Another Challenge Combo!

Hello and welcome back! I'm really on a roll lately - this is my 6th blog post in 9 days! Today's card was inspired by the "All About the Base!" challenge at The Paper Plunge, the sketch challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches, and the designers choice challenge at Can You Case It.

So here is the card:

The sketch showed a square card, and even though I usually make a standard A2 card, I decided to try to stay true to the sketch. I already had a piece of the Whisper White Thick Cardstock cut to 5-1/2" x 8-1/2", and not wanting to waste any of it, I scored it at 3 inches and adapted it by adding the embossed layer. I used the "vintage" Festive Flurry framelits to cut the snowflakes out of the Soft Sky square, then embossed it with the Softly Falling embossing folder. 

It's hard to see in the pictures, but I used a sponge dauber and Whisper White Craft Ink to bring out the embossed snow. After attaching the embossed layer to the card front, I inlaid two of the stamped snowflakes on the card front, then added the third to the inside of the card through the cutout, popping it up with a Stampin' Dimensional.

I stamped the front sentiment from the "vintage" Greetings of the Season stamp set and used one of the Chalk Talk framelits to cut it out. To get the look for the sentiment piece, I covered the back with Fast Fuse, then took a piece of the white jute ribbon and separated the fibers to get the threads. I just looped them and stuck them on the back, then attached it to the front of the card with dimensionals.

I hope you like today's card!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

PCCCS#163 & CCMC#374 - Tic Tac Toe & Color Challenge

Hello and welcome back! Today's card is a combo challenge card (again!) for the Tic Tac Toe Challenge at Paper Craft Crew and the color challenge at Create with Connie and Mary.

For my tic tac toe, I decided to go right down the middle, with birthday, embossing, and ribbon. You can never have too many birthday cards, and I rarely make a card without embossing and/or ribbon! So here's today's card:

For this card, I cut my card base the long way (4-1/4 in x 11 in) and scored it in the middle. That way, I could wrap the ribbon around the base to tie it. A sponge dauber dipped in Blushing Bride ink helps bring out the texture from the "vintage" Elegant Bouquet  embossing folder, and a bit of piercing on the scallop circle surrounding the stamped sentiment from the "vintage" Happiest Birthday Wishes stamp set helps to emphasize that as well. The finishing touch comes from the dotted lace trim tied in a simple square knot.

This card was pretty quick and easy - I may have to make a bunch of these for my stash!

I hope you like this card!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

SIP#15 & FMS#205 - Happy Anniversary!

Hello and welcome back! I think I've set a record this week - posting four days in a row! I guess I found this week's challenges especially appealing, and I was also able to combine several of them, so that helped a lot. Today's card is for the Stamp Ink Paper color challenge and the Freshly Made Sketches challenge. I have friends who have an anniversary coming up so this card is for them.

Here is today's card:

This card uses a combination of current and "vintage" products. The En Francais background stamp is one that I will never get rid of - it is one of my favorites! It's stamped in Pool Party to complement the embossed banner.  The sentiment is stamped in Basic Black Archival Ink, and I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the words lined up just right. After adding the little Daffodil Delight banner, I felt like it needed just a little more of that yellow accent, so I dug that "vintage" flower button out of my stash. The sliver of doily was sitting on my work table - a leftover from yesterday's card - so I added that too, just below the "vintage" satin ribbon.

I hope my friends enjoy this card and I hope you like it too!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

A Challenge Combo!

Hello and welcome back! Today's card is a three-fer! It was inspired by the "Get Well Soon" challenge for SUO#131, the color challenge for CYCI#87, and the sketch challenge for PPA#269. 

Here's today's card:

To come up with the color palette for this card, I pulled out my trusty original Color Coach (again!). Many of the blues in the SU color families have a greenish tint to them, and I wanted truer blues, so I pulled from my stash.  The colors here are Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy and Bashful Blue, along with Whisper White. As you can see, there isn't much stamping on this card, just lots of layers. The sentiment is from the "vintage" stamp set Delightful Dozen and is stamped in Not Quite Navy ink. I pierced the large scallop circle to create a bit of texture to complement the embossed layer.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

PP#263 - Clean & Simple Fall Scene

Hello and welcome back! Today's card is for the clean and simple fall challenge at The Paper Players. 

