Four Reasons for this card…

So… my friend Mary showed me some great Thanksgiving Day easel cards she was making not too long ago.  If you know Mary you know she likes the more involved, intricate type projects (remember this?) so I thought to myself, ‘must not attempt easel card.’  LOL

Well, in the last couple weeks these easel cards have started popping up everywhere in the online stamping world.  So I thought maybe I should reconsider my original thoughts on these and try something new!  And then it turned out that splitcoaststampers posted a tutorial on them and then I discovered the Crazy 4 Challenges blog posted an easel card for a challenge last week.  Of course I didn’t get my card done in time for the challenge deadline, but that’s okay.  I actually combined it with this week’s C4C Challenge of using acetate as well! 

So have you counted three reasons thus far as to why I created this card?  1) to attempt something new 2) to participate in the easel card challenge 3) to participate in the acetate challenge.  What’s number 4 you ask?  To create a project to be made at this week’s Stamp Club meeting!!  Hope my clubbers like it!!

If anyone from SU! is reading this, please don’t ever retire the ‘Lovely as a Tree’ stamp set!  It’s such a wonderfully fabulous versatile stamp set!  I white embossed the trees onto Night of Navy cardstock.  See the snowflake acetate covering the trees?  I used Frost White Shimmer Paint for the snowflakes using the new ‘Serene Snowflakes’ stamp set.  The sentiment ‘warm winter wishes’ comes from the hostess stamp set ‘The More the Merrier’ and I used the shimmer paint for that as well.  And just to add more sparkle (and a prop for the easel) I put a strip of sticky strip across the base and covered it with the Silver Glass mix beads.  That’s another product I don’t use enough!  Love how it sparkles (of course it looks better IRL, but use your imagination!) 

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about product used on this card.  Take care!

Scrapbook Club Projects

I {heart} scrapbooking!  And I love having the scrapbook club back in action cuz it helps me get more pages ready to go!  So here’s some ‘before’ shots of the pages for this month.  And hopefully VERY soon I’ll get some ‘after’ shots with pictures on them!

I used the new Night & Day Specialty Designer Papers as well as a LOT of punches on this layout.  I love how versatile the Baroque Motifs stamp set is as well.  Who would’ve thought it would be a great stamp set for Halloween??  But when I pulled out the Night & Day designer paper I immediately thought of Baroque Motifs.  Hope you like it too! 

Here’s the second layout for the scrapbook club members and guests.  Again, I used the Night & Day Specialty Designer paper.  This time I pulled out my Medallion background stamp, inked it up with Frost White shimmer paint and stamped it half on each page.  I also did a ton more punching to make that spider (scallop circle and photo corner punches) and used the Big Shot to get the Build a Bear.  I used a marker to color a toothpick Elegant Eggplant and used that as the holder for the Happy Halloween banner the little bear is holding.

Tonight’s Club Cards

So even though the blog doesn’t show it I have been very busy lately!  Here are the THREE projects for my fabulous club members tonight.  One is a waterfall card ( a very scaled down version of the fabulous waterfall card given to me a bit ago, more info here about that beauty), the second is a fun and simple shutter card, and the third uses punches to create some tres chic purses!  Lots of fun to be had tonight at club!  See you ladies soon.

Bugs and Kisses Color Challenge

It’s been a while since I’ve had time to play along with one of Kristina’s color challenges.  So today, on this gorgeous day outside, the baby and I stayed inside.  Good and bad.  Sure would’ve loved to enjoy the  beautiful weather and watch my hubby do the yard work (yes, watch, I do the flowers and he does the rest) and play with the older kids, but the baby needed me inside and so ‘we’ stamped and it was great fun. 

I have a few little boys birthdays coming up so with that in mind I went to Kristina’s color challenge and began playing.  I decided right away that I wanted to do an unusual layout, use the circle scissors plus, and use the Bugs & Kisses stamp set.  I pulled out the colors of cardstock and inks from the challenge and sat and sat and sat.  I just couldn’t decide where to start with the layout!  I finally decided to just go ahead and cut a circle, which led to stamping the bugs in rows, which led to layering the circles, and then I sat and sat and sat.  Remember that unusual layout I wanted?  Ya, wasn’t feelin’ it.  So I turned my focus onto the background and challenged myself NOT to use Designer Paper (I seriously have an addiction to DSP!) so that left me where?  I wanted to incorporate some kind of round aspect to mimic the bugs circle.  But my go-to fave background stamp (Polka Dot) has retired, so I decided to keep thinking.  That’s when I decided to do the Big Shot texturz plate but knew I wanted more.  That’s when it hit me to make my own DSP with a baby wipe and reinkers and Whisper White CS.  Hence, the stripes.  I grabbed an envelope and striped the bottom inch of that and then grabbed an inside layer for the card and striped that!  Fun!  The rest of the card came together pretty easily and an hour and a half later (yes, I know it doesn’t look like a card that should take an hour and a half but remember all that sitting and thinking I was doing?!?!) I had this simple layout, bright and fun birthday card!  Hope you like it and I hope the recipient and his mom do too.  So T.R. pretend you didn’t see this post! 

The colors for the challenge:

My creation:

Supplies
Stamp Sets:
Bugs & Kisses
Paper:
Real Red
Tempting Turquoise
So Saffron
Chocolate Chip
Whisper White
Inks:
Tempting Turquoise marker,  pad, & refill
Real Red marker, pad, & refill
Chocolate Chip marker, pad, & refill
So Saffron pad & refill
Accessories/ Embellishments:
Tempting Turquoise brads
large oval punch
circle scissors & glass mat
baby wipe
paper snips
Big Shot
Texturz Plate
blender pen
dimensionals
 

Big Shot Envelope Tote

Look at what my Big Shot club members will be making (among other things) this week!  Isn’t it cute?  (Yes, I’m patting myself on the back!  LOL)  The tote fits 3 x 3 cards in it perfectly.  (Club members check your section of my blog later this week for full pictures and cheat sheet.)