November Christmas Card Class

It seems like so very long ago but I actually held a card class before I left on my trip in November and I wanted to share the four cards we made.

I chose to remake my entry for the Stampin' Queen's Challenge #12 for this card.  The only difference between the two is that I chose to make this one from Concord Crush instead of Night of Navy.  It turned out beautifully and the combination of Whisper White, Concord Crush and Silver Glimmer Paper is stunning.  All the details for this card are included in the above link. 

Here's a view of the inside of the card.  The sentiment is from the Christmas Lodge stamp set #123769 pg 29 Hoiday Mini catalogue. 

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The base of this beautiful card is made from Riding Hood Red cardstock with a layer of Very Vanilla embossed with the Northern Flurry Embossing Folder #120903 pg 219 IB&C.  The Christmas stocking was punch using the Stocking Builder Punch #124095 pg 34 of the Holiday Mini.  Silver Glimmer Paper #124005 pg 41 of the Holiday Mini jazzes up the heel toe and cuff of the stocking. 

A view of the inside of the stocking card shows a Riding Hood Red and Very Vanilla DSP topped with a Very Vanilla Top Note die cut.  I chose not to add a sentiment to the inside of this card.

 

This snowflake card was fun and fast to make and everyone agreed it was a real show stopper.  The top fold card base is made from Crumb Cake card stock and the layers are Concord Crush and Whisper White.  The Whisper White layer was embossed with the Finial Press Embossing Folder #115963 pg. 219 IB&C. 

The snowflakes were die cut using the Original Dies Snowflake #2 pg 220 IB&C.  This die works beautifully with the Silver Glimmer Paper (Holiday Mini).  A Circle Ice Brad in Lilac #109111 pg 198 IB&C) holds the snowflake together through all layers of the snowflake and the Concord Crush and Whisper White cardstock.  TIP:  By piecing the snowflake pieces and cardstock together with a brad rather than adhesive you can reposition the snowflake layers to get the best look, plus the brad doesn't show through to the inside of the card. .

Here's the inside view of this card.  The sentiment is from the Christmas Lodge stamp set.  The Concord Crush lace border is made with the Lace Ribbon Border punch # 122362 on pg. 210 of the IB&C. 

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I previously show cased this card and all the details in my submission to Shirley's Christmas Blog hop.  Spotlighting parts of a card design is both fun and rewarding and no two cards will look alike. 

Hope you enjoyed seeing these cards even though they're a month behind in posting. Leave me a comment, I always love to have feedback.

 

I'm Back With Monkey86: Holidays & Sketch Challenge

I've been away for awhile and really missing all of you. Hope you've missed me too. While trying to get back in the swing of things I wandered over to the Ala Card Monkey Blog and checked out this week's sketch.

What a great sketch.  I drew inspiration from it right away as well as a good chuckle looking at the little boy searching for santa.  Here is my rendition of this sketch.

I've been in a purple mood for the past month or so, and although it's a non traditional colour for Christmas for me it evokes serenity and a regal charm.  So with that in mind I chose Wisteria Wonder for my card base and layered it up with Whisper White, Prints Pattern DSP in Concord Crush and a strip of Concord Crush that's been embossed with the stripes embossing folder.

This close up will show a little more of the detail on this card.  As soon as I saw the sketch I knew I wanted to add an image from the Christmas Lodge Stamp Set.  I stamped the image of the lodge in Concord Crush on Whisper White card stock, sprinkled it with Clear Embossing powder and then heat set it. Then I punched a 1/2 inch circle from a post it note to make a mask for the moon, and sponged the sky with Concord Crush.  The circle layers are Whisper White for the scalloped layer, Concord Crush, Silber Glimmer Paper, and the image.  The sentiment is stamped, embossed and layered in the same sequence.

Here's a view of the inside of the card.  I again layered with the DSP, Concord Crush and Whisper White Card stock.  The birds on a branch image is from the Christmas Lodge Set.

I think I'll be storing this sketch in my favourites file.  It was fast and easy to do and looks oh so good in real life!  Don't forget to check out all the great submissions on A La Card Monkey.  There's still time to enter for this week's challenge which includes blog candy!  They're giving away Warmest Wishes stamp set.

