Creative Crew for Christmas in July!!

A few days ago, I got an inbox message on SplitCoast Stampers...which was kinda weird, because I don't spend TOO much time on there - though I should...because there's LOTS of ideas to be had! Anyway...the message was from Patty who said:

We are contacting you because we love your work and would like for you to be on our next round of the Creative Crew which runs from September to December, 2012.

Say WHAT??

Yeah...I was pretty much floored. Someone asked ME to be on a design team? Not the other way around. I was awed, amazed, surprised...and then I cried...happy tears of course!

So...since I haven't been on SplitCoast in a little while,  I thought I should try my hand at the July Creative Crew Challenges which, as you know from the last couple of posts, sport a Christmas theme.

Today's card features the stamp set Christmas Lodge, which was one of my FAVOURITE sets from last year's Holiday Mini and I was THRILLED when it made it's way into the BIG catalogue for 2012-2013. So...you can be sure you'll be seeing a LOT of it!

I wasn't too sure about the sketch for this month, but I think it turned out OK, especially with the rounded corners.

I used the colour spritzer tool on this one - it's perfect for Christmas, plus it makes the Very Vanilla Cardstock look a lot like the Naturals Ivory Cardstock, don't you think? If you don't have this tool yet, I'd consider adding it to your list of must haves.

I finished the inside too:

I'm running REALLY low on Very Vanilla Cardstock (it's arriving in my next order), so I had to make the inside panel a little on the small side. I figure that's OK though because now I have a card to send to someone where I don't have to say too much - LOL!

What do you think?

STAMPS: Christmas Lodge
INK:
PAPERS:
ACCESSORIES: Corner Rounder, Colour Spritzer Tool

Happy Stampin'!

Christmas Lodge in July

It's been hot enough out there lately that the idea of a Christmas lodge sounds good, doesn't it? Snow falling outside, a fire going, hot chocolate...If you imagine it hard enough maybe it will cool down? Well...we can wish!!

This is another card I did for the Creative Crew Challenge. This one was to use a different kind of fold and I chose a Z-Fold.

My favourite part of the card is the inside detail where I cut a piece of Cherry Cobbler DSP using the Scalloped Edgelit and added BOTH pieces leaving a bit of Very Vanilla peaking through.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Christmas Lodge, Teeny Tiny Wishes
INK: Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green
PAPERS: Very Vanilla and Gumball Green Cardstock; Be of Good Cheer DSP
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Dies, Punch

Happy Stampin'!

It's Wednesday! That must mean STAMPIN' QUEENS!

Did you like my sneak peek from yesterday? If you did, you're going to LOVE the full card. Even my hubby liked it! LOL!

But first, the sketch:

I was a bit baffled at first, because it didn't seem like there was meant to be a focal image of sorts. But, since I still had my Christmas Lodge set out from Monday's card, I decided to go with that.

And here's what I came up with:

My jumping off point (oddly enough) was a piece of Always Artichoke cardstock. I know...weird. But, I had a small stack of pre-cut 5 1/2 x 8 1/2" Always Artichoke card bases sitting around and I can't for the life of me remember why I had them. So, I decided to use them for the layer under the Very Vanilla and on top of my Cherry Cobbler card base. These two colours together make for such a classic Christmas combination, don't you think?

I stamped the main image on Very Vanilla and then spirtzed it with my Spritzer Tool (thanks Ann!) using my Always Artichoke marker.

I then added a layer of Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler which I first punched using the Scallop Border Punch. I added a piece of Always Artichoke Seam Binding and adhered the layers to the card base.

To finish things off, I stamped the the sentiment in Cherry Cobbler on Very Vanilla and hand cut it out before adhering it to the front of the card using Stampin' Dimensionals (of course!)

What do you think? If you LOVE this card, we'll be making it on Saturday at my 10 card Christmas class. There's still space! For just $30, you'll create 10 unique Christmas cards.

STAMPS: Christmas Lodge
INK: Cherry Cobbler, River Rock
PAPERS: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler
ACCESSORIES: Punches, Seam Binding Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Colour Spritzer

Happy Stampin'!

A Christmas Lodge CASE

When I saw this card by the lovely and talented Ann Schach, I just KNEW that I would have to CASE it. I mean, it's GORGEOUS! How could you NOT? Ann's blog is one I stalk regularly...probably just as often as I stalk Patty Bennett - LOL! I just had to wait for my Christmas Lodge set to arrive so I could get to work!

Here's my version of Ann's card:

I started off with the same base and even used all the same layers! I don't have the Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder (YET!), so I just went with my Cherry Cobbler Classic Ink. I even took out my Colour Spritzer, in a classic Ann way, and went to town. Now I know why Ann likes her Colour Spritzer tool SO much - what a fabulous effect!!

I chose a different sentiment (mine is from Teeny Tiny Wishes) and added a pearl before adding it to the front of the card.

Check out those LAYERS!!! Layers add SO much to a card and they're SO easy to do! For the layers under the main image, I used Early Espresso, Brushed Gold and Cherry Cobbler.

LOVE this card? I'm all out of Early Espresso cardstock at the moment and won't be able to order any in time for this Saturday's class, so look for this card in my November 10 Card Christmas Class + Card Keeper on November 26th beginning at 3 p.m. This is one class you WON'T want to miss!

What do you think?

STAMPS: Christmas Lodge. Teeny Tiny Wishes
INK: Cherry Cobbler, River Rock, Soft Suede
PAPERS: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso and Brushed Gold Cardstock.
ACCESSORIES: Soft Suede Marker, Colour Spritzer, Square Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Basic Pearls

Happy Stampin'!