The Paper Players: Spooktacular Halloween

Just after last Halloween, I got a set of dies specifically for a card for my son and girlfriend. After a year, they were buried in the stash, so a big thank you to the challenge at The Paper Players as it helped me remember that I had the perfect Halloween costumes for the challenge and for my son, girlfriend AND their cat!

I found some Halloween paper that wasn't too somber and then added a starry sky and a big sentiment. Easy peasy! I love it when the real fun on the card is all about a great die set.

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Photoplay Trick or Treat Halloween
Dies: Simon Says Stamp Trick or Treat Ghosts, Photoplay Trick or Treat Halloween
Paper: Catherine Pooler Sweet-n-Spooky, Taylored Expressions Mushroom, Stampin' Up Berry Burst and Pumpkin Pie
Other: Simon Says Stamp Shimmering Starfall Embossing Folder, Stamp Market Silver Glitter Stars

Freshly Made Sketches: Sweater Weather

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Judy and here’s what I did with it! 

I knew right away that this would be fall-focused card but I planned to use fall patterned paper in the squares for a cozy quilt look. Before I started I was looking through my fall stash and saw this sentiment. It's perfect for my son and his girlfriend. I plan to use this as a Thankgiving card with the "Happy Thanksgiving" on the inside and I'll add something like "We're so thankful you found each other"! With that idea coming together, I stepped away from patterned paper and just added sweater-like stripes and a cable knit embossing folder.

I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Just Sentiments: Happy Fall
Dies: Taylored Expressions Sentiment Stackers, Sweet & Sassy Hearts
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Darling Duckling, Timid Tiger, Pear Pizzazz, Lost Lagoon, Crumb Cake
Ink: Stampin' Up Pecan Pie
Other: Sunny Studio Cable Knit embossing folder, Stampin' Up 2025-27 In Color Flat Pearls

The Paper Players: To You and Yours

I have been doing a better job this year at using new products within a week or two of their arrival into my stash. I actually don't have a lot of new stuff coming in right now because before I implemented that requirement, my not-yet-used stash got out of control and I'm having a wonderful time rediscovering that stash. But I did recently get the Christmas tags in the new Stampin' Up mini catalog. The idea was that I would use them as true tags (I love simple gift wrapping paper with gorgeous tags and bows) but I saw this week's challenge at The Paper Players and the sketch made me imagine two of the patterned tags layered up on a card.

Thank you to the team at The Paper Players for helping me stick to my goal of actually using products!

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Stampin' Up Brightest Glow
Dies: Stampin' Up Patterned Tags
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, Granny Apple Green, Crumb Cake
Other: Stampin' Up Tasteful Textiles, Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels

Freshly Made Sketches: Autumn Blessings

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Amy and here’s what I did with it!

It hasn't quite cooled off enough here to be perfect fall weather (although any drop in temperature from the horribly hot summer is welcome). But the huge red maple outside my craft room window is showing signs. Each leaf stem is red and the tips of many of the leaves are starting to turn. Throughout the neighborhood, there's a few leaves that I have fallen that I can crunch through in my walks. Autumn is by far my favorite season. I'd make autumn cards all year long - but have you ever noticed that no one raises an eyebrow when you put up a Christmas card in the spring, but it looks wrong when you pull out fall colors in the spring. So I'm jumping on my fall cards now. 

I had planned on a big leaf for the circle but I didn't have a big leaf that came with the detail that I also wanted so I pulled out the Hero Arts Autumn Leaves which are smaller, but have the detail, and an acorn! I love the cut-outs throughout each die cut; it just took a trio of leaves/acorns to fill the space. I love how it turned out. The back panel was giving me a bit of a headache until the lighbulb came on and I knew I wanted a warm quilt. I found a simple quilt die cut and filled it with fall colors and a pop of blue. Then in a nod to the sketch, I added the edge with scallops.

I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips - Fall
Dies: Hero Arts Autumn Leaves, WPlus9 Quilt Cuts 2, Pretty Pink Posh Sentiment Strips, My Favorite Things Mini Scallop
Paper: Stampin' Up Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze, Pecan Pie, Lucky Limeade, Crumb Cake plus miscellaneous small prints
Other: Stampin' Up Tasteful Textile Embossing Folder, Cajun Craze & Gold Dots

Freshly Made Sketches: Gifting Snowman

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Narelle and here’s what I did with it!

 

There's a cold rain outside my window and there is measurable snow in the mountain towns we visited over the weekend. That definitely put me in the mood for snowflakes and snowmen on this card! I needed a short little snowman to fit in the stripes and found this charming guy in the Waffle Flower Giving Snowmen die set. While I was digging for him, I found the Dashed Snowflake Panel also by Waffle Flower in my not-yet-used stash. 

I grounded him with a stripe of white "snow" and then settled on a soft blue and lavender. I used those same colors on his accessories plus a bit of darker polka dot to give him an accent. Since the dies came from Waffle Flower, I remembered that I had their Classic Holiday Sentiments that included a large variety of small sentiments and happily many of them fit in the stripe that I had already cut. 

It really is amazing how easily a card comes together when you have a charming little snowman die cut smiling at you the entire time!

I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Waffle Flower Classic Holiday Sentiments

Dies: Waffle Flower Giving Snowmen, Dashed Snowflake Panel

Paper: Stampin' Up Pool Party (and old Pool Party dsp) and Peach Pie, Taylored Expressions Toffee and Lavender Glaze, Doodlebug Swiss Dot Rainbow Petite Prints

Freshly Made Sketches: Etched Butterflies

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Michele and here’s what I did with it!

For the last FMS sketch, I used the Stampin' Up color Cloud Cover on kraft and loved how it looked (see it here). As I was imagining ideas for this sketch and butterflies flitted through my mind, I settled on them right away because I saw an opportunity to use Cloud Cover on kraft! Instead of colorful balloons as with my last card, I added white flowers and Soft Seafoam leaves to keep the entire palette calm and peaceful. 

I picked my dies simply by finding those that I had that could cut multiples at once. I do love the details on the butterflies by Paper Rose so they would have come out regardless of how many there were (in this case, six different butterflies). The flowers and leaves are from Spellbinders and included five of each on a die. I had them all laid out and it looked good when I decided the background needed something more. So I used my favorite craft room tool, Press 'n Seal(!), to pick them up all at once, emboss and add a frame to the background, then applied adhesive to all the diecuts at once and I was able to adhere them all at once right back where they were!

I hope to see you playing along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Waffle Flower Sweet Lattice Sentiments and dies
Dies: Paper Rose Studio Little Etched Butterflies, Spellbinders Four Seasons, Simon Says Stamps A2 Thin Frames
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Cloud Cover, Soft Seafoam, kraft
Other: Stampin' Up Distressed Tile 3D embossing folder, Stampin' Up Antique Pearls

52 Christmas Card Throwdown: Rejoice

I am thrilled to be the guest designer at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown for their teal and silver color challenge!

Teal and silver said sky and snowflakes or stars to me and how perfect are those for a Christmas card! The next decision was whether to go cute like a snowman or elegant with a Christian message. I started with the background plate and built it with glittery teal and silver. I actually built it to be used vertically and I was going to place a tall snowman along the bottom. Then I was looking for sentiments and stumbled on this "rejoice" that was still in my not-yet-used stash and it just clicked that that's what I wanted to use with the elegant colors and joyful sparkle. So I rotated the background and tucked in the sentiment. When inspiration strikes, you just have to go with it!

If you are running behind on Christmas cards and you haven't played along with this challenge, be sure to check it out. There are sketches, colors, themes and techniques so you have a wide variety of inspiration to pick from.

Thank you to the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown team for letting me join in!

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: PhotoPlay Rejoice Word
Dies: PhotoPlay Rejoice Word die, Altenew Layered Snowflake A
Paper: Stampin' Up Pretty Peacock CS, Soft Shimmer in Pretty Peacock, Silver Glimmer
Ink: Stampin' Up Pretty Peacock