Wonderfall Fall!

Wow, November already and we're in the middle of fall!  Fall holds some of the most lovely days of the year, when the sunshine is clear, the air is cooler and the leaves show us more colors than the normal green!  We've had some gorgeous days here in Oklahoma lately.

At my most recent workshop we made this card featuring the Wonderfall stamp set and the Autumn Accents Die for the Big Shot.  The die gives us some beautiful leaf shapes and the coordinating Wonderfall stamps add patterns to the leaves!  A great duo!

I used the color scheme from the Orchard Harvest Designer Paper:  More Mustard, Cajun Craze and Lucky Limeade.  The maple leaf was stamped with its coordinating Wonderfall stamp while I used the Woodgrain Embossing Folder to add faux-vein texture to the smaller Lucky Limeade leaf.  The sentiment, from the Pursuit of Happiness stamp set, was stamped onto Sahara Sand, punched with the Large Oval Punch and embellished with a Cajun Craze Glimmer Brad.

A wide strip of the apple Orchard Harvest Designer Paper goes across the bottom portion of the card and is anchored with a band of 1/4" Early Espresso Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon.  This made for a pretty easy and yet attractive seasonal card!

Wonderfall Stamp Set     #128084W   $24.95         #128087    $17.95

Orchard Harvest Designer Paper      #126895       $10.95

Thanks for visiting!  Come back soon!

Margaret

Elegant Notes: Easy as 1-2-3

Have you noticed the lovely Elegant Notes with envelopes on page 168 of the annual Stampin' Up! Catalog? One package of these ultrasmooth beauties contains fifteen (15) Very Vanilla note cards and envelopes!  Very generous!  They come pre-perforated so all you have to do is punch out the perforations and use as desired.

#1: 

This is very simple yet elegant.  I just added a piece of Rich Razzleberry from the Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Paper to the back of the openings and stamped "A Note of Thanks" in Razzleberry; the stamp is from the Thank You Kindly set on page 145 of the IB & C (big catalog).  The card is ready to add a personal message inside and sent to the recipient!  These notes come with the dry embossed frame around the front already.





#2:

This note also uses Razzleberry Lemonade DSP in a different print.  To dress this up a little, I dyed Pink Taffeta Ribbon by gently pulling it over the Melon Mambo ink pad, drying it and tying around the card front with a bow.  A notch above the first, but still easy-peasy.

#3: 

This is like Sample 2; I simply took a silk flower from the Pretties Kit, lightly sponged it with Melon Mambo ink, adhered it to the bow with a Mini Glue Dot and centered it with a small ivory half-back pearl.  Again, eeeeeasy!


So there you have it, truly as easy as 1-2-3 to decorate some lovely note cards to show someone that they are worth a little extra effort!

 


However, we want the envelopes to compliment our decorated notes!  I took another note, removed the perforations and used it as a stencil to lightly sponge the flaps of the envelopes with Melon Mambo Classic Ink to carry the design over to the envelopes.  I can always add cardstock or DSP to the back of this note and still use it when I'm through stenciling; I've gained decorated envelopes and not lost a thing!

Elegant Notes  #116450, pg. 168, Catalog, pkg. of 15,  $9.95

Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Paper, 12 x 12", pkg of 12 sheets, #115675, pg. 162, $9.95

Free stencil to decorate matching envelopes:  priceless, lol!

The new and adorable Mini Vintage Tags from the Summer Mini Catalog would be perfect to adorn the front of these notes also!

Thanks for visiting today!  I hope you enjoyed the ideas.  Come back soon!

If you wish to purchase any of these items or other Stampin' Up! products, click here to go to my Stampin' Up! website; once there, click on the "Shop Now" button in the upper right-hand corner.

Thanks!
Margaret

Totally Tool Card

I can always use some "man" cards, can't you?...although this set isn't limited only to men because many women are handy with tools also, right?  This set, Totally Tool, is fun to work with and a little different from most of the other sets Stampin' Up! offers.  Each of the five tool images has a saying underneath it; these can be mounted with the image or mounted on the side of the block, giving you more flexibility with it.  You can also use the omitting technique, using a marker to ink only the part of the stamp you wish to use.

For the cards today, I chose to use the full stamp including the image.  These cards were for a fast make and take in a short period of time.  The first one is more simple than the second.  The image was stamped and colored with a Blender Pen and Going Grey ink then mounted on Old Olive and a Silver Mini Brad attached to each corner.

To give this card something of an "industrial" look, I wrapped a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil around a piece of cardstock then ran it through the Big Shot with the Harlequin Texturz Plate to give an interesting background layer.  This is really  easy and adds so much to the card.  You may wish to use a shim to give more pressure to the Big Shot "sandwich"; I used a sheet of copy paper but each machine may be calibrated a little different so you might need to experiment to get the best results.

The card base is Old Olive with a layer of Not Quite Navy on top.  I used Dimensionals to attach the top two layers to the cards.

The next card has an additional step in it's construction.  If you look closely, you can see that I used the Woodgrain background stamp, stamping it in Not Quite Navy ink on the NQN cardstock.  This gives a little more depth and textural interest to the card.

The use of the aluminum foil is an easy technique which gives light and reflectivity to the card and really dials up the pizazz!  Just handle the pieces carefully during construction of the card to keep from compressing the texture.

I hope you enjoyed these simple cards.  This set offers a lot more possibilities; these cards are just a fun start!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope to see you again soon!  Try this technique and post a link to your creation in the comments section of this post so we can see what you did with it!  Have fun!

Margaret

Falling Leaves TSSC91

Ahh, I'm back with my Technostamper Monday Sketch Challenge! I've missed a few days with other issues so I'm glad to be back today with my challenge card! Today's sketch is pretty simple with three circles and three stripes to consider.

And here's my card. I used the wonderful Falling Leaves set (#115368, set of 9, $21.95, p. 27) that is new in the 2009-2010 Idea Book and Catalog; there are some great words in this set too!

I chose the Autumn Traditions Designer Series Paper (#115668, p. 160) for it's beautiful fall images and color scheme. Rich Ruby Red cardstock is the card base, and I ran the card front through the Big Shot with the Squares Texturz Plate to give it some texture. I then added a Soft Suede cardstock layer at the top to which I added strips of three patterns of the DSP after I distressed the bottom edge with the Distresser Tool from the Cutter Kit. What a handy tool!

Note: Ruby Red cardstock size: 6" x 6-3/4" before folding to 6" x 3-3/8"; Soft Suede cardstock size: 2-3/8" x 5-3/4". This will fit into a standard 6-3/8" x 3-5/8" envelope.

For the circles I stamped one leaf in Elegant Eggplant, one in Always Artichoke and the circle image which says "Happy Thanksgiving" in More Mustard with the acorn in the center being colored in with the Soft Suede Marker before stamping. These were all layered on coordinating circles punched from card stock. The acorn in the center image was covered with Crystal Effects to make it stand out.

Stamps: Falling Leaves, Itty Bitty Backgrounds (#114996, set of 4, $14.95, pg. 132)
Inks: Elegant Eggplant, More Mustard, Always Artichoke; Soft Suede Stampin' Write Marker
Paper: Ruby Red, Whisper White, Soft Suede, Elegant Eggplant, Always Artichoke
Accessories: 1 3/8", 1 1/4", 1" Circle Punches, Cutter Kit, Big Shot, Squares Texturz Plate, Crystal Effects, Dimensionals.

You can see Technostamper's card and the list of others who are participating this week right here. Here's the original sketch:

Thanks for visiting today! May your Monday be a good one!

Margaret

Falling Leaves and Bright Blessings!

Fall is officially here and to mark the occasion, I have a card with the new Stampin' Up! Falling Leaves set and the coordinating jumbo wheel Bright Blessings. This is just a perfect pair to do some festive fall stamping for friends and family (say that fast 10 times, lol!).

This was a card for a recent workshop; it was quick and easy. That's what we like when time is in short supply and we need a card. The jumbo wheels are a favorite of mine as they can add lots of punch, cover a lot of territory and add lots of visual texture in a short amount of time.

First the Soft Suede cardstock was wheeled with the Bright Blessings jumbo wheel which was inked up on the Soft Suede ink pad. The Stampin' Around Wheel Guide is a great tool to get and keep those rolled lines straight on your project!

The next step was to use the Distressing Tool from the Cutter Kit to distress the edges of the More Mustard card stock for a softer look. One of the leaves from the set was stamped in More Mustard on this. Three leaves from the set were stamped in the same colors as the three punched-out circles, layered, then added to the More Mustard layer, which was then adhered to the card.

For a finishing touch, a short length of Dusty Durango Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon was adhered to the card's left edge with a Gold Mini Brad. I found this stamp set to be fun and easy to work with, and it offers lots of possibilities. It has some good sentiments with it also (always a plus!).

Stamps: Falling Leaves (#115368, set of 9, $21.95, p. 27)
Ink: Soft Suede, Old Olive, Dusty Durango, Rich Razzleberry
Paper: Whisper White, More Mustard, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry and Dusty Durango card stocks (p. 155, 156, 157.)
Accessories: Dusty Durango Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon (#115609, $9.95, p. 182), Gold Mini Brad (#104337, 6.95, p. 179), Jumbo Handle for wheel (#103661, $5.95, p. 189), Wheel Guide (#104834, $9.95, p. 189), 1 1/4" Circle Punch (#104403, $15.95, p. 186), 1 3/8" Circle Punch (#104401, $15.95, p. 186), Cutter Kit (#106958, set of 4 tools, $9.95, p. 191)
All products from Stampin' Up! 2009-2010 Catalog.

You may order any or all of these items from my Stampin' Up! website! Click below:


I hope you enjoyed your visit today! Come back soon and have a great day!

Margaret