A Simple Beautiful Christmas Card

I recently conducted a class where the attendees were half beginning stampers and half experienced stampers.  What project should I do?  I didn't want the beginners to feel overwhelmed with "fancy" tools like the Stamparatus or the Big Shot.  I didn't want the experienced stampers to be disappointed in a "too simple" card.    This is the card we made:

We used stamps from Winter Woods, a Stampin' Up! stamp set.
1.  Stamp the center tree in Shaded Spruce.
2.  Stamp the greeting in the upper right corner in Shaded Spruce.
3.  Stamp the other two trees in Mint Macaron.
4.  Adhere the card to a Mint Macaron mat.
5.  Adhere this to a Shaded Spruce base.
6.  Adhere 3 white sequins.  
Done with the front--easy, but beautiful!  Beginners were pleased and so were the experienced stampers.

Inside of card.  Some simple stamping on the inside in Shaded Spruce.

Give this card a try!

Thanks for stopping by.  Feel free to leave a constructive comment.  Contact me if you have a question.  Happy stamping!

Stampin' Up! has Shimmer Paint!!!

I arrived home from Seattle last night (a long weekend trip to visit my son's family in Bothell) to find that the UPS had paid a visit while we were gone.  Yay!  It's always fun to open one of those boxes!

I found a another new favorite from the Holiday Catalog!  Shimmer Paint--LOVE IT!  It's found on page 38--four colors:  Champagne Mist, Bright Copper, Frost White, Vegas Gold.  I bought only the Frost White.  After using it this morning, the other three are on my Wish List. 

I also got the Winter Woods stamp set and In the Woods Framelits which I bought in a bundle saving 10%.  Another favorite already!

A big thanks to Lisa Curcio for her wonderful You Tube presentation:  Three Shimmer Paint Techniques!  I am sharing two of them on my blog this morning.

I stamped two trees from the Winter Woods set in Shaded Spruce on two pieces of Whisper White card stock (2 3/4" x 4") using my Stamparatus.  They are beautiful just as they are, but the Shimmer Paint added a beautiful, subtle shimmer and shine.  My phone camera doesn't show the shine, but it's there!

For one tree I used a sponge dauber:
Shake the shimmer paint jar and listen for the clicking of the shaker inside. 
Dunk the sponge into the LID of the paint jar.
Starting at the bottom of the tree, slide the dauber back and forth working towards the top of the tree.  The ink color will blend a bit.
The dauber can be washed with soap and water and be used again.
Allow the tree to dry, run it through the Big Shot with its matching framelit, and you have a beautiful tree to use for your project.

For the second tree I used a Stampin' Up! Spritzer:
Shake the shimmer paint jar.
Unscrew the top of the spritzer and drop two drops of the simmer paint into the tube.
Add rubbing alcohol to the tube.
Put the lid back on and shake the spritzer well.
Spray the tree.
Allow to dry.
Run it through the Big Shot.  Another beautiful tree!

Both methods were easy to do and the results were beautiful.  The colors vary a bit.  The one closest to the catalog was done with the sponge dauber.

Thanks for stopping by!

Masculine Birthday Card

Masculine Birthday Card

Good morning, all!    Happy October.  

What's the use of making cards unless you send them-- right???  At the beginning of each month I check my list of birthdays and gather cards from my stash, address the envelopes, and lightly pencil in the date of the birthday in the corner where the stamp will go.  I keep these on my desk until it's time to mail them. Sadly, I need several masculine cards this month, and I have none!  So......

I CASED (copy and share everything) a card I saw on Facebook.  Thanks to craftylittlepeach.blogspot.com. for the inspiration.

Supplies:

Card Base:  Crumb Cake cardstock, cut to 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4"
Background:  Very Vanilla cardstock 4" x 5 1/4"
Circle:  Soft Suede
Happy Birthday Banner:  Very Vanilla 1" x 4 1/2 "
Background Banners:  4" of the 5/8" Burlap Ribbon
                                     Wood Textures designer series paper--3/4 " by 3 1/2"
Ink:  Mossy Meadow and Soft Suede
Adhesives: Multipurpose liquid glue, Stampin' Dimensionals, and Snail adhesive
Stamp Sets:  Perennial Birthdays, Rooted in Nature

Prepare the pieces:
Emboss the very vanilla background piece with the Big Shot using the pinewood planks embossing folder and then sponge over the surface with soft suede ink to highlight the embossing. Adhere this piece to the card base.  (The multipurpose liquid glue is my "go to" adhesive because it gives me some wiggle room to make adjustments if I don't get a good placement the first time.)  Snail adhesive works well too.
Cut a Soft Suede circle with the Big Shot using the Layering Circles framelits and emboss with the pinewood planks embossing folder.

Stamping with Mossy Meadow ink:
Stamp a tree on the envelope.
Stamp the two trees on a scrap of Very Vanilla card stock and run it through the Big Shot using the Nature's Roots framelits.                        
Stamp Happy Birthday (from the Perennial Birthdays stamp set) on the Very Vanilla  banner and "flag" the end.                      

Construction:
Adhere the burlap banner along the bottom of the card.
Adhere the wood textures banner just above the burlap banner.
Adhere the trees to the brown circle with dimensionals
Adhere the brown circle with liquid glue or snail overlapping the background banners a little.
Adhere the Happy Birthday banner with dimensionals.

Stampin' Up!  Products and item numbers:
Big Shot  143263
Pinewood Planks embossing older  143708
Layering Circles framelits  141705
Nature's Roots framelits 146341
Perennial Birthdays stamp set   145760
Rooted in Nature stamp set  146482
Wood Textures designer series paper  144177
Very Vanilla card stock  101650
Crumb Cake card stock  120953
5/8 " Burlap ribbon  141487
Sponges  141337
Multipurpose liquid glue  110755
Stampin' Dimensionals--mini  144108, standard size  104430
Snail Adhesive 104332

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have found this post helpful.  Feel free to leave me a comment.  I am a beginning blogger and would like constructive feedback.