And here is my card:

As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I rarely use other stamp sets, but this one is so cute! It's a Unity Stamp Co. set called "Hauntingly Sweet." I've had this in my stash for several years, and just haven't been able to part with it. Candy corn is my favorite Halloween candy, so this card "speaks" to me!

All of the other products on the card are Stampin' Up! Most are current, but the ribbon is "vintage" Basic Black taffeta. 

I hope you like this card!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

CCMC #373 & TGIFC #21 Challenges - Happy birthday!

Hello and welcome back! Today's card is for two challenges - the sketch challenge at Create with Connie and Mary, and the birthday challenge at TGIF.

And here is my card:

I had originally planned to make this card for a third challenge, but I just couldn't work with the color combination for that one. I pulled out my trusty Color Coach (I really miss having that in the current catalog!) and chose a card blindly to determine my combo. I really like this combination, because these colors remind me of fall, and today is the first day of autumn.

I pulled items from my retired stash for this card - the Brights DSP and the Brights Glimmer Brads. This stamp set is one of my favorites, partly because of this large sentiment, which is great for card fronts, and can be stamped easily in two different colors because the words are two separate stamps and they are photopolymer.

Once again, there is no ribbon on this card, which is very unusual for me. I added a bit of interest with the layered punch flower by snipping into the center to create the petals.  (I wasn't sure how I wanted to layer the colors, so I punched all three colors in all three sizes and played with them until I got the combo that I liked best. Now I can make two more cards, since I have two more flowers!)

That's all for today. I hope you like this one!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Paper Plunge #47 - Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

Hello and welcome back! Today's card is for this week's challenge at The Paper Plunge. I'm a last minute Christmas prepper and shopper, so this was definitely a challenge for me! I rarely give any thought to that holiday before October. I don't have much current Christmas product yet, but we got a new set at Convention this year, so I pulled that out for this card.

As you can see, this is a pretty simple card, and would be easily duplicated for a mass mailing. I send about 60 cards every Christmas, but I rarely try to keep it simple. Maybe this year...NOT!

That's all for today. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

PCCCS #161 - A Special Wedding Card

Hello and welcome back! Today's card is for sketch challenge #161 at the Paper Craft Crew.

And here's the card:

A couple of months ago, I posted a card for a bridal shower. You can see it here. Well, the wedding was last night, and this is the card I made to go with the wedding gift. This is the first time in quite a while that I've made a card that is not a standard size, but since it wasn't going to be mailed, I didn't have to worry about extra postage! It also gave me an opportunity to make an envelope with my Envelope Punch Board, which does not get a lot of use.

Since I didn't have any 12 x 12 Stampin' Up! Whisper White cardstock, I had to dig into my "contraband" stash (gasp!) for the card base. This card is 6 x 6, since I needed something big enough to hold that giant scalloped heart. I cut out the scalloped heart from Elegant Eggplant, then attached it to the Wisteria Wonder layer, only gluing around the outside edges. I cut the smaller heart through the two layers of cardstock, and then did the ribbon weave on the back of the layer before attaching the whole thing to the front of the card. That was about the time I thought, "I should have done some piercing around the edges." So I did! With all the layers, I didn't really have to worry about poking all the way through.

Here's a close-up so you can see the detail of the piercing.

I added the two hearts cut from Brushed Silver cardstock and the sentiment, cut with the Ovals framelits. And this card is unusual for me in another way - there is no bling! I decided that the shiny ribbon and the silver cardstock blinged it up enough!

I used some old DSP from my stash to create the envelope, and added some popped-up Brushed Silver circles and Wisteria Wonder bakers twine to create the closure.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

--Cindi

P.S. - Here's a photo of the happy couple! Congrats Kat and Greg!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

More September birthday cards!

Hello and welcome back! Today's card is for the challenges at Stamp Ink Paper #13 and Freshly Made Sketches #203.

