WARM & TOASTY WISHES FOR YOU

Freshly Made Sketch challenge this week is by Narelle, who did a pretty good job of "throwing" this sketch together based on her computer icon.  Love the inspiration!  

Here's My Card:

My card features the tiny polar bear from the Warm & Toasty Stamp Set.  He is such an adorable little character I just couldn't resist.  But don't just think of this image as being a Christmas/winter image it can be usable all year round.  At the end of the post I'll show you a cute card I made to welcome baby using this sweet and versatile image.  

My card started with an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Whisper White card stock that was scored at 4 1/4".  The first layer is a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Night of Navy followed by a 5" x 3 3/4" piece of designer paper from the Feels Like Frost designer series pack. Stampin' Up! thankfully brought this beautiful winter themed 6 x 6 paper pack forward from last year's Holiday Catalogue.  The designs are so much fun to work with and I absolutely love the metallic designs on the reverse side.    

This is the exact paper I chose for my card background today.  I started off matching my Night of Navy card stock to the beautiful image but when I turned it over to add my glue, I stopped, stared and in that aha moment chose to showcase the metallic side of the paper.  So beautiful!

The bears were stamped in Momento Black ink on Whisper White card stock and then punched out with my 1 1/4" square punch. I coloured the bears with Stampin' Blends. Don't you think the little blush cheeks and toe pads are cute? I used the light powdered pink blend for those. The bear is outlined with the light smokey slate blend and it adds just enough of a shadowy light colour to bring him to life.

The Night of Navy squares that the bears are mounted on were cut with the 2nd smallest die cut in the Stitched Shapes squares.   The two background squares were just adhered with Tom Bow adhesive, but I added a double layer of Dimensionals to the lower part of the front square so it would pop it up enough to provide some dimension.  That seemed to work.  

And that's it for this fun FMS today.  Once I decided on my theme this card literally came together in minutes, which is what I want.  Another pro is that the card is flat and mail able, which is great at this time of year if mailing a lot of cards.  I also think this sketch would be usable for any theme and or season.  I like that so I'll be keeping this sketch in my "Using Up Scraps" idea bin.    

Before I go here is my Welcome Baby card using the Warm & Toasty stamp set.  What do you think?  Isn't she adorable?   I added a little bow at her neck with a baby pearl... so feminine.

For this baby card I began with an 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" base of Sahara Sand, scored at 4 1/4".  The first layer is a piece of designer paper from the Peony  Garden Designer Paper Series.  It features a nubby Petal Pink texture.  The second piece of designer series paper is from the In Good Taste packet and has a soft wool like appearance, so made me think of a super soft baby blanket. 

The sweet little sentiment "Hello Baby" is from the So Sentimental Stamp set.  I used the Tasteful Labels Dies to cut out the labels that I mounted the bears and sentiment on.  These small labels are perfect for grounding small images so they don't get lost in the background of a card.  

Thanks for dropping by today.  Hope you liked my cards.  Leave a comment and tell me which one is your favourite.  Appreciated.  

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot 

Penny Hanuszak, Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator 

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Merry And Bright On-Line Extravaganza

 

Tuesday November 24th is almost here, and I can't wait!  What's so special about November 24th?  Well it just so happens it's one of Stampin' Up!s most well loved and busiest sales days of the year.  It's time for the Merry and Bright On-Line Extravaganza sale!  

If you're planning on placing one last Stampin' Up! order before Christmas honestly this is the day to do it!  Save 10% on most Stampin' Up! items during this one day Christmas Bonanza sale.  Nearly all 2020–2021 Annual Catalog items are eligible for the 10% discount.  Click here for the Exclusions list for details so you're not disappointed.  

You'll want to place your order as soon as possible on the 24th to ensure you receive your products and they're not sold out. Remember to use my November Hostess Code ZZ49FQS if your order is under $200.00 and you'll receive an exclusive Christmas thank you card and small gift from me.

Note: You may experience shipping delays due to increased shipping demands during the holiday shopping season.  Having said that Canadian orders have been getting priority.  

Happy Stamping!

Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot
Penny Hanuszak, Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator

NOVEMBER HOSTESS CODE:  ZZ49FQKS

If you place an order in November that's under $200 before shipping and handling, please remember to add my special Hostess code to the end of your order, and you'll receive a special Christmas thank you card and a small gift from me.  If you're placing an order over $200 don't add the hostess code because you will be able to choose your own Stampin' Up! Rewards based on the total of your order.  Thank you.

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Remembrance Day Traditions

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Last Wednesday was November 11, 2020 a day never to be forgotten.  It is the day each year that we Canadians join others throughout the world to honour and celebrate the lives of those brave men and women who have fought to preserve our freedoms and ways of life.  

This Remembrance Day was significant for our family as it marked the 5th month since our mother's passing.  My sister and I've been visiting our parent's grave site each month since she passed on the eleventh of June. We generally bring flowers but because it was Remembrance Day we brought poppies to put in the urn.

When we arrived at the Langley City cemetary a Remembrance Day service was just finishing up.  We had to park up top and walk the road down to our parents grave.  Although it was a rainy day there were lots of folks still milling about and visiting family graves.  We were thrilled to see all the wreaths and Canadian flags that had been placed on the graves of those who had served our Country. 

Both of our parents lost brothers in the war and they always attended the local Remembrance Day celebrations, so it felt extra special and significant that the service happened just feet from their graves.  

After the visit and watching the television coverage that evening, I decided to make a Remembrance Day card in honour of my relatives and others who served in both World Wars. I took my inspiration from the beautiful poster at the beginning of this narrative and a this memory of my Uncle Charlie who died near Normandy France in World War II.

    

Here is my card:

When I looked at the poster with its rolling hills representing the trenches I knew I could recreate them using my Curvy Celebrations dies. I combined two of the die cuts and used 2 x 6" pieces of Basic Black, Basic Grey, Grey Granite and Smokey Slate card stocks to form the hills. 

Originally I was going to stamp a series of poppy images using the Painted Poppies stamp set but I thought the poppy images were too big for the design I had in mind. So, I checked my paper stash and found a sheet of the Painted Poppy designer paper from last year, that worked well.  

I fussy cut several of the flower images that were in varying shapes and sizes.  I used my Poppy Parade light and dark blends to colour in any white outlines or pool party patches from the background of the paper before adhering the flowers to the card. I added the poppies with liquid adhesive and dimensionals and layered them down the left side of the card. Once the poppies were in place I die cut a piece of Whisper White with the Stitched Rectangle Shapes Die and stamped the sentiment.  I added red rhinestones on the sentiment label and at the top of the card to symbolize more poppies.

The "Remember" sentiment is from a retired set called Well Said.  The sentiment actually says "Remember When" but I was able to ink up the image with Momento Black ink and then carefully remove the ink from the word "when" with a wet shamy.   I totally love that rolling font for the "R".  

This year in Canada we were able to purchase Poppy Pins for $5.00.  This new pin replaces the black felt center piece with the wire pin. I'm not sure but I think every year for as long as I remember, I lost my poppy just minutes after buying it, so I was happy to see a more wearable attachment added.  I'll still buy poppies every year to support the Legion and Veterans as they do so much good work, but I liked this idea.  After looking at how shiny the lapel pins were in the picture, I decided to add some clear Nuvo drops to mine.  

Well that's it for today.  Although late in posting, I hope you enjoyed this card and it's composition.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator 

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If you're planning on placing an order under $200 before S&H apply the hostess code for this month, and I'll send you a free gift.  If you place an order that's over $200 you'll automatically receive Stampin' Up! Hostess Rewards for free products.  Thank you for shopping at my store.

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Using Up Paper Scraps - Curvy Christmas Cards

Hi and welcome to today's post which features more of the winter cards I've been making with the fabulous Curvy Christmas stamp set and dies which are currently on special promotion during the month of November.  

I thought I'd share a little video from Stampin Up showing just how creative you can get with these dies.

Well what do you think?  Pretty impressive right?  I enjoyed watching her put these cards together, in such a quick fashion.  And, I loved how she used her Stamperatus for positioning an stamping.  I have to try that more often.  

Here is my card: 

For this card I chose a monochromatic colour scheme. The beautiful designs in the Classic Christmas designer paper, really are stand alone and don't need a lot of other colours or specialty papers added.  For this design I've combined the Curvy Christmas and the Christmas Gleaming stamp sets. I love the mix, how about you?

The Christmas Gleaming Red Rubber Cling Set coordinates with the Decorative punches so cutting out the ornaments is a breeze.  You can find this stamp set and the coordinating punches in the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue.

Gleaming Ornaments Punch Pack 

Here's the Inside of the Card:
 

I kept the inside of the card clean looking by only stamping the "Merry Christmas" sentiment and the pine bough stamps from Curvy Christmas in Cherry Cobbler ink.  I added  a 1" x 5 1/4" piece of the coordinating designer series paper at the bottom of the layer.  

For the layers on this card I used two dies from the Curvy Celebrations Die set and basically I just played with them to see how they would position. These dies are available as part of the Curvy Celebrations Bundle and they will be in the new catalogue release in January.  I find that using the dies on  2" by 6" strips of paper works the best then you can trim off any excess before layering on your card.

One of the white layers is cut from a piece of Whisper White card stock that's been embossed with the beautiful Winter Snow embossing folder.  The sentiment "May Your Days be Merry and Bright" is from the Curvy Christmas stamp set and works really well along the curve line, due to the fact this stamp set is made from Photopolymer and it has flexibility you don't get with a red rubber stamp.  

The detail in the snowflakes in the Winter Snow Embossing folder #153577 is really intense and yet the snowflake details are very delicate.  I hesitated about getting this folder as I have an older one, but the difference in the detail really sold me on it.  This embossing folder is only available until Jan 4 2021 or while supplies last.  

