CCC#053: December Cards Challenge - Walking in a Winter Wonderland

CCC#053

December 2014 Cards Challenge

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

This month's card challenge marks my last challenge with Catherine and Cathy Create. We've had a great time bringing you fun projects and challenges to spark your creativity, but unfortunately, Catherine and Cathy - and all of us Design Team members, to be honest - have just gotten too busy with life to keep up! So sadly, the challenges will end with next week's December tags challenge. But we hope you'll continue to follow our individual blogs, as we'll all still be creating and sharing!

So this month's card challenge is all about winter... Snowflakes, snowmen, sledding - whatever makes you think of winter. So check out my fun and frosty (and super easy to duplicate!) card.

Red and aqua is one of my favorite color combinations of all time - especially for Christmas cards. And how fun do they look on this adorable snowflake stamp from the Seasonally Scattered stamp set?! I used a super fun and very easy technique called thumping to get the 2-color stamped image, and if you scroll all the way to the bottom of this post, you'll find a video tutorial on this technique.

Then I just finished off the card with some simple layering, some twine and an adorable metal snowflake embellishment, and of course, some sparkle with glimmer paper. :) Easy and totally do-able if you want to make a whole bunch!

So I hope you'll take the time to stop by Catherine and Cathy Create and check out the other winter-themed cards. Thanks for stopping by today! Oh, and if you're interested in learning about the thumping technique for inking stamps, make sure you watch my quick video below.

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#052: December Monthly Challenge - Home for Christmas

CCC#052: December 2014 Monthly Challenge

Home for Christmas

December already! Does anyone know where 2014 has gone?? I'm having a hard time even entertaining the idea of Christmas, let alone actually preparing for it! :) But working on handmade Christmas projects sure does help get me in the holiday spirit!

The group challenge for December is to make a Christmas home decor item. I don't typically do a lot of non-card projects, and this one was a little open-ended for me. I have to admit, pretty much all of the credit for this idea goes to my dad. :) We were sitting around talking on Thanksgiving, and I mentioned I had to do this challenge project. So he started looking around the house and making suggestions. He makes these hand-carved wooden hearts that hang on the wall that we put lavender in, and suggested I make something similar out of paper. So that's what I did! 

This project was a little time-consuming, but very easy. I cut two of the largest die from the Hearts Framelits out of the brand new, totally awesome, heavier weight, kraft based Under the Tree DSP. I wanted to sew the two hearts together to make the pocket, but I don't currently have a functioning sewing machine, so I decided to do it by hand. That was the time-consuming part, but I just put on some of my favorite Christmas tunes and enjoyed the process. :) Plus, I think it really adds to the rustic look of the project.

To decorate the heart, I used a few of the elements from the Many Merry Stars kit. There are so many pieces in the kit that I'm not even going to notice a few of them missing when I go to put the stars together!

The sentiment is from the Many Merry Stars photopolymer stamp set. I stamped it in Real Red ink to match the Real Red satin woven ribbon. I also added a punched Real Red cardstock star and a little baker's twine bow (those didn't come from the kit).

I hung it from one of the knobs on my kitchen cabinets, and I think it looks adorable as-is or with a few sprigs of holly tucked inside. It would also be great to give to someone with a small gift (cash or jewelry would fit great - wink wink!) tucked inside.

I hope you enjoyed this project, and I encourage you to hop on over to Catherine and Cathy Create check out all the great inspiration for decorating your home this holiday season. If you're inspired to make a project of your own, make sure you link it up to the group post, because you could win a prize!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#050: November 2014 Cards Challenge - Delighted with DSP!

CCC#050: November 2014 Cards Challenge

Delighted with DSP!

The Cards Challenge for this month is a fun one: Use your favorite DSP! :) But before I share my card, I have a confession. I am a DSP hoarder! I can't resist buying it, I love flipping through the packages, I love being inspired by its color combinations... but I so rarely use it! ;) So I decided share a simple card to show that, when it comes to DSP, a little bit can go a long way and you can use it very effectively as small accents.