Several days ago I posted what I thought was going to be my go-to birthday card for September, but these challenges inspired me to make something new. Here's my new card:

I still haven't gotten out of the spring/summer color combo mode, but the weather here has gotten considerably cooler over the last couple of days, so that may motivate me to switch over to fall colors!

Most of the products used to create this card are from my "retired" stash - Regal Rose cardstock, Rose Red patterned DSP, and the Starburst framelits. Current products are Rose Red cardstock and ink, Whisper White regular cardstock and thick cardstock, and the Hello You thinlits. (I just love that new heavyweight Whisper White cardstock for card bases!) This is a clean & simple card, but I still had to add just a bit of bling with the little pearls on the banner.

A couple of these cards went into the mail today; the rest will be sent before the end of the month. Soon I'll have to start thinking about October...

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Paper Plunge 46 - Primary Colors Challenge

Hello and welcome back! It's unusual for me to post two days in a row, but when you enter two different color challenges, it's pretty much impossible to combine them into one card. Today's card is for the challenge at The Paper Plunge. Since it is back-to-school time for many (my "kids" are in their 20s, so not so much for me!), the ladies at The Paper Plunge decided on a Primary Colors challenge this week - red, yellow, and blue. I've done rainbows and gradations before, so I wanted to try something different and just use those pure colors. Here's my card:

I used Real Red, Daffodil Delight, and Pacific Point with two of the stamps from Gorgeous Grunge to create the background. I was afraid that the image wouldn't show up very well stamped directly onto that, so I used the new Basic Black Archival ink (my new favorite black ink!) and stamped the "vintage" You Rock onto vellum, then layered that on top. It looked wet, so I used my heat gun to dry the ink. I pulled the ribbon from my stash of retired Stampin' Up! ribbons and simply tied a knot in each color and added them to the bottom.

It is so much easier for me to choose my ribbons, now that I have organized them. I used to have all of my retired ribbon spools just randomly thrown into a box, but I could never find what I wanted. Then I had an epiphany! I've had these elfa drawers under my work table, but they've been filled with lots of random stuff. I emptied them out, added the utensil organizer (which just happened to be a perfect fit!), and now I have my ribbon organized by color. It is so awesome! Check it out:

I originally organized them by type, but this way makes much more sense. And it's so pretty!

I don't have anyone in mind for this card yet, but I'm sure I will soon.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

CYCI#85 - A Color Challenge

Hello and welcome back! I haven't entered a Can You Case It? challenge since I left the design team, but I thought it was time.

My sister-in-law's mother is turning 90 today, and we're showering her with cards for this big birthday! This is what I'm sending her.

I finally inked up my Awesomely Artistic stamp set using Early Espresso, Marina Mist, and Daffodil Delight. I tried to keep this card kind of simple - didn't even use any ribbon! - but I did have to add a few pearls in the flower centers. They are hard to see in the photo. I colored in just a few of the flowers with markers.

I hope she likes the card, and I hope you do too! 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Cards for sweet September birthdays!

Hello and welcome back! Today I'm featuring the card I'm sending to my friends with September birthdays. One will also be going to my niece, whose birthday I forgot on August 30. Sorry, Michelle! 

I know it's fall, but this stamp set really called for spring colors. I may try it again with some fall colors for October... I pulled a couple of things from my retired products for this card - the Pink Pirouette taffeta ribbon, and the Curly Label and Modern Label punches. The flowers and leaves were colored in using a Blender Pen and ink pads and some accents with a So Saffron Stampin' Write Marker. I think this new Brick Wall embossing folder is the perfect background for this wreath.

Today's tip - when creating the wreaths with the Wonderful Wreath framelits, cut the inside circle first, then stamp the wreath and cut the outside circle. The stamp is photopolymer so you can see where to stamp. If you stamp and then try to cut the inside, it's hard to see where to line up the framelit because of the border. Hope this makes your life easier! 

Bonus tip - in order to save paper, I used the Whisper White cardstock that I layered to stamp and cut out the wreath. Once you layer it, no one will know that there is a big hole in the middle!

I hope my friends like their birthday cards, and I hope you do too!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog