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.

Shirley's Winter Wednesday Christmas Blog Hop - Week 2

Welcome to week two of Shirley's Winter Wednesday Christmas Blog Hop.  You might notice from last week that she changed the name of the hop.  That's not to confuse you, it's just to clarify that her hop will be updated every "wednesday" not Monday (like the Halloween Hop) from now until Christmas.  Okay now that you're in the know about scheduling, here's a few rules you need to know about before I get to my post.

Shirley has a few rules which I'll share with you now. Shirley’s Winter Wednesday Christmas Blog Hop, want to join the fun, here is all you have to do:

1. Add the Christmas Blog Hop badge to your post and link back to Shirley’s blog (http://lookatmycutestuff.blogspot.com/)
2. Anything goes it just has to be Christmas.
3. It has to be a new post.
4. Add the Hop to your Post.
5. Have fun!

I quite enjoy making spotlight cards and teaching this technique to new stampers.  It opens up a whole new dimension for them and the "wows" are fun to listen to when they complete their cards. 

So with that in mind, here is one of the four cards that I'll be teaching in my Christmas card class this coming Sunday. 

This card is a mashup of Serene Snowflakes, Holiday Lineup and Tags Til Christmas stamp sets.  These are three of this year's popular Christmas stamp sets featured in the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalogue (IB&C).  The card base is Marina Mist cardstock and the second layer is Old Olive and Real Red cardstocks that were embossed with the Finial Embossing Folder. 



To begin with I stamped 2 of the elf images onto a piece of 2" by 4" Whisper White cardstock.  I used the Stampa-m-jig to make sure they were lined up perfectly.  You gotta love that tool!  I then restamped the elves on some scrap WW cardstock and then punched out a 1" and 1 1/4" circle punche and a small oval from those images I wanted to highlight.  The final step was colouring the punched out images with markers and then adhering them with dimensionals over their matching image.



When adhering the punched images to the original stamped image make sure everything lines up perfectly and check your colouring to make sure you didn't miss any detailson the punched portion.

The inside of the card was stamped with images from Serene Snowflakes  (pg 36 IB&C #115438)and a sentiment from the Punch Pals stamp set in Whisper White Ink.  I applied White Embossing Powder over the damp images and heat set them. 

Serene Snowflakes a wood mount stamp set on page 36 of the IB&C, #115438

Holiday Lineup pg 38 of the IB&C

Here's a closeup of the cute sentiment which is from the Tags Til Christmas set (pg. 32 IB&C #120847w or 121169c).  I've cut ot the sentiment using the 1 1/4" square punch and mounted it on Real Read cardstock that was punched out with the scalloped square punch. The no-name pompoms are glued on with Crystal Effects to add a little more dimension to the card.

I'm also going to be making a bonus project at my card class.   I saw these cute little post it note holders on someone else's blog (sorry I don't have your name right now but will add it and your link).  I thought they would make a perfect add-on to the class.  Simple to make and a great gift idea.  Okay that's it for my Wednesday Winter Christmas Blog Hop post for Week Two.  Hope you enjoyed it!

Annual On Line Shopping Extravaganza!!! It's Coming...................

Stampin' Ups! fabulous Online Christmas Shopping Extravaganza is just a few days away!!!  I'm so excited I can't wait to share it with you! What a wonderful way to kick off the holiday shopping season!

Starting on Monday November 21st and running through November 30th, log into my on-line store to see what's so special about the
On-Line Extravaganza.

Here's some hints about what's coming:

• How about getting FREE digital downloads when you buy My Digital Studio Express?
• How about getting 60% off on select Designer Fabrics? 
• How about getting 30% off on an exclusive ribbon bundle?
• In addition, there will be two items on sale for just 24-Hours.  That's right!  From 12:01am November 21st to 11:59pm two special discounted items will be offered!!!!  WOW!!!  So make sure you don't miss the first 24 hours of Online Extravaganza!  I know I won't.

If you're on my mailing list watch for your copy of the Extravaganza E-Card coming on November 21st, or the Ad on my Website on November 21st so you don't miss the 24-hour-only deals!

Shirley's Christmas Blog Hop - Week One

I'm so happy that Shirley from Look At My Cute Stuff decided to do a Christmas Blog Hop and I'm getting all revved up to play along.  Isn't her little Blog Hop badge just the cutest!  Makes me want to start my Christmas baking. 

Anyone can join in this fun weekly event which will last up until Christmas time.  Hope you can play along too, cause I'd love to see your creations. Shirley has a few rules which I'll share with you now. Shirley’s Christmas Blog Hop, want to join the fun, here is all you have to do:

1.        Add the Christmas Blog Hop badge to your post and link back to Shirley’s blog (http://lookatmycutestuff.blogspot.com/)
2.       Anything goes, it just has to be Christmas.
3.       It has to be a new post.
4.       Add the Hop to your Post.
5.       Have fun!