I chose the Flashback DSP collection as the inspiration for my birthday card, and I pulled colors from the paper for the rest of the elements. The focal image was created with the Four Feathers bundle (stamp set and Framelits). And the sentiment is from my favorite sentiment set - Four You. Easy peasy! :)

Make sure you head on over to Catherine & Cathy Create to check out the other DSP challenge cards. If you feel inspired to make your own, make sure you link it up, because you could win a prize!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#049: November Challenge - Thankful for Fall

CCC#049

November 2014 Monthly Challenge

Thankful for Fall

This month's challenge from Catherine and Cathy Create is all about autumn! Leaves, sweaters, pumpkin spice, boots, Thanksgiving... whatever inspires you about fall, we want to see it! :)

I have a crazy-simple project for you this month, but I totally love it. I gotta say (and I know I say this every month but...) this last month really got away from me! And I'm so bummed, because October is my favorite month of the entire year and I feel like I missed it! I have been so busy lately, and I know I'm not the only one, and I know it's just going to get worse with the holidays approaching so quickly. I usually feel like I have to pull out all the stops on any projects I share here on the old blog-o, like I really have to turn up the "wow factor." But today I'm proud to be sharing literally a 10-minute project, because I know it's something we can all use around this time of year! :)

I decided to dress up one of Stampin' Up!'s great new Kraft Grid Journals. This could be a great little gratitude journal, or just a cute notebook with a great message to just throw in your purse to use for everyday lists and notes! And because I only used two stamp sets, it literally takes no time at all! :) I used one of my favorite sets from the Holiday Catalog for most of the stamping, so really, you only need one stamp set to make an adorable little journal. The set is called For All Things. I also used Gorgeous Grunge to add a little extra interest to the background.

One thing to keep in mind when stamping on these kraft journals... They seem to be more absorbent than regular cardstock. So don't press your stamps too hard, and expect that the images will lose a little of their definition. The stamp set I chose for my project - For All Things - is great for this because the images are designed to look sort of watercolor-y, but you do lose a lot of the great texture of the images.

So that's it for me for today. I hope you liked this super cute and quick project, and I encourage you to head on over to Catherine and Cathy Create to check out the other projects, and to play along!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#047: October Cards Challenge - Halloween Color Challenge

Welcome to another Cards Challenge from Catherine and Cathy Create! This month, in celebration of October and Halloween, we've got a color challenge. (I love these!)

This photo is great because it's got a few different shades of orange, plus purple and green too. Fun! Here's my card - using my new favorite stamp set Fall Fest. :)

I brought in the purple from the photo by sponging the stars in Perfect Plum ink on the background. This is super easy with the new Decorative Masks from Stampin' Up! Love them! All the stamps are from Fall Fest - and don't forget that it comes in a bundle with the matching Framelits for 15% off! - except the sentiment, which is from Holiday Home.

Well, that's it for me today. Now head on over to Catherine and Cathy Create to see all the other great cards. If you're inspired to make your own card inspired by the color combo, make sure to link it up and you might win a prize!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#044: September Cards Challenge - Fun with Masks

It's time for another Cards Challenge from Catherine and Cathy Create! This month, it's all about masking. Stampin' Up! has recently released some awesome stencil-style masks that I'm totally in love with. (One set is Dots and Stripes, the other is Hearts and Stars - they're so cute!) But I decided to do some CAS masking for my card this month, using some of the new fall stamps from the Holiday Catalog.

I used Post-Its to mask off a frame around the edge of a piece of Naturals White cardstock. Then I stamped the cute little leaves from the Fall Fest stamp set. (It has matching Framelits too - and comes in a bundle at 15% off!) I used Crushed Curry, Tangelo Twist, Cherry Cobbler, and Crumb Cake inks.

I embossed a sentiment from another new set called For All Things in gold on Early Espresso cardstock. I created the little embellishment using the Fun Fall Framelits (that match the Fall Fest stamp set), one of the Autumn Wooden Embellishments, and linen thread. Hey - Did you know you can make your own metallic cardstock? All I did to make that cute little leaf gold was press my Versamark ink pad on some scrap cardstock, shake on some gold embossing powder, and heat set it. Then I just die cut the leaf out of that! Easy and adorable!

So now it's your turn! Check out Catherine and Cathy Create to see what the other DT members made. Then link up your project using masks, and you might win goodies from Stampin' Up!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#043: September Monthly Challenge - Primary Colors

CCC#043: September Monthly Challenge

Primary Colors

It's September, and we all know what that means... Back to School! So this month's challenge is inspired by Primary Colors. Think crayons, construction paper, lunch boxes, playground equipment, new sneakers... And make a project inspired by that! And here's a little inspiration photo to get your creative juices flowing even more.

I decided to make a card for this challenge. I will admit, I was more inspired by the back to school theme, and the inspiration photo above. So let me just say that, while I know that primary colors are only blue, red, and yellow, I chose to go with more of a rainbow look, like in the photo.

I was inspired by a card in the recent issue of our demonstrator magazine where they trimmed down one of the dies from the Homemade Holiday Framelits to make arrows. I decided to trim the die cut a little bit further, and make pencils!

I colored the "wood" part of the pencil with one of the Skin Color Blendabilities markers, and drew on the "lead" with a black marker. The colored part is cut with the same die, and then I used the smallest of the Starburst Framelits dies to cut the little zig zag parts at the top. The lines are stamped with one of the stamps from a great new border set called Draw the Line. The stars are punched from the Confetti Star Punch - one of my faves from the Holiday Catalog.

I was thinking this card would be cute to give to a teacher, so I chose the sentiment from one of the new hostess stamp sets. It would maybe be a little more relevant for the end of the school year, but I still thought it was fitting.

Now, make sure you head over to Catherine and Cathy Create to check out the other challenge projects. If you want to play along, make sure you link up your project, because you could win Stampin' Up! goodies! :)

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#041: August Card Challenge - Happy Birthday!

August 2014 Challenge

Happy Birthday, CCC! :-D

I can't believe it! Catherine & Cathy Create is celebrating it's First Birthday! I have been so honored to be part of the Design Team, and I've had such fun with the challenges. I hope you have too! So, of course, this month's card challenge is all about birthday cards. I rode with the first birthday theme too, and chose to make a birthday card that would be great for your favorite kiddo!

I love this little Kind Koala stamp! It's a single wood-mount stamp. So cute! I modified the image a little for this card. The koala is holding a flower, and there's a sentiment around him, but I didn't want to use those portions of the image. I stamped the koala on watercolor paper and colored him using Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, and Blushing Bride inks and a water brush. 

I also used Pistachio Pudding, Tangelo Twist, and Crushed Curry inks with the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set to create the look of confetti. This koala sure knows how to party!

Instead of the flower, I decided to make some fun birthday banners for the koala to hold. I used a piece of Confetti Celebration DSP, and a cute sentiment from Something to Say. 

That's it for me for this challenge. But make sure you head on over to Catherine & Cathy Create to see the other Design Team members' cards. Link up your own birthday card and you might win a prize!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#040: August 2014 Challenge: #InstaLove

CCC#040

August 2014 Monthly Challenge

#InstaLove

This month's challenge from Catherine & Cathy Create is to make a project inspired by social media in some way... hashtags, Instagram, Facebook, selfies... You name it - if it's online, it's all good! :)

My first instinct for this challenge was to make some Project Life cards (which I still plan to do, by the way, so stay tuned!). But then I decided to think beyond myself a little bit. It dawned on me that this would be a perfect challenge to make a "boy" project for! So, I decided to think about what a teenage boy would like, and make a birthday card.

