Christmas Cheer Sprig - Stampin' Up! Forever Fern - Fab Friday 199

   Happy Friday everyone!  We have a new challenge at Fab Friday to celebrate the start of the weekend!  It's a fun sketch and I can't wait to see your beautiful creations shared to our gallery!

  I raided my card parts pile to get a start on my card.  I already had the greenery sprig all ready to go as it was made but didn't work for another project so I built the rest of the card around that piece.

  The card base is Real Red (which you can't see) topped with a piece of 'Tis the Season DSP.  The label is from Tasteful Labels dies and then embossed with the Dainty Diamonds embossing folder.  

  Using the Birds & More die I cut some more sprigs in Soft Sea Foam and gold foil to tuck under the label.

  The main sprig is stamped 3 times on Garden Green cardstock in Garden Green ink using the Forever Fern stamp set and cut with the Forever Flourishing dies.  I added some adhesive pearls for berries.  The bow is a Real Red sheer fork bow.

  The sentiment from Itty Bitty Christmas is stamped in Garden Green on Soft Sea Foam cardstock and cut with the banner die from Tasteful Labels and is popped on dimensionals.  

  Then final details are a few gold sequins around the sprigs.

  I hope you'll check out the Fab Friday Design Team for more inspiration and then play along!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Forever Fern, Itty Bitty Christmas

Ink: Garden Green

Paper: 'Tis the Season DSP, Whisper White, Garden Green, Gold foil, Soft Sea Foam

Accessories: Tasteful Labels dies, Forever Flourishing dies, Birds & More dies, Dainty Diamonds embossing folder, adhesive pearls, gold sequins, Real Red sheer ribbon, dimensionals

Fall Texture - Stampin' Up! Gather Together

   I saw my first red maple leaf on the ground the other day so fall is on it's way to my area!  I was inspired by the Daring Cardmakers inspiration challenge which has a gorgeous inspiration photo.  I loved all the wonderful texture that is shown and tried re-create it on my card along with some great fall color.

  I pulled the wood texture, the typeset from the book, the fall colors, the twine and the knit texture from the photo to us on my card.

  The wood grain background and the knit layer are from the In Good Taste DSP.  

  The leaves are made by sponging 4 different colors onto a scrap of Very Vanilla.  I used Cherry Cobbler, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie and Mango Melody and then cut my leaves with the Gathered Leaves dies.  The largest I stamped with the large maple leaf stamp in Crumb Cake ink but stamped off so it's really faint.  I roughed up the die cut by crumpling it up and unfolding several times for a nice worn look.

  I added a bit of leftover twine on the leaf stem for even more texture.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Gather Together

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Mango Melody, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede

Paper: In Good Taste DSP, Very Vanilla, First Edition DSP (retired)

Accessories: Stitched Shapes dies, Gathered Leaves dies, dimensionals, twine

Thankful Purple Rose - Stampin' Up! To A Wild Rose

   A few weeks back I joined in with the Color Throwdown challenge with this card and it ended up being randomly drawn as their Featured Stamper card!  One of the perks of getting chosen is being invited to join in on a future challenge as a guest stamper!  So fun and of course I couldn't say no!  Any reason to "have to" stamp is always a good reason!

  The Color Throwdown team has a fun color combo to work with this time.  Purple, Green and Khaki.

  I kept it pretty basic with a floral card and a thank you sentiment since I still need more of those!

  The card base is Mossy Meadow then a piece of Whisper White embossed with the Old World Paper embossing folder.  I lightly sponged a bit of Crumb Cake ink over the ridges for some more dimension in the background.  Next I cut a Crumb Cake frame with Stitched Rectangle dies and popped it with dimensionals.

  The rose is stamped with the Stamparatus in Blackberry Bliss ink and various layers of stamping off and then cut out.  The leaf is cut out of a piece of Heartwarming Hugs DSP and layered behind the rose.  A bit of light green twine behind the rose adds some softness as well.

  I hope you'll all check out the Color Throwdown design team samples and play along!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: To A Wild Rose, Here's A Card

Ink: Crumb Cake, Mossy Meadow, Blackberry Bliss

Paper: Mossy Meadow, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Heartwarming Hugs DSP

Accessories: Old World Paper embossing folder, Stitched Rectangle dies, Wild Rose dies, dimensionals, twine

Witchy Halloween - Stampin' Up! Festive Post

   Better late than never today with my card!  I've got a quick and easy Halloween card to show today.  I don't usually send very many Halloween cards but I always end up making a few for various challenges and the one I participated in today had perfect colors for Halloween and I couldn't resist.  The TGIF Challenges group has Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry and Basic Black for their colors.

  There was the perfect sheet in the Plaid Tidings DSP pack for this color combo!

  See what I mean about the paper?  I let it do all the heavy lifting for the colors and just added a bit of sparkle.  Once I had the DSP adhered to the card base I dug around in my scraps and found a bit of retired black Glimmer Paper and cut a few narrow strips to add to the image panel.

  The adorable little broom sticks are found in the Festive Post stamp set. I inked them across the panel in Versamark and embossed them with retired Shimmer Black embossing powder.  I popped the layers up with dimensionals.

  The sentiment is also from Festive Post and stamped in Rich Razzleberry.  After it was die cut with the Stitched Shapes circle I added a bit of retired Pumpkin Pie cotton ribbon and then popped it all up with a double layer of dimensionals.

  So quick and easy!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Festive Post

Ink: Versamark, Rich Razzleberry

Paper: Plaid Tidings DSP, Whisper White, Black Glimmer paper (retired)

Accessories: Stitched Shapes dies, dimensionals, Shimmer Black embossing powder (retired), cotton ribbon (retired)

Harvest Thank You - Stampin' Up! Gather Together

   My thank you card stash has dwindled quite low in recent weeks so I was on a mission last week to stock back up when I ended up needing 3 thank you cards to use right away.  So much for stocking up!  My card today actually fits in with 2 different challenges.  The first is the Just Add Ink challenge to make a thank you card. The second challenge is a new to me one called Tic Tac Toe Challenge which gives a great tic tac toe board of choices to create with for each challenge.

  The card for today clearly fits the thank you requirements and my tic tac toe choice is the "pumpkin", "leaf" and "linen/burlap" line.

  The card base is Very Vanilla thick.  Next is a Stitched So Sweetly scalloped rectangle in Early Espresso topped with a piece of the Gilded Autumn Specialty DSP.

  I added a strip of wide burlap trim and then layered the stamped images from there.  The sentiment from Ornate Thanks is embossed in gold on Crumb Cake cardstock. The pumpkins and wheat sprig are stamped in Early Espresso.  The pumpkins are colored with Blends and then cut out and popped with dimensionals.

  I added a few retired candy dots in Cajun Craze and Early Espresso around the image grouping.  

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Gather Together, Ornate Thanks

Ink: Early Espresso, Versamark

Blends: Cajun Craze light & dark, Mint Macaron light & dark

Paper: Very Vanilla thick, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Gilded Autumn DSP

Accessories: Stitched So Sweetly, burlap trim (retired), dimensionals, gold embossing powder, candy dots (retired)

Classic Autumn Gatefold - Stampin' Up! Gather Together

   Happy World Card Making Day!  While I probably won't have any time to stamp a new card today between 2 kids with soccer games and one of them also reffing a few games I've got a card to share that I made a few days ago to celebrate our fun hobby.  It's a nice classic autumn look with an gatefold opening.

  I got my inspiration for the gatefold from the Freshly Made Sketches challenge which has a cool off center split in their layout.  

  I started with a Very Vanilla base and used my Simply Scored to score my flaps at 2 inches and 7.5 inches.

  The Early Espresso panels for both flaps are embossed with the Tin Tile embossing folder.  Next is a Stitched Shapes oval in Very Vanilla with the stamped sentiment from Banner Year in Early Espresso ink. Remember to just adhere the oval to one flap so that you can open the card!

 

  The Gather Together maple leaf is stamped in Early Espresso and then colored with Stampin' Blends.  Once it was cut out I adhered it to the edge of the oval also being sure not to get adhesive on the edge that touches the other flap.

  The final details are a gold twine bow on the leaf stem and a few gold sequins scattered on the card front.

  I hope you get time to celebrate World Card Making Day in style...which mean getting inky!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Gather Together, Banner Year

Ink: Early Espresso

Blends: Cajun Craze dark, Pumpkin Pie dark, Mango Melody light & dark

Paper: Very Vanilla thick, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso

Accessories: Tin Tile embossing folder, Stitched Shapes dies, Gathered Leaves dies, dimensionals, gold twine (retired), gold sequins (retired)

Very Merry Snowman - Stampin' Up! Snowman Season

   It's always nice to have some Christmas stamps carry over from last year's Holiday Mini catalog to the newest Annual catalog.  Snowman Season saw a lot of action in my stamp room last year and I knew that if it stuck around I would be able to continue creating new cards with it.  I used it today for a fun color challenge over at Stampin' Up! Only Challenges.  At first I thought I would go in a summer beachy direction as those aqua shades with the yellow made me think of beach umbrellas but then I veered away in the opposite direction straight to winter and Christmas!

  I started with a Bermuda Bay card base then created a frame in Coastal Cabana by cutting a nice window with the Stitched Nested Label dies.  I stamped Whisper White craft ink snowflakes all around the outside of the frame.  On the inside of the frame I stamped the snowman in Smoky Slate and then added more snowflakes in stamped off Coastal Cabana all around him.  The image is colored in the challenge colors with Stampin' Blends.  And even though it's just used on the carrot nose I did use Mango Melody!  The frame is popped on dimensionals right over the snowman panel.

  I cut a tiny Daffodil Delight star with the Stitched Stars dies to top the little tree.  I covered the star with clear Wink of Stella for some shine.

  The bottom of the frame is decorated with a piece of torn Whisper White embossed with the Winter Snow embossing folder.  I used a piece of long retired SAB shimmer ribbon in Bermuda Bay around the embossed panel.  

  The sentiment from Itty Bitty Christmas is stamped in Bermuda Bay and cut with a Stitched Shapes circle.  A Bermuda Bay snowflake from So Many Snowflakes die covered in more Wink of Stella is the last bit of decoration at the edge of the frame.

  These were fun colors to make myself stretch a bit and not be stuck in "traditional" Christmas colors. 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Snowman Season, Itty Bitty Christmas

Ink: white craft, Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate, Bermuda Bay

Blends: Bermuda Bay light, Daffodil Delight light, Mango Melody dark, Granny Apple Green dark

Paper: Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight

Accessories: Stitched Nested Label dies, Stitched Stars dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Winter Snow embossing folder, So Many Snowflakes dies, dimensionals, Wink of Stella, Bermuda Bay shimmer ribbon (retired)

Bird Sympathy - Stampin' Up! Free As A Bird

   My card today is a sympathy card but could easily be for a different occasion with a quick change of sentiments.  My layout is based on the Global Design Projects challenge of caseing a one of their design team members.  I think you can see the general bones of the sample card in my design.

  

  The card starts with a Pool Party base, then a layer of the retired Bird Ballad DSP in a nice floral pattern.  Next I embossed a square of Whisper White with the Parisian Flourish embossing folder.

  The bird, leaf sprigs and flowers are all stamped in Memento black and colored with Stampin' Blends (colors listed below in the supplies list).  I fussy cut the leaves and flowers to layer theme around the bird and sentiment panel.  Both flowers are popped for some dimension.

  The sentiment is from the retired Petite Pairs that I've hung onto because they are all just the right size for a nice circle die or punch.  I found a tiny bit of retired ribbon in light green which might go all the way back to Certainly Celery!!  I tied it in a little know and added it under the sentiment.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Free As A Bird, Petite Pairs (retired)

Ink: Memento Black

Blends: Crumb Cake light & dark, Mango Melody dark, Calypso Coral light & dark, Old Olive light & dark, Daffodil Delight light & dark

Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White, Bird Ballad DSP (retired)

Accessories: Parisian Flourish embossing folder, Stitched Shapes dies, dimensionals, green ribbon