Inspired By: Oh So Merry

 I recently spontaneously purchased these cute little Christmas Mini dies by Sizzix/Tim Holtz (Hobby Lobby - on sale - couldn't pass them up!)  I had a few minis cut out and laying on my desk waiting for inspiration to hit - a green wreath, a green tree, a stocking.  Then I saw the challenge at Inspired By... and inspiration hit! Instead of green, I went for the tans, reds, grays and blacks from their Christmas inspiration photo. I LOVE IT!!

For interest, I used pearls for the berries, the ornament hangers are silver foil and there's a twine bow on the candy cane. 

The sentiment is from a new-to-me set from The Stamp Market. It's Merry and Magical. I love the emphasis on "magical" in most of the sentiments, but for this card, it was this smaller sentiment tucked into a corner that seemed just right! I tend to obsess over sentiments - the right saying, the right size, the right font - but this sentiment took no time to decide on.

Thank you to Inspired By for the inspiration!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: The Stamp Market Merry & Magical (and dies)

Dies: Sizzix/Tim Holtz Christmas Minis

Paper: Papertrey Ink Fine Linen CS and dsp, Stampin' Up Gray Granite, Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake

Other: Little Things Glossy Berries

Freshly Made Sketches: Winter Wonderland

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

 

I used a stencil by Newton's Nook to brush on the white squares, then on top of that stencil I used the Taylored Expressions Confetti Toss stencil to brush on snowflakes.  My original plan was to add poinsettias and greeneries (since yet another poinsettia set just happened to show up in my mailbox(!) but those little snowy squares just called for Hello Bluebird Frosty Friends.  Here they are up close.

I stuck mostly with a trio of soft blues, greens and lavenders with just a few pops of extra colors.  Then each one has a hint of stickles. The snowman just has glitter on the berries and buttons, the reindeer on the tree and the bell.  Then the bear has glitter on his stocking.

The embossing folder is a regular 6x6. I did one end, then flipped it and the it "locked" in right over the already embossed piece so I could get the bottom half.

I apologize for the pinkish glow on my photos (for the last few weeks).  I have a stunning red maple outside my craft room window and that's what you are seeing.  I try to edit it out but it changes the colors of the card too much - so I'll just have a hint of pink of everything I do!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Hello Bluebird Frosty Friends, Typed Christmas

Dies: Hello Bluebird Frosty Friends, Pinkfresh Slim Stitched Rectangles

Ink: Taylored Expressions Sugar Cube, Confetti Cake, Lime Zest and Lavender Glaze, copics

Cardstock: Taylored Expressions Toffee

Other: Sunny Studio Buffalo Plaid Embossing Folder, Newton's Nook Slimline Masking Circles and Squares stencil, Taylored Expressions Confetti Toss stencil, Stickles

Poppystamps: Sparkles and Snowflakes

 I'm on the Poppystamps blog today with this glittery snowflake card!

The Snowflake Corner Frame and the Small Freestyle Merry Christmas are both in the new Poppystamps Holiday release. I've used a number of new products over the last couple of weeks and I love them all.  This one particularly appeals to me because there's wonderful detail which lends itself to quick and easy cards that don't look quick and easy!

Memory Box also had their holiday release and there are three new glitter pads! I picked this one because the colors are almost holographic.  The impact is amazing. I couldn't narrow down the color so I used four of them! I picked these colors because of the new Fairy Gemstones. They are amazing little dots that practically glow.  I used all five colors from the Winter Fantasy Fairy Gemstones pack - they are all fairly subtle but they include white, lavenders and blues.

The other new products on this card that tickled my fancy is the embossing folder. I originally just had the snowflake frame on white but it just needed something - so I started playing around with embossing folders. I thought this one had potential but I got very excited when I realized I would trim it down and the snowflake frame fit perfectly in a frame of squares!

There are more pictures and more detail on the Poppystamps blog.

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Poppystamps Snowflake Corner Frame, Small Freestyle Merry Christmas

Paper: Memory Box Glitzy Glitter Pad

Other: Memory Box Geometric Crystals 3D Embossing Folder, Memory Box (Open Studio) Winter Fantasy Fairy

The Card Concept: Fall Fun and Thanks

There’s a new inspiration challenge at The Card Concept and the theme is Fall Fun.

There's so much to choose from in that picture!! My Clean and Layered card was inspired by the colors, the plaid, all of the various woodgrains, the lantern in the bottom left corner and the beautiful bouquet with sunflowers and their big centers.

When the lantern caught my eye, I had a mental image of a bouquet of flowers around the lantern. So I ran to my stash and very surprisingly did not have a lantern die.  I let the idea go and moved on.  Later, I was at Hobby Lobby for absolutely nothing related to crafting, but I can't be in Hobby Lobby without wandering a bit.  It turns out the dies were 40% off and guess what?  Their Momenta brand had a lantern die!!  It was a Christmas set - but I just needed the lantern.  I think it was meant to be.

The flower center was a fun find when I was cleaning out my stash. I've probably had these Dress It Up Fun Dots Brown for a decade or more, but they were buried deep under the embellishment stash. Since it was coming into fall when I re-found them, I knew they were destined for sunflower centers!!

I hope to see you playing along with us over the next two weeks at The Card Concept.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Taylored Expressions Mini Strips - Harvest

Dies: Momenta Lantern (Hobby Lobby), Honey Bee Stamps Fall Bouquets, Taylored Expressions Mini Strips die, The Greetery Shiplap Builder

Other: Dress It Up Fun Dots Brown (I found them hiding deep in my stash - so VERY old)

Freshly Made Sketches: Giving Gifts in Thanks

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 have done a series of cards using the Stampin' Up Giving Gifts dies along with their Playful Alphabet here, here and here.  But they were all Christmas and I hadn't use the pumpkins yet. I had planned  on stripes just like you see here.  I had all the letters cut and stripes made before I realized that the letters don't quite fit so I ended up having to squish the letters together. I think I would have liked them separated better (clean and open looking) but the idea was in my head and everything was cut so I was NOT starting over!

FYI I did alter the size of the framelit. It was a little too big and the next size down was too narrow.  I cut and then slip the die a bit making sure it "locks" into the previous cut stitching and then cut again.

(I just got the tags that coordinate with the Giving Gifts so I'm sure there are more cards coming!)

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

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Stampin' Up Giving Gifts, Playful Alphabet, Rectangle Stitched Framelits

Paper: Honey Bee Stamps Autumn Afternoon, Stampin' Up cardstock in Sahara Sand, Balmy Blue, Mango Melody and Pumpkine Pie

Poppystamps: Two Poinsettias

 I'm on the Poppystamps blog today with two different takes on the brand new Poinsettia Background.

My first card uses classic reds and pinks - all which a touch of shimmer.

Then in an entirely different direction, I did this card in black with white glitter cardstock and a sprinkling of red and gold gems.

There are many more pictures and details (including a story of my cat who stole my first glittery poinsettia background) on the Poppystamps blog.  I hope you check it out!

SUPPLY LIST

Pink Poinsettias

Stamps: Poppystamps Gilded Christmas Wishes stamp and die set

Dies: Poppystamps Poinsettia Background

Paper: Memory Box Berry Red and Lush Green cardstock pads

Other: Memory Box Fairy Drops

Black and White Poinsettias

Stamps: Poppystamps Peaceful Christmas Greetings

Dies: Poppystamps Poinsettia Background

Paper: Memory Box Frosted Glitter Pad

Other: Memory Box Christmas Fairy Jewels

Poppystamps: Brilliant Star Oval

Poppystamps is having an Instahop now through Oct. 18. It starts here: @poppystamps.  There's a prize on each stop of the TWELVE stops on the hop - more details below - but here's my card and then the die that's available at my stop on the Instahop (@kimsingdahlsen) just for leaving a comment!

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And here's the gorgeous Brilliant Star Oval die!

I used a trio of soft blue glitter papers on my card. They are from the Memory Box Delicate Pastel Glitter pad with a burst of yellow from the Twinkling Jewel Glitter pad.  But can you imagine using this die with a rainbow of bright and cheerful colors?!  So festive!

The sentiment is also from Poppystamps (all links below) - it's the Merry Christmas Poe script.  Their various "Poe" dies have to be my favorite font!!  And did you notice the glow from the center of the star? There's a variety of new crystal dots at Memory Box!  I used the Poppystamps Basic Ovals set to cut an inset area for my die.

I didn't actually start with the above card in my head - I made the following card first and the peaceful nature of this card is what led me to the soft trio of blues.

The sentiment on this card is from the new Gilded Christmas Wishes set which has a variety of label shapes and there are coordinating dies. The embossing folder is Memory Box' Snowy Forest. I also used the Poppystamps Basic Ovals on this card to cut an inset area but I also cut a smaller frame behind it so I had a layered look.

After I got the forest card done, and realized I had lots of extra blue pieces for the insets that I did not want to waste, I made my first card - and then with still more pieces, I made the following card too!  I'm not wasting my glitter paper!

The snowmen and trees are from the new Snowman and Trees die. I leaned them back just a little so they were marveling at the star!

Be sure to head over to our Instahop starting here: @poppystamps. There's lot of prizes so definitely worth the trip over!!  Enjoy!

SUPPLY LIST

Yellow Star

2481 Brilliant Star Oval craft die

2472 Merry Christmas Poe Script craft die

2477 Basic Ovals Set craft die

GP1001 Delicate Pastel Glitter Pad

GP1003 Twinkling Jewel Glitter Pad

CRY101 Autumn Fairy Crystals

Snowman Peace

2481 Brilliant Star Oval craft die

2490 Snowman and Trees craft die

2477 Basic Ovals Set craft die

CL495 Christmas Greetings clear stamp set

GP1001 Delicate Pastel Glitter Pad

GEM102 Winter Fantasy Fairy Gemstones

Peace Love & Joy

2481 Brilliant Star Oval craft die

2477 Basic Ovals Set craft die

CB508 Wintertime Sentiments clear stamp and die set

EF1010 Snowy Forest 3D Embossing Folder

GP1001 Delicate Pastel Glitter Pad

GP1008 Majestic Hues Glitter Pad

DDP101 Christmas Fairy Dewdrops