I love how this stamped background paper came out! But, let me tell you, it took a long time to make!  I used two different stamp sets - #hello and @SoSocial. They both have awesome "hashtag" style sentiments for a ton of different occasions. I pulled out all the birthday, boy, and generic (#awesomeness, #friendsarethebest, etc.) sentiments and stamped them randomly on the diagonal on Whisper White cardstock. I used Bermuda Bay, Tangelo Twist, and Pear Pizzazz inks. So here's why it took me so long... I can't line anything up for beans. So my Stamp-a-ma-Jig is my bff. But I decided I wanted to use all of the relevant sentiments (I think there were 10) and I wanted to stamp them randomly - not always the same sentiments in the same colors or in the same order. So I had to stamp on the Stamp-a-ma-Jig imaging sheet, then stamp on the cardstock. Every. Single. Time. If I were going to do this again, I'd suck it up, choose 3 or 4 sentiments, and keep them in the same colors so I didn't have to keep re-doing the imaging sheet! If I had enough clear blocks to keep all my stamps mounted, it probably wouldn't have taken quite as long. LOL!

The awesome, huge @ symbol (which, by the way, doesn't seem to have a name in English) is from the #hello set. I heat embossed it with Versamark ink, black embossing powder, and my heat tool on Whisper White cardstock. The sentiment is from Four You, and it's stamped on Tangelo Twist cardstock. I also added a little wood veneer banner from the Wooden Elements Embellishments for some added interest.

So that's it for me for today! Make sure you head over to Catherine & Cathy Create because the other DT members have some awesome projects to share with you, too! And if you share your social media inspired project, you might win some goodies!

#happystampinfriends! LOL :-D

CCC#038: July Cards Challenge - Green Planet

CCC#037: July 2014 Cards Challenge

Green Planet

Inspired by Earth

OK, friends, this month's challenge is to make a card inspired by planet Earth. Now I'll admit, this one really had me stumped for a while. I kept pouring over my stamp collection thinking... What direction do I want to go with this? Maps? Blue and green? When I couldn't make up my mind, and no stamps were jumping out at me, I decided this challenge called for one thing: Custom made stamps! :)

Isn't it amazing that we can carve our own stamps now?! Stampin' Up! just thinks of everything! I've done my fair share of linoleum block printing in my life, but the Undefined stamp carving kit has sat on my shelf for almost a year now (it was introduced at Convention last year, remember?) and I could never decide what I wanted to make with it. So glad I still had it there ready and waiting when I decided what to do for this project!

I decided to do my stamping on this paper from the Typeset DSP collection, because it looks like newspaper and, to me, that fits with the recycling part of the message. I kept the rest of the card very simple - a simple spiral border, linen thread, and I sponged the card base using the polka dots stencil from the new Dots and Stripes Decorative Masks.

As I was stamping these images, I was thinking about how nice they'd look just on a simple one-layer notecard. So I decided to give that a try too! But of course, I couldn't just leave it at that... :)

I ended up cutting about an inch off the bottom of the card, and then I adhered the DSP to the inside so it peeks out the bottom. And I also added some white bakers' twine.

I hope you enjoyed these cards and that you're excited to give the Undefined stamp carving kit a try! Let me tell you, this kit is amazing! Like I said, I've done linoleum blocks before with the hard linoleum and the soft flexible kind. The rubber in the Undefined kit blows them both out of the water! It cuts like buttah! I highly recommend you give it a try! :)

(P.S. These aren't the blocks that come in the kit for you to mount your stamps on - but there are 4 blocks that are included. My dad made these for me because my stamps happened to be a little too big for the small blocks and too small for the large block.)

Head on over to Cathy and Catherine Create to check out the other DT members' cards. And don't forget to link up your card if you play along with the challenge - you could win an awesome prize!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#037: July 2014 Challenge - National Pride

CCC#037: July 2014 Monthly Challenge

National Pride

This month's challenge from Catherine and Cathy Create is to make any project inspired by your country's national colors. A lot of us are celebrating Canada Day and the 4th of July, so this is perfect timing! Though, I have to say this one wasn't much of a challenge for me since 95% of my recent projects have been red, white, and blue! :-D

So as I told you before, I've been completely addicted to the Sea Street stamp set and matching Maritime DSP collection... which just happens to be red, white, and blue! What I love about the Sea Street set is that it's so much more versatile than it may appear at first glance. Sure, there are cutesy smiling sea creatures that are probably most appropriate for projects for kids. But the other images in the set are perfect for creating a totally on-trend and very sophisticated preppy nautical look. That was what inspired my project for this challenge.

