Showing posts with label Stamp Simply. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stamp Simply. Show all posts

Thursday, February 27, 2025

Happy Easter


Hi everyone!

The weather has been absolutely glorious this week!  We have azaleas, irises, and lots of other beautiful blooms showing their gorgeous colors in our neighborhood, so it was really easy to get into a Springy, Easter mood for today's project.  

Although it looks like a conventional fold, this card is made from a full sheet of card stock scored horizontally and vertically with the top left corner removed, which creates an extra flap and more space to decorate on the inside.  I cut a window through the outermost section for this darling bunny to peek through.  (I trimmed just a little off the bottom of the bunny for ease of opening/closing the card.) 


When the front is opened it reveals this "cracked egg shell" designer paper (probably actually parched earth, but y'know!) with a sweet sentiment.  Maybe your family "pocked" eggs...a Cajun Easter tradition...so you get where I'm comin' from!  Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday are next week, so the season of Lent is truly almost upon us!        


And here's the very innermost fold of the card.  I love this simple rustic cross and traditional Easter sentiment.  I kept everything inside really simple with some sunrise stenciling using distress inks.

I know this is most oft said about Christmas, but it applies here as well!  Jesus is the Reason for the Season!    

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Thursday, February 20, 2025

Masculine Happy Birthday!


Hi friends!

I often find masculine cards challenging, but today's clean and simple masculine birthday card was a piece of cake using prints from three paper pads from Craft Consortium and our Stamp Simply Autumn Silhouettes set.  


I stamped the sentiment and the cattails image directly onto the designer papers, die cut the one using our fishtail banners and adhered them to the card front.  I added a knot of ribbon with a very simple men's wear style of a button tied onto it as a simple embellishment, then splashed and splattered some diluted brown and grey-black distress oxide ink onto everything.  


Here's a peek at the inside.  The kind of no-nonsense card that my fellas prefer!  I hope you like it too!  

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Thursday, February 13, 2025

Pet Condolences


Hi everyone!

I love that Stamp Simply has a stamp set which includes a "beloved pet" sentiment among all of the more traditional sympathy sentiments that are oft spoken after the loss of a loved one.  One of my spinning/crafting friends recently lost her sweet Corgi "Marti" and I am so glad to be able to craft a card especially for her to comfort her in her grief.  Our pets really are cherished members of our families and it hurts so much to let them go, even when we know it is the right time and for the right reasons.   


I chose Spring-y colors for this card in celebration of a happy life well-lived.  A photo of a leather collar and leash inspired the decorative element along the left edge of the card.  I used strips of card stock, some of them folded and "faux braided" along with an end of a die cut from the Tim Holtz Tags Collection to construct it. Several colors of distress oxide ink gave it that weathered leather look, and I even used a few very old eyelets applied with a Crop-a-dile!    


Here's the inside, with plenty of room to write a heart-felt note.  

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Thursday, February 6, 2025

Deepest Sympathy


Hello friends!  I'm here today with a sympathy card in soft neutral tones, pairing prints from two different paper pads with our beautiful Eucalyptus Silhouettes stamp set.   


The background paper has hints of pale peachy pink which I tried to emphasize by using matching ribbon and ink (notice the sponging around the edge of the circular mat under the greenery.  Even the greenery has a touch of that pale pink and soft taupe mingled with the sage green).  The sentiment was stamped directly onto the designer paper background.    


The strip of frilly lace, silky ribbon and pearls make this simple design decidedly feminine.      


A harmonizing print from the Baroque designer paper pad carries the same colors and feminine theme to the inside of the card.  

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Thursday, January 30, 2025

you + me = forever


Hi everyone! Hard to believe that this first month of 2025 is already almost over and February is nearly here! Wasn't it just New Year's?  But hey, if you're a card maker there's just enough time to finish up those Valentines!

A few of my designer paper pads were stacked randomly on my desk and I noticed how dramatic the black, red, white, pink and teal looked together. With these paper pads it was easy to pull together a card that required minimal stamping and practically no coloring.  


I had some card stock scraps laying alongside my trimmer and decided to use one (a leftover piece of pink card stock that measured 3.5 x 11 inches) as a card base.  The overhanging banner die brings the card's full finished measurement to 4.25 x 5.5 inches.

