Thursday, December 30, 2021

2021 Stamp Simply Favorite 6


This week each member of the Stamp Simply Design Team is sharing their Favorite 6 of the year.  Here are mine!  Just click on the text link below each photo to be taken to the original posts, which list the supplies that were used for each project.  



This one was just simple shapes with a few die cuts and a familiar song lyric.  Easy peasy, high contrast, loads of fun!  



Hyacinth is one of my favorite flowers, so I fell in love with this stamp and the Graphic 45 designer paper that coordinated so well with it!



Yellow is such a happy color!  Perfect for a happy birthday card!



This onesies die cut is so adorable!  I was a baby born near the 4th, so there you go!

Rise & Shine, Gather Together!

If I could choose only one favorite, this might've been it!  Lots of little favorites used in combination for this card.

My Refuge and Fortress

Lots of symbolism, a lighthouse that my husband is familiar with, and another fun combination from several stamp sets.  

Be sure to visit the Stamp Simply blog to see my team mates' posts!  And don't forget our continuing December sale that will soon come to an end!



Thursday, December 23, 2021

Happy Winter Birthday!


I needed a quick-to-make, simple/no-frills, masculine birthday card.  The guy's degree is in forestry/wild-life management, so I thought he might like this designer paper.  


I stamped the little fir branch from All Seasons Decor onto the edge of a die-cut circle, adding a snowflake and banner sentiment to the center with a die-cut fir branch and burlap string bow as accents.  I had intended to make this symmetrical but then decided to go slightly off-center to show at least one complete tree in the background.


The papers on the inside are all punch-outs from the Wonderland paper pad in the kit.  

I've been into spattering everything with diluted inks/paints lately. The amount of water used really affects the size and amount of the spatters.  In this instance the vintage photo distress oxide was a little too dilute, which made the spatters larger and more plentiful than I wanted, but you know, he'll be ok with that!  He is a get out there and get dirty (hunting, fishing, yard work) kinda guy, so it's alright!

Supplies:

Thursday, December 16, 2021

May the Merry Last All Year 'Round!

 


Sometimes fast and easy is the way to go and it's simpler to choose a "one stop" stamp set, but other times it is fun to see what unique/unexpected combinations one can discover.  Today's project is a fun combo of images from a couple of stamp sets, inspired by a real live bird that decided to set up housekeeping in a wreath hanging on a friend's front door.  


I stamped and die-cut two wreaths, trimming them to overlap so that they make a full circle, filling the open space where the floral arrangements from the wreath set would normally be.  The branch and cardinal from the other set are positioned to cover the place where the two wreaths meet so that everything appears seamless.  


While in real life my friend's porch provided shelter from the snow, I wanted my Christmas card to include a cheerful sprinkling of snow and a sentiment stamped and embossed in white.


The theme carries from the outside in.  I love the down-home feel of this subtle plaid and the traditional Christmas colors.

There's a lot of powerful symbolism regarding the sighting of a bright cardinal, especially against a snowy white background in the midst of a cold Winter.  It is a symbol of hope and joy.  Some say it is a sign of a visit from heaven, a reminder that those we've lost will live forever, as long as we keep their memories alive in our hearts.  It makes my heart feel warm to think of my parents during this holiday season.  ❤️ 

Supplies:


Thursday, December 9, 2021

Flat for Mailing


Our Stamp Simply design team "theme for the week" is "Flat for Mailing," so this week's card is one that is easily mass-produced with sparkle that comes from splashes of ink rather than bumpy rhinestones or pearls.  


The little fir sprig from All Seasons Decor coordinated nicely with some designer paper from the Welcome Winter paper pad.  It was randomly stamped on white card stock with black memento ink and colored with Copic markers.  I stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment from Farmhouse Christmas with copper ink, adding splashes of diluted ink for even more shimmer.  I tied a loop of natural string around the corners to give a little more interest...shouldn't bother the postal machines and won't crack the way a rhinestone or pearl would.


Here's the inside.  I guess I got a little carried away with the splashes of ink!  IRL it looks softer, more transparent and not quite as busy as in the photo.  

This would be a very easy card to batch process/assembly line produce.  

Remember:

Thursday, December 2, 2021

Monochromatic Mix-n-Match Christmas Tags


A couple of weeks ago our Stamp Simply design team did a focus on tags.  For me it was one of those crafting sessions where the ideas just kept flowing, so I have several more tags to share with you today.  

All of these were made combining our Wonderland paper-crafting kit with a few scraps left over from this project using Studio Lights Sending Joy paper pad.  The stamps are mix-n-match from a variety of our Christmas sets, old and new.  The Wonderland paper pad has lots of little punch out tags in various shapes and sizes, and you'll see those throughout this project along with some die-cut shapes as well.  


First up is a tag inspired by color work knitting.  The reindeer design looks so much like what one would see on the yoke of a sweater, and the companion print is plain stockinette stitches.  ❤️ The reindeer from Farmhouse Christmas (stamped with distress oxide ink) was a perfect companion.  


I embossed the JOY sentiment from Farmhouse Christmas onto one of those punched tags from the paper pad with white embossing powder so it would add contrast.  The snowflake is another punch out and all I did was add a rhinestone.  I chose to ink all the edges of this one with tea-dye distress ink.


The next tag in the series uses another scrap of Sending Joy with stamps from All Seasons Decor (the tray/sign and the fir sprigs) along with the sentiment and tree from our Wonder of Christmas trio bundle.


I love that the sentiment from one set fit perfectly into the tray from another as if they were made to go together.  I stamped the tray with Tuxedo Black ink on Kraft paper, then colored the edges with Copics and the center with a Picket Fence distress marker to give it that white-washed look.  The sentiment was stamped on top first with Evergreen Bough distress oxide and then again with Tuxedo Black.  


The final design uses an alpine printed paper and some torn text paper along with some punch outs all from the Wonderland kit.  I stamped "merry and bright" from the Wonder of Christmas trio of sets onto one tag.  The other "merry little Christmas" sentiment tag is a printed punch out from the same paper kit, as are the scallops and the heart at the bottom.  I just added a circle die underneath for enough contrast to make the heart show up better.


I thought these sentiments paired well with our JOY Candle, which I colored with Copic markers and a silver glitter gel pen.  I used clear Wink of Stella for the melted wax at the top.  

Everything received a generous spattering with diluted white acrylic paint to unify the elements and add more of that Winter Wonderland spirit to the entire project.  It was so much fun to make these, and I love the way they turned out.  I hope you do too!

Now is the perfect time to grab a few stamp sets and paper kits for your own mix-n-match crafting session!