Making A List and Checking It Twice....... PCCCSC#108

When I saw the sketch by Paper Craft Crew Card Sketch Challenge this week,  I had a pretty good idea where I was going with it. To begin with, the sketch simply screamed "letter or postcard", so I knew I had to roll out something with that theme in mind.  

Even though there are crystal clear skies and it's 30 degrees outside, one thing led to another and I was on my way to making my first Christmas card of the season.  I hope you enjoy the sketch PCCCSC#108 and my rendition. 

Here's the Sketch Challenge:

Here's My Card:

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Santa's List (R), Post Card, Postage Due, The Open Sea
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
Card Stock:  Crumb Cake , Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Champagne Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Small Star Punch(R), Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack, Postage Stamp Punch, Modern Label Punch, Candy Dots (Neutrals - Soft Suede, Regals - Cherry Cobbler), Trimmer, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Sticky Strip

The Post Card stamp is timeless and I never get tired of creating with it.  This set comes in wood, clear and brush stroke images (MDS).

The Postage Due stamp set is perfect for those romantic travel type cards and scrapbook pages.  It has four beautiful images and comes in wood, clear and brush stroke images (MDS).

How I Made It:

1. Cut the card base from Crumb Cake to measure 8 1/2 x 5 and fold at 4 1/4"
2. Cut a piece of Cherry Cobbler to measure 3 6/8" x 4 7/8" for post card layer
3. Cut a piece of Cherry Cobbler to measure 2 3/4 x 6/8" to mount the sentiment on
4. Cut a piece of Cherry Cobbler to measure 1/2" x 5" for the strip on the inside panel
5. Stamp the Post Card stamp on a 4 x 5" piece of Very Vanilla card stock with Soft Suede Ink. On a 1 1/2" x 5" piece of Very Vanilla re stamp the post card stamp but just capture the top portion of the stamp.   Cut the full post card image to measure 4 3/4" x 3 3/8".  Sponge the edges with Crumb Cake. Stamp the list from the Open Sea set in Crumb Cake on the right hand side of the post card, and then stamp the Santa from Santa's List on the left hand side in Cherry Cobbler.  Mount this piece onto the 3 6/8" x 4 7/8" layer of Cherry Cobbler. Put dimensionals on the back side and set aside.
6. Cut the second image with the "post card" and scroll work image down to 4" x 1".  Sponge the edges with Crumb Cake.
7. Cut a 1/2" x 4 1/4" strip of Champagne Glimmer paper and adhere it to the left hand side of the card base.  I wanted to see a little bit of the Crumb Cake from the card base beside the glimmer paper, so I left a 1/8" margin on the outside edge.  Use glue dots on the back of the Post Card strip and position it over the Glimmer Strip leaving an 1/8" margin on three sides.  The reason you use Glue Dots instead of sticky strip is that they adhere better to the glitter base. 
8. To build the stamp layer, stamp two images of the 2 cent stamp from  Postage Due in Cherry Cobbler ink.  Fussy cut around the edges of one of the images and sponge edges with Cherry Cobbler.  Cut around the "2 cent square" on the second stamped image and sponge the edges.  Punch out a 1" piece of Champagne Glimmer paper with the 1" square punch and adhere the two cent square with glue dots.  Trim the glimmer paper to 1/8" on all sides of the 2 cent block. Pop this piece up with dimensionals to the center of the first stamp image.
9. Using the Postage Stamp Punch punch out a piece of Soft Suede card stock and then adhere the stamped image to this piece.  Adhere the layered stamp in the top right hand corner of the post card and place three candy dots beneath it. 
10. Stamp the sentiment "He's making a list........" in soft suede on a small scrap of Very Vanilla card stock. Punch out this piece with the Modern Label Punch and sponge edges with Crumb Cake.  Adhere the sentiment to the 2 3/4" piece of Cherry Cobbler and mount beneath the Santa image with dimensionals.  Note:  The sentiment is larger than the Modern Label punch so in order to get everything in I cut the strip I'd stamped the sentiment on to measure 1/2" by 3" with the sentiment centered in the middle.  I then inserted each end of it into the Modern Label punch from the top of the punch and just punched each side separately.  Once finished I sponged the sentiment with Crumb Cake ink.
11. Punch out two small stars from the Champagne Glimmer Paper with the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack and attach them to the sentiment label with glue dots.  
12. For the inside panel cut a piece of Very Vanilla card stock to measure 3 3/4" x 5" and sponge the edges with Crumb Cake ink.  Stamp the sentiment "Hope you're nice." in the top right hand corner in Soft Suede ink.  Punch out 2 small stars and one Itty Bitty star and mount with glue dots below the sentiment.
13. Cut a strip of Champagne Glimmer Paper measuring 3/8" x 4 7/8" and mount to the strip of Cherry Cobbler.  Attach this strip 1/4" from the bottom of the card liner with sticky strip.  

