Tuxedo Card CASE

Today I want to share with you a card I unabashedly "CASED" from Linda Aarhus (with her permission of course).  Linda is a demonstrator from Washington State who I truly admire. I often visit her blog site Polka Dots and Paper to see what's new.  Linda produces such top notch creations and this design is no exception.  I hope you'll drop by her blog and see Linda's original card. 

Here's my version. This originally started out as an anniversary card for my husband, but while I was in the midst of making it, he wandered in and said "Wow what a great Valentine's Day card that would make", so I changed it to Valentines. 

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I basically copied Linda's card with the exception of the front panel on the shirt.  Linda used a crimper to capture the look of a tuxedo shirt.  I've never managed to use a crimper properly and find my lines always come out on a bit of an angle, so decided to use the Stripes Embossing folder and it worked perfectly.

I also changed the occasion from New Years to Valentines Day as noted above, and used the sentiment "Sweet Valentine" from a "Something to Celebrate" hostess set which is now retired. 

This is a sneak peak at one of the faboulous stamps featured in the New Occasions Mini Catalogue called "You Are Loved". It's stamped in Real Red on the inside of the card.

Hope you enjoy this card and come back and visit again. 

Out with the Old and In With The New................last chance for Holiday Mini

 

Just a reminder. the countdown to midnight is on!  Did you know that at 11:59pm EST your chances of purchasing anything from the 2011 Holiday Mini will have ended?  That's right!  At the stroke of twelve, the sales period for the brand new 2012 Occasions Mini Catalogue will begin and all products from the Holiday Mini (with the exception of the ones noted in the flyer below), will have ended.  

Carry Over Items:

 

The last chance to order from the Clearance Rack and save up to 80% on merchandise is also coming to an end on January 5, 2012.

Stampin' Queen's Sketch Challenge - SQSC19

I love this latest sketch from Stampin' Queen's Designers. It's clean and simple and would lend itself well for any occasion. For my card  I chose not to modify the placement of the circle shapes although the challenge said the design could be rotated and the shapes could have been replaced, as long as the general layout was recognizable.  Here is my card:

I chose a Whisper White background layered with Island Indigo. I embossed the next layer of Whisper White with the Manhattan Embossing Folder to give it a little extra detail.  I find this combination very romantic. 

For the shapes I chose the circle image from the Just Believe stamp set featured in the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalogue.  I've added Basic Rhinestones for the flower centers and have mounted them with dimensionals.

I just can't get enough of this beautiful ribbon.  It's so stylish and feminine.  The other wonderful thing about it is that when it's cut it doesn't fray............ now that's exciting. 

For the inside of my card I chose the frienship saying from the Bold Blossoms set.  It's stamped in Island Indigo.  I also added a 1/2" strip of Island Indigo cardstock and stamped the new border image from the Bordering on Romance stamp set, in the soon to be released Occasions Mini catalogue.  I love these long images and the extra element they add to the card.  I know they'll be seeing ink a lot this season.

A La Card Monkey Challenge 89: A Fresh Start + Sketch

New Year's is right around the corner, but before the clock ticks down there's still time for one more challenge over at A La Card Monkey. And this is another special week for me as I was lucky enough to be chosen as a Guest Designer for my Monkey 87 submission, so I'm really excited to play along with this challenge.   

http://www.pennytokensstampinspot.blogspot.com/2011/12/celebrate-decjan-birthdays-with.html

Appropriately this last Monkey Challenge of 2011 is called: Monkey 89: A Fresh Start + Sketch.  Just take a look at this adorable sketch.The Monkey Design Team did a great job choosing this sketch.  The card is a vertical fold card with an element centered and rising above the card top.  The theme can be anything that brings a fresh start to mind, so think New Year's, a new baby, a new home, a wedding or a trip.............. the possibilities are endless.

The moment I layed eyse on this adorable baby giraffe I decided to make a baby girl card.  It seems I  never have enough baby cards on hand so I'm making a "fresh start" for the New Year by pre-making some.  Here is my offering.  The card stock is 4 1/2 x 8":

For this card I chose something old and something new.  Isn't the baby sleeper adorable?  I stamped it in Soft Suede ink on a piece of Blushing Bride striped designer paper from the In Color Patterns Designer Paper Stack, # 117158 pg 186 IB&C.  I love stamping on DSP because it just adds life to the image and brings out the colours.  The Sleeper is from a retired hostess stamp set called "A Slice of Life". 

You're also getting a sneak peak at something from the new Mini Occasions Catalogue.  I've used the new Labels Collection Framelit Dies ( #125598 on page 6 ) to create the center element in layers of  Whisper White, Blushing Bride cardstock that was embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder (#117335 pg. 219 IB&C ).

This beautiful label is from a wonderful new stamp set called "Take it to Heart" which is in the Occasions Mini Catalogue on page 14.  It can be ordered in wood (125520) or clear mount (125522) versions.  The "Welcome Baby" sentiment is from the retired "Something to Celebrate" Hostess stamp set.  For a little pizzazz and feminine touch,  I've added 3 Basic Pearls (119247 pg 198 IB&C), on either side of the banner label. 

