Thursday, November 30, 2023

Candlelight Card

 

Hello again!  I'm here with another easy "fancy fold" card that can be displayed with a battery-operated tea light for an even more special effect!  It's a little something extra that takes a card to a whole new level.


Here's what it looks like opened for display.  


You'll need one 4.25 x 11 inch sheet of card stock to make this fold, plus another 4.25 x 7 inch piece.  Both are scored at 1.5 and 5.5 inches.  Die cut the window opening of the smaller piece before adhering it to the card to form the special fold.   


Here's a closer look at the ornament, hanging from die-cut "branches" with a couple of bead strands as a  "garland."  

You might notice that the bow at the bottom of the card front forms the top of the box portion when the card is opened.  The front of my card is actually upside down when the card is opened.  If your display will be visible from both sides you might consider flipping the elements on the card front so that both sides will be right-side-up when it is opened.  (Hopefully that all makes sense!)      


Supplies:
Remember this week's Wild Wednesday!


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Thursday, November 23, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving! Let the Countdown to Christmas Begin!

 


Welcome to all of you, and Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!  I am so thankful for my husband, our son, our extended families, wonderful friends (including all of you!), for our comfortable home, delicious food on the table, and yes, I'm thankful for my beloved hobbies!  Thanksgiving Day gratitude extends from our home to yours!    

Today's project is a fun one that started with a few pieces of thin chipboard, the kind that comes as a backing for 12 x 12 card stock. Depending on how you want to use it, this could be either a calendar or a countdown.  I used several pieces of 12 x 12 card stock to cover a couple of 11.25 x 5 inch pieces of the chipboard, and then added a folding bottom to hold it all together.  


Here's what it looks like from the side.  


I chose a combination of designer papers that harmonize with the colors in our home, and for the most part they work well with the colors of the various decorative cards for each of the holidays.  I used Tim Holtz dies for both sizes of rectangles and for the numbers, and lots of Stamp Simply stamps for the colorful embellishments.  

There's a beautiful Fall leaf for Fall/Thanksgiving...  


...a traditional tree for Christmas Day...

...a patriotic star for the Fourth of July, and I'm only just getting started!  If you take a look through our stamp sets you'll find images and dies for celebrating most of the major holidays, birthdays, special occasions, each of the seasons and so much more.  It will be so much fun to personalize the assortment of cards for events that happen for each month of the year. 

I did not add the months to my calendar/countdown, but it would be easy to make an additional set of cards numbered 1 through 12, or to stamp, print or handwrite the names of the months to hang from one or more of the rings if you'd like to include them. 

One thing I also plan to do is to purchase smaller binder rings.  These large ones were in my stash so I am using them until I can find smaller ones.  So far I have not been able to find them locally, but I received word last night where I might find some, so I'll have more to say on that later maybe!  

Supplies:

Stamp Simply Store


When December arrives I'll be starting a couple of Advent daily spins (using spindles and wheels), and I'll be flipping the dates on my little calendar to help me keep track as I open each little package of surprise/mystery fluff!  On Christmas Day I'll start a 12 Days spin that will carry me through to Epiphany.


I love that quiet week between Christmas and New Year's and will enjoy the stillness of that post-holiday hush, but for now I'm looking forward to the hustle and bustle of the season!

Again, Happy Thanksgiving!  Enjoy the holiday season!  May you and yours be blessed!  

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Thursday, November 16, 2023

Peace on Earth


Hi friends!  I'm back with another combination of old and new stamp sets.  For some reason I have been drawn to these colors and this particular designer paper print, maybe because it is so peaceful, because it has been so chaotic in our house for the last several weeks.  (Finally the wood floor repair is finished and things are slowly returning to normal!)  



I absolutely adore our new angel stamp set!  When looking through my other sets I noticed that the swirls in the star from this older set seemed to go well with the swirls on the angel's dress, so I thought I'd combine the two, especially since the scriptures work so perfectly for a "Silent Night" scene.  


