Classic Lovely as a Tree

I am so happy that Lovely as a Tree didn't retire!  I hope it NEVER does!  It's one of my go-to stamp sets for both masculine and sympathy cards.  Unfortunately, I needed a sympathy card recently, and I had just made this card.

The card colors are Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip and gold.  On the card base, I stamped a couple of stamps from Timeless Textures then flicked on some spatters using gold Wink of Stella as well as an aquapainter dipped in Chocolate Chip ink.  I stamped the oak tree in VersaMark, embossed it with gold embossing powder then sponged it lightly with Chocolate Chip ink to soften the gold color a bit.  I distressed both the focal image and the mat with my bone folder then added a piece of retired crochet trim.

Happy stamping!

Glittery masculine card!

I made this card for a friend's birthday, but I forgot to take a picture of it!  I liked it so much that I made another one to share with you.

The cardbase is Crumb Cake, and I stamped the new Hardwood BG on it in Night of Navy.  I stamped the trees in Night of Navy then added two-way glue and Dazzling Diamonds for the glittery snow.  The ribbon is denim.

Happy stamping!

Lovely as a Tree!

This is a birthday card for my brother-in-law, Paul.  Again, I used the Thankful Tablescape kit from the Holiday Catalog.  It is just perfect for masculine cards!

The cardbase is Crumb Cake.  I used the paper ribbon and orange strips from the kit.  I stamped the pinecones from Lovely as a Tree randomly on the cardbase.  The tree is Always Artichoke and Early Espresso stamped on Confetti White cardstock.  I distressed the edges and added some Soft Suede ink then popped it up with dimensionals.

I hope Lovely as a Tree never retires!  Happy stamping!

Birch ribbon!

My favorite product in the Holiday Catalog is the Thankful Tablescape Simply Created Kit.  I'm not planning any table settings; I'm going to use it to make cards!  This card includes 3 products from the kit: the birch paper ribbon, the leaf, and the twine in the button.

The cardbase is Wild Wasabi.  I embossed the front with the Pretty Print EF.  The birch paper ribbon is 5" wide, so I cut a 4 1/4" piece and cut a 2" strip of it for the card front.  I stamped the oak tree from Lovely as a Tree onto Whisper White after coloring the stamp with Wild Wasabi and Early Espresso.  I sponged Crushed Curry around the edges to tie in the leaf color.  I added a Naturals Designer Button with a twine bow.

Happy stamping!

Lovely as a Tree!

I had a workshop on Thursday, and we made this card using Lovely as a Tree.  This is the oldest current stamp set, and I don't want it to retire!  Only a few more weeks until we find out for sure.

The card base is Wisteria Wonder, which I will miss greatly!  On top of that is Natural Composition DSP.  Like my previous card, I sponged it with white craft ink to enhance the pattern.  It makes me think of birch!  We colored the tree with Lucky Limeade and Early Espresso.  After stamping, we added wisteria dots to look like blossoms.

Happy stamping!

Masculine Christmas card

It's Christmas in July for the SCS Creative Crew!  Here is my masculine Christmas card for that challenge.  The cardbase is Cherry Cobbler.  See that Early Espresso layer??  It's the new Coredinations cardstock from the Holiday Mini!  The paper core is a different color (Crumb Cake in this case), so you can emboss it and sand it; I used the Woodgrain embossing folder.  The image is from Lovely as a Tree.  I layered that onto Be of Good Cheer DSP and tied some Cherry Cobbler bakers twine around it.  The sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes is punched with the modern label punch.

Happy stamping!

Sympathy card

Unfortunately, I needed a sympathy card for a co-worker.  Her mom passed away on Valentine's Day.  (That brought back memories of my dad's death 10 1/2 years ago, and Ray's mom died 13 years ago as well.)

My go-to set for sympathy cards is Lovely as a Tree.  I colored the image with watercolor crayons (Early Espresso, Old Olive, Riding Hood Red, More Mustard and Pumpkin Pie), spritzed the stamp with water and stamped it on watercolor paper.  It didn't turn out quite right, so I spritzed a little more and stamped again.  It made a bit of a double image, but I think it turned out pretty well.   I added more Old Olive for the ground.

The cardbase is Crumb Cake stamped with images from French Foliage.  The ribbon (Riding Hood Red taffeta) and sentiment (Fundamental Phrases) are both retired.

Happy stamping!

Non-traditional Christmas card

Here's my non-traditional Christmas card.  Can you guess why I love it?  First of all I love the colors; no surprise there!  Second, I LOVE the silver glimmer paper.  Can I use it on every card?  I hope so!  Third, I love that it's a simple card but has a few details that add a lot: ticket corner punch, scallop border, embossing on the card front, and Frost White shimmer paint.

The color combo is a dynamic duo: Wisteria Wonder and Elegant Eggplant.  The card base is 4 1/4 X 11, scored at 5 1/2.  I ran the card front through the Snowburst embossing folder.  It shortened the front of the card, so I used the scallop border punch on that as well as the Elegant Eggplant layer behind the silver shimmer paper.

I stamped the pine tree in Elegant Eggplant ink onto Wisteria Wonder, then I stamped again with Frost White shimmer paint.

Happy stamping!

CAS color challenge card

I decided to try a challenge last week.  The color challenge was Always Artichoke, So Saffron, Cajun Craze.  Perfect for fall!

The card base is So Saffron.  First, I created the sun.  I punched a 1 1/4" circle out of a Post-It note.  I put the Post-It on the card base and sponged So Saffron.  Then I covered that circle with the punched-out piece and sponged Cajun Craze around the edge of it.  I inked up the trees stamp with Always Artichoke.  It was hard to tell what the color was, so I used an aquapainter and some extra ink to add color and dimension to the hills.  I added the sentiment, a base layer of Cajun Craze and Always Artichoke seam binding ribbon to complete the card.

Happy stamping!

CASEing Lydia

Lydia Fiedler, AKA understandblue, is this week's featured stamper on SCS.  Lydia runs SCS, and she's a very talented stamper too!  The challenge was to CASE a card from Lydia's gallery, making at least 2 changes.  I changed the stamp sets and colors used.

This was a 5-minute card!  Just swipe 3 colors direct to paper (sorry spots won't work for this!) and add a stamped image and sentiment.  I discovered that Whisper White works the best for this.  I tried it with Confetti White, but it just didn't look right.

Stamps used were Lovely as a Tree and Sincere Salutations.  Colors are Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake and Cajun Craze.

Happy stamping!

Color inspiration from home decor

Do you see the world in Stampin' Up colors?  I have noticed Lucky Limeade all over the place lately!  In fact, my new quilt is that color.  I also have new sheets that are Cajun Craze, so I decided to use those 2 colors in a card.  The 3rd color, Early Espresso, came from my yummy new quilted ribbon (coming soon in the Holiday Mini)!

My card base is Lucky Limeade, and I embossed the bottom of the cardfront with the Square Lattice embossing folder.  I inked up the pine tree image from Lovely as a Tree with Lucky Limeade then "thumped" it with a Cajun Craze marker.  The tree base is Early Espresso.  The sentiment is from Oval All which hasn't seen ink in my craft room for quite a while!

Happy stamping!

Paint chip card

I don't think that would be the "official" name of this card, but it does look like a paint chip, right? I was inspired by this card by LeeAnn Greff. My strips are 1 1/8 X 2 1/2. I used the block size to help me figure that out. I used dotto to adhere the strips right next to each other on a scrap piece of paper, stamped the image, then sprayed with Vanilla Smooch Spritz. I separated them and adhered them to a Shimmery White card base which is attached to a card-sized piece of Night of Navy. I think the bottom needs a sentiment, but I'm going to wait to stamp that after I decide who it's for.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Lovely as a Tree; Paper: Shimmery White, Night of Navy, Not Quite Navy, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue; Ink: Black StazOn; Accessories: Night of Navy taffeta ribbon, Vanilla Smooch Spritz
Happy stamping!

Stair step card

For this week's workshop wow, we are making a stair step card. (Sorry for the bad lighting in the photo!) The measurements are very simple. The card base is 5 X 10 1/2, scored at 1 1/4, 2 1/2, 4 1/4, 6 and 8 1/4. This would be a great photo card with a smaller middle layer with a more substantial sentiment.
Happy stamping!

Card from PattyB

Look at the gorgeous card I received from PattyB! She is my co-hostess for the workshop wow demo challenge, and she is also in charge of keeping the demo challenge hostesses in line. That's a pretty tough job!
I've been looking the card over, and I think she used More Mustard to look like gold. It's so pretty! IRL, there is some glitter on the tree, but it's hard to see in the photo. I'm so happy that Lovely as a Tree didn't retire!

Bookmark card

This weekend was Virtual Stamp Night (VSN) on SCS. It is 2 days of fun challenges scheduled every hour. I wasn't able to play too much this time, but I did get one challenge done: a bookmark card. I've been wanting to make one for a long time. The one I chose to make has a bookmark attached, and the recipient just tears it off. I decided to make a masculine card, although I think it would work for a woman too.
Here is the template for my card.
Here is the inside of the card.
Here's a better view of the bookmark. I decided to do the moonlighting technique on both the card and the bookmark. I'll be demonstrating this technique at my October workshops.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, So Many Sayings (retired), Hugs & Wishes; Paper: Confetti White, Kraft, Not Quite Navy; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Not Quite Navy, So Saffron; Accessories: cutter kit, 1 3/8" circle punch, sponges, Cropadile, metallic eyelets, Always Artichoke narrow grosgrain ribbon
Happy stamping!

Another wicked card

Here is another card from the SCS WICKED challenge. This card uses Jan's sketch and her moonlighting technique. My focal image is a little larger than the one in the sketch, but I made it work. The color combo is So Saffron, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip and Perfect Plum.
For the moonlighting technique, stamp your image and color it in. Punch out a circle from a post-it note to mask off the moon. Sponge all over the image then color in the moon if desired. A great tip I read on SCS was to use the post-it note left over from punching out the circle for coloring the moon neatly.
I colored the ground Always Artichoke and the tree trunks Chocolate Chip then I sponged Perfect Plum and a little Chocolate Chip over the whole thing. I sponged some So Saffron onto the moon.
Instead of ribbon, I used a strip of Perfect Plum cardstock with a line of paper piercing.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Sanded, Weathered; Paper: Very Vanilla, So Saffron, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Perfect Plum; Ink: Basic Black, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Always Artichoke, Perfect Plum; Accessories: sponge, small oval punch, crafters tool kit, watercolor crayons, aquapainter, 1 1/4" circle punch