It's hard to see here but the black background from Craft Consortium's Scorched Paper designer paper pad has just the faintest hint of pink in it.  The Valentine papers are all from Echo Park Love Notes and were all die-cut using our fishtail banners die set.  Since one of those little designer prints included hearts dangling clothes-line style, I was inspired to dangle a little heart-shaped button from a piece of baker's twine to the front of my card.  Just needed to stamp a couple of sentiments from our Farmhouse series. Easy peasy!  


The "cross my heart" block on the inside is just another square of designer paper that was practically the perfect size with minimal need for trimming.  I added a little scrap of white underneath so there'd be space for the sentiment and a signature.  I used a Copic marker to make a teeny tiny heart next to the sentiment to tie it in with the tiny hearts on the designer paper.   

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Thursday, January 23, 2025

Happy Day Iris Valentine


Recently I went to Distaff Day in Orlando and (among lots of other things!) bought a four-pack of mini-braids of spinning fiber.  


Spinning friends, they're 4 oz of 100% Blue-Faced Leicester wool being spun with a tiny Jenkins Tulipwood Kuchulu that weighs ~ 9 g.  


Looking again at these colors, I think they absolutely influenced my choice of designer paper for this week's Stamp Simply project!  And not just that but also the "Snowpacalypse" weather maps that we have had here in the Deep South this week!  Similar color palette!  


We ended up not getting any snow, but my brother near Lake Charles, Louisiana did indeed have a blizzard that resulted in 6 inches of "sneaux" and record-breaking cold temperatures.  (As I am writing this, our high temp for the day here in NE Florida is 39 F). So it is hovering just above freezing and our irises are blooming and the azaleas are confused as well!  


So I put together an Iris Valentine using these gorgeous papers with lots of layering and splattering to emphasize these bold colors.  I think they are so gorgeous, both individually and collectively!

You can barely see it, but there is shimmery copper ink stenciled onto the kraft card stock tag using the Tim Holtz Bricked stencil. That shimmer helps bring so much glimmer and glitz to a card IRL but it is hard to capture on screen. 


I got a little carried away with the spattering, especially on the inside, but to me it looks like party confetti and it makes me happy while we've got such dreary grey skies outside!  

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Thursday, January 9, 2025

Sending Love


Hello again everyone!  I'm happy to be cozy and warm in my squishy chair as I write this post because it has been COLD even in Florida! It got down to 33 overnight a few nights ago!  Brrrrr!  I am happily snuggling with my spinning and knitting and a hot cup of coffee, tea or cocoa!  This is definitely the weather for sitting with a warm knitting project in your lap!  


Today's Stamp Simply project features our beautiful Vintage Peony stamp set.   Although this set has coordinating dies, I didn't use them for this project, deciding instead to stamp a simple background with the peonies on plain white card stock.  I colored them with Copic markers and filled in the empty space with faint stenciling and spattering with copper ink for some shimmery sparkle.  


Here is a closer look at the banner sentiment and the coppery stenciling behind it.  


The colors of the peachy-pink peonies are reflected in the choice of designer paper for the card's inside.  And because the Tim Holtz die set I used last week was still within reach I was inspired to stamp a little reminder card/envelope to enclose as well.  


Here is the inside of the card by itself...


...and a close-up of the little envelope and its accompanying note, which measures approximately 3 x 2 inches.  The little bee is from the same Peony stamp set, and the serrated stamp die is included in the Postale die set with the envelope, hand and more.  The sentiment is from a set in our Typewritten series.

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Thursday, December 12, 2024

Cozy Warm Gift Card Wallet!

Hello friends!  I'm back this week with another gift card wallet because they're great to have around just in case!  I used lots of papers, printed elements and dies but for this project there is absolutely no coloring.  I also included a lot of details because I was in the mood to play with stamps, dies and paper, but this easily could be simplified, and the basic structure of the project is super quick and easy.  


