Snowflakes in three styles

Since every snowflake is different, today I am going to share three snowflake-themed cards that are all different styles.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: Bold Snowflake, More Merry Messages
Paper: Very Vanilla, Island Indigo card stock; Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper (DSP)
Ink: Island Indigo
Accessories: Blossom punch, corner rounder, rhinestones, Dimensionals

I used two sheets of the Festival of Prints DSP to make three cards of this design. I cut one sheet in approximately thirds to make the light blue panel for each card (I adjusted the size a little so I didn't cut through the circles in the pattern). I rounded the corners of the panel (as well as the card base) and adhered it to the card. For the second sheet of DSP, I cut along the lines in the chevron pattern to make six strips, two for each card. I trimmed along the lines of the chevrons to make the V ends of the pennants and then adhered them over the left side of the blue pattern at different lengths. I stamped and punched the snowflake, adhered it to the card with Dimensionals and added a rhinestone in the middle.

I had pieces of the chevron strips left from the pennants, and I didn't want to just throw them away. So I trimmed the leftover strips and added them to a Very Vanilla panel inside the card. Sentiments stamped on the front and inside panel finish off the card.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: More Merry Messages
Card stock: Whisper White
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Northern Flurry embossing folder, rhinestones, gold embossing powder, gold organdy ribbon (unknown), Dimensionals

This card uses very limited supplies, but I think it's stunning in its simplicity. I embossed a 4" x 5-1/4" piece of Whisper White card stock with the Northern Flurry embossing folder and added a rhinestone in the middle of each snowflake. I stamped the sentiment with VersaMark ink and embossed it with gold embossing powder. For another touch of color I tied a piece of gold organdy ribbon around the bottom of the panel. (This ribbon was originally wrapped around a box of Christmas ornaments; I often save those "found" ribbons to use on cards or other projects.) Using Dimensionals, I attached the panel to a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" Whisper White card base. I didn't take a picture of it, but I also embossed the inside sentiment with gold embossing powder to coordinate with the card front.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Season of Friendship
Card stock: Whisper White, Bordering Blue, textured Chocolate Chip
Ink: Bordering Blue, Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon, corner rounder, 2-Way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Mini Glue Dots

This was a fun and easy card to make. I randomly stamped snowflakes on a 3-5/8" x 4-7/8" piece of Whisper White card stock with Bordering Blue ink (one of my favorite retired colors). Then I stamped the tree in Chocolate Chip ink in the middle. I stamped the bird in Cherry Cobbler ink on a scratch piece of card stock, cut it out and adhered it on a tree branch with a Mini Glue Dot. I wanted to add a little bit of sparkle, so I used a 2-Way Glue Pen to add glue to the tops of the branches and then sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the glue. (It's hard to see in the photo, but it adds a fun shimmer in person.) I rounded the corners of the white card stock and matted it on a 4" x 5-1/4" piece of textured Chocolate Chip card stock. To finish the card, I tied a piece of Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon around the layered panel and adhered it to a Bordering Blue card base.

I think I'm almost done making my Christmas cards. I have a couple more designs to share tomorrow, which should make fifty-two cards, plus I know I have some left over from previous years. I just need to make my card list to be sure I have enough. Then I'll have to start sending my cards and making a few little gifts for work and neighbors. How is there only twenty-three days left until Christmas?

Thanks for stopping by!

A blooming Christmas

I have had a Christmas cactus -- the same Christmas cactus -- for at least ten years, and it has bloomed a grand total of one time, in January 2004. Yep, after Christmas and only a few little blossoms.

I know a Christmas cactus needs cooler temperatures to start the flowering process, but that was hard to achieve in our old apartment, short of opening a window in the middle of winter, which, no thanks. But this fall, my sister had the idea to put the Christmas cactus on our unheated three-season porch for a few weeks. It's not quite as cold as being outside because it's enclosed, but it's definitely cooler than the rest of the house. Success! Buds started to appear, and we have been watching them turn into beautiful, big pink flowers.

Shot 1: You can just see the white buds
on the ends of some of the leaves.

Shot 2: The buds are larger and just starting to turn pink.

Shot 3: Darker pink buds.

Shot 4: The flowers are starting to open.

Shot 5: More flowers.

Shot 6: Full of blooms (and still more to open)!

Aren't those flowers amazing? I just love the bright color.

Of course, while the Christmas cactus has been busy blooming, we've been busy decorating the house for Christmas. We have more space this year so we've been able to put out things that we just didn't have room for in previous years.

We still have too many ornaments for our
little tree, but I think I'd have that
problem no matter how big the tree was.

I made this paper chain last year with some retired Designer
Series Paper and card stock from Stampin' Up!®. It was so
long I had to loop it along the windows twice.

Mielle loves to sleep on pillows on the radiator, and the
garland did not deter her. As long as she doesn't play with
the ornaments, we're good.

Enjoy the holiday season, and thanks for stopping by!

Festival of hearts

The holiday season is in full swing, and I need to put up the Christmas decorations and finish making (and addressing!) my Christmas cards. But sometimes I need to take a break from all the holiday hoopla, so today I will be sharing three love-themed cards using the Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper (DSP) stack from Stampin' Up!^®. These cards would be great for Valentine's Day or any day you need to send a special "I love you."

This is my last post in the "Festival of Prints parade," but if you missed the previous two posts, check out Festival of ornaments (Nov. 25, 2012) and More Christmas cards with Festival of Prints (Nov. 26, 2012).

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Lots of Thoughts
Paper: Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla card stock; Festival of Prints DSP
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Heart punch, small star punch, paper piercer and mat, Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack, Dimensionals

This card (along with the other two in this post) will be headed to Operation Write Home, so I think the patriotic feel of this color combination is appropriate. If you look closely at the print on this sheet of DSP, you'll notice that the blue outlines around the red starburst images are actually a series of small dots. I continued that theme by paper piercing a border inside the heart and around the matted DSP. I added a blue star to pull out the blue in the DSP and a small banner with the sentiment. I really like the simple but eye-catching layout of this card.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: More Sayings and Such
Paper: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla card stock; Festival of Prints DSP
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Fashionable Hearts Embosslits die, heart punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Modern Label punch, paper piercer and mat, Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack, Cherry Cobbler baker's twine, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots

These cards are identical except for one difference. Can you spot it? On the card on the right I used Cherry Cobbler baker's twine to make three cross stitches in the punched strip of Cherry Cobbler card stock. I like the way the stitches turned out, but it was a bit of a pain to repeatedly fit the baker's twine through the little holes (the end kept fraying), and I didn't have the right size needle handy to simplify the process, so I decided to skip that detail for the second card. The chevron-pattern on the punched hearts is actually the print on the reverse side of the light blue pattern. I punched two hearts out of one of the short ends of the sheet of DSP, trimmed off the punched portion and then cut the rest of the sheet evenly in half, using each half on the bottom of a card.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!, unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Easy Events
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, textured Cherry Cobbler card stock; Festival of Prints DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: 2-3/8" scallop circle punch, Owl builder punch, brown ribbon (unknown), Dimensionals, Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue

This is a pretty straightforward card -- stamp, color, punch, layer -- so I won't say too much about it. The one detail I want to point out is that I used the Owl Builder punch to make the red heart on the tree and the vanilla hearts along the bottom of the DSP. I like that the heart shape is a little narrower than hearts sometimes are, and here they fit perfectly between the polka dots on the DSP.

I hope you enjoyed the "Festival of Prints parade" and found some ideas for using this fun DSP stack. Thanks for stopping by!

More Christmas cards with Festival of Prints

Are you back for Day Two of the "Festival of Prints parade"? If you missed Day One, check out the fun Christmas cards in the Festival of ornaments post. Today I'm going to share three more Christmas card designs using the Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper (DSP) stack from Stampin' Up!^®.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Word Play
Paper: Lucky Limeade, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla card stock; Festival of Prints DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Window Frames Collection Framelits dies, Houndstooth embossing folder, 1/2" circle punch, Scallop Edge Border punch, paper piercer and mat, Festive Paper-Piercing Pack, Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon, pearls, Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue, Dimensionals

I love how the Window Frames dies are the same shape as the Lucky Limeade parts of the pattern in this DSP. And those Lucky Limeade shapes were the prefect size to punch out and adhere inside the ornament in the stamped focal image. (It's hard to see in the photo, but there is also a tiny pearl inside the ornament.) To add texture to the card, I embossed the Cherry Cobbler mat with the Houndstooth embossing folder and adhered a piece of ribbon between the focal image and the mat.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Perfect Presentation
Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler card stock; Festival of Prints DSP; silver glimmer paper
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: Rhinestones, 1/8" Lucky Limeade organdy ribbon, Merry Minis punch pack, Dimensionals, Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue

The pattern on this paper seemed very busy to me, so I had a hard time deciding which stamps to use with it. I finally settled on this tree stamp because it was a bold image, but the text adds some visual interest. I stamped and cut out three trees and punched out a silver glimmer star for each. I added a little extra embellishment to the Crumb Cake tree -- rhinestones and organdy ribbon -- and adhered it to the card with Dimensionals.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Pines
Paper: Handsome Hunter, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake card stock; Festival of Prints DSP
Ink: Handsome Hunter, Early Espresso
Accessories: Merry Minis punch pack, linen thread, Dimensionals, Mono Multi liquid glue

Every time I look at this paper in the Festival of Prints DSP stack I see a flannel shirt. I can't help it. I briefly thought about making a card that looked like a shirt, but I decided to go with a woodsy, flannel-inspired scene instead, and this moose and pine trees fit the bill perfectly. It was a little time-consuming to cut out the stamped images, but I like "fussy cutting," so it wasn't too bad. And it was fun making a more masculine Christmas/holiday card.

