It’s Sunday and time to play with The Paper Players!  This week the talented Nance Leedy is challenging us to create something Christmas with non-holiday stamps or colors in our Holiday Hoopla Challenge.  I elected to use Fabulous Florets as my non-holiday stamp.  I hope that you enjoy my Christmas Love card!

The Stampin’ Schach Design Tips: Adding Richness in Minutes
This card measure 4-1/4″ wide x 5-1/2″ long.

• Texture!  The Snow Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder adds interest in a matter of minutes, and lends richness to even the simplest of layouts!

• Embossing! The Fabulous Florets image was inked in VersaMark and stamped onto Very Vanilla card stock.  Heat embossing with Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Emboss Powder followed, taking the image from ho-hum to yum-yum!

• Customize! Make your own sentiment! Using a Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Write Marker, I selectively inked the words “Christmas” and “love” from two separate images in the Come to Bethlehem set.  Since I plan on giving this card to my husband, I specifically wanted this phrase.  A snippet of Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding and a quartet of custom colored Black Basic Pearls draws the eye right in!

The sky is the limit when creating holiday cards from non-holiday stamps or non-traditional colors! I know that I am excited to see what you create this week!  Oh…and as you noticed…I did indeed have pearls on my card.  Were you the winner of retired Stampin’ Up! Designer Series Paper in my “Pearls or No Pearls” contest?  Find out in an upcoming post.


So what did you think of my Fabulous Florets Christmas Love card?  Won’t you let me know in your comment today?  Your comments are important to me, and I do read each and every one.  And of course, if you ever have any questions about the cards that I create or the techniques that I use, I am only an email away! Until next time…

Stamp Sets:  Fabulous Florets (W 123025, C 123027), Come to Bethlehem (W 118732, C 120591), Music Notes Standard Wheel (120327);  Inks:  VersaMark (102283), Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Write Marker (119681);  Card Stock:  Cherry Cobbler (119685), Basic Black (121045), Very Vanilla (101650), Brushed Gold (102935); Tools:  Heat Tool (100005), Big Shot (113439), Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Emboss Powder (122949), Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder (109129), Snow Burst Textured Impression Embossing Folder (124096),  Scallop Oval Punch (119856), Large Oval Punch (119855);  Glitz and Glam: Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding (120992), Basic Pearls (119247)

It’s Saturday and time to take a little peek at my Paper Players card.  The talented Nance Leedy has a fun challenge in store for us tomorrow.  If you are in the mood for something a little more Clean and Simple in style, I hope you will join me for the reveal!  There is no spritzing, no daubing, no distressing, no curling! But one question remains:  Are there pearls???

Those of you who know me, know that I LOVE to embellish anything and everything with pearls…even Boxer behinds!  Let me know in your comment today whether you think this card has pearls.  Please leave your comment before 3:00 AM CST Sunday.  I will randomly select one winner from those with the correct answer to receive fifty 6″ x 6″ sheets of retired Stampin’ Up! Designer Series Paper.  Good Luck!  Until next time…

It’s time to play with the Pals at Pals Paper Arts!  This week we have one of my favorite color combinations, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke and Very Vanilla, taking center stage in a fabulous color challenge! So grab your stamps, inks and paper, and join along!

 

• Perfect Texture! Randomly stamped Always Artichoke Pines, from Lovely As a Tree, received a healthy dose of texture courtesy of the Big Shot and the Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  Likewise, Crumb Cake Pines and Baja Breeze Snowflakes, from Serene Snowflakes, receive the same lovely texture and form the panel behind the focal image.  The Waterspots are courtesy of the French Foliage set.

• Perfect Bling! The Tree from Christmas Lodge was sprinkled with Dazzling Diamonds and adorned with Basic Pearls, which had been tinted using red and brown permanent markers.  Mica Flakes are adhered to the base of the tree using Tombow Adhesive.

• Perfect Ribbon! Very Vanilla Seam Binding is shirred and adhered upon a strip of Cherry Cobbler card stock embossed using the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  The strip is further adorned with edgings punched using the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch and the Scallop Trim Border Punch.

• Perfect Sentiment!  The Merry Christmas sentiment from Bright Hopes was inked in Early Espresso and stamped onto Very Vanilla card stock.  One end was flagged, and the strip was then curled to add interest.  A Northern Frost Sizzlit Die Snowflake takes on a different look when adorned with a Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding rosette!

The inspiration for this card was gleaned from my childhood, when my mother and I would scour the timber on the family farm in search of the “Perfect Tree”!  My father would come along with us, ax in hand, ready to chop down our choice.  Some years, the tree would be adorned with bird nests and pine cones, as Mother Nature helped us decorate. Bare spots were placed facing the wall, while the full glory of the tree was positioned for people to admire.  As I thought back to those Christmases over half a century ago, it brought back so many wonderful memories of loved ones who have long since passed, but who forever live in my heart.

I so hope that you enjoyed today’s card, and that you will let me know in today’s comment.  Your comments are important to me and I read each and every one of them.  Of course, if you ever have any questions about the cards that I create or the techniques that I use, I am only an email away.  Until next time…

Stamp Sets:  Lovely As a Tree, Christmas Lodge, Bright Hopes, French Foliage;  Inks:  Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Soft Suede Stampin’ Write Marker;  Card Stock:  Always Artichoke, Brushed Gold, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla;  Tools:  Big Shot, Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Northern Frost Sizzlit Decorative Strip Die, Color Spritzer Tool, Paper Snips, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch;  Glitz and Glam: Basic Pearls, Mica Flakes, Dazzling Diamonds Stampin’ Glitter, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Always Artichoke Seam Binding, Very Vanilla Seam Binding