Merry Christmas!

Just a quick post tonight to share my 2010 Christmas card.

This year, I was inspired to make a bi-fold card and I have to admit that the Martha Stewart Scoring Board made the job so much easier.

Here's another view of the card:

To make the trees, I first stamped the image on the cardstock. I then stamped the top of the tree three more times on patterned paper. After cutting out each tree top, I scored each triangle and folded it in half. Then I glued the bottom of the right side of one triangle to the bottom of the left side of another. I repeated this and then glued the resulting 3-D triangle down to the card.

For the ribbon treatment, I used EK Success' Vertical Slot Punch to cut a small slit in the fold of the card before feeding the ribbon through.

Merry Christmas!

P.S. Watch my blog next week for a surprise guest poster!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink;

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Jovial);

Stamps: Hero Arts ( Merriest Christmas Trees);

Ink: Ranger (Coffee);

Ribbon: Papertrey Ink (Pure Poppy);

Tools: Martha Stewart Scoring Board; EK Success Vertical Slot punch; Spellbinders Nestabilities (Large Classic Scallop Rectangles); Fiskars Punch (Apron Lace).

Cheers!

If you are anything like me, you bring a bottle of wine with you when visiting friends and family during the holidays. And, if you're like me, you forget to ask the liquor store for a cello bag and red woolie to wrap your hostess gift. I can't even begin to count how many times I've had my coat on ready to leave the house and have been scrambling for a bow to put on the wine bottle. So, this year I decided to make gift tags especially designed for a bottle. Here it is:

I cut the main tag using Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4 and then cut the hole for the neck of the bottle using the circle Nestabilities. The collar was then cut using a die from the circle and scallop circle sets. The rest is Hero Arts stamps, Tim Holtz distress inks and LOTS and LOTS of Perfect Pearls mixed in water to give it a beautiful shine!

I do have one helpful tip to share with you. Score the tag before you start spraying with Perfect Pearls otherwise your paper might be damp and you won't get a crisp score line.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink;

Stamps: Hero Arts (Merriest Wishes; Outline Bold Flourish);

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Fired Brick; Antique Linen; Vintage Photo); Ranger Black;

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (Label 4; Classic Circle: Classic Scallop Circle);

No Tricks Here!

October has been an incredibly busy month so sadly, there was no Halloween crafting this year. In lieu of a Halloween card or layout, I have a three birthday cards to share. All were made with scraps of paper from the Imaginisce B-Day Bash collection plus Imaginisce Snag 'Em stamps. Here's a look at all of the cards:

I bought three 12x12 patterned papers from this line and in addition to making these cards, I also created a layout. I have used up just about every inch of paper. I have a few tiny scraps that I can probably use to make another card but other than that, it's all gone. I don't know if that's a good thing since I don't have to find room for it in my stash or a bad thing since I really love this paper. LOL!



The first card was inspired by Kristina Werner's card which you can see here: http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/?p=3865. Here's my take on Kristina's card:

I used Versa Mark ink to stamp my card stock with a Hero Arts background stamp and then used embossing powder. I punched all of the circles from leftover scraps of paper and adhered them to the card front. This is a great way to use up small scraps of paper. The orange stripe at the bottom of the card is a scrap that I had left over from CKC Make and Take. I embossed my sentiment and added bling to the candles for a little sparkle. Since this is a one-layer card, I cut a little slit in the fold of the card and threaded my ribbon through it. This is another tip that I have picked up form Kristina Werner!

Notice the blue circle with to the upper right of the sentiment. That was originally puched from a solid portion of the paper. I added the present using a Snag Em stamp and Versa Mark ink.


Now on to the second card:

For this card, I stamped my image twice -- once on white card stock and once on the blue pattered paper so that I could paper piece the package. I added the white faux stitching on the brown circle to ground the image and popped it on foam dimensionals for added impact. I also added brown faux stitching to the outside edge of the card to mimic the faux stitched circles in the patterned paper.


Finally, for my last card, I used a stamp set from Sassafras Lass. When I bought this set of arrow stamps, I knew that I wanted to stamp the entire set as one stamp to create a background so without taking any of the stamps off of the packaging sheet, I inked them up with brown ink and laid my paper on top of it. After pressing down for even coverage, I had an arrow background paper. I added the dots with a Hero Arts stamp and some Versa Mark ink for some added interest. This card was for my nephew's 30th birthday. I really wanted to say something "punny" but when that failed, I popped an arrow on foam dimensions and added a sentiment to the inside. Anyway, here's the card:

Well I hope I have made up for my lack of blogging by sharing three cards today. Stay tuned this week for the B-Day Bash layout featuring a very young Mark!