Supplies:

Stamp Sets:  Curvy Christmas and Christmas Gleaming

Card Stock:  Whisper White 5 1/4" x 4" for layer on card front, 5 1/2"x 41/4  for front strips, 4" x 5 1/4 for the inside and scraps for the Christmas decorations.  Cherry Cobbler 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" for base and scrap for strip. 

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler 

DSP:  Classic Christmas Designer Paper (only available in December 2020) 

Embellishments:  Red Rhinestones 

Accessories: Gleaming Ornament Punches, Winter Snow Embossing folder

Here are Two More Cards featuring this card style:

This card in Shaded Spruce turned out so well I wish I had plan to make a few more.  The ornaments stand out really nicely in the darker ink and I added some of the coloured rhinestones to them for some sparkle.  I decided to only go with one sweep of Whisper White across the center of this card and I think I really like this cleaner and simpler look. 

 

The inside of the card is very simple with just the sentiment and pine bough for decoration.  The strip of designer paper across the bottom of the card is 1" x 5 1/4".  

For the Sahara Sand Version.  I used basic rhinestones in the centers of the five ornaments.  The top four were adhered with Dimensionals.  I normally would only have three ornaments, however I made an ink boo boo, so needed more to cover up my mistake.      

The inside of the card is wonderful.  I stamped the Merry Christmas across the pine bough and added some Classic Christmas paper but in a different design.

Well that's all for today. I hope you enjoyed these three card samples using the Curvy Christmas stamp and die set. I'd love to hear which card you like the best.

Happy Stamping!

Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot 

Penny Hanuszak Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator 

November Hostess Code:  ZZ49FQKS

If you're placing an order under $200 before s&h, apply my November Hostess Code at the end of your order and I'll send you a free gift.  If your order is over $200 before s&h don't apply this code, you'll receive your own Stampin' Rewards.  

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Freshly Made Sketches #461

I'm back today with a rather intimidating sketch by Karen at Freshly Made Sketches.  This is definitely a clean and simple sketch, but one that sends shivers down my spine and causes sweat on my brow.  Not really, but I do find these plain sketches some of the hardest to do because the sky is the limit in terms of decision making and that field is just too vast for me.  

Here's the FMS #461 Sketch:

Since I'm trying to get caught up with making Christmas cards my focus for this card will be on one that's easily mail-able.  You know the type, one layer, lays flat without too much dimension and can be mass produced.  I chose a cling stamp set from Stampin' Up! called "Don't Stop Believing".

Here's My Card: 

One of my most loved and used bundles from last year's Holiday Catalogue was the Christmas Gleaming Bundle which included the stamp set, Brightly Gleaming Specialty Designer Paper and two ornament punches. I probably made 45-50 cards using just that bundle.  I was so enamored with it I bought two additional packages of paper thinking it wouldn't be around any longer, so imagine my delight when it was part of the Christmas lineup for this year's Stampin' Up! Annual catalogue. 

Because I love this paper so much, I started with a designer paper strip which features copper foil stars on a Night of Navy background. I adhered the strip to a 5" x 3 3/4" piece of Very Vanilla card stock. From there I dug out my Copper Foil and made a 5 1/4" x 4" layer, that I adhered to a Night of Navy A2 card base.  

Originally I visualized using a cluster of the ornaments from the Christmas Gleaming set for my focal point, but when I was grabbing the set, I spied my "never been inked yet" Don't Stop Believin' stamp set.  From there my ideas morphed into this card.

I added some glue to the tassel, hat brim and cuff of Santa's suit and sprinkled Iridescent Ice Glitter over them.  Unfortunately because I didn't stamp the Santa in a permanent ink, the Night of Navy ink on the jacket ran a bit into the cuff.  Oh well live and learn.  The next one of these cards I make I'll use Momento Black Ink - run proof when using blends or glue.   The sparkle just brought this card alive. I also added some Nuvo Crystal Drops to Santa's specs so they've got the appearances of glass lenses.  The small stars are from the Curvy Christmas stamp set.  

Supplies:
Stamp Sets: Don't Stop Believing #15332, Curvy Christmas (small stars)
Ink: Night of Navy ink, Blends: Night of Navy Light and Dark, Smokey Slate Light and Dark, and Ivory
Specialty Paper: Copper Foil, Brightly Gleaming DSP #150429 
Card Stock: Night of Navy, Very Vanilla
Embellishments: Iridescent Ice Glitter, Nuvo Crystal Drops

This was a fun and super easy card to do.  My non-traditional take on Santa worked out okay and I might try him in some other unconventional colours.  I know I'll be using the Don't Stop Believin' stamp set a lot now as it's really peaked my interest.  So many great images and sentiments, especially Frosty the Snowman.

Don't Stop Believin' #153332

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT
Penny Hanuszak Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator

November Hostess Code:  ZZ49FQKS 

Don't forget to apply the November Hostess code if you order is under $200.00 before shipping and handling. You'll get a free gift from me. If you place an order over $200.00 before shipping and handling, you will automatically earn Stampin' Rewards and can pick out your own free gifts. Everyone who orders from me will received a thank you card as I so appreciate your orders.

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