardstock that measures 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" for the card base.  I used Fresh Freesia cardstock for this design. 

After folding the DSP in half, I used the 2nd largest rectangle die from the Nested Essentials Dies set.  The die was positioned about 1" from the top fold.  It cut through both layers of DSP at once.

Next the folded DSP was attached to the Fresh Freesia cardstock piece using adhesive.  Watch out for the directional pattern!  You should be able to see the Fresh Freesia cardstock from the card base showing through the window at this point.

The sentiment comes from the Irresistible Blooms stamp set.  It's stamped with Pretty Peacock onto a scrap of Basic White cardstock that measured about 2 3/4" x 2 1/2".  I used one of the many dies in the Unbounded Love Die set.  (this is an awesome set and will be a staple in my crafting!)  It was attached to the inside of the card through the window to make sure it's centered.  I used Dimensionals to add this piece.

I had a sheer ribbon that is Fresh Freesia colored that matched nicely, so it was wrapped around the front layer and tied into a soft knot.

This is the inside of the card which shows the other side of the DSP.  You can see where the ribbon was tied around the card and also the card base showing through with the label on top of it.

A butterfly was cut from Fresh Freesia cardstock using the Meadow Die set.  (I'll probably never let this die set go because I love the silhouette dies in the set so much!)  The butterfly is only attached by one of the wings because it overlaps the sentiment area.

One of the Adhesive-backed Pearl Trio gems was added for a little bit of bling.  I thought about adding more, but it just got too busy for my taste.

I was on a roll with this style of card, so I thought I'd do another one to have on hand.  This time I used the Winter Meadow DSP as my inspiration.  The DSP is cut a 10 1/2" x 4" again.  This print was much more forgiving, and it could go in any direction.  The same Nested Essentials die was used to cut through both layers of DSP like the last card.  It was attached to a card base of Blueberry Bushel cardstock that measures 5 1/2" x 4 1/4".

Because the inside of the card was a rather dark blue watercolor look, I added a layer of Basic White inside that measures 5" x 3 3/4".  It's attached inside with adhesive.  One of the pieces of DSP that were die-cut was used to add the blue layer inside the window of the card.

The same sentiment and die were used for the center of the window on this card too.  This time it was stamped with Blueberry Bushel ink.  It's attached with Dimensionals to the blue DSP.

There is a sparkly light blue ribbon tied around the card front.  The color is Seaside Spray for those of you that have been around a good number of years.  It really isn't a matchy-matchy color, but it seemed to work.  I almost went with a white ribbon, but this one was sitting there needing some love and attention, so why not use it?

The same butterfly from the Meadow Die set was used to cut one little Blueberry Bushel butterfly.  It's carefully attached to the card front so no adhesive shows on the inside.  Another of those Adhesive-backed Pearl Trio gems was used on this card.  They each have such an interesting, multi-toned pearlized color that blends with many of the cardstock colors we have.

Two cards made quite quickly.  One to use now and another one for later.  It's always a good thing to have extra cards on hand when the need arises.  I hope you're interested in this fun fold card idea. It's a quick design for a beautiful card.  You can change the sentiments and designer paper to cover any occasion.  Just remember to ensure both sides of the DSP coordinate together.  And be mindful of any directional prints you might have on the paper.  You certainly don't want to get your beautiful card finished and find the print is sideways or upside down.  Enjoy!

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Shining Brightly Truly Shines

 Hello my friend!  Hope you're having a blessed and productive day.  A couple days ago, I finally got around to creating with the Shining Brightly Specialty Designer Paper that is in the Mini Catalog.  This paper is so gorgeous that I didn't want to cut into it until I had a good idea of what I wanted to make with it.  Do you get that way?  Almost frozen with indecision?  I finally decided to cut a 3" wide section from the 12" x 12" paper and just work with that.  That turned out to be a perfect solution for the first cut into that paper.  I've only used just one the navy and gold designs, but I'm so happy with the two cards that I'll be using it again soon!  Hope you like these ideas too.  They're similar but still different enough that I'll share them both.

Here's the first card I made.  The card base is Night of Navy measuring 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".  It's scored and folded in half.  The 3" wide strip of DSP was trimmed up to 5 1/2" to fit top to bottom.  Next a strip of Gold Foil (found in the Annual Catalog) was cut to 3 1/4" x 5 1/2".  This gives a pretty frame to the DSP without being too overpowering.  The layering pieces were all attached with adhesive. 

Next, I decided on the sentiment to use.  This one is from the Night Divine Bundle on page 16 of the Mini Catalog.  I love both the words and the font of these sentiment stamps.  For this card, the Nested Essentials Die set was used.  I thought the rounded edges and stitching line made it a little more elegant than a plain square piece.  The sentiment is stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock a little higher and to the left of center.  Night of Navy ink was used for this.

To add some interest to the side, two of the dies from the Magical Meadow Bundle were used.  I love all the different bits of greenery that can be added wherever it's needed.  The leaf and berry stem is cut from the same Gold Foil, and the evergreen stem is cut from Night of Navy cardstock.  First the gold foil and then the navy pieces were attached to the sentiment label to the bottom right.  They were attached with a little 'green glue' down the center of the stems. 

