Christmas in July Week - Day Three: Season of Style 3x3 Card Set

Lately, kind of out of nowhere, I've been really into making tags. Maybe because I've needed to wrap a lot of presents lately, and I'm finding that the easiest way to make cute, crafty packages is to attach a handmade tag to a simple box with a big bow. :-D

A 3x3 card is a very close cousin of the tag. I love making them because they're quick, easy, and fun to put together. And I love using them because they effortlessly dress up the simplest package!

For today's project, I decided to make a small set of 3x3 cards. These came together SO easily! When I'm making a set like this, I like to gather my supplies and just spread them all out on my desk. Then I can just grab items almost at random and put them together. It's so simple and when you pre-coordinate your supplies, everything is guaranteed to look great together! I pulled all my label type Framelits and punches and matched them with the sentiments that I wanted to use.

I took my color scheme from the Season of Style DSP collection (#132340): Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Baked Brown Sugar, Crumb Cake, and Whisper White. I also added in some Champagne Glimmer Paper - apparently I just can't get enough of this stuff with the Cherry Cobbler-Old Olive combo! :) The sentiments are all from the Christmas Messages stamp set (#131790 wood/#131793 clear). This set has some awesome sentiments - They can totally stand alone, but they're also matched in pairs - the "inside and outside" sentiments that are so popular lately. Check it out...

Isn't that fun? Here's some close-up images of the other cards, with their coordinating "inside" sentiments.

For the last card I also used some of the Season of Style Washi Tape (#132155). I'm so happy that Stampin' Up! is continuing to make washi tape. And this set not only coordinates beautifully with the Season of Style DSP, but it matches all the awesome scrapbooking items in the Holiday Catalog. Yes! You read that right - scrapbooking! Those of you who were disappointed to see that there were no albums, page protectors, etc. in the new Annual Catalog will be thrilled to see what the Holiday Catalog has to offer. But more on that later... :)

Thanks for stopping by today. And remember, tomorrow is release day for the Holiday Catalog! Get your pencil ready to make your wish list!

Happy Stampin'! :)

Christmas in July Week - Day Two: Watercolor Poinsettia Card

Hey there! Welcome to Day Two! Are you in the Christmas spirit yet? :) Today's card is pretty unique, if I may say so myself. The basic idea of this card was inspired by a presentation that Krista Frattin did at Convention. She created a simple photo card that she tucked inside one of the Chevron Bags from the Tag a Bag Kit that she had decorated. Check out my interpretation of that concept...

I chose to actually cut the chevron bag in half and use it as a sleeve. The idea behind this card is that it wouldn't be something you mass-produce to send to everyone on your holiday card list. This would be for someone special, maybe someone you wanted to write a longer message to. You could also adhere a photo to the card before tucking it in the sleeve.

The card itself is just a simple 5x7" flat Old Olive card layered with a slightly smaller piece of Very Vanilla. The greeting, stamped in Early Espresso, is from the same set as the poinsettia image. It's called Joyful Christmas (#131802 wood/#131805 clear).

The sleeve for the card is really pretty simple. I just took one chevron bag, cut off the top and bottom (the remaining piece was about 7" wide), and then cut it in half. The embellishment is layered with a Tea Lace Doily, the poinsettia image from Joyful Christmas, linen thread, and that gorgeous glitter word die cut.

Oh yeah, that die cut? About that... By far my favorite item in the Holiday Catalog! :) New dies - called Thinlits. They're similar to Framelits, and they work in the same way. This set - first of many I hope! - is called the Expressions Thinlits (#132171) and includes the words Thankful, Merry, and Love. I die cut the word Merry from some Champagne Glimmer Paper. The poinsettia image is watercolored with Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive inks and the Aqua Painter.

Well, thanks for stopping by today. I hope you'll be back tomorrow for Day Three. I'm planning a cute little set of gift enclosure cards using a super cute holiday sentiment set. Until then...

Happy Stampin'! :)

Christmas in July Week - Day One: Colorful Christmas Card Set

Hello and Welcome to my annual Christmas in July week! Better late than never, I hope! :) Technically, I kicked off the celebration early yesterday with a bonus embossing folder card, but I'm back today to officially start the Christmas festivities.

I wanted to start off this week of projects with something really quick, simple, and super fun. I made a set of two of these little note cards, but you could easily make more. To make these cards so quick and simple, I used the Tag a Bag Kit from the Annual Catalog to create the adorable layered tags. You get enough supplies in the kit for 10 tags like these. I added some Silver Glimmer Paper (not included in the kit) between the small and large tags, but you could just as easily use the Smoky Slate banner stickers that come in the kit. The colors are Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Gumball Green, Smoky Slate, Tangerine Tango, which is what I used to color the images - except I used Pool Party instead of Bermuda Bay because I wanted to have a Pool Party panel for the background of the card. The stamp set is called Color Me Christmas (#131742 wood/#131745 clear) and it has these two images, plus a Christmas tree, Santa, and a reindeer. 

What I love about these cards - which measure 3.5x5 inches by the way (you could use the Note Cards and Envelopes - 20 cards and 20 envelopes for only $5.95!) - is that they're so family friendly. These would be great cards for teachers, church youth group leaders, babysitters... especially if you get your kids involved in making them! Little ones can help choose which tags to match together, and bigger kids can work the Big Shot to emboss the backgrounds, or color the images. The color scheme of the tag kit is bright and fun, and the images are quirky and cartoony, so the coloring doesn't have to be perfect.

Don't forget - all the Holiday Catalog items I'll be using this week will be available on Thursday, August 1st when the Holiday Catalog goes live. Hope you enjoyed this project. See you tomorrow! 

Happy Stampin'! :)

Embossing Folder Love!

Hey there! So... no Start-to-Finish Sunday video today. (Sorry!) Why, you ask? Well, because I'm kicking off my annual Christmas in July week a day early! Today is my Intro post over on Catherine and Cathy Create, and I decided to share one of my favorite things: Textured Impressions Embossing Folders from Stampin' Up! And I wanted to create a bonus card featuring an embossing folder and some of the new Holiday Catalog goodies that you'll be able to shop for on August 1st! So check it out...

I used one of my favorite embossing folder techniques on this card. It's so easy and just takes a few extra seconds. You just ink the folder itself either with a brayer, or by swiping the ink pad directly across the folder, carefully place your cardstock inside, and run it through your Big Shot just like normal. (Check out my video tutorial on this technique.) For this card I used the Beautifully Baroque embossing folder.

Here's a close-up of the results of this technique. Isn't that pretty? And it's even more stunning in person. I love it with this tone-on-tone effect (this is Baked Brown Sugar cardstock and ink), or you can mix and match colors for a totally different look.

And here's where that sneak peek comes in! :) Three things here that you'll be able to shop for on August 1st - that's this Thursday! You can see here two stamp sets, Wonderful Wreath (#132748 wood only) and Christmas Messages (#131790 wood/#131793 clear), and one of the DSP collections, Season of Style. So pretty!

And this is the card I shared on Catherine and Cathy Create. I just love how a little bit of embossing can instantly elevate a simple card! If you've already been over to Catherine and Cathy Create, you may be here because I promised a supply list for this card. So, without further ado, here it is! Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you'll be back tomorrow through Friday for 5 wonderful Christmas in July projects! :)



Eat the Cake Birthday Card Supplies

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Convention 2013: My Card Swaps

Well, I'm back from the Stampin' Up! Annual Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah! I've been back since early Monday morning and I'm starting to settle back into regular life. And by "settling," I mean jumping back in with both feet because it is crazy busy around here this time of year!

So I'm planning on doing a short series of posts on my Convention experience. I'll do a post or two on the event itself in the next day or two, but I wanted to start today by showing you the cards I made for swaps. Swapping is such a fun part of any Stampin' Up! event. It's a great way to share inspiration and new ideas. Some people make hundreds and hundreds! I was shooting for 60, and I think I came pretty close. :) So check 'em out... Here are my four different swap cards.

I made this great confetti card with a clean pencil eraser tapped on each ink pad! 

This card features a brand new awesome die set that will be available in the Holiday Catalog starting on August 1st!

Be on the lookout for more posts about the amazing time I had at Convention... Coming soon! PLUS, starting Monday the 29th - I know I'm getting a late start, but Christmas in July is coming! :) Check back daily for 5 Christmas projects, one a day Monday through Friday. Then I'll have a bonus Christmas themed Start-to-Finish Sunday video to celebrate the release of the Stampin' Up! 2013 Holiday Catalog on Thursday, August 1st! I'm still designing the projects (I work better under pressure. Hee hee!) so if you have any requests, be sure to let me know! :)

Start-to-Finish Sunday #34 - Convention Swap!

As I type this, it's just past 10:30 on Tuesday night. As you're reading this, I'm on my way home from the 2013 Stampin' Up! Annual Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah! So I thought it would be fitting to share one of the swap cards I made for Convention for this week's Start-to-Finish Sunday :)

So, this card is pretty simple. I used the Cycle Celebration stamp set and I Am Me designer paper - they're such a great combination! Also, the amazing and super unique tag die is from the Chalk Talk Framelits - LOVE it! :) You can check out the video below, or over on my YouTube channel. Hope you enjoy!

I promise I will post a supply list for this card just as soon as I have the time. I can't wait to share with you all about Convention! :-D

Start-to-Finish Sunday #33 - Hexagon Happy Birthday Card

I think I should just start calling this series Start-to-Finish Someday, because I never get it all finished on Sunday! LOL :)

For this week's card, I wanted to use the Six Sided Sampler stamp set. Hexagons are so trendy right now, and I adore them! The design and colors were inspired by a card that Kristina Werner (my idol!) shared on her blog recently. This card is super easy - just some stamping and a few embellishments - and super easy to mail. It could easily be converted to a one-layer card, too.

Check out the video below, or over on my YouTube channel. Hope you enjoy it!

And here's another version of this card that I made in another color combination - Soft Sky, Crushed Curry, and Smoky Slate.

(Sorry for the weird angle. It was the only way I could get good light!)

This card is for Convention, but it's not for swaps - It's for something super exciting! Stampin' Up! will be trying to break the world record for the most handmade cards sent simultaneously from one location. The Guinness Book of Records will be on site and everything!

On that same note - If you don't already follow me on facebook, you're going to want to because I'll be posting live updates and photos from Convention all Thursday, Friday, and Saturday! So go find me on facebook, and follow along! :)

Happy Stampin'! :)
 



Hexagon Birthday Card Supplies
 

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CCC #3: Buttons and Bows

Today is my first post with Catherine and Cathy Create! So if you're new to my blog for that reason, welcome! I'm so excited to be sharing my take on some super awesome challenges! Today is CCC Challenge #3: Buttons and Bows. The Card Team was challenged to create a card featuring ribbon and at least one button. Here's my card...

I wanted to make a card that shows that ribbon doesn't have to be frilly and fancy. My cards have tended more towards the clean and simple end of the spectrum lately, and to be honest, I don't reach for ribbon too much in my everyday cardmaking. But for this card, I chose a graphic ribbon and I used it as an element on a graphic card. Using ribbon in this way is a quick addition to a card and really makes it pop!

I hope you can see in the photo too that I added some score lines to frame out the white panel at the top of the card. Any sort of dry embossing - be it with an embossing folder or just creating lines or patterns with your Simply Scored board is a great way to add interest and texture to CAS cards.

Thanks for visiting my blog today! If this is your first visit, I hope you will enjoy looking around. If you're a regular reader (Hi! You rock!), I hope you'll head over to Catherine and Cathy Create to check out the other Design Team cards.

Happy Stampin'! :)



3 Cheers Card Supplies

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