Christmas in July Series - Post 4

Good morning and welcome to the fourth post in this series. If you're just tuning in for the first time, I'm showcasing cards that use non Christmas stamps to make Christmas cards! Here's today's:

Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer
Ink: Pool Party, Island Indigo
Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Occasions Alphabet, More Merry Messages
Tools: Punches - Scallop Oval, Artisan Label
Accessories: Jewels
Technique: Heat Embossing

Aside from sentiments, the goal of this series is to us show you that you don't need to own a ton of Christmas stamps (or maybe any at all) because you can use what you've got in your stash! This is one of my favs. I love the colours and the tone-on-tone stamping and heat embossing - both in Pool Party! All the stamping, minus the sentiments, are from the same stamp set, Everything Eleanor. What a great set this is! I have used it a lot... there are so many fantastic images that are great for layering.

Hope this series is inspiring you to use your non Christmas stamps to think outside the box!

Check back tomorrow... you won't believe what stamp set I used to make a Christmas card. :)

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Give Thanks. Give Gift Packs.

Today I have a simple set of note cards. I CASEd the design from Leena Girsa. She always inspires me! Check them out:

Paper: Note cards & envelopes
Ink: Midnight Muse, Pool Party, Sahara Sand, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink,
Early Espresso, Elegant Eggplant, Pool Party, Summer Starfruit
Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Sincere Salutations (retired)

Each set comes with four cards and four envelopes. These cards are strictly stamping - the Everything Eleanor stamp set is perfect for this type of collage stamping because it has a lot of elements. All you need aside from this stamp set is a sentiment and the card is complete.

For my colour schemes, I referred to one of my favourite tools - the Colour Coach. If you don't have one, I highly recommend it... but you should wait until the new catalogue because of the "Colour Refresh" that Stampin' Up! has announced. In case you missed it, here are the details:

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Black, White & Yellow... Over at Sunday Stamps

Happy Sunday! Sunday is quickly becoming my favourite day of the week because it's always a new challenge over at Sunday Stamps and not only do I get to create, but I'm inspired every week by all the entries too!

Paper: Whisper White, Vellum
Ink: Basic Black, Daffodil Delight
Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Sincere Salutations (retired)
Tools: Heat Tool, 1-1/4" Scallop Circle
Accessories: Basic Black 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Baker's Twine
Note Cards & Envelopes
Technique: Heat Embossing

I did something a bit different this week - I created a set of note cards instead of just a single card. Pretty easy to do when SU! sells Whisper White note cards with envelopes! I wanted to keep things pretty simple, so I just stamped a collage of stamps from the set Everything Eleanor.

I originally wanted to emboss the sentiment in white, but I discovered that what I thought was my white embossing powder was actually clear and I didn't have anymore white! Bummer! But I think the silver works well also.

The envelope is simply a piece of vellum that's scored and held together with some ribbon. Easy peasy!

What do you think?

Hope this inspires you to play along with us this week. I just love Kathya's colour choices this week!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Sunday Stamps Sketch Challenge!

I'm so excited to be a Designer for Sunday Stamps! This is my first official design for the team and I'd love for you to head on over and play along this week. It's lots of fun and gets your creative juices flowing! This week is a sketch challenge and here is my design:

Paper: Primrose Petals, Very Vanilla, Birds of a Feather DSP, First Edition DSP
Ink: Soft Suede, Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals
Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Petite Pairs
Tools: 2-1/2" Circle Punch
Accessories: Jewels

I stuck pretty closely to the sketch and thought it would be fun to punch out the shape to have a "peek through" window. To coordinate the jewels, I coloured them with a Sharpie to mimic Midnight Muse. Did you know you can do that?!

So, what are you waiting for? Go check out Sunday Stamps and this week's sketch!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Easy Peasy Thank Yous

Stampin' Up! Note Cards make it quick and easy to create beautiful note cards for any occasion. As part of the wedding samples I prepared for this weekend (see yesterday's post), I also created some thank you cards too. Take a look:

Paper: SU! Note Cards
Ink: Crumb Cake, Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight
Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Wacky Wishes (Hostess)

This card is purely stamping. No tools, no Big Shot (gasp!). I think it gives great impact, but with minimal effort. Change up the colours and sentiment and you can create these cards for any occasion. The label from Everything Eleanor is a perfect backdrop for larger sentiments.

Paper: SU! Note Cards
Ink: Daffodil Delight
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Tools: Big Shot, Designer Frames TIEF, Elegant Lines TIEF,
Punches - Word Window, XL Oval

This card is more elegant than the previous, simple, and eye catching. The ever-popular and always a "wow" factor of the raised impressions from Textured Impressions Embossing Folders mean that you don't need much else.

Paper: SU! Note Cards
Ink: Basic Gray
Stamps: Perfect Punches
Tools: Big Shot, TIEF's: Fancy Fan, Manhattan Flower, Lacy Brocade,
Elegant Lines, Scallop Circle Punch
Accessories: Daffodil Delight Seam Binding Ribbon

Again, using the Textured Impressions Embossing Folders, you don't need much else! For this set of cards, I displayed four more elegant folders, used on the entire card base. I added a sentiment from Perfect Punches and accented with a pop of Seam Binding Ribbon.

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph