Christmas… in March?

Well stranger things have happened, right?  Like 80 degrees in NH in March!  Yup, that's how our weather has been lately.  I'll take it!

Tonight was the first meeting of my Christmas Card club, so yes, we made Christmas cards on the first day of Spring!  Ahead of the game this year…. that's my mantra… we'll see if I can stick to it and maybe, just maybe, apply that mantra to other parts of my life.

Here's one of the cards they made tonight…

This one has a nice vintage, oh-so-me, feel to it!  I wish I could take a lot of credit for it but I really can't.  Here's why…

The layout came from Mojomonday.blogspot.com… it was sketch #227.  I loved the sketch so went searching for fun samples.  There were plenty to choose from but the one below caught my eye.

So as you can see I didn't change too much.  The color scheme of course is different completely.  Where this stamper used Calypso Coral, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake and Pool Party, I used Read Red, Early Espresso, Confetti Cream and the Berry Bouquet DSP from the last Holiday mini.  I also used Very Vanilla seam binding instead of the Crumb Cake one.  I believe this stamper has another oval punch and put on the designer frame where I just stamped inside the designer frame.  But clearly, the inspiration lies here and I'm so grateful because I really love both cards!  Hope you do too.

More Apothecary Art? Yes, Please!

I can't get enough of the Apothecary Art Stamp set and the coordinating Labels Framelits so here's another sample for you!

Colors used include Soft Suede, Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz (for the banner), Lucky Limeade (for the markering).  The DSP is from the In Color Stack.  Love.  And I used a couple different types of ribbons, some I put rhinestone brads on, others had pearls in the corner.  Just little touches here and there.  Love playing with all the doodads. I don't know if you can see it but I also put a dab of Dazzling Details in the center of all the flowers and used the Color Spritzer tool with the Peach Parfait marker on the main image just to shabby-it-up a little more.   Oh and if you look closely, the one with the Crumb Cake ribbon I put the Vintage Wallpaper embossed image "raised side up" and on the other card I put the embossed card stock "raised side down."  It's fun to play and change things up a bit here and there!

Hope you like!

Cards for no real reason…

How often do you check your snail mail?  6 days a week, right?  How often do you get something other than a bill or a catalog or junk?  Not often enough!  Back in January I made some cards and sent them out to a few people for no real reason than to say 'hi' and thank them for being a friend, on my Stampin' Up! team, themselves, or all of the above!  I heard back from many of the recipients saying how nice it was to get a card out of the blue.  I need to do this more often.  I mean, I love making the cards, right?  So why not send more??

These cards use the Apothecary Art stamp set from the Occasion mini  (I do LOVE this set!!) along with Sweetly Said.  I used the Labels Collection framelits as well.  I cut out around the edge of the first layer with my paper snips then popped this up with dimensionals on a label of the same color.  The designer paper is also from the Occasions mini, Attic Boutique. 

I don't know why these pictures are so blurry but I can't take anymore because like I said, these went out in January!

Maybe the picture below can show better the dimension and the various patterns of DSP I used, the various banner colors, and flower colors!

Bordering on Romance

Here's another example (albeit VERY subtle) of changing up a card…

This card is actually something I did NOT CASE!  It seems for a long time now I haven't had a lot of time to stamp; or when I do have the time to sit and stamp I don't have energy left to create a card totally from scratch.  So, imagine my surprise when I came up with something myself the other day!  Now granted, it's not a difficult card or over the top by any stretch.  But it uses some new stuff that I'm SUPER excited about.

Here's the card…

See that key stamp?  Isn't it cute?  It's another one from an upcoming Sale A Bration stamp set.  The "Happy Birthday" sentiment is from the same set! The one that is SO me that I referred to a few days ago.  It's called "Elementary Elegance" – you'll have to look it up once Sale A Bration starts on the 24th!
Other new things here… "Bordering on Romance" stamp set and the Adorning Accents embossing folder (See the hearts on the bottom of the Real Red CS?).  Both of these items can be found in the current Occasions mini.  And what about that shape?  The frames?!  Did those jump out at you?  Those are also in the Occasions mini and called "Labels Collection Framelits." They are SUPER easy to use with your Big Shot.  They come in a set of 6 and are $26.95.  So, if you purchased the "Labels Collection Framelits" ($26.95) and the clear mount "Bordering on Romance" stamp set ($21.95) and the Adorning Accents Embossing Folders (it's a set of 3 for $8.95)  you'd qualify for the Sale A Bration freebie "Elementary Elegance"!!!  PERFECT!!!  (Your total spent would be $57.85 plus s/h for two stamp sets, 6 framelits and 3 embossing folders!

If you want to get these items be sure to check out a class or club of mine or schedule a workshop or come to my Sale A Bration Open House (to be scheduled)!!!

I should also mention I watercolored these images with my Watercolor Wonder Crayons on Shimmery White cs and then added a touch of Smooch Illuminate Top Coat (love that subtle sparkle!).