Supplies:
Cardstock: American Crafts (brown, white); Stampin' UP! (kraft);
Patterned Paper: Imaginisce (B-Day Bash);
Stamps: Imaginisce (B-Day Bash); Hero Arts (Raindrop Background); Sassafras Lass (This Way Arrows);
Ink: Versa Mark; Ranger (Coffee)
Embossing Powder: Stamp N Sstuff (Detail Clear); American Crafts Zing! (white);
Pens: Signo Gel (white): Stampin' Up! (Chocolate Chip);
Ribbon: Michael's (brown); American Crafts (gold);
Embellishments: Recollections rhinestones and pearls

Papertrey Ink October Blog Hop

This month's Papertrey Ink Blog Hop is dedicated to creating a card to celebrate a winter holiday other than Christmas. Since I don't have any PTI winter themed sets nor do I have the Mazel Tov set, this was a challenge for me. However, after giving it some thought, I realized that I could create a Hanukkah cards by using one of the elements in the Vintage Labels Set. Here's my card:

To create the Star of David, I simply took the scroll with the straight line and stamped it to create two overlapping triangles. I love how the scrolled images came together in the middle to create a kaleidoscope effect. I added gems to the star where the lines intersected.

I created the blue mat using the Fleur De Lis Nestabilities. The first time I ran the paper through my Cuttlebug, the mat got stuck in the die and ripped when I removed it. To remedy the situation, I put waxed paper between the die and the paper before running it through my Cuttlebug. The paper came out of the die easily and the waxed paper pealed right off!

If you want to see more projects created for the Blog Hop, head over to http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2010/10/october-2010-blog-hop.html

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink;

Patterned Paper : Basic Grey (Granola)

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Vintage Labels)

Ink: Stampin' Up! (Night of Navy)

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities ( Labels One; Fleur De Lis); Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (Swis Dots); EK Success Punch (corner rounder);

Bling: Recollections

Happiness Is Dance

Recently Two Peas in a Bucket celebrated Pea1's birthday with a challenge to create a layout inspired by one in Kristina's gallery. Here's Kristina's layout:

And here's mine:

I loved how Kristina built her page with strips of patterned paper that stretched two thirds of the way across the page. I tried to duplicate her layout in a 12x12 format with the beautiful papers and stickers from Pink Paislee's Bayberry collection.

I don't know why "c" in dance looks like it has a different pattern but here's a close-up to prove that the letters are all the same!

In addition to the chipboard letters, I layered tags for the title. Then I used a K & Company rub-on to ground it.

I used Jenni Bowlin butterflies and some bling to create a sense of movement along the page.

Supplies:

Card Stock: American Crafts
Patterned Paper, Clear Sticker. and Die Cut Tags: Pink Paislee (Bayberry Cottage)Wood Alphas: Pink Paislee (Blackberry)
Rub-On: K & Company
Embelishments: Prima rhinestones, Jenni Bowlin butterflies
Punch: Martha Stewart (Double Loops)
Pen: Signo Gel (white)

6 Things

School starts in less than one week, so I thought I would post a layout I recently created using Melissa's 6th grade school picture. When Melissa started middle school last year, her teacher had each student create a flower using six prompts. Each petal of the flower answered a question. I loved that the answers to these questions encapsulated who she was at that moment in time so I thought I would create a layout based on these six facts about Melissa. Here it is:

Journaling reads: In the future, i would like to ... be a teacher. My favorite possession is ... my iPod. In my spare time, I like to ... dance. I worry about ... dying. My favorite place is ... the beach. My pet peeve is ... when people are sick. I have to admit that I laughed out loud when I read that last little tidbit of information about my daughter.

For this layout, I dug through my stash and used papers from Basic Greys' Lily Kate collection which I've had for over a year. I created lots of texture by fussy cutting and popping some of the flowers as well as adding silver gems to the patterned paper designs. I used my new Martha Stewart Modern Garland punch to create even more texture. I love how the tone-on-tone punching looks.

I used my Cricut to create the title. Because I wanted the title to have the dimension of chipboard, I cut out two sets of letters and stacked them before adhering them to the layout. I popped the "6" on foam dimensionals and outlined it with faux stitching for added emphasis. I carried this faux stitching around the purple block to anchor it to the page. Using a flower from the patterned paper to dot the "i" adds a little touch of whimsy.

Supplies

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Lily Kate)

Embellishments: Cosmo Cricket ribbon (Fleuriste); Prima Glazed Brad (Sasha); Recollections Metal stickers

Tools: Cricut cartridge (Calligraphy); Martha Steward Punch (Modern Garland)

Pen: Signo White Gel Pen

Turning the Calendar Page

August has come and gone without one single blog post from me. What can I say? August was a crazy month. In addition to vacation, getting Mark ready for camp and back-to-school shopping, the month started off with great sadness. My father-in-law passed away on August 3rd after a long illness. Although we were preparing ourselves for the worse, I've learned that you are never quite prepared when the time comes. There is great comfort in knowing that he is no longer suffering and is at peace. I'm looking forward to scrapping a page about him real soon.