Simply Sweet Christmas Inspiration Hop

Welcome to the first EVER Simply Sweet Christmas Inspiration Hop! Lesley has put together a fabulous hop dedicated to LAST MINUTE SIMPLE BUT SWEET Christmas cards! I have lots of tips and tricks to share with you today as I share my design for the hop! I had so much fun putting these together! You'll want to head to Lesley's Blog Always Playing With Paper to read about her giveaway as well read all of the rules to qualify to win! This is also my "Keeping Christmas" project for the month! This will be the last one, but don't fret, I will be posting Christmas projects all month long, so stay tuned!

I am doing a giveaway of my own. I have put together a few of my favorite Christmas card supplies (mug not included ha ha) for one lucky winner! For my giveaway (US residents only), simply comment below what your favorite Christmas tradition is and be a follower of mine on Instagram. You can find me @kellylunceford. I share projects and ideas almost daily there! My giveaway will end on Dec 3rd 8:00 am MST and I will have my daughter randomly pick a winner. The winner will be announced that day as well.

Here is a list of the other participants in the hop! It is so good to be back together with the ladies from The Challenge! Make sure you head to their blogs and comment for a chance to win Lesley's giveaway. So....enough babbling...on to the cards! As I mentioned before, I have lots of tips and tricks to help you get your Christmas cards done lickety split! So, grab a cup of cocoa and enjoy the SIMPLY SWEET CHRISTMAS INSPIRATION HOP!

Anita Madden
Broni Holcombe
Claire Broadwater

Julee Tilman
Kelly Lunceford (You are here)
Kim Heggins
Lori Tecler
Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

Vicki Finger

For my project, I decided to turn one of my tags I created for the 25 Days of Christmas Tags which you can see HERE into a focal point for my card! Tip #1 You don't need to reinvent the wheel! Try using a design for a tag or smaller project you have already done and use it on your card. Keep these things in mind when deciding on your design; does it have pattern, texture and shine? If you include these three things, you should come up with a winner! None of those elements need to be overly abundant to create something worthy of the fanciest of stationery Shops!

I made 8 cards in total and they didn't take much time at all! 4 of them have baker's twine around the top and 4 are plain. It's always good to think about what the mailing costs will be when you add a lot of layers and embellishments. I finally have some awesome people working at the Post Office that embrace my love of Snail Mail and are always willing to help me with my mailing needs!

Tip #2 Try maximizing your time and supplies by getting a "2 for 1" deal out of your efforts. I did this by using the negative space that the letters created when I die cut the word "JOY" for my cards. I used the red part to create 8 tags, but you could also make 8 additional cards!

All I needed to do was emboss the skinny "JOY" in gold in the negative space and add another sentiment over the top! I glued some red jingle bells from the dollar store to some clothespins for an easy embellishment as well as a quick way to attach it to the ribbons on my Christmas presents.

I wanted to make sure I didn't neglect the inside of my cards. A large sentiment on the inside really makes them feel like a store bought Christmas card without too much effort. This particular sentiment is from the Year of Psalms: October Mini Stamp set with the addition of the holly leaves and berries from Concord and 9th's Joy Bundle. That is the stamp set that I used for the entire project.

Before I start on a mass produced project, I make sure my work surface is clean and tidy as well as making sure I know where all of my supplies are and that I have enough to finish the project. There is nothing worse than beginning a big project, only to find that it can't be finished because you don't have what you need. It is times like this, that could have you abandon the project all together because of frustration.

To begin, I cut all of the pieces that I would need: 

8-A2 card bases (white)

8-4 by 5 1/4 inch panels embossed with the Richard Garay Pine embossing folder spritzed with Shimmer Spray

8-2 3/4 by 4 inch white pieces for the focal greenery

8-4 1/4 by 3 inch Kraft cardstock to mat the focal panel

8- 3 1/2 by 2 1/4 inch red pieces for die cutting the letters

Tip #4 try and optimize your paper and supplies by using dimensions that will get you the most from one piece of paper.

After everything was cut, I stamped the inside of each card as well as a simple "homemade" image to the back. This really doesn't take any extra time at all, but really adds to the charm. 

For my design, I chose to use the striped image from the JOY stamp set to create plaid letters. I have used the stripes by themselves, but I think making plaid is the perfect way to use them and to maximize the uses for your stamp set. I stamped them in Fresh Snow ink and let them dry. It was important that I keep all of the letters together so that the plaids would line up properly. That meant  I would need to use a large portion of my desk to keep them together. I also needed to keep the centers of the "Os" with the correct die cut red rectangle so the plaids would line up on the tags as well.

