Lynn's Card

Remember my post about how nice it is to get a special card in the mail?  Well, today's post is about just that --- a special card I received in the mail.  It's from my friend and downline, Lynn.  Isn't this a really great card?  I just love it!

Check the 'labels' section at the bottom of the post for her supplies.  Thank you, Lynn!

More Cards!

Here are some more quick and easy cards for your inspiration.  They are big on style, even though they start with just a simple note card.  I tried to give you a peek at the coordinating envelopes, too.  Enjoy!  

Cherry Cobbler / Be of Good Cheer DSP /  Holiday Ornament Framelits / Traditional Touches Stamp (envelope) / cherry cobbler seam binding

Midnight Muse / Merry Minis Punch Pack / Silver Glimmer Paper / Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder / Greetings of the Season

Gumball Green / Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder / Delicate Designs Embossing Folder (envelope flap) / Holiday Ornament Framelits / Be of Good Cheer DSP / silver glimmer paper (star)

Night of Navy / Four Seasons Stamp Set / Northern Flurry Embossing Folder

Midnight Muse / Stitched Ribbon / Jolly Bingo Bits / Postage Punch / Square Punch / Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder

As you can see, I used the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder a lot on these creations.  I felt like it gave the feeling of falling snow.  I hope these cards give you some ideas to try.  As you can see, the note cards are limited only by your imagination.

Have a beautiful day!

For Giving

'Tis the season for giving and gift cards are pretty much always a hit.  They're fun and easy to give and yet, many people hesitate because they want some pretty packaging to go with it all.

Here are some ideas to help you give your gift cards in style.

I've taken the 2 Tags Die and die cut the tag for the gift card holder.  I tied ribbons around the little hole in the top, to make it easy to pull out of the sleeve.  You slip your gift card into the slot at the top of the tag.  I made a sleeve to go around the tag and decorated it to make it all look fancier.  Now, you can put it in a clear cello envelope or a regular Christmas card and then give it in style.  These would be cute for stocking stuffers, too.  Of course, if you want to go really big, you can still wrap it up in a gift box.  It's less likely to get lost now inside your package.  

Note:
I used the die on the left for my gift card holders.  If you cut your CS large enough to cover the die, you can save the cute scallop-top piece to use for another project.  I'll show you some ideas for this in one of my future posts, so check back often for more ideas.  

My colors are Cherry Cobbler and Gumball Green, to coordinate with the Be of Good Cheer DSP.  The base of the sleeve is Crumb Cake.

Check here for some ideas I shared last Christmas.  Here's another post with a super simple and super cute gift card holder.  These are quick and fun to make, fun to give and fun to receive.

Come back soon for more gift giving ideas, to help you get ready for Christmas.

Playing with Pewter

Yes, I've been playing with pewter --- embossing powder, that is.  I love it!  Check it out:

I've used the same design with 3 color combinations.  The 'Noel' is from Greetings of the Season.  I've used ribbons or baker's twine in various ways, as accents on each card.  Here's some more embossing with our Pewter EP.

That's it for today.  Believe it or not, I'm working with a different 'toy' in my studio this week --- my sewing machine.  Yes!  I dusted it off, plugged it in and am busy making fun projects for Christmas gifts.  These will be on sale in my new booth which is scheduled to open on Black Friday.  If you're in downtown Decatur, stop in at the Wildflour and have a delightful lunch.  You'll probably hear a lot of busy sounds from the worker bees who are frantically trying to complete the Root Cellar in time for the grand opening.  It will be an Artisans and Antiques Mall!  My booth (Prairie Treasures) will feature hand made cards, gifts and home decor items --- all made with our Stampin' Up! products, including fabric!  I'm having a lot of fun getting ready for the big opening and can't wait to share more about it with you.  Come back soon!

Warm Hands...Warm Memories

Making today's card brought back a warm memory... about losing gloves and mittens.  There was a cold and busy winter when I just could not seem to keep track of my gloves and mittens.  I had to drive for about 20 minutes to get to the school where I taught.  I always pulled them off to free my hands, once the car got warmed up a bit.

One day, after my coming home with yet another cold, red hand exposed, I received a warning from my husband:  "If you lose one more pair of mittens or gloves, I'm going to get you mitten clips and make you wear them, or maybe one of those strings that run through the inside of your coat sleeves!"  I was more careful after that and, when Spring came, I found all my gloves and mittens.  They were in our school parking lot, in various locations, and all quite flat from many vehicles driving over them.

Today's card has a pair of mittens that I won't lose.

As you can see, I've used the same white on white background (and text stamp) as in yesterday's post.  Instead of hanging ornaments, I've hung up a pair of mittens (with white baker's twine) and popped the mittens up on dimensionals.

I used Cherry Cobbler and Always Artichoke to create the mittens and punched them out with our Mitten Builder Punch.  Instead of stamping them (We have a couple of stamp sets that have coordinating mittens.), I embossed them with 2 different designs.  One is the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder and the other one is the Argyle Embossing Folder.  How perfect is that for mittens?

I hope you enjoyed my card and my little story.  Hang onto your mittens and have a great day!

A Pair of Ornaments

For this chilly morning, I have a pair of ornaments for you.  These were made with our framelits.  Using the Big Shot makes this a fun and easy card to create.

I love the clean, crisp look of white on white, so I added a layer of white on top of the white card base.  I embossed the top layer with our Northern Flurry embossing folder, stamped the sentiment and added a strip of ribbon, all before attaching the top layer to the card.  The sentiment is from Greetings of the Season, from the Holiday catalog.  I think it's one of the prettiest stamp sets ever because it contains 4 beautiful greetings, each with a gorgeous font.

You'll notice that I'm still using a touch of Gumball Green (a frequent player in my Christmas cards this year) but I've switched from my beloved Cherry Cobbler to Raspberry Ripple.  I love the stitched satin ribbon and it looks so pretty on this card.  I could have made it into a bow, but I decided to keep it simple and let the focus remain on the ornaments.  I've used white baker's twine to 'hang' the ornaments onto the card.

So, that's it for today.  Have a beautiful day and don't forget to use a warmer coat if you live in my area.  It's chilly out there!

Watercolor Winter

Here's a quick post from Chattanooga, TN.  I made this card with the Watercolor Winter stamp set.  The set is designed to be a 2-step stamping design but it also lends itself to stamping just the outline and then coloring it in with colors of your choice.  I used my favorite coloring method:  using an Aqua painter and stroking it directly onto the ink pad to pick up colors.  You can add subtle shading using this method.  It's really a very easy way to color.

My colors are gumball green and cherry cobbler.  The 'Noel' is from the Greetings of the Season stamp set.  I stamped the poinsettia, cut it out and attached it with dimensionals, to let it 'pop' right off the card.  I seem to have a lot of cherry cobbler going on lately... and that's a good thing.  

I'm here in Chattanooga for the Stampin' Up! Regionals tomorrow.  I hope I learn a lot and have lots to share with you.  After a long day of traveling, I'm ready to call it a night.  Add to that, we lost an hour in changing time zones and then, once we reached the hotel, I realized that I'd left all my makeup at home and had to make a trip to WalMart.  Yikes!  I hope what I grabbed won't be too horrible.  I'd rather be stamping than hunting for makeup.

Christmas Springy Card

I have a great little tutorial for you today.  A while back I did a tutorial on how to make a diamond fold (springy card) and now, thanks to our new diagonal plate for our Simply Scored Tool, the job is even easier --- actually, it's amazingly simple and really fun.  Here's my new card:

Before you start, decide which pattern of your DSP you'd like for each side.

Basic directions at a glance:

• Start with a 4 X 12" piece of CS or DSP. 
• Score as marked.
• Crease folds with a bone folder.
• Fold into a springy card.
• Decorate as desired.

When you've finished scoring, simply decorate as you like.  Be creative!

See the faint fold line down the center of the diamond?  You do NOT need to make this fold now because you can make the diagonal score lines using the diagonal score plate on the Simply Scored Tool.  I was used to folding it like this previously and just forgot to leave it out.  It's nice to not have that line in the middle of your project:)

I hope you'll give it a try and make your own version of a diamond fold card.  They're a lot of fun.  Actually, if you're making more than one, score the entire 12 X 12" sheet of CS or DSP and then cut it into 4" strips.  It will save you a little time.  You can still decorate each one differently.

Have a great day and don't forget to check out my '500' blog special!