The project requires a 4.25 x 11 inch piece of card stock that is scored at 2.5, 3.75, 5, and 8 inches.  I used one of our fishtail banners centered over the 3.75 inch score line to make the slot for the gift card.  In this photo I'd already started decorating the card front to look like a brick fireplace/mantel where "the stockings were hung."  


This is the same view (with the inside facing away) as on the scoring board above, but with the card slot now glued along the folds, and with the rest of the papers and embellishments in place.  

This is what's visible when the left front is opened.  Those are two printed pieces from the Winter Time pad with a stamped sentiment from our Stocking/Mittens set.  

I continued with the same brick and wood grain papers for this first inner flap.

And here's what it looks like with that inner flap opened before the gift card is flipped aside.  (If I'd had one of those Tim Holtz sled die sets, I certainly would have used it here!). 


The trees, cloud, and hillside from our Country Church series are so much fun for constructing little scenes like this.  I used the same dies to embellish the stocking on the card front and then had the idea to create a view from a cabin window with this gorgeous new Scorched Wood designer paper.  (This is what it must look like looking out from the windows of my in-laws' cottage in Upper Michigan, although I've never been there in Winter!  We make it a point NOT to be there when it is so bitterly cold!)

I love that this design would work equally well for either gender. That was the original intent, to end up with a more "generic" gift card presentation that I could keep on hand just in case I've inadvertently forgotten anyone!  I'll replace the fake AmEx card with a coffee card or restaurant gift card.  If it doesn't get gifted this year, I'll have a head start for next Christmas! 

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Thursday, December 5, 2024

Time to be Merry!


Happy December, friends!  Can you believe this year is nearly over!?! Whoosh!  Time seems to speed by even faster the older I get!  I am doing my best to savor every single day of this wondrous season!

I'm here today with a fun project, another alternative to a card and another $ pocket!  This one is made using the largest of the Tim Holtz tags collection.  It's my first time using Craft Consortium's Scorched Wood designer paper and I am already in love!    


I cut one tag from a folded piece of card stock so that the piece opens like a book, then cut a circle window in the front of it.  Then I cut another single layer tag to fit inside the first.  Embellished with designer papers and stamps, then tied together at the top with Christmasy ribbon, the inside tag swings out and reveals a little money pocket that was hidden inside.    


Here's a close-up of the front...the layered die-cut greenery from the Tim Holtz Holiday Greens Mini set work so well with our Seasonal Wreaths bundle!  I cut the greenery from white card stock, colored it with Copic markers, then generously splashed and splattered it with diluted white acrylic paint "snow."  I just love the way it turned out!  

Supplies:
Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Seasonal Wreaths, Fall/Winter Bundle
Sizzix Thinlits Dies by Tim Holtz - Tag Collection
Spellbinders Nestabilities - Standard Circles SM
Spellbinders Nestabilities - Standard Circles LG
Craft Consortium Tartan Plaid 6x6
Craft Consortium Scorched Wood 6x6
Sizzix Thinlits Dies by Tim Holtz - Holiday Greens Mini
Memento ink
May Arts 3/8" Striped - 50 yard Spool - Red/Green
red distress oxide ink
Copic markers
white acrylic paint "snow"
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Thursday, November 21, 2024

Tri-fold Pocket Card


Hi everyone!  

In the last week two of my spinning friends (one in Utah, the other in the Netherlands) posted photos of their cold and snowy-white back porches, and that's what inspired today's card.    

Often when we exchange Christmas gifts we include cash or a gift card...it's a preference for some, and easier for travelers than having to transport a gift back home.  So each year when I'm making cards, I always make some sort of gift card wallet to make the presentation more special.  


This one is a tri-fold made from a 5.5 x 11 inch piece of card stock, scored at 4 1/4 and 8 1/2 inches.  I used Spellbinders classic circle dies to cut a window into the card front.  That's a sheet from Craft Consortium Brick Textures there in the background.  The images I used are from a couple of stamp sets from our Christmas collections.    


The right half of "positive" piece from the card front is attached to the flap so that it is visible from the outside.  I stamped the deer directly onto a piece of designer paper from Test of Time.  The stamped images and sentiments were under-stamped with distress inks and then over-stamped with Delicata Silvery Shimmer, so IRL this card is quite shimmery, sparkly and elegant!  I under-stamped the tree with Iced Spruce to give only the very palest hint of green. The deer was under stamped with Hickory Smoke distress oxide ink topped with the Delicata.


