I was asked last week if I would make a birthday card for my friend’s grand-daughter’s first birthday. I hemmed and hawed. As the mother of a soon-to-be-twenty-year-old son, I am not in the habit of making cards suitable for a one-year-old baby girl. But I relented and said, “Sure!” This would be as great of a challenge as any challenge I could enter, placing me squarely outside of my comfort zone. As I colored and snipped the image, I started to have fun creating this sweet little card and working with this wonderful paper!

The Stampin’ Schach Tips:

• Pop it up! After snipping out the image, pop it up on Stampin’ Dimensionals for extra depth! For smaller images, like the party hat, Mini Glue Dots will do the job fabulously!
• When selecting patterns to layer, florals and geometrics pair just fine without competing against each other. Coordinating colors make the task even easier!
• Never be afraid of the unexpected! Old Olive would probably not be a first choice on anyone’s color wheel for a baby’s birthday card. However, it works perfectly on this card by balancing the pastels, and making the Old Olive in the pattern paper stand out.
• Tint the texture! After passing the central circle through the Big Shot with the Stampin’ Up! Elegant Bouquet embossing folder, it was tinted with Blender Pens and Pretty in Pink, Old Olive, and So Saffron inks. The tinted embossed flowers are “pawsitively” perfect with the floral paper.
• Even baby’s love bling! The centers of the embossed flowers were “dazzled with diamonds” simply by adding a dot of Tombow Adhesive and covering with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. Three blue Circle Ice Brads complete the look!
• It’s all in the details! The Eyelet Border, punched in Very Vanilla is layered onto Whisper White. Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon hides the interface. The Very Vanilla is perfect with the So Saffron checked paper, while the Whisper White pulls in the embossed circle and the floral paper. The little party hat draws the eye to the sentiment, and is the perfect finishing touch!

I certainly hope that my friend likes this card. It was a delight to create! And speaking of creating, don’t forget to enter your creation into the Pals Paper Arts “Christmas Cheer” challenge this week. Plus, it’s Blog Candy week at the PPA, but you can’t win if you don’t enter! For more details, please visit the PPA! I hope that you enjoyed your visit at The Stampin’ Schach today, and I hope that in some way my card and tips have served as an inspiration to you! If you ever have any questions about any of the projects that I create or the techniques that I use, please do not hesitate to email me. Until next time…

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Stamp Sets: Beary Best Friends (118052), Beary Nice Wishes (118050); Inks: Basic Black (101179), Pretty in Pink (101301), So Saffron (105213), Old Olive (102277); Designer Series Paper: Pawsitively Prints (118060); Card Stock: Old Olive (100702), Pretty in Pink (100459), Very Vanilla (101650), Bashful Blue (105120), Whisper White (100730); Tools: Big Shot (113439), Stampin’ Up! Elegant Bouquet Embossing Folder (115964), Circle Scissor Plus (112530), Glass Mat (112531), Blender Pens (102845), Eyelet Border Punch (113692), Corner Rounder (109047), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Mini Glue Dots (103683), Tombow Multipurpose Adhesive (110755); Embellishments: Circle Ice Brads (109111), Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon (109066), Dazzling Diamonds Stampin’ Glitter (102023)

Thursday is Pals Paper Arts challenge day! If you are new to this challenge, we are a group of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators who sponsor a variety of weekly challenges. This week the challenge is to incorporate the theme, “Christmas Cheer”! Although as a Design Team we are dedicated to using only Stampin’ Up! products on our projects, you are more than welcome to use any supplies that you wish! For my inspiration card, I wanted to create something serene and elegant. I fulfilled that vision by using the “Pine Tree” image from “Lovely as a Tree”. A “Swirly” Texturz Plate and Dazzling Diamonds glitter are used for effect.

The Stampin’ Schach Design Tips:

• When is less more? The answer is when you want to design an elegant card. I rarely do elegant…I am more a “distressed and dirty” kind of gal, as is evidenced by my love affair with Sponge Daubers and Chocolate Chip ink. So in my quest for elegance, I kept the color selections to a minimum…Whisper White, Old Olive, and Real Red!
• Move beyond boring! Although I love Whisper White, a large unbroken expanse of it can be “visually boring”. That is when the Big Shot and Stampin’ Up! Perfect Details Texturz Plate come to the rescue. The soft elegant swirls mimic the feel of snow swirling in a storm.
• Dazzle with Diamonds! After sponging a touch of Frost White Shimmer Paint over the tree, each branch received a coating of “icy” Dazzling Diamonds glitter. The small end of a Stylus was used to apply a thin line of Tombow Multipurpose Adhesive branch by branch. A liberal sprinkling of Dazzling Diamonds was applied, and the excess was tapped away.
• Do pay attention to detail! Rounding opposite corners on the image mats add that little bit of something special, as does the glitter around the edges of the Stampin’ Up! Lots of Tags die cut.

The Stampin’ Schach Tips:

• Earth Element inks provide a perfect palette for coloring “Gifts of the Earth”! Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red, More Mustard and Old Olive team up with Elegant Eggplant and Bordering Blue to make quick work in the tinting department!
• To finish your “watercolored” images, shade with Sahara Sand to anchor the image and add depth!
• Double the fun! A double Eyelet Border adds visual interest to the bottom of the card and balances the large image.
• It’s all about the details! The Vintage Brads which border the image mat and the Brads on the sentiment pull this card together. A snippet of Chocolate Chip 1/4″ Grosgrain Ribbon hides the interface between the Always Artichoke and More Mustard card stocks.
• Keep with the theme, but don’t be afraid to stray a little! I was focusing on the “earthiness” of this set, so I stayed with earthy elements: inks, paper colors, distressing the edges, use of wood sheets, and vintage brads. However, I added a touch of Victorian in the Eyelet Border and the Finial Press Embossing Folder.

I hope that you enjoyed your stay at The Stampin’ Schach and my focus on the “Gifts of the Earth” stamp set. I am happy to send you off on the next step of your Blog Hop journey…Gina Shaw’s website, Cards by Gina. But first, please leave me a comment to let me know what you think of today’s new card and basket. You know that I appreciate and love your comments! Until next time…

Holiday Hopper Line-Up
1. Kris Kilcoyne (Kween Bee Kreations)
2. Carla Bazhenow(Carla’s Scraps)
3. Linda Callahan (Stampin’ Seasons)
4. Mary Fish(Stampin’ Pretty)
5. Tricia Gillam(Soul Stamper)
6. Jill Gregory(Stamping Heart)
7. Liz Hughes(DIY Paper Creations)
8. Kim Lampone (Stamp, Scrap, Get Kreative)
9. Kalshelia Lloyd (Stampin’ Fabulousity)
10. Regina Mangum (The Stampin’ Bean)
11. Margaret Moody(Margaret Moody)
12. Debbie Pierce(Stampin’ Sunshine)
13. Ann Schach (The Stampin’ Schach)
14. Gina Shaw (Cards by Gina)
15. Lourdes Torres (Cozy Crafty Corner)

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