Figured it out

As promised, here's the card that I had such problems with earlier this week. I normally don't make religous Christmas cards, since I send cards to such an eclectic group of people. But since I've started making so many different cards, and this stamp set was so awesome that someone bought it twice and it was just sitting there on my desk, staring at me, I decided to go for it. I had this vision in my head and started cutting away, but then I worked and worked on it and had this huge blank space in the middle. I got frustrated and had to put it aside for a few days (see my previous post for the card I made in the interim). When I picked it back up, I tried a couple different things and bounced some ideas off my mom (LOVE having her sit across from me when I am creating now!). This is the final design that we came up with. Simple, but very beautiful while still keeping the focus on the message of this card.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: First Christmas, Greetings of the Season
Cardstock: Midnight muse, Whisper white, Brushed silver
Ink: Midnight muse, Versamark
Other Stuff: Apothecary accents framelits, Midnight muse ribbon, Silver embossing powder, Silver stampin dazzle marker

A happy accident

Lately I have been riding a wave of creativity and everything that I'm doing is turning out at least something like the vision in my head. I've been hard at work on my holiday cards and had this idea for a card using a set that one of my ladies, well, she liked it so much she bought it twice. Of course I look at that as an opportunity to buy a stamp set that maybe I wouldn't have bought without some encouragement (send it back - what???? - no way!). So I had this great idea in my head and started cutting out 12 shapes for the main image and - oh no! - the execution of the card was not matching my vision AFTER I cut out TWELVE shapes. So after I tried to do what I wanted to do with both sides of the shape I decided to go down a different path. I set aside my new stamp set and desperately tried to find something that would fit in that shape - out popped the beautiful tree from Christmas Lodge. So I decided to go with a rustic, preppy look. Something 'lodge-y' but more preppy than really cowboy, actual rustic (thus more like me). I pulled out some Christmas paper from last year that I hoarded (why do I do that????) and wrapped some cherry cobbler twine around the whole thing and voila . . . my rustic, preppy Christmas card, perfect for the single men on your Christmas card list that do not want glitz and bling. Oh, and just because it's that kind of period for me, after a day or so I went back to the first idea in my head and got it to work. I'll share that one next time!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Christmas Lodge, Greetings of the Season
Cardstock: Cherry cobbler, Whisper white, Frostwood Lodge DSP (retired)
Ink: Garden green, cherry cobbler, Versamark
Other Stuff: Cherry cobbler embossing powder, Cherry cobbler baker's twine, dimensionals, Apothecary accents framelit, sponge dauber

Hard at work

I LOVE that the new Stampin' Up! Holiday catalog came out in August this year. It gives me an extra month to get my stuff together and get working on my holiday cards. I'm not one to brag . . . well, actually, I am. It is September 13th and I have FIFTY (50!) Christmas cards completed already (okay, bragging complete). Since there are so many stamp sets out there and so many different designs, I've shifted from making 100+ of the same design to making 10-12 of a bunch of different cards. In the past, I've had the intention of writing down who gets what card so that I can safely send similar, if not duplicate, cards out from year to year. Of course, I've always been frantically finishing my cards in years past in the second (or third!) week of December so you can imagine where my good intentions ended up. So now I'll be periodically showing you some of my Christmas cards for this year - just don't get mad if you already 'saw' the one you get later this year!
Today's card started out as an idea in my head and then as I was browsing some websites, I came across one that almost matched the image in my head, so I'm going to give a shout out to Stampinnerd's blog for having a great mind that thought like me :-)
I've been trying to figure out how to use the absolutely gorgeous Champagne glitter paper (just those words sound beautiful to me) on a Christmas card so I decided to go with a vintage type feel with neutrals and a muted red (Riding Hood red). I used a shape from the Apothecary Accents framelits collection for the Believe sentiment, and then traced around the outside of the framelit on the glitter paper to make the mat. A little extra work, yes, but oh so beautiful!!!!!


Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Snowflake Soiree
Cardstock: Riding hood red, Very vanilla, Champagne glitter paper
Ink: Crumb cake, Soft suede
Other Stuff: Apothecary accents framelits, dimensionals, Riding hood red pleated satin ribbon (retired), Champagne shimmer paint mist

Halloween Fun Fold

Today I am sharing a card with you that was so much fun to make. I saw the directions for a 'Fun Fold' card in one of my stamp magazines (really honey, I need these magazines for my work) and it caught my eye because I'd like to have a class on Fun Folds this fall. So I decided to try my hand at this particular design. And my consensus of one says that it's a winner!!! One of the best parts of cardmaking, for me anyway, is making things that look SOOOO impressive but in reality aren't that hard to make. The hardest part about this card is whether or not I'll be able to let it go and actually send it to someone. . . Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted) Stamps: Googly ghouls, Tricky treats Cardstock: Basic black, Basic gray, Very vanilla, Howlstooth and Scaringbone DSP Ink: Stazon black Other Stuff: Tangerine tango, basic black and Rich razzleberry markers, Oval punch, Tasteful trim die, ruler, dimensionals