Stampin Queen's Sketch Challenge #12

It's Sunday night once again and time for me to share my rendition of this week's Stampin' Queens Sketch Challenge card.  I really like the layout of this sketch.  It's got lots going on it but it's not overpowering. 

I'm still into making Christmas cards and wanted to hightlight some of the "other" Stampin' Up Christmas stamps that are available in the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalogue, namely Decorative Decorations and Christmas Collage.  I love both of these sets and would hate to see them overlooked for newer ones.

So with these sets in mind I began by stamped the Christmas Collage in Whisper White onto a  5 1/4 x 4" piece of Night of Navy cardstock, and then emboss it with White Embossing Powder.  This piece was cut into three 1 1/4" strips and  glued from left to right onto the Whisper White card base.

I used a scallop die to cut the small oval scallop from the Silver Glimmer Paper and then mounted one of the ornaments from the Decorative Decorations set with dimensionals on top of it.  The ornament was stamped in Whisper White ink and embossed with White Embossing Powder on Night of Navy cardstock.  The center of the ornament is my sentiment and again it is from the Decorative Decorations set.  A basic rhinestone was added to the center of the sentiment star.  For the bow I used Whisper White Taffeta ribbon.  The image for the three circles pieces was stamped in Night of Navy on Whisper White cardstock and then cut out with the 3/4" punch.  This piece was mounted on dimensionals onto a 1" circle cut from the Silver Glimmer paper.  A basic rhinestone was added to the center of each image.

This is a view of the inside of the card.  The sentiment is from the Christmas Lodge set.  A 1/2" x 5 1/2" strip of Night of Navy Cardstock was adhered to the right side of the card and a 1/4" strip of the Silver Glimmer paper was added.

A La Card Monkey - Any Occasion and Sketch: Monkey Sketch 80

Hi everyone.  Last week I had the thrill of finding out that my Spooky Cute entry into the  A La Card Monkey Sketch 78 challenge, had won me the honour of being a Monkey Princess and a Guest Designer spot in an upcoming challenge.  That had me swinging through the vines for sure!  Here's my badge of honour.

I was so excited to be chosen as a Guest Designer because the A La Card Monkey Design Team does such an awesome job of presenting amazing sketch challenges that are always fun and easy to do.  Plus these gals are just so darned nice and helpful I feel like they're all friends.  Anyway it was just a great thrill for me and I wanted to share my excitement and good news with you.

Monkey Sketch 80 - Any Occasion + Sketch:
Here's this week's sketch and I'm sure you're going to enjoy it.  In fact, I invite you to play along too.  I know some of you hold back on doing the challenges because you don't have a blog, well don't let that stop you.  For this challenge if you're one of my customer's or demos who doesn't have a blog but would like to join in the fun, simply forward your card to me electronically and I'll post it to my blogsite for everyone to see and comment on.  That will be fun for all of us!!!!

Although the sketch was for "Any Occasion", I chose to do a Christmas card.  I wanted my card to have the feel of an old ski lodge and someone standing looking out at the view, so I chose a stamp set that I could build a scene with.  Because the white cardstock I was stampin on was only 3 x 3 this limited my choice of stamps, but I finally narrowed down my choice to Christmas Lodge or Snow Much Fun, and you guessed it, Snow Much Fun won out.  Let's see if I accomplished this sketch:
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Isn't this fat little snowman simply irresistible? He's from the Snow Much Fun stamp set and I just couldn't resist having him peaking through the window into the Lodge.  The card base is Cherry Cobbler with a layer of Always Artichoke. I was looking for a wall panel effect with the artichoke layer and I think I achieved that by embossing it with the new Stripes Embossing Folder (123128 pg 218 IB&C) and distressing around the edges with Always Artichoke ink.  I also added a layer of Early Espresso for the window panes and embossed this piece with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder (119976 pg 218 IB&C).   
 

