It’s time for another Freshly Made Sketches challenge! This week the talented Lesley has prepared a fabulous sketch for us.  I seized the opportunity to make another Christmas card, featuring the Tree from Christmas Lodge.  And just look at all of those pearls! Enjoy today’s quick and easy card!

The finished card measures 4-1/4″ wide by 5-1/2″ long.

• Cherry Cobbler Pearls!  Red and brown permanent markers were used to color Stampin’ Up!’s  Basic Pearls.  The resulting color closely mimics one of my favorites…the rich and yummy Cherry Cobbler! And the nice thing is that it can be completed in a matter of seconds!

• Contrasts! A lacy Cherry Cobbler Finishing Touch Edgelit border is a wonderful contrast to the deeply textured Early Espresso Woodgrain panel!  Of course, Basic Pearls are always the perfect accessory for any well-dressed card!

• Sentiment with a flair! The Joyous Celebrations set offers a novel solution for a sentiment.  Using the  Holiday Mini catalog for my inspiration, I added Pearls to the tiny Bow and Mistletoe.  Plus I double curled my banner at one end.

 

The fabulous Houndstooth paper that I used for the card base is from the Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack. The Early  Espresso and Very Vanilla color combination is warm and rich.  And that awesome Cherry Cobbler pattern is from the Merry Moments Simply Scrappin’ Kit.  I love the traditional colors and patterns.

For today’s card, I wanted to create something a little rustic.  But as the card progressed,  I decided to add contrast to the rustic embossed panel, thus the addition of the border and the pearls. What do you think of the contrast? As always, your comments are important to me, and I do read each and every one of them.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME!  Ten years ago this week, on the first day of school, I survived a pulmonary embolism.  I was one of the lucky ones who felt that something just wasn’t quite right.  I will be forever grateful to Susan, who taught in the room next to me.  She insisted that I tell the principal, and took me by the hand and walked me to his office.  Susan just would not take “No” for an answer.  I am also grateful to  Mr. Bowen, who would not accept the “I’ll see the doctor at the end of the day” excuse. Those of you in education know that you just don’t miss the first day of school….except when your principal forces you to go to the emergency room.  But go I did and survive I did.  And not a day goes past that I do not count my blessings.  Until next time…

Stamp Sets:  Joyous Celebrations, Christmas Lodge;  Inks:  Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler; Designer Series Paper:  Merry Moments Simply Scrappin’ Kit, Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack; Card Stock:  Naturals Ivory, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso Core’dinations; Tools:  Big Shot, Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Finishing Touches Edgelits, Large Oval Punch; Glitz and Glam:  Basic Pearls; Other:  Red and Brown Permanent Markers

It’s Sunday, and time to play with The Paper Players!  This week the amazing LeAnne has a wonderful sketch for us.  I decided to employ the Triple Time Stamping technique with a slight twist, using LeAnne’s sketch instead of the traditional stack of three layers.  Since I have not made any fall cards yet, I pulled out one of my favorite sets for autumn…French Foliage. Unfortunately I needed a sympathy card, so I added a “With Sympathy” banner created with the Loving Thoughts set.  

This finished card measures 4-1/4″ wide by 5-1/2″ long.

• A triple treat! The trick to Triple Time Stamping is stamping three layers at one time.  I used Naturals Ivory card stock for the images and matted with Early Espresso card stock.  I lightly adhered the Naturals Ivory pieces into position according to the sketch, and then randomly stamped the various Leaves images in Always Artichoke, More Mustard and Cajun Craze.  To add a little texture, I zipped the stack through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  Next, I just matted the stamped images onto Early Espresso card stock and rebuilt the stack.

• Bow-dacious bow! A unique ribbon treatment of loops of Always Artichoke Seam Binding and Victoria Crochet Lace create the “wow” factor on this card!

 

• Simple sentiment!  “With Sympathy” from Loving Thoughts was inked in Early Espresso and stamped onto Naturals Ivory card stock.  The edges were distressed with Crumb Cake ink, while the instant speckles were courtesy of the Color Spritzer Tool and Soft Suede Stampin’ Write Marker.

And I do want to share some awesome news with you!  My son, Brady the Boy (not to be confused with Brody the Boxer), was named principal trumpet in the University of Missouri Orchestra.  Now that classes have started, and he has met new friends, he seems to be settling into his new role as graduate assistant.  He even called me yesterday and asked if I could bake a batch of cookies so he could share them with the tuba professor!  

So what do you think of the Triple Time Stamping with a Twist?  Won’t you let me know in today’s comment?  Your comments are important to me, and I do read each and every one of them.  As for me…I think I like the traditional stacked look better.  But you know what, I would not have known that if I would not have experimented! Until next time…

Stamp Set:  French Foliage, Loving Thoughts; Inks:  Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Soft Suede Stampin’ Write Marker; Card Stock:  Naturals Ivory, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze; Tools:  Big Shot, Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Sponge Dauber, Color Spritzer Tool, Paper Snips; Glitz and Glam:  Always Artichoke Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Linen Thread, Victoria Crochet Trim, Naturals Designer Buttons

It’s Wednesday…and time to play at Freshly Made Sketches! What better way to face the middle of the week than with a sketch by the talented Jen Mitchell.  Talk about a quick card…today’s definitely is!  Although it uses the retired Northern Frost Decorative Strip, if you are like me, you still have this classy die in your stable.  The super sparkle is courtesy of Silver Glimmer paper…and sparkle it does. This card is gorgeous in real life.  Enjoy!

This finished card measures 5-1/4″ x 5-1/4″.

• Sparkle plenty! Five Silver Glimmer Snowflakes, made with the retired Northern Frost Decorative Strip, dance across the face of this card.  To make the detail of each flake stand out, they were adhered to a Baja Breeze strip!

• Beautiful banner! The Warm Winter Wishes sentiment from Winter Memories was stamped in Baja Breeze.  Two sparkly snowflakes anchor the banner and draw the eye to it.

• Imagine the possibilities for this card! Switch out the sentiment to suit the situation.  How about “Congratulations” for a winter wedding? Or how about “Happy Birthday” for a winter birthday?

I knew with all of the sparkle that this would be a difficult card to photograph, but I wanted all of the bling.  And I know that it will be difficult to mail, with the extended banner.  Hmmm! I guess I will just have use it to decorate with this winter.  Something tells me there may not be a tree this year with little Lexi in the house!

As always, your comments are important to me, and I do read each and every one.  So please, won’t you take a moment and let me know what you think of today’s card.  And of course, if you ever have a question about the cards I create or the techniques I use, I am only an email away.  Until next time…

Stamp Set:  Winter Memories; Inks:  Baja Breeze;  Designer Series Paper:  Snow Festival;  Card Stock:  Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer;  Tools:  Big Shot; Northern Frost Decorative Strip (retired), Snowburst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (retired);