A double strand of the gold Simply Elegant Trim was used to make the small bow.  This is attached over the stems with a Mini Glue Dot that's rolled to fit under the bow.  Even though the bow is small, it adds a touch of elegance.

The sentiment label was then attached to the card front using Dimensionals to raise it up and give it some definition.

After debating with myself, I didn't add any extra bling to the card.  With the gold accents on the framing layer, the DSP and the leafy stem, I thought any extra bling would either get lost on the card or would detract from the elegance of the card.  So, no extra bling on this one.

This is the 2nd version with several changes.  The first change is the Gold Foil layer was cut wider so more would show on each side.  It's cut to 3 1/2" x 5 1/2".  They're attached together with adhesive and then added to the card front with adhesive too.

The sentiment label is Very Vanilla cardstock cut with the Scalloped Contours Dies.  I used another one of the lovely sentiments from the Night Divine Bundle and it's stamped with Night of Navy ink.  It's attached to the card front using Dimensionals.

Because this label was bigger than the last card, I felt there was room for a bow.  The ribbon used is the retired Shimmery Gold Ribbon.  After the bow was made, it was attached to the label with a Mini Glue Dot.  

I liked the idea of adding just a little more gold bling on this card.  There was that whole open corner that was just calling for something pretty.  The gold Neutrals Adhesive-backed Sequins were the perfect touch.  I usually add embellishments in groups of three or five, but it seemed like only two were needed for that corner, so that's what I used.

Hopefully you enjoyed these two versions of card using many of the same products.  With a few changes, each of them has their own distinct look.  Can you come up with more ideas using just these same products?  I'd love to see what you make!  Thanks for stopping by and sharing your time with me.  Come back again soon to see what I get into next.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Traditional Christmas Card

Hello friends, hope you're doing wonderful.  Are you spending some time outside in this lovely autumn weather?  I've been going to cross country meets as both my grandsons are running in this sport.  The parks they've been running at are really gorgeous this time of year.  I just love how the trees are showing off God's glory for all to enjoy!  Even though I'm so immersed in the fall weather at this time, it's really time to share another Christmas card with you.  This card is a traditional style of fold, nothing fancy.  But between the pretty Joy of Christmas Designer Series Paper and a few dies and embellishments, I think this is a very pretty card.  Sweet and simple.  That's what I like.

Like I said, it's a very traditional Christmas card that's quick and easy to make, but so pretty to look at.  These would be terrific for making a pile of cards to send out.  Just check out how quickly you can make them. 

The card base is Real Red.  It measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and is scored at 4 1/4" and folded in half.  The gorgeous watercolor-looking print is from the Joy of Christmas Designer Series Paper.  I can't mention enough how much I love the prints in this paper set.  Each and every one of them is fabulous.  It's so easy to make a gorgeous card when you're starting out with this!  The measurements for the print are 5 1/4" x 4".  This was attached directly to the Real Red card base using adhesive.

Ooops, before we go any further, I forgot to mention that before putting the DSP onto the card base, I spattered it with Gold Wink of Stella that I have left-over from several years ago.  Taking the lid off and flicking the brush tip across this gives you a nicely spattered background.  If you've got any other type of gold paint (Pearl Ex, Gold Mist, etc.) just flick it over the DSP to give it a pretty sparkly shine.  It adds so much extra elegance to the finished card.

The sentiment used here is from the Magical Meadow stamp set.  I liked the idea of a sentiment going across the whole card, so I used the Nested Essentials Dies here.  The sentiment is stamped with Real Red ink onto the smallest size of this shape of die.  The Real Red cardstock was cut from the next largest size die.  I really like how they almost span the whole card front, but not quite so you can still see just a smidgen of that DSP on either side.  

Before adding the sentiment, turn it over and add a couple of strips of Tear & Tape to the back.  Then coil about 30" or so of the Simply Elegant Trim around the fingers of your hand.  (I never measure this first.  Just make sure it's big enough to show on the top and bottom of the sentiment.  I just wrap it until I'm happy - about 3-4 times wrapping it around usually gives me the look I want.  Add this to the back of the sentiment sticking it to the tape.  Then use a good number of Dimensionals to this so everything stays attached to the card and doesn't unwind.  Place on the card front above the center point.

The inside of the card has a layer of Basic White that measures 5 1/4" x 4".  This has the sentiment stamped with Real Red ink to match the front.  There's a 1/2" strip of the DSP that I had left over from a project, so that was tucked at the bottom of the white layer to bring the colors from the front into the card.

One last thing.  I felt it needed just a bit more bling.  I added just one of the gold Brushed Metallic Dots to the card front.  I liked the softer brushed look instead of a bolder sparkle since there was so much going on already.

There you have it.  Another Christmas card to add to my stash.  I'm so happy with the way this card turned out - quick and simple, but with an elegance to it.  Hope you get around to making some of these cards too.  Be sure to leave me a message and tell me what you think.  Thanks for stopping by and stamping with me.  If you're shopping, please use the Host Code at the top of this post.  I do appreciate it!  Make sure you look at all the Online Exclusive items and check out the Clearance Rack too.  You don't want to miss any treasures.  Right?  Hope you stop by again soon.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon