52 Christmas Card Throwdown: Wonderful in Pink and Purple

 I am honored to be this week's guest at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. It's a great one - it's a color challenge with pink, purple and gold.

Funny story. I personally don't use much pink, purple or gold - not ever, let alone for Christmas!!  On my own, I would never have gone in the direction of this card, but I actually have ended up loving it. Challenges (or throwdowns) are "challenges" for a reason - they push our creativity. They push us into new colors, or techniques or themes. Thank you to the fine group at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown for this nudge into a new-to-me color scheme - I actually think I'll use it again!

My first thought for these colors was snow or snowmen but I felt like the gold added elegance. So then I went towards the poinsettias and I found one in my stash that was a bit modern to add to the unique look of the colors. I knew the gold needed a bold sentiment. Then I added three stripes - using a golden texture in the middle (you can see the glittery flash on the right side of the card.)

I hope to see you playing along at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  They have challenges and inspiration week after week all year long to help us get a good start on our Christmas card stashes!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Waffle Flower Wonderful Christmas

Dies: Flora & Fauna Poinsettia

Paper: Taylored Expressions Pink Champagne, Stampin' Up Highland Heather and Be Dazzling Specialty Paper (retired)

Other: Stampin' Up Gold Glitter Enamel Dots (retired)

Poppystamps: Wonderful Friend

 I'm on the Poppystamps blog today with this Whittle Happy Fox in his garden!

This guy just makes me happy.  I LOVE his expression!!  I made him first then smiled as I made the card, then again the next day when I took pictures and edited them, then today as I'm writing this post.  Isn't this just a wonderful hobby?!

I put him in a garden made from the tiniest flower in the Petite Blooms Flowers set. Then to make sure he was the focus, I put him in a frame  from Scalloped stitch Frames with a few stripes behind it. 

There are many more pictures and details on the Poppystamps blog. Be sure to check it out!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Poppystamps Diamond Sentiments

Dies: Poppystamps Whittle Happy Fox, Petite Blooms Flowers, Colwell Label and Scalloped Stitch Frames

Paper: Memory Box/Poppystamps Berry Red, Sunny Orange and Fresh Aqua

Freshly Made Sketches: Cool Christmas

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

I am thoroughly enjoying working with Stampin' Up's Snowman Magic.  It's so fun to dress them up in their various hats and scarves.  (On the last card I did, he was wearing a top hat!)  These two little guys were actually "rejects" from that card. As they were sitting on the corner of my desk, calling my name, I imagined this little vertical scene.  I added a tall tree (also from the Snowman die set), then surrounded the scene with snowflakes.

 

Their expressions make me happy!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Stampin' Up Snowman Magic

Dies: Stampin' Up Snowman dies

Paper: Stampin' Up Tahitian Tide, 2022-2024 In Color dsp (2022), 2022-2024 In Color Glimmer Paper (the star)

Ink: Stampin' Up Parakeet Party, Sweet Sorbet

Inspire.Create: Birthday Rainbows

I am a clean and simple cardmaker. I like the fresh look. But some recent experiences and comments have made me realize that my desire to tailor my cards to the recipient isn't just in the theme or colors, I also need to step out of my CAS style sometimes. 

I had to get a birthday card made yesterday and it was for someone who prefers a bit more than a CAS card. I was stumped - so I took a break and looked through my favorite challenges. The lightbulb came on when I saw the sketch challenge at Inspire.Create.Challenges. I realized I didn't have to take a big leap away from my style - I just needed great patterned paper. 

I love Stampin' Up's Sunshine & Rainbow dsp from last year.  It's all my favorite colors.  The patterns are a bit of a leap outside of my comfort zone but that's what today is about! My original plan was to focus on the Saffron and Mango colors in the sentiment, but apparently I don't use my Saffron ink very often because something is terrible wrong with it. It's the older style pad - it's not just dry - I guess eventually they fail.  Darn! Now I need to order more products and get a new Saffron pad and maybe enough for a sale-a-bration set or two!!!

I don't buy much ribbon anymore.  I used to make very certain I had ribbon for every possible color - also buttons, gems, etc. But at some point, I had to let go of my complete-collection-obsession.  Ribbon seemed like an obvious thing to let go because I've never managed to tie a decent bow (at least without a bow-tying tool like the Bow Easy) - plus bows add so much bulk and makes it very hard to mail. So I haven't bought ribbon in years.  I have my old collection (in the top built-in in my high-ceiling craft room requiring a step ladder) but I drug it down thinking I could find something in So Saffron which is one of the colors in the paper. Instead, this Crushed Curry jumped out at me - it's not technically in the paper but it sure looks like the Mango that is in the paper. 

I also took inspiration from the photo that used a bit of twine with the ribbon. I did mine slightly differently but I like the look. 

A big thank you to Inspire.Create for the inspiration for this card.  It's nothing fancy and it probably doesn't look it to most of you - but it's a big leap out of my comfort zone.  But it's also absolutely perfect for the recipient!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Stampin' Up Biggest Wish

Dies: Stampin' Up Tailor Made Tags

Paper: Stampin' Up Sunshine & Rainbows, Pool Party cardstock

Ink: Stampin' Up Pool Party, Bermuda Bay

Other: Crushed Curry Grosgrain Polka Dot

Freshly Made Sketches: Happy Days and Butterflies

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!

As I was flipping through my stash hoping for inspiration, I hit upon these butterflies fairly quickly.  Then I decided to give them three fields of flowers and I had these gorgeous patterns from The Rabbit Hole. 

The sentiment was a bit more of a struggle. I thought this was coming together perfectly for a retirement card I need in the next few months. The future retiree is all about her garden. But I needed a vertical sentiment and the word "retirement" is a long horizontal word. When I found this sentiment, I thought I was on to something - after all, retirement should be happy and joyful. I figured I could put a retirement sentiment on the inside. I'm having second thoughts now that I'm typing this - the sentiment feels wedding-ish. What do you think??

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Memory Box Joyful Moments

Dies: Memory Box Drifting Side Butterfly (the larger one) and Flitter Side Butterfly (the smaller one)

Paper: The Rabbit Hole Designs Spring Floral #2, Stampin' Up Mossy Meadow, Sweet Sorbet, Grapefruit Grove

Ink: Stampin' Up Mossy Meadow

Christmas Kickstart: Snowman Magic

My first set out of the new Stampin' Up catalog was Snowman Magic so how could I not play along with the current challenge at Christmas Kickstart: Show Us Your Snowfolk!!

I love this guy especially in combination with that cute bunny.  It's right out of Frosty the Snowman so with his top hat - he is definitely magical!!  And I LOVE the snowflake frame that comes with the die set. I see so many more uses for that.  

I'm not sure I'm loving the way I added the holly.  I stamped it in black because I liked the simple color scheme of just the purplish/blue and red - so didn't want any green.  I added drops of Liquid Pearls to the berries.  I was just going to stick it around the bunny but there was an empty spot below the sentiment so I decided I wanted something in the snowman's hand to fill it in.  I played with a number of options (including his top hat!) and didn't love any of them.  I finally just stuck some holly in his hand and called it good.  I don't hate it - I'm just sure there's something better than my mind wasn't seeing. 

I actually had a lot of false starts on this one but it's left me with two other snowmen, two more bunnies, extra ski caps and a number of trees.  I'm thinking there's more snowfolk in my future!

Thanks to Christmas Kickstart for the inspiration.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Stampin' Up Snowman Magic

Dies: Stampin' Up Snowman dies

Paper: Stampin' Up Starry Sky and Sahara Sand cardstock, 2022-2024 In Color dsp (2022)

Ink: Stampin' Up Sweet Sorbet

Other: Liquid Pearls Carnation Red

Poppystamps: Jaw-some Sharks

 I'm on the Poppystamps blog today with a jaw-some Whittle Shark card!

My son is home for a few weeks before he goes back for his senior year in college. But while he's home, it's also Shark Week on Discovery Channel.  I don't think there's a day that I get home from work that he and/or my husband isn't glued to a shark show. So as I was planning a card for him as he heads back, it was an obvious choice! I pulled out the Poppystamps Whittle Shark and the Whittle Sealife Sentiments for this quick and easy "jaw-some" card!

Be sure to check out the Poppystamps blog for more pictures and details.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Poppystamps Whittle Sealife Sentiments

Dies: Poppystamps Whittle Shark

Paper: Memory Box Stormy Blue and Earth Neutral 6x6 cardstock pads, Woodsy Plaid 6x6 pad

Other: Memory Box Waves 3D Embossing Folder, Self-adhesive Fairy Drops