Come back tomorrow to see three non-Christmas cards in my last post in the "Festival of Prints parade." Thanks for stopping by!

Festival of ornaments

Before I get to the crafty goodness I want to say that I hope you had a wonderful, safe Thanksgiving and holiday weekend. We went from about 61° F on Wednesday to cold winds and snow Thursday evening to a low of 12° F on Saturday. Definitely made me want to hide in my craft room and make cards all weekend, which I did as much as I could. Now, on with the show.

In the past few months, I've posted several card ideas using the Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper (DSP) stack from Stampin' Up!^®. (You can type "Festival of Prints" into the search box at the top of the right sidebar to see my previous posts.) I pulled that DSP out again this weekend and was busy creating Christmas and all-occasion cards. I made too many cards to share in one post, so I'll have a little "Festival of Prints parade" for the next couple of days. Leading the parade today is a series of cards made with the Holiday Ornaments Framelits dies.

Note: There are quite a few pictures in this post, so I kept them small. You can click on any of the pictures to see larger versions.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Petite Pairs
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Very Vanilla card stock; Festival of Prints DSP; sliver glimmer paper
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Island Indigo
Accessories: Holiday Ornaments Framelits dies, Top Note die, Tasteful Trim die, 3/4" circle punch, Merry Minis punch pack, silver cord, rhinestones, Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots

Aren't they fun? I started out by selecting four full sheets (and one partial sheet leftover from another project) from the Festival of Prints DSP stack. I wanted to do combinations of Lucky Limeade/Cherry Cobbler and Island Indigo/Early Espresso, so I chose the sheets with patterns on the front and back that would work with those combinations.

You can see how I arranged the Framelits dies to cut as
many shapes as possible at one time.

I started with one of the DSP pieces and placed as many of the Holiday Ornaments Framelits dies on it as I could, making several die cuts with one pass through the Big Shot. I repeated that process with each piece of DSP until I had a whole slew of ornaments. I sorted the die-cuts into groups of three or four, mixing and matching until I was pleased with the variety of ornament shapes, sizes and colors in each group.

I decided to use the same basic layout I used for my Ornament Keepsakes cards, so I die cut fourteen Top Note shapes from Very Vanilla card stock (seven for the card fronts and seven for inside the cards). Then it was time to embellish the ornaments. To make the silver glimmer paper ornament tops, I traced the tops of the die-cuts on the back of the glimmer paper, cut them out by hand and glued them to the ornaments. I also added punched circles or strips of glimmer paper to a few of the ornaments. (Tip: If you remove the thin plastic-like backing from the glimmer paper, then it is easier to punch shapes.)

To "hang" the ornaments, I adhered a small piece of silver cord to the back of each ornament and then adhered the ornaments to a Top Note die-cut. (I used Dimensionals to adhere one or two ornaments on each card.) I pulled the cord snugly over the top of the Top Note die-cut and adhered it to the back. Then I attached the Top-Note die-cut to the front of the card and stamped the sentiment. As a last-minute embellishment, I added a few rhinestones for just a little more sparkle.

I discovered with my first card not to place an ornament directly below the point in the top of the die-cut because the cord will have a tendency to slide to either side of the point. If you don't have silver cord, you could use baker's twine, embroidery floss, or crochet thread instead. You also could use a marker and simply draw the ornament hangers, or you could just skip the hangers, which is what I did with my previous Ornament Keepsakes cards.

There were still some good-sized scraps left after die cutting the ornaments, so I went to work with the ornament punch from the Merry Minis punch pack. I adhered five of the mini ornaments to each of the remaining Top Note shapes, stamped a sentiment, and adhered them inside the cards.

I enjoyed making these cards, but they took me much longer than I thought they would, mainly because I decided to add the glimmer paper ornament tops and cord to the ornaments. Although they still would have been cute cards without those details, I'm glad I took the time to add them.

Come back tomorrow for a few more Christmas card designs made with the Festival of Prints DSP stack. Thanks for stopping by!