For my first creation I drew inspiration from the DSP and colours in Shirley's Blog Hop Badge and from the Holiday Mini Catalogue. 

I've been seeing these floral designs on various blogs and on page 28 of the Holiday Mini so I thought I would try my hand at using one for the focal point on my Christmas Blog Hop Card #1. 

The DSP is from last year's Holiday Mini and is called Candy Cane Christmas.  I have a ton of it left over as I was partial to this paper and the Merry Chrittermas stamp set last year.  When I saw Shirley's Hop badge I knew what I would be doing, so started digging through my stash.  I used Pink Pirouette and Baja Breeze cardstocks.

I layered the flower onto a piece of Red Glimmer Paper (121790 pg 181 of the IB&C).  The glitter in this paper perfectly matches the little glimmer dots on the Candy Cane Christmas DSP.  Talk about luck!  I love this Glimmer paper and think I'll be buying some extra sheets for my stash before the year is out.  It'll be perfect for Valentine's Day projects.

This floral image is made by cutting twelve 1 1/4" squares of DSP and rolling them into little cones.  Do your rolling first and then secure with Tom Bow or Crystal Effects glue.  This is tricky as they want to pop open, so you'll have to hold each one a few minutes to make sure they are secure.  Once you have all the little flutes made then adhere them to a circle punched out with 1 3/8" circle punch.

Make sure the points all work to the center.  I did mine like a clock (12, 3,6,and 9) and then filled in the gaps.  Once this piece has dried add a flower center or focal point that will hide all the little points from the flutes.  I used a 3/4 inch circle cut from the Red Glimmer paper and a small flower and Rhineston Brad (Circle Fire 109110 pg 198 IB&C), for mine.

 This sentiment is from the 2010 retired Merry Chrittermas set.  It's layered on Pink Pirouette and Baja Breeze cardstocks. 

Inside View:  Sentiment is from a retired set called Merry Chrittermas.I used the Candy Cane Christmas  DSP  layered on Baja Breeze cardstock for some interior design. 

Okay I probably have missed the deadline this week, but I'm posting anyway.  Hope you enjoy this entry.  Thanks for dropping by.

A La Card Monkey 82: Anything Goes + Sketch

My wonderful SIL's 50th birthday is coming up on the 25th of November and I thought since this week's A La Card Monkey sketch was "Anything Goes" that I would use it for her card.  Hope she's not watching!

"E" is a very sweet gal who loves making cards too, so I'm hoping this will be one she loves.   When I think of sweet I think of soft sugary things (yummy cupcakes, frothy icing, more cupcakes) and soft warm pastels.  With all that in mind here is my card:

The card base is Chocolate chip cardstock layered with a 5 1/4" x 4 piece of Blushing Bride (119796 pg 176 IB&C).  I texturized this piece with the Finial Press Embossing Folder ( 115963 pg. 219 IB&C).  The designer series paper has since retired but I loved the very feminine shiny swirls of embossed design and it matches perfectly with the embossed folder piece.  The 3/8" Quilted Satin ribbon is in Early Espresso (124104 and can be found on page 30 of the Holiday Mini catalogue. I love this ribbon so much, I'm going to order a couple of extra spools before this catalogue expires on January 3, 2012. 

How do you like this sentiment?  This is such a great stamp to work with and layer out.  Book a workshop with me and you can purchase this stamp set with your Hostess Dollars.  It's part of the Hostess set called Happiest Birthday Wishes on page 10 of the Idea Book and Catalogue.  I think this is one of the best Birthday sentiment stamp sets I own and I know it's going to see a lot of ink this year.  

I stamped my image in Chocolate chip on Blushing Bride and Very Vanilla cardstocks and punched out the Blushing Bride layer with the Scallop Punch and 1" circle punches and the Vanilla Layer with the 1 38" circle punch.

Inside View.  The verse and cupcake are from the Create a Cupcake stamp set (pg 68 IB&C).  The cupcake base is stamped in Chocolate Chip ink and the top is cut from the DSP.  I should have done some sponging on this card before putting it together but didn't have the time.  The next time I make it I'll make sure I do as I believe it really adds to the life of the card in terms of additional texture and eye appeal. 

Okay that's it for this week.  Hope you enjoyed this card and thanks for stopping by! 

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.

Remembrance Day 2011

For all the Canadian War Veterans, men and women,

who have served our Country in all times my thanks. 

I will not foget the sacrifices made on my behalf.