May Your Days be Merry & Bright...

I had a chance to head out to a local crop last night - but instead of scrapping, I stamped and made cards. Well, technically I only made this 1 card... but I do have several focal images ready to go now! :)

This fun little number is based on this week's Mojo sketch. I used the Merry & Bright set - the Christmas tree was the perfect size for the panel, and the sentiment fit nicely, too. I stamped the tree with black versafine, then colored with prismacolor pencils and accented the silver ornaments with a glitter pen. I used Daisy D's paper to pull it all together; I would have used ribbon for the strip across the top if I'd been at home with my stash at my disposal, but I kind of like the effect with the paper.

And finally, can you believe that Christmas is less than 5 weeks away?! As "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is looming large on the horizon, Dina has challenged us to make a Christmas ornament for the next Tea Party. We even have an extra week to get creative due to Thanksgiving. So if you'd like to join in the fun, have your project ready to go on December 3!

The Keys...

As promised, here are two more cards made with the Lock & Key set. On the top one, I stamped the keys onto the black cardstock using Brilliance ink, free cut the heart out of the funky patterned paper, embossed the keyhole then cut out the center. Nothing too crazy, but kind of a fun vibe to it.

The second card is made from acetate, which is always difficult to photograph. I stamped the keys across the front using Stazon ink, then attached the main key tag and sentiment panel with double stick tape, then sewed the beige panel onto the inside of the front cover (which hides the ugly backside of the adhered pieces, but still allows the keys to be seen on the front. Very cool!

Hope to be back with another post tomorrow if time allows :)

Fun with fleur-de-lis

I'm always drawn to the fleur-de-lis symbol; I know it has been used to represent many things (check out a brief history here) but I just like the vintage, elegant feel of it. This one in particular is from the Lock & Key set.

On this first card, I started by stamping the image repeatedly onto plain ol' white copy paper then clear embossing. I spritzed it with glimmer mists (pink taffy, honey dew, and patina) and blotted off the excess. I know you can't really tell from the picture, but it has a beautiful sheen in person. Mat it with white, add a simple "thanks" (Combo Sentiments), attach some hardware and ribbon, then glue it all to a pre-made card and you're good to go!

I decided to take a simple, almost severe approach on this card, and I think it would be a great birthday card for a guy - and absolutely perfect if he happened to be a boy scout :) I stamped onto some embroidery fabric with brilliance ink, then mounted it to black cardstock with brads, then added some brown cardstock before attaching to a green card base. Super simple, but quite elegant.

I'll be back later this week with a couple ideas for the other images in the set!

An Unusual Birthday Card

We'll be attending a little party tomorrow, and we've purchased a variety of dress-up items for the darling birthday girl. As I was deciding what to do for her birthday card, though, my mind kept going back to focusing on why she is truly a princess... and this rather unusual birthday card is the final result.

I started by stamping the crown (smARTworks Kings) onto an oval die cut, then outlined it with a spica glitter pen and blinged it out with rhinestones. I mounted that onto a scalloped die cut and decided to just leave it at that. I stamped the verse (Clear Dollar Stamps) below with gray versafine. I love the verse, but will admit that the fine font is a wee bit difficult to read. For the inside, I stamped "Happy Birthday" (Stampington) and then the word Princess (JustRite block & Brayton font) accented with stickles.

I can't think of a better reason to celebrate!

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart" Jeremiah 1:5a

Getting around to another tea party...

As I mentioned in my last post, Donelda is our hostess for this smART Cookie Tea Party, and she challenged us to incorporate a circle in some form or fashion.

My card is quite simple, but I incorporated a circle and I actually used something from my embarrassingly large embellishment stash. Double points! :) I started by stamping the super-cute Mama Teddy (Teddy Gals) and then added color with prismacolor pencils. I trimmed the panel down, and matted it with blue (accented with the fancy corner punch). I stamped screen onto some light blue cardstock, and then layered that onto the gray card base. I tied on the yellow ribbon, and then added the circular charm with the word "adore" (from Making Memories), then mounted the main part with foam dots so it has a bit more dimension.

All the other cookies will be posting their creations throughout the day - click over to Susan, Dina, Giovana & Donelda to see how they got circular.

Sparkly Teddy Bear

A simple but fun card to share today, featuring a glitter window. If you've never made one, you really should - they're easy, and always guaranteed to impress. You can find a good step-by-step tutorial here.

Anyway, this card features the Teddy Gals set. I used the flower image on the front of the card, and then punched the circle. I then laid that on a white card base and carefully punched another circle. Next, I traced the circle onto the inside of the card (very lightly), then stamped the teddy using my trusty stamp-a-ma-jig, so that she'd be featured nicely in the opening. The SAMJ made it easy to position the greeting on the opposite side, too (from Semi Say #2). I tied ribbon onto the red panel before doing the glitter window, then glued everything together. The process was a bit more meticulous than my normal "fly by the seat of your pants" routine, but nothing too difficult - and it's very cute, if I do say so myself!

So did you notice the circular window? Well, that's also a good lead-in to tell you about the next Tea Party on November 12. Donelda has challenged us to incorporate a circular element - the card itself can be a circle, or it can have circular images or embellishments, or you can even use punches :) We'd love to have you join in the fun, so hopefully you can find some time to get circular.