I kept the inside of the card simple adding a sentiment from the "Something to Celebrate" retired hostess set and a rattle from Button Buddies (#122735 w or122737(cm) pg. 71 IB&C).  Button Buddies is another one of those very sweet and versatile Stampin' Up sets that you'll find yourself reaching for time and again.  Although I didn't use any here, the Designer Buttons sold on pg 197 of the IB&C perfectly enhance these images. The inks used are Soft Suede from the Neutrals Collection and Blushing Bride from the 2010-11 Incolor Collection. 

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my latest card.  Hope you enjoyed it and seeing some of the newest products that will be coming your way after January 4th, 2012. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Cards From Friends and Family...........

I want to share some of the fabulous cards I received from friends, family, customers and my newest recruit. I think you'll love them too!

Love this stunning card from Shirley Sumption.  Shirley ran wonderful weekly Halloween and Christmas Blog Hops this year and I've so enjoyed her creative talents and becoming a great cyber friend!  Thanks Shirley!

This beautiful handmade card is from my wonderful SIL Elise!  Elise is very creative and always makes such fabulous cards.

Thought I'd add this wonderful Thank You card I received from Betty Lee.  Isn't it gorgeous.  The texture in the DSP is so nice and the colours blow me away!

A beautiful Cardinal Christmas card from my wonderful sister Heather.  I love the scallop circle card and the sentiment!

This gorgeous Delightful Decorations card was created by a friend and customer, Betty Lee.  Isn't it gorgeous!

Eileen, created this stunning Lovely as a Tree card.  I love the tone on tone and the beautiful embossed snowflakes.

Ethel my newest downline member, created this stunning Poinsettia card using a die cut.

A La Card Monkey Challenge #88: Thinking of You + Sketch

This week I have the wonderful honour of joining Jessica as a Guest Designer and Julie Gearinger, the Monkey 86 Princess in designing another great sketch with the A La Card Monkey crew.   I love these sketches.  They are so much fun to work with.  If you haven't played along yet, now's the time.

When  I found out the theme of  Monkey 88's sketch was to be a "Thinking of You", card I had no difficulty in picking out a stamp set.  The one I chose is called "You are Loved" and it's from Shelli's Signature collection.  This set comes in wood and clear mount and can be found on page 40 of the Holiday Mini, but only until January 4th when it will be retired forever.

Although the "You are Loved" set is basically a Valentines Day set I think it also lends itself well to creating a vintage "thinking of you" card.  Here is my finished card.  Hope you like it.    

The base of this card is in Crumb Cake and it's layered with Early Espresso cardstock.  Instead of adding designer paper to this card, I chose one of the floral images from the stamp set to create a background on the next layer.  I used Versa Mark and Crumb Cake inks to stamp the image and then heat set with  Clear Embossing powder for a shimmery finish.

The sentiment was stamped twice on Crumb Cake and embossed with Clear Embossing Powder.  The image was punched out using the Decorative Label punch (120907 pg. 209) and then the "love" portion of the image was punched out from the second stamping and mounted with dimensionals. 

Love those basic pearls (119247 pg 198 IB&C) layered on 3/8" Quilted Satin Ribbon in Early Espresso (#124104 Holiday Mini) and Victoria 5/8" Crochet Trim (#118481 IB&C pg. 194).

Images are from the You are Loved Stamp Set and the beautiful embossed line is from the new Adorning Accents Embossing Folders in the Occasions Mini catalogue.

I Needed a Wreath............

The big box store wreath ....$39.00.

Several yars ago when we moved from our 3-story home to a smaller place I decided it was a good time to unload some of our decorations. And trust me we had tons of them.  Every occasion was covered and Christmas and Halloween shared the prize for years of accumulation! 

One of the garage sales I held.  Lots of things went including most of my Christmas items!

I was planning on holding several garage sales in my quest to purge, and declutter my life, so  I went through all of my Halloween and Christmas treasures and decided what could go and what I couldn't part with.  Over the course of four weekends of garage sales, most of my wonderful decorations went, including the Christmas tree(s), bear collection, outdoor and indoor decorations, lights  and all my wreaths.  Some of my these things were actually purchased by a movie set decorator for a Christmas scene being shot locally.  That made me feel really good. 

Here's some of the Halloween goodies I unloaded. 

Since circumstances changed and we're home for Christmas this year decorating our new home began as a bit of a challenge.  First of all we had to get a new tree, and lights.  Then, we decided we needed   wreaths for the fireplace and front door.  My husband did some shopping and came home with a fancy wreath from Costco and I almost fell over when he told me how much he paid for it. Being me,  I decided it had to be much cheaper to make my own, and that I could probably  make one equally nice.  So the following pictorial is what I came up with and I'll let you be the judge of whether or not it turned out better.

I dug through my christmas box and found ribbon, christmas balls, and some pine cones.  I purchased picks and a wreath form at 60% off at Zellers.

The ribbon inserts were easy to make and luckily I had some florists wire on hand to make the job even easier.

These picks come together so quickly. 

Here's the finished wreath hanging on my front door. 

Here's a little closer shot to show all the details.   Total costs for the items I purchased $11.58, and I think it looks just as good as the one from Costco. DIY worked out pretty good!