After that was done, it was time to stamp the focal panel. I have found that it is good to get all of the stamps on their blocks and have the ink pads ready to go. I used the small images on one block and it is easy just to rotate the block when you need it. I only stamped the greenery in red once, on accident, but caught my mistake before it was too late! LOL!

The "Peace, Love, Joy" sentiment is embossed in gold onto strips of vellum. Tip #5 Do everything assembly line style so you can clean as you go. I like to emboss everything at the same time so my heat tool is nice and hot. I also like being able to clean as I go, so I just do everything using that particular tool at the same time so it can be put away. I hope you have found this information useful and informative! Thanks for fluttering by!

The Challenge #94 Let the adventure begin!

               Thanks for joining me today as I share this week's design for The Challenge! It is a fun "glamping" style party inspiration photo. While I took a very literal approach, the possibilities are endless with all of the little details in the photo. I considered doing a bubblegum machine, cupcakes, and more, but when you have the Happy Camper stamp set and coordinating dies as well as the Mountain Scene die, you gotta go with it! I was actually very happy to pull these supplies out, since I haven't used them yet this year.                       

You can read all about the challenge and the rules HERE as well as see what this week's guest designer created (it's darling)! You can see what the rest of the team created as well.

Anita Madden

Claire Broadwater

Kim Heggins

Lee Ann Barret

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

Vicki Finger

Since the theme in the photo seemed to be a birthday party, I decided to create a fun birthday card as well. Of course, the colors were a great inspiration as well! I decided to bring in some of the wood grain by using the Woodgrain Impression Plate. I really like this plate because it has a horizontal pattern on one side and the vertical image on the other so it is a two-for-one! I chose to created a vertical card for today' design. Once that was done, I die cut a circle using a nestabilities die, but saving the inside portion that you will see later on in the post. 

Once the circle was cut, it was time to create the scene. I sponged some Broken China Distress Oxide Ink onto the top portion of a white circle that was nestled down into the negative space that the circle die cut created. I spritzed it with a little bit of water to get it to oxidize just a bit. After that was done, I simply die cut and stamped all of the rest of the pieces to create the scene.

The sentiment strip was stamped using one of the coordinating sentiments. I added another strip of pink paper for some added interest as well as a retro vibe. A trio of Sparkling Clear Sequins finishes it off. The top of the card ended up feeling empty to me. I stared at it a while and just couldn't decide what to do. My sister was over and she suggested a banner like the one on the camper or something! Light bulb moment! I remembered that I had the right size banner die from the Globe Greetings die set from Concord and 9th! I die cut them from the same cardstock as the tiny ones on the camper and then brushed them with my Wink of Stella Brush to add some of those "glamping" touches! They were the perfect addition thanks to my sister! LOL!

I mentioned earlier that I was creating this as a birthday card so I decided to use that left over woodgrain circle to use as an anchor for my sentiment. I also used some of the other details that the front uses as you can see. The sentiment is from the Stylish Sentiments: Birthday set which is always my go-to birthday set. I hope you find some inspiration and join us this week! Thanks for fluttering by!

The Challenge #93 {Everyone needs a friend like you}

Just popping in with this week's new design for The Challenge! It's keywords again, which I just really love! I hope you got a chance to play last time and that you're excited to play again this week! I realized something this week...my last three cards for the challenge have been YELLOW! How crazy is that?! I guess I just really like yellow! I also decided to use it because one of the keywords is Friendship and yellow roses are a symbol of friendship so I guess that just stuck in my brain.

                                             

 Anyway, you can check out all of the details HERE. If you'd like even more inspiration, you can see what the other designers have come up with as well.

Anita Madden

Claire Broadwater

Kim Heggins

Lee Ann Barret

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

Vicki Finger

For my card, I chose to use the Glorious Petals Stencil as well as some embossing paste and clear embossing powder for a fun effect. It is the same technique that I used on THIS card and I included a little bit of a tutorial if you are interested. Since one of the keywords is "monochromatic", I only used two shades of yellow! After it was all done, I die cut it using the largest circle nestabilities die that I have. The sentiment was heat embossed using gold powder onto a strip of vellum cardstock. I didn't want to hide the fabulous background that I created so I thought vellum would be a nice choice. A strip of thin gold washi tape underneath the sentiment adds a little bit of shine and a few more circles.

I punched out quite a few butterflies using an old Martha Stewart Crafts punch in three shades of yellow for contrast and interest. I adhered them onto the circle portion using liquid glue. I bent them in the middle first so that they would have a little bit of dimension.

The finishing touch was a trio of yellow rainbow sparkle jewels around the sentiment. I also couldn't resist making a coordinating envelope since I had a template in the perfect size. This sweet little card measures 4 1/2 by 4 1/2 I also created a liner for it as well in another yellow pattern. Everything looks so sunny and happy! I hope you get a chance to play! Thanks for fluttering by!

The Challenge #92 Just Bee You!

Just buzzing by for this week's new card for The Challenge! It's a fun one this week! You can check out all of the details and rules HERE. This week YOU get to choose the color to add to black and white! I wanted to make a Halloween card, but decided not to, since Summer won't be around forever and I love making Summer cards! You can also see some fabulous inspiration from the other designers!

Anita Madden

Claire Broadwater

Kim Heggins

Lee Ann Barret

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

Vicki Finger

I'm going to be completely honest with you...this actually was a CHALLENGE for me! LOL! My mind just kept overthinking everything and in the end I really just got back to basics with bees! You can't go wrong with black, white and yellow bees! These cute little guys are from Reverse Confetti's The Buzz and I colored them using Copic markers and a little Wink of Stella for some added shine. I REALLY wanted to add some blue highlights to the wings, but I resisted to stay true to the rules of the challenge.

After the bees had been colored, I used the coordinating Confetti Cuts to die cut them. I used some black and white striped paper from The Paper Studio on the right hand side for some added contrast. I just love how it looks! The yellow cardstock was die cut using the new-ish To The Point Edgers Dies. I have been enjoying using them on various projects which you can see HERE and HERE. 

I stamped the Bee "trails" using black ink directly onto the yellow panel and then added the bees using foam squares. I also added a black sentiment strip with the "just bee you" sentiment using white ink. A few Sparkling Clear Sequins finish it off! I hope you get a chance to play! I can't wait to see what you come up with! Thanks for buzzing by...I mean fluttering by!

The Challenge #91 Sending you Sunshine!

I am so excited to finally jump on the Oxide ink bandwagon and get inky! Today's new sketch for The Challenge made it possible for me to show off a fabulous oxidized background! I love the result! I can see why these inks are so addictive! I only bought a handful of colors because my birthday is in a few weeks and I wanted to give people ideas of what to get me! Ha ha! Today's design was made using this week's challenge for The Challenge. You can check it out HERE. You can also see the other designers below.                                  
     

Anita Madden

Claire Broadwater

Kim Heggins

Lee Ann Barret

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

Vicki Finger

I started my design by cutting a 4 by 5 1/4 inch piece of Stamper's Select White cardstock. I used two colors of oxide inks to blend onto the paper; Spiced Marmalade and Fossilized Amber. After I had it blended like I wanted, I stamped a few of the images from the Hello Sunshine onto the background using a combination of water and more ink for a nice layered effect. I also spritzed the entire piece with some water for extra oxidization.

The sunshine sentiment is die cut 4 times out of black cardstock using the Sunshine die and then glued together. Once that was done, I set it aside to dry while I worked on the rest of the card. I cut a piece of white cardstock that would fit the beginning of the sentiment as well as the die cut sunshine portion. I stamped "sending you" in Palette Black ink. The white piece was adhered to a strip of yellow and vellum cardstock for some added interest and to fit the parameters of the sketch. I used my Wink of Stella pen to add sparkle and I also added some Glossy Accents over the entire "sunshine" piece for a fabulous shine! It looks so amazing on the card. I realized mid way through my die cutting that I had forgotten to save the dot for the "i" so I used a drop of ebony black Nuvo drops which was the perfect touch to fix my mistake. It added just the right amount of dimension and shine. I added the entire focal piece to an A2 black card base.

The finishing touches include the two "hello" and "hiya" sentiments stamped and heat embossed added to the card. I usually like to do something clever or unexpected when there is a little detail like this on a sketch challenge. While it isn't super clever, it does add an extra element of whimsy. I also spritzed the sentiment panel with a few markers for some "scattered sunshine" if you will! Ha Ha! A trio of gold sequins finish the design! Thanks for fluttering by!

The Challenge #90 Hugs and Happy thoughts

I am completely in LOVE with this week's challenge photo! I had SO much fun putting this week's card together! You can check out all of the details HERE and you can see what all of the other design team members came up with as well 

Anita Madden

Claire Broadwater

Kim Heggins

Lee Ann Barret

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

Vicki Finger

I would be pleased as punch if this chair were in my home! It is absolutely gorgeous and the perfect starting point for a fabulous floral card! It reminded me so much of THIS card that I made a few years ago so I wanted to use some new floral images for today's design.

My starting point was this fabulous set called Beautiful Day which has images similar to the floral images used in the textile on the chair. It has the perfect balance of leaves, florals and sprigs of greenery to create something similar. As you can see, I took a very literal approach for my design. 

To begin I took some time out to create masks for each of the large images so that I could build a fabulous floral scene. I had so much fun placing things here and there. The new To the point edgers dies arrived while I was away with my husband so I was excited to use them on this design.I thought the way I used the scalloped die made it seem like the top of the chair, which you can't see in the photo, but I used my imagination.

I used a mixture of solid images as well as the line art images that are included in the set. I like the mix and I feel as though it works well to recreate a textile look. The line art images are colored using Copic Markers and the solid images are stamped in a variety of ink colors for maximum definition.

The sentiment is heat embossed using white powder onto a black strip of cardstock. I added a few sparkling clear sequins here and there. After all of that was done, I adhered the focal image onto a piece of black and white striped paper using foam squares. I adhered all of that onto a black card base. I really went back and forth between a white or black base. I liked the white better, but ultimately, the black won because the frame of the chair looks so stark against the fabric and the black had the same effect. Thanks for fluttering by!

A second helping of The Challenge #88

I just couldn't resist making something new to show you using the latest inspiration for The Challenge. Last week's challenge will be running for TWO weeks so you have time to play if you haven't already gotten a chance! You can check out all of the details HERE. I wanted to change things up a bit and show you another "look" using these fabulous keywords!                      

When I made the card in my last post[scroll down to see] I really was hoping to make a card similar to what I am showing you today. I mentioned that I couldn't find my watercolor pencils so I decided to revisit the idea, but just blend my colors instead. I really like how it turned out without the pencils! I showed the watercolor panel to my daughter with excitement and I mentioned that it looked a little bit like tie-dye. She promptly told me it was hideous and only hippies would like my card! So...I really hope there are a few hippies stopping by today! Ha ha! {she did later admit that she liked it. Ah, the joys of teenage girls}

The keywords are: square (check). I was hesitant to take a big chunk out of my newly created background, but I wanted to incorporate the square in an unexpected way and I really like the result. Keyword 2: bright [check]. Nothing is as bright and cheery as a rainbow. 

To begin, I adhered the Glorious Petals stencil on top of a 4 by 5 1/4 inch panel of 140 lb coldpressed watercolor paper to my mat board and applied an even coat of embossing paste over the stencil. I offset the stencil slightly so that the center was not placed in the center of the card. I immediately removed the washi tape and stencil and washed it in warm soapy water had my daughter wash it in warm soapy water. Ha Ha! 

I poured crystal clear embossing powder over the entire surface while the embossing paste was still wet. I heat set it to a glossy shine! So pretty! I toyed with the idea of using white, but ultimately decided on the clear so that it would have a softer look.

Once it was cool, I sponged a rainbow of colors onto the stenciled panel starting in the center of the flower portion and worked my way out changing colors as I went. Because I used the crystal clear powder it resisted the ink on the embossed portion. I wiped the excess ink off of the top with a kleenex and then spritzed it with water. So...keyword 3: watercolor {check} keyword 4: flower{check}

While the watercolor piece was drying, I took the opportunity to jazz up the inside of the card with a coordinating rainbow birthday sentiment. Keyword 5: birthday {check} I just inked up the image using my Stampin' Write markers. 

Of course the outside needed a birthday sentiment as well and since I didn't want to cover up the gorgeous background, I opted for a narrow sentiment. I embossed it using white powder from PSX. I placed the die cut square at a slight angle and then adhered the black sentiment strip using foam squares.

The finishing touch was adding the tiny rainbow sparkle jewels here and there. I placed them onto the panel exactly where that color was represented in the panel. It's hard to tell in the photo because they blend so well, but in real life, they look fantastic!

I had so much fun creating this and I hope you all get a chance to play along! There will be a new challenge next Thursday! Thanks for fluttering by!