Although this looks like a lot of work, once I decided where everything was to go, it assembled really quickly. 
 

It's fun how the list from the Open Sea just seemed fitting for this card.  It's stamped in Crumb cake ink.  I deviated from the sketch by adding my stars to the outside of the sentiment rather than two larger sized stars beneath it.  It seemed to work better this way.  If you look really close to the left hand side of the picture you can see the Champagne Glimmer paper just peaking out beneath the post card banner. 

It's very hard to see in this picture but the glimmer square just beneath the 2 cent block adds just enough of a glimmer to add extra interest to this element.  I can't seem to get enough of these Candy Dots, they are so handy to use.  They come in each of the colour families and really add a nice finishing touch to a card or scrap book page, when just a small element is needed.

Here's a full view of the inside of the card.  The strip at the base of the card seems to pull the everything together and give it balance.

For the stars I used the retired Stampin' Up small star punch and the star from the Itty Bitty Accents punch pack. They are the perfect size to group together and look so dazzling when punched on glimmer paper!

Here's one last look at my card.  Leave me a note and let me know if you've started making Christmas cards yet, and what your favourite seasonal stamp sets are.  I'm still using retired stamp sets first because I love them and secondly because I'm waiting for my Holiday Catalogue order to come in next week.  I can't wait to start creating with my new White Christmas and House stamp  sets. 

I hope you'll check out all the wonderful design team and participant cards over at  the Paper Craft Crew site and leave them a comment or two while you're at it.  As always, there's a really great selection of cards.

Happy Stamping! 
Penny Tokens 

Nautical Get Well

We've been having a heat wave for the last few days and it's brought soaring temperatures and sleepless nights.  So, when you can't sleep you might as well stamp..........right?

I'd been trying to come up with a masculine "Get Well" card and when I checked out this week's sketch on Paper Craft Crew Challenges it grabbed me right away. I love when that happens! 

 Here's the sketch:

You can check out the design team's submissions and other entries by clicking here:  PCCSC #101

Here's my card:

 

As luck would have it, I'd just received an order from Stampin' Up! and was thinking of using some of the new Designer Series Paper (DSP) called Maritime to make a nautical theme card.  One look at the sketch and I knew I would be able to incorporate the DSP and stamps from the Open Sea stamp set into my card.  

The Open Sea Stamp Set is perfect for making masculine cards and teamed up with the new Maritime DSP it's sure to be a big hit. 

For the inside of my card I wanted to make a bold statement so I chose to use the "Get Well" sentiment from a recently retired set called Perfectly Penned*.  I love the script on this stamp and I thought it went perfectly with the Open Sea images.  I stamped it in Real Red ink.  The ship image is stamped in Night of Navy.  The inside layer dimensions are 5 x 3 3/4"

*Some alternative "get well sentiments" from the new 2014-15 catalogue that would work for this card can be found in the following sets:  Fabulous Four on pg 13, Sassy Salutations on pg 67, A Dozen Thoughts on pg 108 and Really Good Greetings on pg 120.

I love the bold written message I used for the front of the card.  The sentiment "Sending Good Thoughts Your Way", is from the Perfect Pennants 10 piece stamp set on page 16 of the catalogue.  When you're looking for sentiments remember that Stampin Up has put together a Greeting Alphabet Stamp Set Index on pages 245 -247 of the catalogue. The Whisper White banner was cut out with the Banner Framelits and the image was popped up with dimensionals on the card face. 

The map image from the Open Sea has been layered with Night of Navy and Real Red card stock that was cut out with the Circles framelits.  The beautiful little arrow comes from the Label Card Thinlets die set.   I used a red Sharpie Marker to colour one of the medium sized Basic Rhinestones and glued it to the tail of the arrow for a bit of bling. 

Supplies Used: 
Stamp Sets:  The Open Sea, Perfectly Penned and Perfect Pennants
Card Stock:  Whisper White, Night of Navy and Real Red
DSP:  Maritime #133696 coordinates with Coastal Cabana, Night of Navy, Real Red and Whisper White
Ink:  Real Red and Night of Navy
Accessories:  Circle Framelits, Banner Framelits, Label Card Thinlets, 1/4" Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon, Large Basic Rhinestone coloured red with Sharpie Marker, Dimensionals, Paper Trimmer, Big Shot, Adhesive

During the month of July you can buy 3 Designer Series Papers and get a fourth one for free.  That's how I got my Maritime Paper and I'm loving it! 

Here's one last look at my card.  I love how the Maritime DSP gives such a strong nautical image to the face of this card.  The designs are so classic.

Hope you enjoyed this post and will come back and see me again sometime soon.  Please leave a comment if you like this card, it's the only way I know if I'm making something that's appealing to others.  So let me know would you like to receive this card?  I'd appreciate it.

HAPPY STAMPING
PENNY TOKENS