I love how the various Craft Consortium papers work so well together.  With the right side of the card opened, the cash/gift card pocket is visible.  It was made from the remaining piece of card stock, accented with designer paper, with a thumb hole cut out using small circle dies.  (Just be sure to only glue it down on three sides!).  The Tim Holtz die cut greenery helps bring the tree theme from the card front to the inside.

The center and innermost section of the card is a sheet of "damask" from Craft Consortium Baroque with one sentiment stamped directly onto the paper and another that is die-cut.  


Both sentiments peek through the window when the card is left partially open for display.

The images on this shimmery but clean-and-simple card would work for either a masculine or feminine recipient.  Without the pearl it could be mailed without requiring hand cancellation although it will likely require extra postage, and sending cash through the mail is considered risky business!  

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Thursday, November 14, 2024

Silent Night "Dutch Door" Card

Hi y'all!  It has been a really busy week here, with chorale dress rehearsal and then two concerts over the weekend.  Between all of that I have been working on Christmas spinning and knitting.  I've finished Mila's hat and have about half of James' done too.  Looks like I'm gonna need to spin a little more green yarn before I can knit his green and white stripes.  I'm really getting impatient to get them finished, and when they're done I'll mail them so that they can open them early and get some good wear from them this winter.  

I had seen variations of these (what I'll call a sort of Dutch Door card) on Pinterest, and since then the idea for this card has been kinda simmering in the background.   I had made a vertical half-front card about a month ago, so it was only logical to make a horizontal one too.  I just had to find the right stamps and dies, and I think these are perfect for it!      

I used the trees die from our Country Church stamp/die set to die cut the trees from the card front, and used scissors to snip the rest of the card front away.  Diluted white acrylic paint scraped along the edges of the card stock and tree branches give the illusion of accumulated snow.  

The star was stamped with Memento ink, colored with Copic markers, given glittering accents with a clear Wink of Stella glitter marker and a sparkling jewel center.  


The starry night background is a combination of translucent distress inks in a variety of colors including pale green, light blue, dark blue and black.  The sentiments were stamped with silver Delicata ink.  

Finally everything was given a liberal "snowing" of diluted white acrylic paint and silver ink.  I love how soft and fluffy some of those snow flakes turned out to be!  

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Thursday, November 7, 2024

A Christmas Cardinal


Hello friends!

On Mondays I facilitate a ukulele group at Shepherd Center and this week, in the adjacent classroom the flower arranging class had beautiful red faux cardinals to include in their floral arrangements. They were SO pretty.  When I sat at my desk to create this week's project, they inspired me!  

I love the symbolism of the cardinal.  They're often associated with messages of love and hope, of remembrance of a loved one who has passed on, or the presence of angels.  Some say that the red signifies the blood of Christ and that cardinals are a sign of divine intervention.      


I combined our Vintage Christmas background stamp with one of our older sets, God Will Take Care of You, to create this project.  The background stamp and the branch were stamped onto some pale grey card stock, colored with Copic markers, die-cut, distressed and heavily inked with tea dye distress ink.


For the inside I stamped the bird and branch directly onto a piece of designer paper that had enough of a design to be interesting when viewed through the card front but was not so busy that it would detract from the stamping.  Here I added just a hint of black to the stamped image because I wanted the cardinals markings to be black rather than grey or brown.  Once again, the edges of the paper were inked and distressed, and the entire card front and back was generously splashed with diluted acrylic paint "snow."  (In all the years that we have lived in Florida it has only snowed once or twice, so here we are, "living vicariously!"  I'm not good at cold, so I'm ok with an only occasional experience of the real thing.)

There are other snowflakes in the store that one could use, but this little snowflake is a tiny little surprise that is not visible when the card is closed.  I added a bright red pearl to its center, but if you're mailing this card you could leave that off if you'd rather.  I kept the embellishments for this one really simple but if the recipient were a girlie girl, it could certainly be blinged and bowed up, especially if it could be hand-delivered!  

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