The star and the angel were both stamped with Memento grey ink, colored with a combination of Copic marker warm greys and cool blue-greens which softly harmonize with the colors of the designer paper.  I added a few strokes of clear Wink of Stella to add some sparkle but that is really difficult to capture on camera.


Once again I used Beate's side step card tutorial for the layout.  I am forever revisiting her tutorials on SCS.  


For the inside I used another paper print from the same designer paper pad.  Inside and out, the sentiments were stamped directly onto the designer paper.  I'm grateful for a stamp positioner so that I can stamp layer upon layer of ink to get really even coverage.  

Supplies:
Before you go, here's this week's Wild Wednesday special!

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Thursday, November 9, 2023

Angels' Glad Tidings


Hi y'all!   Well, it's that time of year again!  Time to make hand-stamped holiday cards!  Actually, it is a good idea to make a few along the way all through the year, but if you haven't done that, now is the time or you could end up on a really tight timeline!  This last quarter of the year always seems to get really busy and time flies by!


My cards for today were inspired by some designer paper and a Tim Holtz greenery die cut that I used a couple of weeks ago.  I had cut and colored two and had the spare still on my desk.  It seemed to go really well with this designer paper printed tag (you'll see what I mean as you keep scrolling), so I grabbed some of our stamps (old and new!) to add to it.


I started out with this combination of sentiments and swirls from our older Christmas JOY set and the new Worship & Praise.  I love the look of the sentiment in black ink layered over top of the silver swirl.


I paper-pieced the angel for the inside, adding the JOY sentiment to the lower left corner.  

This version fits nicely into a standard envelope and is flat for mailing.  


Then I decided that I should try the same design in landscape format rather than portrait, thinking the angel would look so pretty on the front.  This paper pad is convenient for that since it includes two of each of the printed tags sheets.  Not exactly "assembly line" but it does save time to do a second card of a similar design rather than designing completely from scratch.  In this case, since the angel's dress is fussy-cut it is a little detailed for "assembly line" production anyway, but would be perfect if you have a few special folks on your mailing list.  

I probably could have made this second card into a standard sized/regular envelope card as well, but decided that the angel showed up so much better when mounted onto a tag.  I always love tags but to me they seem especially appropriate to use on Christmas cards.  I can just imagine this card topping a gift simply wrapped in shiny, plain white paper (ha! freezer paper anyone?!) with a big blue bow!  


So here's that extra sprig of greenery that I mentioned earlier.  Isn't it a nice match for this paper?!  I love how all of these elements from different sources work so well together.

Supplies:
Remember also to check out our weekly Wild Wednesday specials on the Stamp Simply blog.  Here's this week's!



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Thursday, November 2, 2023

With Heartfelt Sympathy

 


Many believe that the sighting of a cardinal is a sign that those we've lost will live forever as long as we keep their memory alive in our hearts.  In the midst of intense grief, the brightly colored visual reminder brings the comfort of knowing that we will be reunited some day.    

Our beautiful God Will Take Care of You bundle is a lovely choice for many occasions; when paired with a few other sentiments or dies it is also a wonderful choice for a sympathy card.  


This beautiful barn-wood print designer paper makes a perfect backdrop for a masculine card.  I stamped a portion of the sentiment directly onto the designer paper and added a die-cut swirly "sympathy" sentiment alongside.  


Here's the inside, with the country church and a passage from Second Corinthians.  This verse will hopefully bring comfort to the family of one whose spirit has been released from the struggles of their earthly body, especially if their loved one suffered from a lingering illness or painful injury.   


Sadly I have needed several sympathy cards in recent weeks, and I'm so thankful that stamped images and sentiments are here to help express words and feelings that are difficult to convey.  There is so much love poured into the creation of a hand-made card, and I truly believe that from the moment the envelope is opened, the recipient can feel that love and compassion come rushing forth.

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