The snowman image was stamped on a 3 x 3 piece of Shimmery White cardstock with Early Espresso and Versa Mark inks and then heat embossed with Clear Embossing Powder. To build the scene I stamped a mask for the snowman on a piece of sticky note paper and then stamped the tree and the snowball overtop of the original snowman.  It worked!   The sketch was coloured with Baja Breeze, Always Artichoke, Pear Pizzazz, Cherry Cobbler, Pacific Point, and Crumb Cake makers.   The snow flakes are from the Serene Snowflakes set (115438 pg. 36 IB&C) and were stamped in Baja Breeze.   To give a little sparkle to the snow scene I used the new Dazzling Details irridescent glitter glue (124117 pg. 41 Holiday Mini) on the snowflakes, snowball and snowman.

Here's a closer look at my Snowman.  Once you've stamped your scene on the 3 x 3 inch piece of cardstock just cut it into 1" strips and then cut those strips into 1" x 1" blocks.  For the window pane effect start by lining up top row making sure each square is lined up and there's equal distance between the blocks.  I glued my blocks down with  Tombow glue to ensure they stayed put.  Once you've got the first row done it's just a case of doing each additional row and using the upper one as a spacing guide. 

The sentiment on my card is from the "Christmas Lodge" stamp set.  I stamped it in Cherry Cobler on a 3/4" by 3" strip of cardstock.  I used the Modern Label punch on each end to add some interest.  The sentiment is layered over top of a strip of the new Cherry Cobbler 3/8 Quilted Satin Ribbon (124105 pg 30 Holiday Mini) and a label punched out in cherry cobbler with the Decorative Label Punch.  The edges were distressed with Cherry Cobbler ink. 


Hope you enjoyed this post. 

SUO Challenge 27, Ribbons and Bows! - Ribbon Candy

This week over at SU-Only Challenges blog they are offering up a challenge for using ribbons or bows on a card, scrapbook page or project.  Since I'd just finished making a card I call "Ribbon Candy" I thought I would play along.  Here is my card:

I used Riding Hood Red cardstock for my card base and embossed it with the new Snow Burst Textured Embossing folder.  A layer of Brushed Gold cardstock was added next and then another layer of Red Riding Hood.  To this layer I added Very Vanilla cardstock that has been stamped with one of the sentiments from the new Christmas Lodge stamp set (Holiday Mini),  My Riding Hood Red and Very Vanilla ribbon is reminiscent of the "ribbon candy" we would get at Christmas time and adds a festive touch.  Three basic pearls finish the card front. 

For the inside of my card I decided to use the sentiment again in Riding Hood Red and add one of the Christmas Stockings from the Stitched Stockings set in the Holiday Mini.  Maybe a little overkill on the sentiment but I liked it enough to repeat it. 

Monkey 72 - Christmas Sketch

When I saw this week's A La Card Monkey Sketch # 72 I just loved it.  Simple yet really classy!   I loved the plaid used for the background of the sketch and having just received my Frostwood Lodge DSP ( #124002) paper in my recent order I had to use plaid too.  As I don't want to miss this week's challenge, I'm not including a lot of details just pictures that I hope you'll enjoy.  The recipe is below.

My background paper is one of the beautiful plaids from the Frostwood Lodge Designer Series Paper.  I ran it through the new Snow Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder to give it some more texture.  This kind of reminded me of the old flannel pyjamas we got as kids.   

I absolutely love every stamp in the new Christmas Lodge (#123767W or #123769) stamp set on page 29 of the new Holiday Mini catalogue.  This set has that old fashioned Christmas feeling to it and I anticipate using it a lot for this season's bevy of cards.  There are two fabulous sentiments included in this set and the Merry Christmas one I've used is stamped in Garden Green on Whisper White cardstock and then mounted on Red Riding Hood cardstock. 

Don't you just love this old Lodge?  I've stamped it in Garden Green on Whisper White cardstock and mounted it on Riding Hood Red.  A little border of Brushed Gold cardstock trims the bottom and a 1/8" garden green colour of satin ribbon is on top (non-SU). 

For the inside of my card I used the second sentiment from this stamp set stamped in Riding Hood Red.  To continue the old world feel I used a full strip of the flannel DSP and edged it with the scallop border punch.