Christmas in July Series - Post 3

If you missed the previous posts, you might want to check them out starting a couple of posts back. I'm doing a week-long series on Christmas cards, but not using Christmas stamps. Here's today's:

Paper: Midnight Muse, Very Vanilla, Silver Glimmer
Ink: Basic Gray
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree
Tools: Big Shot, Heat Tool, Typeset Alphabet Bigz Die, Snowflurry Bigz Die
Accessories: Doily

Ok, so this isn't my favourite. It looked so much better in my head! ha. I hardly ever plan my designs out... I just create as I go. This one seemed to take hours!

The Typeset Alpha Bigz Die is so versatile! I've been using it a lot. On this card, "N O E L" fit just perfectly. After stamping and embossing the trees and cutting my letters, I thought it needed something else. After playing around with several ideas, I thought about using a doily. It didn't look quite right when I just laid the doily down, so I got the idea to cut a snowflake into it. It works, but I've got some other ideas floating around in my head with those doilies, so stay tuned...

Anyway, it is what it is. Maybe you love it. Creators are their worst critics after all. :)

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Christmas in July Series - Post 2

Sorry for the delayed post today... dealing with house hunt craziness! If you missed my post yesterday (the first one in this series), you can find it here.

Today's card uses the hostess set, Simply Sketched. I fell in love with this set the moment I saw it! It's not a Christmas set. I comes with three images and three greetings, but none of them Christmas. I thought the branch could be used for Christmas with the right colouring. Check it out:

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive
Stamps: Simply Sketched Hostess, Wacky Wishes (retired Hostess)
Tools: Big Shot, Petals-a-Plenty TIEF, Labels Framelits, Decorative Label Punch
Accessories: Dazzling Details, Vintage Faceted Buttons, Baker's Twine

I stamped the image on watercolour paper, coloured with a Blender Pen and then added Dazzling Details to the red berries. I fussy cut these by the way. :) The sentiment is from an old hostess set (Wacky Wishes) but you can easily swap this out with something else.

I added a little texture with an embossing folder & Core'dinations card stock and some of the fab Glimmer Paper.

Check back tomorrow for another card in this series.

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

A New Series! Christmas in July...

For about the next week, I'll be showcasing cards for a new series called Christmas in July. Not only will I be talking about Christmas, but I will be using (mostly) non Christmas stamps to show you that you can work with what you've got!

Today I'm featuring a card using the oh-so-popular Lovely as a Tree stamp set. Check it out:

Paper: Whisper White, Pool Party, Silver Glimmer
Ink: Pool Party, Midnight Muse
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Merry Messages
Tools: Heat Tool, Big Shot, Apothecary Accents Framelits
Accessories: Jewels
Technique: Heat Embossing

So, the sentiment is from the long ago retired set Merry Messages, but the main focal image is from a stamp set that is not specifically Christmas. This is one of two images that can potentially be used from this set, so the possibilities are endless!

After making this, I thought the evergreen would look pretty sweet if I had used Pool Party embossing powder, but I'm happy with the result. Perhaps I'll give that combo a try next.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the second post in this series...

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Life lately has been nothing but house hunting! We are desperately trying to find a house that is within our budget and fits our family. We have seen 60+ houses, put in two offers that fell through and are still looking! :(

This card is one I made over a month ago, before all the craziness, to try and use up and showcase retiring products. I mixed some retiring colours with a long retired stamp set (Extreme Elements), Bigz Die (Stars #2) and a new stamp set & punch (Label Love & Artisan Punch).

It's a simple card, but wanted to share so that you know I'm still alive! haha I haven't even had much time to play with my new goodies! Wish me luck on finding a house so that I can relax a little and get back to what I love most!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Punched Cross

Today I'm sharing with you an old project... you can tell it's old because of some of the products used. However, I still wanted to show it to you because I think it's really cool.

