Color Challenge - Crafty Challenge Blog Hop

Hello Stamping Friends,

Hope you are fine on this Monday morning. We're here with another crafty challenge blog hop. Remember to click the links at the end of the post to keep hopping for more great projects.

Today's challenge is a color challenge using basic black, early espresso, cherry cobbler and gold foil. I must admit, I was a bit stumped on how to use these colors together because I never put black together with brown and found it difficult to create something with it. But, alas, I was able to get creative as you can see below.

I decided on the gold foil designer series paper to start with. Then I wanted to use the Christmas saying from Night Divine as my focal point. I added just a bit of twine for another dimension. 

It's hard to see in the picture, but here are the colors of the layers. The base is cherry cobbler. The second layer under the foiled designer series paper is basic black. The focal point layers are cherry cobbler, early espresso and very vanilla. The greeting is  stamped in cherry cobbler. 

This is a perfect card to make multiples of especially if you don't have a lot of time because it's pretty quick and easy.

Remember to keep hopping by clicking the links below. 

Thanks for stopping by. See you soon. 

Fun Folds with the Sisters in Stamping

Hello Stamping Friends,

Today over at Sisters in Stamping for Sunday Fun Day we are sharing fun fold cards. Homemade cards are great by themselves, but add a fun fold to the card and it takes it to a whole new level of greatness and appreciation by the receiver. 

Sunday Fun Day and Fun folds only leaves us one option: FUN!

Upon first glance, this card just looks like any ordinary card. It's still nice, but you don't think fun fold, that's for sure!

Here you can see that it is more fun than first impressions gave. Not quite the traditional card after all. 

Just a different angle so you can see it from the front and how it stands "open."

Laying flat with the left side open and the right side closed.

Completely open. To make this card, you start with an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock and score it at 5 1/2" along the 11" side. Then cut the cardstock into 2 (4 1/4" x 11") pieces. I then cut on a diagonal from the top to bottom on one half of each (4 1/4" x 11") piece. Attach the two rectangular parts together to form one card base making sure one triangle is on the bottom on the left side and the other triangle is on the top on the right side. You'll get a pocket type card if you don't alternate them.

Decorate however you would like. I cut the layers like I was adding normal card layers for a rectangle card and then cut those in half on the diagonal. Tip: Just pay attention to how you are cutting the diagonal if you are set on which side of the designer paper you want to use. You may cut it the wrong way. Don't ask me how I know. (Wink, wink)

Don't forget to head over to Sisters in Stamping for more fun fold card ideas.

If you need to replenish your supplies, click on my name below to place your order. Or you can email me and I can place the order for you. 

Thanks for stopping by. See you soon.

A Fractured Card is Better Than a Fractured Bone

Hello Stamping Friends,

Here today with a Sunday Funday Challenge with the Sisters in Stamping. This week we are making fractured cards. What is that? Well, a fractured card is better than a fractured bone for sure. 

It's a card that looks all broken up and put back together again like Humpty Dumpty. (LOL)  However, this card is way easier to make than I though it was going to be. Isn't that always a good thing. A card that looks hard to make, but in reality it is super easy.

Looks like a lot of pieces, don't you think? Well it's not. It's a base, a layer of DSP, the white square and four strips of cardstock. No major cutting. No weird angles. Pretty straightforward.  (Oh, there's some scrap white cardstock too for the skates)

I cut my white square to 2 1/4", stamped on it in the diamond shape. Placed that on top of the polka dot designer series paper and then took one 1/4" x 5" strip of cardstock and placed it at the top edge of diamond and let it hang off the paper. Then took another 1/4" strip and butted it up against the previous strip at the bottom of the diamond and let that hang off the paper. The third strip was the same thing starting along the bottom right side of the diamond. And the fourth strip was finished the same way.  Once all four of the strips were on, I cut off the excess following the edge of the paper. 

