Freshly Made Anniversary with Evergreen

It's Sunday, and I really should be posting my Sunday Stamps card but I really wanted to participate in the Freshly Made Sketches Anniversary Challenge so I'm mixing things up this week. I also wanted to show off my fave new Christmas stamp set! I just got the Evergreen stamp set last week, love the UPS Brown Truck. ;) It is soooo pretty! I love the words to Silent Night on one of the stamps ~ so pretty! And doesn't Silent Night represent so well what Christmas is all about :)

For this One Year Anniversary Challenge, we could select the sketch we liked best. I kind of did it backwards though, I looked for a sketch I loved that would work with my Evergreen tree. The sketch from Week #40 worked perfectly. I changed it up a bit (because you know, that's what I do ;) ) but it's pretty close.


Tips & Tricks:

*Instead of using a different card stock color or a DSP on the bottom layer, I embossed my Pool Party card stock with the Delicate Designs Embossing Folder. It can look lacy, but works pretty well as snowflakes, too!
*I didn't really want to put my tree in an oval, so I stuck with my trusty rectangle :)
*Did you know SU! was the first stamp company to do 'two-step stamping'? I love this simple technique! I first stamped the solid tree in Pool Party and then the words to Silent Night in Basic Grey. This stamp set is very easy to line up, no need for a 'perfect fit'.
*Aren't Basic Grey and Pool Party lovely colors for a Christmas card? Cool, but I think they work great with the tree!

I especially enjoyed creating this card because we will be making it at my monthly Crazy 4 Christmas Card in October! I can't wait to stamp some Christmas cards with some wonderful ladies soon! I still have a few spots, so be sure to sign up soon.

'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Evergreen
Card Stock: Whisper White, Pool Party, Basic Gray
Ink: Pool Party, Basic Gray
Accessories: 1/4" Basic Grey Ribbon, Adhesive Jewels - Rhinestones, Big Shot, Delicate Designs Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals

Blast Off Birthday

I finally got my hands on the new Blast Off stamp set in the SU! cattie. I absolutely love this set, it's perfect for boys and even girls who love anything to do with space. The two-step stampin' possibilities as well as the coordination with punches is simply fantastic too. I did get this stamp set in wood because I anticipated that the kids will want to use it ~ I was right. I always get stamps for the kids in wood because it's much more user-friendly for wee hands and I don't have to worry about them putting stamps on clear blocks and losing them.

A good friend's son turned 9 yesterday and I really wanted to use this set. I worried that it may be a bit 'young' for him, but he seemed to like the card just fine ;) I was going to use the #9 from Memorable Moments for inside the space ship. but settled on the alien instead. I used this week's Try Stampin' on a Tuesday sketch but I have to admit that I did find this sketch a bit challenging. It was definitely outside my box. ;)

Tips & Tricks:

*I wanted the alien inside my space ship so I stamped him on the Whisper White card stock and stamped the space ship on a separate piece of card stock. Cutting the space ship out was really easy and I punched out the window with the 1-inch Circle Punch. I mounted the whole thing on Stampin' Dimensionals.
*The Polka Dot Parade DSP is perfect for fun, kids cards. The colors are bright and what kid doesn't love polka dots?
*Although the sketch doesn't have the ribbon on it, when I put my card together something was missing. So I wrapped some Daffodil Delight 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon and suddenly it came together!
*I added the Basic Jewels - Rhinestones to the space ship to give it a bit of a metallic feel.

I'm glad my friend's son liked this card - I still can't believe he's 9! 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Blast Off
Paper: Basic Grey, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Polka Dot Parade DSP
Ink: Basic Grey, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Modern Label Punch, 1-inch Circle Punch, Paper Snips, Stampin' Dimensionals, Basic Jewels - Rhinestones, 1/4-inch Circle Punch, Daffodil Delight 1/4" Stitched Ribbon

Sunny Colors at Sunday Stamps!

I should've posted this yesterday so that it hit your inboxes this morning - on Sunday! But I compeletely forgot... I am posting now though, and it's still Sunday, so I guess that's not too bad :p This week at Sunday Stamps we had a fun, sunny color challenge: Daffodil Delight, Old Olive and Basic Black. To make this card even more sunny and summery, I used the new Summer Silhouettes stamp set.

I love all different images in this stamp set - so many options. I chose the little dandelions so that I could do some two-step stampin' :)

Tips & Tricks:

*I used black ink for the dandelion 'puffs' but I did second generation stamping so the puffs came in greyish.
*One of the new embossing folders in the Delicate Designs set (there's two) has this cute doily edge border. I trimmed around the round edges to give it a scalloped look.
*I really love the Loving Thoughts stamp set that was carried over from the 2012 Occasions Mini. It has greetings just a bit different than the usual like 'Create', 'Dream', and 'Memories' that are great for a large variety of cards as well as scrapbooking.
*Don't have Old Olive twine? Use a thin 'thread' of card stock instead :)
*Love this card? Come make it at my Fast & Fabulous Card Class this Wednesday from 7:30 - 9. We'll be making 6 cards, 3 each of 2 designs with all new stamp sets! It's a great class for beginners as well as more experienced stampers :)

I hope you enjoyed this Sunday Stamps card. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Two-Tone Wonderful

I'm really loving the challenge that the Dynamic Duos Challenge presents. I tend to use lots and lots of bright colors, and I definitely have my favorite combinations. So this type of challenge that has me use colors out of my comfort zone are great for getting my creative juices flowing :)

I combined this challenge with the Pals Paper Arts Challenge ~ a love sketch by Margaret Moody. With only two colors to play with (other than neutrals) - Daffodil Delight and Basic Black - I had a bit of a tough time coming up with all the layers. The 'Sweet Dessert Option' that the Dynamic Duos offered us was dry embossing. So that was my solution :) I use one of my Edgelit Embossing Folders to emboss the #3 layer.

Tips & Tricks:

*I absolutely love the Seam Binding Ribbon for this ribbon shirring (folding of the ribbon in waves). It fold so easily and stays folded. Use some Sticky Strip to make sure it stays stuck on the card.
*Isn't Gently Falling a lovely stamp set? Well, good news!!! It has made it into the 2012-2013 Catalogue :)
*Although two-step stampin' can sometimes be a bit frustrating if you want your images lined up perfectly, Gently Falling makes it easy. Even if the outline stamp isn't perfectly lined up with the solid stamp, your image will still look great!

*Doesn't the dry embossing look great? Love had it adds that bit of texture to my card.
*I know the 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon isn't part of the sketch, but the leaf needed just a wee extra detail. I really like how the narrow ribbon adds a very subtle extra touch.

I really like how this card turned out, even though I've never used this color combination before. But I do know I will use this combo again :) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!