Merry Monday #33 {Season's Greetings}

Welcome to another week at Merry Monday!  The idea behind this challenge is to get a head start on your Christmas cards!  Each week, I choose one Merry Monday Winner who will then be a Guest Designer for a future challenge!  So get out your Christmas supplies and let's get to work! I inked up my Star Tree Stamp in Chocolate Chip Craft Ink and stamped it onto some Crumb Cake Paper...I wanted to create something neutral and hopefully, classy!

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Four the Holidays, Star Tree

Papers: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla and Chocolate Chip

Inks: Chocolate Chip Craft Ink

Tools: Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Chocolate Chip Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, 

Rectangle Nesties, Big Shot, 1/4" Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Heat Gun

I was off last week! No commenting or card making for me. Life threw me a curve ball and so I had to take the week to sort things out! Here is the post all about that Curve Ball!! I have decided to step down from my other design teams but to keep Merry Monday going, at least until December! I am just not finding the time to stamp like I used to be able to do! But enough about me, you are here to get some Christmas Inspiration!!! The design team has created some gorgeous samples for you!! A big welcome to Melissa Davies this week, as our Guest Designer!

LeAnne Pugliese

Bonnie Klass

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Terry Blais (FD)

Melissa Davies (FD)

Freshly Made Sketches #4

This week at Freshly Made Sketches, I decided to use my favourite Christmas stamp!  I pulled out "Beautiful Season" and the "Woodgrain" background stamp to make this card.  The bird is coloured with my Stampin' Write Markers in Pear Pizzazz, Real Red, Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip.  I used the Scallop Trim Border Punch to create the sides of the card in Old Olive and the ribbon is Old Olive Taffeta ribbon.  The sentiment was embossed with white craft ink and punched out with the Wide Oval Punch.

Thank you for stopping by!!!  We hope you will join in for this week's sketch challenge.  LeAnne Pugliese is our Featured Designer this week, she is a dear friend and probably the first friend I met when I first started to blog.



Freshly Made Sketches DT:
Jen Mitchell

Linda Callahan

Tui Nathan

Rita Wright

LeAnne Pugliese

I sure hope you enjoy my card and that you enjoy my sketch this week!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

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Freshly Made Sketches #2-To Emboss or Not to Emboss?

This week at Freshly Made Sketches, we are creating a square card but you don't have to make it Square...feel free to make the sketch fit an A2 card!

The first card used the Always Thankful set and the new Hand-Penned Sentiments set.  I didn't emboss the images but stamped them in Early Espresso.

The second card used Versa Mark and some clear embossing powder mixed with Espresso Ink...what card do you think works better? 

Please visit us at Freshly Made Sketches to link up your card before noon next Monday!  The design team has some gorgeous samples to share....

Jen Mitchell

Linda Callahan

Tui Nathan

Rita Wright

Ann Schach (Featured Designer)

Thanks for stopping by!!!

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Paper Players #38 ~ Colour Challenge from Ann

It is time for another Paper Player Challenge!  This week Design Team Member Ann Schach has chosen a beautiful Colour Combo for us to try!!!  I am all out of Very Vanilla so I used Whisper White and Crumb Cake as my neutrals.

Creating this card:

• I heat embossed the flower in white on the Blushing Bride Cardstock.  I wanted the colour to be bold and clean
• Then I cut out the flower and popped it up on my card
• I used the Label Punch to create a little hat for my oval punched sentiment 

Hop on over to the Paper Players Challenge Blog to play along this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Click here to shop 24/7!

All supplies are Stampin' Up:
Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Because I Care, En Francais Background Stamp
Inks: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, White Craft Ink
Paper: Blushing Bride DSP, Early Espresso, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Tools: Heat Gun, Versamark Ink, White Embossing Powder, Oval Punch, Label Punch, Espresso 1/8" satin ribbon, pearls, Big Shot, Finial Press Embossing Folder, Eyelet Border Punch

Paper Players Challenge #26- Heat Embossing

Today there is a great challenge at the Paper Players Challenge Blog from Jaydee to use your heat gun and to get embossing!!  I am not one to use Heat Embossing very much, I always tend to shy away from it.  Lately I have been challenging myself to get the Heat Gun out and to use it more, it is a terrific tool and really adds a new dimension to cards!!!

To make my card today, I cut two pieces of Very Vanilla Cardstock at 3 1/4" x 4".  I put one of the pieces through my Big Shot with my Oval Nestie and lined up the oval shape to be centred on the piece of vanilla cardstock.

Then using my Dotto, I added some removable stickiness to the back of the oval mask I had created and temporarily stuck the two original pieces of cardtsock together.  Then using my En Francais background stamp, I inked it up with Marina Mist Ink and stamped on top of my mask.  Then I ran my embossing buddy over the entire area I just stamped and inked up my floral image from Just Believe in Whisper White Craft Ink.  The white really pops against the Vanilla.  Then I sprinkled my White Embossing powder over top and heat set the powder with my heat gun.  Allowing the image to cool down after I set it with the Heat Gun, I then gently removed the top mask.  Using my Adhesive Remover eraser, I gently rubbed off the dotto from my main panel.  Then I took a sponge and inked it with Marina Mist and gently rubbed over the image to make it stand out.  Then I rubbed away the ink from my embossed image with a paper towel. 

I then cut a 4 1/4" x 11" piece of cardtsock in Not Quite Navy to make the card base and cut a 4 x 5 1/4" piece of Vanilla Carstock.  I used some Marina Mist Satin ribbon to add some sheen.  The Not Quite Navy mat for the main image measures 3 1/2" x 4 1/4".

Head on over to the Paper Players Blog to see the wonderful samples created by the Design Team.

Paper Players Challenge #22-Anything Goes

Happy Halloween! This past week has been a fun one at work.  I teach primary school and we spent the week making some Halloween Crafts and brainstorming bone chillin' words and writing scary stories.  My class and I had a fun-filled Halloween party on Friday as well.  It was a great week!

This week the Paper Players are looking for Anything Goes!  My card is not Halloweeny at all!!!  But if you have one to share, please do!!  I am still pumping out the Christmas Cards, trying desperately to get caught up. I am going to take LeAnne's cue and make one a week throughout the year next time!  Then I will have a handful ready for December 2011!

I heat embossed the snowflakes onto Night of Navy paper and used Whisper White cardstock as a highlighter on this card! I love the border punches and tend to use them a lot on cards!  I added a traditional white satin bow for a little sweetness and punched out the sentiment using the Wide Oval Punch.  The snowflakes come from the Northern Hearts Hostess Level One Stamp set.  Did you notice my new little watermark?  I have a thing for Owls and wanted to create a watermark with a sweet owl in it!!

I hope you get the chance to play along with the Paper Players Challenge Blog !  Come and over and link up your favourite creation from this week!  We would love to see your work. 

Go on over and check out the other projects from the Design Team:

Ann Schach

Jaydee

LeAnne

Nance

Smiles,

Paper Players Challenge: A Recipe from Ann

This week's challenge at the Paper Players Challenge blog is to make a card using the following recipe:

• Designer Paper
• A Punch
• A Sentiment

I chose to create a clean and simple card using the scallop edge punch, some of the Deck the Halls Designer Paper and I heat embossed the Peace on Earth sentiment in gold right ono the designer paper.  The sentiment comes from the Hostess Level 2 stamp set in the Mini Catalogue.  I also finished off the inside of the card with some of the same designer paper.

The fun and fabulous Ann Schach has challenged us with this wonderful recipe challenge and I hope you get the chance to play along!  Just click HERE to see the other creations from the Design Team.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Deck the Halls Designer Paper from the Holiday Mini Catalogue

Stamps: Peace on Earth (Hostess Level 2 in the Holiday Mini Catalogue)

Inks: Versamark

Tools: Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Embossing Buddy, Scallop Punch

Thanks for stopping by!

Smiles,

10 Minutes or Less Challenge (My First DT Creation!)

This is my first Design Team member creation for the 10 Minutes or Less Challenge. I am so excited to be on this team! Here are the colours we are using for the challenge this week! Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, White and Rich Razzleberry. I love the rich, elegant colours!!

Here is what I used to create my card:

Stamps: Oval All (113790), Fifth Avenue Floral (113734)

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry

Designer Paper: To the Nines

Embellishments: Whisper White Organza Ribbon, Whisper White Craft Ink

Tools: Scallop Edge Border Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch, Heat Embossing Tool, Embossing Buddy

I chose the Fifth Avenue Floral Stamp Set because it is on SALE for the month of April!!! Oh boy!!! It is 20% off the regular price, which is a fabulous deal! I stamped the Rose in Whisper White Craft Ink and embossed the image using my Heat Embossing Tool and White Embossing Powder. I NEVER, well, HARDLY EVER, emboss and I don't know why! I should do it more! I love the rose image in white...the image works well when it is embossed. I also finished off the inside of the card.

All you need to do is visit Carole'Anne's Blog and link up your card for the chance to win the Wings of Friendship stamp set!!  I can't wait to see what you create using these colours! I hope you get the chance to play along this week!

Thank you for stopping by!

Smiles,

Lesley :)