I stamped the skates on scrap paper, colored them with Stampin' Blends and finished them off with some wink of stella pen. I love the sparkle on them. For the disco ball, I wanted colored sections, so I squeezed my ink pads together to get some ink on the lid and then picked up the color with the wink of stella brush tip and "painted" each section. I love, love, love how sparkly it turned out. 

Definitely takes me back to the younger years of roller skating on Friday nights. What great fun and memories. 

Now go check out some other fractured cards on Sisters with Stamping. You're going to love this new technique. Let me know if you have any questions. Also, click on my name below to order any supplies you may need.

Thanks for stopping by. See you soon.

Stampers Dozen Blog Hop - Fall Wonder

Hello Stamping Friends,

Tonight we are hopping with the Stampers Dozen blog hop. We are jumping right into fall (even though we have about a week of summer left here).

I love creating elaborate cards, but sometimes I just don't have the time or energy (or maybe I just wait until the last minute) to make those very detailed cards. Do you know what I mean? Well, I have a great solution: use the beautiful designer series paper from Stampin' Up! as your main image and then just add a greeting and an embellishment or two.

That's exactly what I did with this card. I let the paper do the work for me. (And no, it wasn't done last minute. I had it completed days ago this time.) The All About Autumn 6x6 Designer Series paper is gorgeous and you really do not need to do much to make a great card. 

I used a small strip from the paper scraps when I cut it down to fit a card front as an embellishment piece (the other side has a copper foil design on it). Then I stamped the greeting from the Autumn Leaves stamp set on a very thin strip of mossy meadow cardstock (again a scrap from the layer behind the DSP). I also used a small piece of ribbon to make my greeting pop a little more. 

Seriously this card was so quick to make that I could have made a bundle of them in no time at all. Let the designer series paper do the work. That's what it was designed to do.

Click the links below to keep hopping so you can jump into fall too.

Thanks for stopping by. See you soon.

Crafty Dreams Blog Hop - Autumn Vibes

Hello Stamping Friends,

This morning we are hopping with Crafty Collaborations and we are getting the autumn vibes in high gear. 

I made a card using the All About Autumn 6x6 Specialty Designer Series Paper. The paper is doing most of the work for me. I didn't have to stamp a background or do too much. Honestly the only stamping is the greeting from the All About Autumn stamp set. I used the backside of the paper for the "banner ribbon." It is gorgeous. The paper has copper foil on one side of every sheet. It is beautiful and hard to decide which side you want to use. So instead of deciding, I used both. 

I also cut some leaves from the Autumn Leaves Dies both from the paper and cardstock. The cardstock leaves I used blending brushes and coordinating ink from stamp pads to make them look a little more realistic. 

In the die set there are a few dies that just cut into the paper (doesn't cut anything out to use elsewhere). I used the long strip of dots to add a little texture to the designer paper just under the banner. 

The greeting was stamped on vellum and I attached the vellum using glue dots strategically placed under the leaves. 

Want more autumn vibes? Well, just click on the links below to be stunned.

A Little Vellum Goes a Long Way

Hello Stamping Friends,

This week with the Sisters in Stamping we are sharing projects using vellum. Just a little bit a vellum can go a long way in changing the entire look of your card. 

I used plain, non-stamped vellum as an overlay on the beautiful autumn designer series paper that I wanted to use for my backdrop. It softens the look of the card and makes it more elegant looking.

See how vibrant this paper is, but how it softens right up with the vellum over it? Also, notice the vellum isn't attached at the top because you can see the adhesive through it. So when you are working with vellum you need to hid the adhesive. I hid it behind the leaves and the strip that goes across the bottom part. 

I used the autumn leaves dies to cut the leaves for my focal point. I also used the blending brushes to add some color and texture to each leaf.  The card is finished off with some speckled gems. They add the perfect touch.

Don't forget to head on over to the Sisters in Stamping to see more vellum ideas.

Thanks for stopping by. Come back soon for more inspiration.  If you would like to purchase any of the items used on the card, please contact me or visit my website by clicking on my name below.

See you soon!