Paper: Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, Beau Chateau DSP (retired)
Stamps: Crosses of Hope (inside)
Tools: Scallop Trim Border Punch & Corner Punch (retired), Little Leaves Sizzlit
Accessories: Pearls, Flower Trim

What happened is that (over a year ago!) I came across an awesome tutorial video from Frenchie on how to make a beautiful cross with punches. I was so excited that I made a few, but then never did anything with them. As you may have read, I had to do a major clean up of my craft loft as we're selling our house and during this clean up, I came across my crosses. :)

I hope you've enjoyed this share and if you've got these punches (or perhaps similar ones would work?), head on over to Frenchie's Blog linked above and show her some love!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

What's New and MM?

I'm still here... have you been wondering what's going on in my life? Well, my littlest one hit the 3-month mark over the weekend (can't believe that!) and life with kids is pretty busy, but on top of that, we have also decided to sell our house, so that makes life pretty crazy around here lately! Having to keep the house spotless for showings is near impossible with little ones! haha.

Being kicked out of the house for showings and raising two kids has left me little time for designing, but I also didn't want to craft much because my space becomes buried in mere seconds when I'm working. :) It's an organized chaos though... but I didn't think potential buyers would appreciate that.

Anyway, some of the projects I'll be showing you over the next few posts are ones I've done a while back, but haven't yet had the opportunity to showcase them here on my Blog. Here is one CASEd from one seen on Pinterest:

Paper: Basic Gray, Pool Party, Silver
Ink: Basic Gray
Stamps: One in a Million
Tools: Big Shot, Fancy Fan TIEF, Punches: Heart, Owl,
Apothecary Framelits, Typeset Alphabet
Accessories: Pearls

I added a few more layers and dimension then the one I saw and I'm happy with how it turned out. Although, many ask me what "MM" stands for. I thought it was pretty clear that it stood for "Mr. and Mrs." but maybe I'm wrong... what are your thoughts?

Thanks for sticking with me during this time where I'm horribly neglecting my Blog. I appreciate your following and comments!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Doily Thanks

This card was one I designed for Sunday Stamps several weeks ago, but never got around to blogging about it. :( My life lately has been insanely busy!

My design was partially inspired by a card seen on Pinterest - a large background stamp was used and cut into quarters (or I assume so anyway since that's what I did). The card on Pinterest was quite simple... I jazzed it up by stamping the fuller image again and then adding a sentiment. Check it out:

Paper: Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Lucky Limeade
Stamps: Hello, Doily, A Round Array
Tools: Big Shot, Perfect Polk Dots TIEF, Punches: 7/8" Scallop, 1" Circle, Artisan Label

I'm really happy with the way this card turned out. I created an abstract layout that I felt fit with the way I stamped my image. I kept this card fairly simple... no bling! But I did add lots of dimension with some embossing and popping up my sentiment in two spots.

Hope you like my design... this is a great one if you have to whip up a lot of thank you cards!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Thanks a Bunch

It's another week at Sunday Stamps... Kathya has got a fun colour combo for us - Sahara Sand, Melon Mambo & Daffodil Delight. I opted not to do a card this week, but a bunch of tags to thank a friend who brought me some homemade soup in a mason jar after my son was born. I'm not much of a baker or cook, but thought this was a nice gesture when I returned her jars.

Paper: Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Mellow Moss (retired)
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Sahara Sand, Melon Mambo
Stamps: Friendship Preserves
Tools: Big Shot, Windows Framelits
Accessories: Very Vanilla 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon

I must apologize for the poor photos... we listed our house yesterday and over the weekend, I had to do a major declutter and pack-up of my entire house, including my craft loft! :( I kept all of my most used items, but temporarily had to pack up my portable light studio for the house photos.

Anyway, this was a quick and easy project to thank my friend for her awesome soup. She does like to bake & cook, so I know that she will get some use out of the tags I made for her.

I hope that you'll play along with this colour challenge! Pop on over to Sunday Stamps to play along... there are some exciting changes happening with the challenge. You now have two weeks to play along, and we're introducing some new DT Members. So head on over and see what's new while you upload your project!

Until next time, stay crafty!

Steph