I decided to put together a complete stationery set with everything you need to send adorable notes right in one box. Since I used the preppy nautical theme, this set is very grown-up, but would also be completely appropriate for a child off to sleep-away camp. :)

I used Stampin' Up!'s white notecards and envelopes to quickly and easily create a set of 6 clean and simple notecards. I stamped the anchor and rope images from Sea Street and the hello sentiment from A Dozen Thoughts in Real Red, Coastal Cabana, and Night of Navy inks.

The notecards come come with envelopes, but I wanted to dress up the cards a little so I made my own envelopes out of the Maritime DSP and the envelope punch board. Quick, easy, and cute!

Since the DSP envelopes don't have any sealer on them, I thought it would be nice to stick some coordinating stickers into the kit. These are just some white yardsale price stickers I had hanging around, but the anchor stamp fits perfectly on them! I also found some large mailing label stickers, white I decide to cut in half and stamp to coordinate too. (The "to" stamp is from an old Christmas set, by the way.)

Here's what it looks like when the whole set is put together. So cute and so sophisticated! I stamped on the label (with a retired alpha set - sorry!) but you could just as easily hand write your recipient's name. Or you could write a whole address on the label - it's big enough - and you could actually put this through the mail! (I'd seal the envelope up with more than just the little sticker if I was going to mail it.)

I did include a coordinating pen, because I wanted the kit to have everything you'd need to write and send a note. I wanted to put a piece of DSP inside the clear barrel of the pen, but this particular pen is just too skinny, and I couldn't find the mini version of the Pentel R.S.V.P. pens that work so well for this. Oh well, the pen still matches all by itself!

So that's it for me! Hope you enjoyed this project and you've been inspired to play along with this challenge and make a project with your country's national colors? Are they the same as mine? :) If you do make a project, make sure you link it up on Catherine and Cathy Create - and while you're there, check out the other DT members' projects.

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#034: June 2014 Monthly Challenge - Pack Your Bags!

June is bustin' out all over! (Hubby and I recently saw Carousel at our favorite community theater last weekend, and I have had that song, and the clambake song stuck in my head since then!) But seriously, it sure doesn't feel like June around here... it's been so cold! I'm talking temps in the low 50s every day! It's a struggle for me not to turn the heat on in the evening. But we've had some sunny days, and the lawn's needed mowing once, so we know summer will be here eventually.

This month's challenge from Catherine and Cathy Create is "Pack Your Bags" - any project inspired by travel! I'll admit, I struggled with this one a little. I got stuck on 'but I don't have any planes, trains, or automobiles stamps!' for a while. But that's what these challenges are all about... getting us to flex our creative muscles and think outside the box! So here's what I came up with...

I was inspired by a few things for this project. My little brother is moving to Wisconsin next month - OK, so it's not exactly a voyage, but it definitely put the banner idea into my head. :) I thought the nautical color scheme spoke to the old-fashioned cross-Atlantic ocean liner idea. Plus, I really wanted to use this amazing new DSP from the new catalog that has adorable nautical motifs... I adore it and totally want to wallpaper my entire house with it! Take a closer look!

Look at the anchors and knots! LOVE! The collection is called Maritime. It's got some cutesy images like happy octopi, but then there are a lot of really sophisticated preppy patterns, like the stripes, anchors, and knots that I used in this project.

I used the stencils from the Build a Banner Kit on banners that I cut from Coastal Cabana, Real Red, and Night of Navy cardstock. Remember the Build a Banner Kit from the Holiday Catalog? It'll be back in the new catalog - TOMORROW! :) - plus a couple other awesome banner kits! I used the stencils to sponge on tone-on-tone polka dots and white emboss the letters. It all came together super easily and quickly! With the stencils, you can make it say anything you need. Plus, pick any color combination and DSP that works with your occasion. Cheap and cheerful, just the way I like it! :)

Now go check out Catherine and Cathy Create to see what the rest of the Design Team made. You're gonna love it! Plus, link up your travel-inspired project, and you might win a prize!

Happy Travels... er, um, I mean Stampin'! :)