Something Sunshine-y

This wonderful, sunny creation was inspired by the fabulous Jaydee.  A while back, she posted this card and I fell in love.  Daffodil Delight paired with Basic Black?  "Medallion" stamp? Sunshine?  Yup, all three things I adore and I was ready to CASE it the moment I saw it.

Alas, I had to get through the piles of Christmas cards and tags that needed making.  Finally, I was finished with all that, and then I couldn't find the time to get in the studio.  Crud. 

Then, Jaydee posted THIS on her blog, and I knew I had to make the time to get in and make the card--not so much for a chance to win the blog candy, but because the cards are going to such a worthy cause. 

Besides, it was a CASE challenge, and goodness knows I've had this card just sitting in the back of my brain for goodness knows how long (since December 8, maybe??) and I was ready to do it.

I sincerely wish I had the "Wishing You a Day Bright With Sunshine" sentiment, and will now be searching for it.  I did the best I could with the sentiments I had available.  (As an aside, anyone else out there think they have plenty of sentiments and then see one they just have to have?) I'm pleased as punch with the results. :o)

I used the Eyelet Border Punch on the inside to mirror the lacy look of the Medallion stamp.

This card uses:
Stamp Sets: "Medallion", PTI's "Signature Greetings"
Papers: Basic Black, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, "Sunny Garden" DSP
Inks: Daffodil Delight, Staz-On Black
Accessories: rhinestones

--Rach

Aaaaand, the Tags are Finished!

I think I'm all done with "Christmas" this year.  :o)  The cards are finished and in the mail.  The tags are completed.  Life is happy.  It's time to get in the studio and begin making some "sunny" cards to brighten up this grey day. ;o)

I made ten of each.  That should be more than enough.  ;o)

I tried to make sure each design had something "special".  The top of the ornament is has been "Smooched" in silver.

 The "Snow" sparkles with millions of "diamonds".

The ornaments on the tree have been "blinged". 

These were just too much fun to make!  Heck, who doesn't enjoy playing with 1.25" grosgrain?  I LOVE that ribbon! :o)

And, here they are in the their temporary home.

These just make me smile. :o)

--Rach

Gift Tags

As I was wrapping gifts the other day, I realized I had no gift tags.  Wait a minute, what?!? I had no gift tags??  How is that even possible?

Obviously that had to be remedied, and I went at once to the studio.  (Okay, maybe not "at once", what with having a Bitty and a Beanie around, but I did eventually get in there...)

I have once more pulled out "Big On Christmas" (I can't seem to get enough of it this year, not to mention it's SO stinkin' easy to work with!) and gone to town.  :o)

I was trying to decide whether to go with the Old Olive or Riding Hood Red on these two.  Riding Hood Red it is. :o)

I'm not finished yet, but getting there.  I'll post them all when they are completed.  :o)

These have used:

Stamp Set: Big on Christmas
Inks: Black Staz-On, Copics in Olive and Cardinal (I have no idea the color number, sorry), Peach Parfait, Basic Black
Paper: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler (OMG I LOVE Cherry Cobbler!)
Accessories: Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds

I'm getting there, I'm getting there.  :o)

--Rach

They're Done!

All 90 of 'em.  Finished.  I had them completed by midnight Friday evening, having worked on the last three sets from 2-4:30 and again from 8-midnight.  Insides, outsides, upside downs, all finished.  Whew!

(I know the image is a bit hot, there's not much I can do about it.  I MISS my flash!!)

I changed the sentiment on this one at Brien's request--he just liked it better.  Hey, they're our FAMILY cards, so who was I to judge?

Last night, Brien spent some time printing out the envelopes (he found a fun Dashboard widget (for those of you who use Macs) that would print the address and our return addy) and I'll work on these while the girlies nap today. 

Tomorrow begins the great gift tag adventure...

--Rach

And Another Stack is Finished

 Between making lentil soup, three batches of fondant (not the kind that goes on cake, the candy kind), and two loaves of bread, and between teaching and cleaning, I managed to find some time for ME. ;o)

I hit the studio at nap time (both girlies are sick so there is definitely a need for naps) and managed to knock out the snowmen.  Yay!

I tweaked the original just a bit.

Can you see the difference?

I popped the snowman up on dimensionals.  As I was painstakingly coloring and glittering each one (have I mentioned my studio is now coated in Dazzling Diamonds? You're shocked, I'm sure...) it came to me that these guys needed to be lifted off the embossing just a bit.  I'm thrilled with the results. :o)

I use a heavier weight paper when embossing using white.  I LOVE the SU! Whisper White paper for stamping on, but it's rather thin when it comes to embossing. I picked up some heavier stuff from PTI and I've been very pleased with it.

Of the designs I came up with this year, this one is Brien's favorite.  I think the non-traditional colors combined with the striking contrast of the Cherry Cobbler with Basic Black really does it for him.  He's typically a traditional kind of guy, but hey, this is one fun card! :o)

--Rach

One Stack Down...

...4 more to go.  I tackled the most time consuming card yesterday afternoon.  It took me nigh on four hours to do all the coloring and cutting required.  Oh my.  What was I thinking?!?

 It is a pretty good looking card, though.  I guess that's what I was thinking. ;o)

--Rach

Making Progress

No, no cards to post, just an update on the saga of the Christmas cards.  Time sure has gotten away from me this year...

It's funny, now that I'm staying home, I seem to have less time to work in the studio, and less time for myself than I used to.  How is that even possible?!? Hm.

Because I'm so behind on my Christmas cards, I came home from church last night, got things settled in the house and hit the studio.  It took me an hour and a half, but I managed to get ALL my materials cut for the cards. 

 

There are at least 16 of each card.  Sometimes my love of layers really IS a problem...:eye roll: 

I know there are those who would go out of their minds if they had to make more than one or two of the same card, and here I am, making 16 at the minimum, lol! That's one of the things that's so great about stamping and card making, everyone can do that which they like best. 

I'm hoping to get a bit of time in the studio this afternoon or evening after church and get started on these guys.  I'd LOVE to be able to get them in the mail by Monday or Tuesday next week. 

--Rach

Playing with My New Goodies

Okay, so I fibbed.  I had no idea I would have a couple of minutes to play around in the studio before we left Friday.  Heck, who can resist the lure of new goodies?  A better person than I, that's for sure.

Getting out the "Holly Jolly" paper and the copics, I made the card above.  I can't believe how intense the Cherry Cobbler looks in that light.  That does it, I MUST get my bounce flash fixed...

I love the intensity of the copics in that image, as opposed to the one a few posts ago.

And, here, I don't think you can see it,  but I played with the VersaMark Dazzle.  IRL, it gives the tiny snowflakes a hint of shimmer and makes them a bit more visible than with VersaMark alone.

Again, I tried to capture the shimmer.  "Tried" being the optimum word, of course...

These are pretty much facsimiles of cards I've already created so you can find recipe details below.  :o)

--Rach

Hung Up on Christmas

 

When I first began stamping in 2007, it was November, right around Christmas time and I knew I just had to make my own cards.  I was still learning the basics and quite overwhelmed, but gosh darnit, I was going to make it happen. I had figured out that I wouldn't have to color in solid images--which was a good thing as I didn't have any markers yet--and I thought the stamp set "Hung up on the Holidays" was the cutest thing EVER. :o)  

I purchased it, I made some cards, and I let it sit unused for the next two years as I used other "fancier" stamps to make my Christmas cards. What was I thinking?!? This is a darling set!

I don't know about you, but I will lie in bed at night and card ideas will flit through my head.  This one kept coming to me and I got in the studio and had to make it.  Initially, I was unimpressed.  Somehow, it didn't quite meet up to the vision in my head.  Okay, more to the point, it wasn't this card I made.  I initially used Very Vanilla instead of the Whisper White and instead used only the ornaments.  It was a bust.  It was too symmetrical (is there such a thing?), and too yellow. I changed the paper and added the gingerbread man, and was somewhat pleased with the results, but still not sure. 

That led to this card:

After putting it together, I realized I actually liked both cards and will be making them both this year. (Yes, I know the string is a little off from that red ornament, remember, these are just mock-ups.)

In other exciting news, I picked up some VersaMark Dazzle to use on the snowflake cards.  It has a hint of shimmer that it adds to the watermarking.  I also picked up...drum roll please...red and green copics.  Oh my.  Oh my oh my.  I found two colors that are so close to Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler and my plan is to use them on the Noel cards. :o) I still need to play around with them--a LOT--but I'm getting the feel for them, and they're pretty nice. :o)

As for this card, it uses:
Stamp Sets: "Hung up on the Holidays"(retired), PTI's "Signature Christmas"
Papers: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Soft Suede, Whisper White
Inks: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Soft Suede, Brilliance's Starlite Silver

I'll be out of town this weekend, so no stamping for me.  And then, we're having a church retreat from 7-8 Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday--during my typical stamping time--so I don't know if I'll have anything new to post until next Friday.  Maybe Lissie can pick up the slack? ;o)

--Rach

Big On Variations

As I mentioned, I wanted to use my "Big on Christmas" stamp set this year, and did so yesterday with the snowman.  I also decided to pull out the "Noel" stamp and work with it.

My plan is to use my "Holly Jolly" paper when it arrives, so I needed to use a stand-in until then.  I dug into my retired DSPs and used "Dashing".  I LOVED this paper when it was out and enjoyed using it the other night.  I may make a few cards with this paper and color combo, as well as the "Holly Jolly".  In fact, Brien said, "But I like this one!" 

I know the image is stamped crooked, and the coloring is crappy, but remember, this is a mock-up.  I'll do a much better job on my actual cards.

And, since these were mock-ups, I decided to show you another I created when trying to decide which color card base to use:

B said the red was a bit too intense and I agree, although, it's a pretty lovely card as well.  Someone will receive this card. ;o)  Additionally, I'll have to do a couple mock-ups with the "Holly Jolly" and the Cherry Cobbler to decide for certain if I'll use the red or green base.

This card uses:
Stamp Set: "Big on Christmas"
Papers: Real Red, Old Olive, Dashing DSP (retired)
Inks: Black Staz-On, Old Olive, Real Red
Accessories: dimensionals

One more improvement to this card will be to color the top of the ornament.  I've got to purchase a gold metallic ink pen...:sigh:

I played around again last night and should have  card for you for tomorrow as well. :o)

--Rach

Something a Little Non-Tradtional

Alas, my plans to get in the studio last night were thwarted by creating two gifts for the grandparents in our lives.  I'll just have to do it tonight instead. :o)

This is another of the cards I created Monday evening.  I adore Cherry Cobbler, it is so rich and almost decadent feeling.  I knew I wanted to make a card using "Big on Christmas", and I knew I wanted to use Cherry Cobbler.  I decided to pair it with Basic Black, and it all came together. :o)

I love that this one isn't a "traditional" card, and yet, is so visually appealing. I'm not sure if you can see it (maybe enlarge the photo?), but I added Dazzling Diamonds to the S, N, and W. I'm playing around with the idea of cutting out the hat and carrot and making them three dimensional, but I'm not sure if I'm up to all that work on 15+ cards...We'll see how the time works out.

This card uses:

Stamp Set: "Big on Christmas"
Papers: Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Inks: Black Staz-On, and Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green markers
Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds, Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder

Now, if only it would snow here...it was almost 70 this morning.  :sigh:

--Rach