Fast and Easy Christmas Card Kit Available

I will be hosting a Christmas in July class this month (see my calendar page to register) but I also wanted to offer a Fast and Easy Christmas card bundle. I have put together a kit that can let you make 20 Christmas cards in just a few minutes.

Your kit includes the Merry and Type clear stamp set, the Quick Accents Letters to Santa Embellishment kit, and a package of our whisper white 5x3.5" notecards and envelopes.

 

You will only need an ink pad to stamp. ( I recommend Old Olive, or Real Red) The accents are already sticky and assemble easily. I will trim the strips to fit the card fronts. The kit is $38.95. Upgrade the kit with out new 1/2" scallop dotted old olive grosgrain ribbon or designer bright buttons (you'll use only real red and old olive) for an extra $8.95.

To Order the Kit, please email me at hrpilz"at"gmail.com and let me know how many kits you need, and whether or not you would like the ribbon, or the button Add-Ons. If you are local, I'll deliver the kit, if not, I will ship the kit to you after I trim the strips.

Color Challenge - Wild Wasabi, Rich Razzleberry, and Peach Parfait

Another fun Color Challenge this month from Creative-Sketches.com.  I used my new Touch of Kindness set from the Stampin Up! Summer Mini.  I absolutely love cats, and so do both of my daughters.  I know they will be all over this stamp as soon as I let them in my stamp room! 

Come on over to the challenge site, and submit your card or scrapbook page, using this color combination.  Summer, and fresh.  I would not have put these three colors together!

Strength and Hope Campaign

Stampin Up! just released a wonderful stamp set which will be not only beautiful, but proceeds from purchase will go towards Breast Cancer research.  I got my set just yesterday in the mail, and I was thrilled to be able to make my first card with it.

This was based on the Creative-Sketches.com layout challenge. I used my wonderful Designer Series paper in the Occasions Catalog, Presto Patterns DSP,  as well as the adorable rosebud buttons!  My palette was Baja Breeze, Blushing Bride, Early Espresso, and Crumb Cake. I'd love to see what you can make with this layout at Creative-Sketches.com, so go over and post your entries!

Creative Sketches Week 4 Mother's Day

This week, the Creative Sketches Design Team tries to combine a Sketch and a Holiday card.  Knowing that Mother's Day is really not all that far away, I started thinking of what my mom might like to get in the mail. My Mom does not love pastel colors, which typically are used in the spring and for Mother's Day so that makes it challenging to make a card for her.   She loves rich jewel tones though. I was thrilled that I was able to combine the Color Challenge from Just Add Ink (Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, and Whisper White) with the Creative-Sketches.com Sketch Challenge to come up with a card that I think my mom will love!

This adorable card uses one of my favorite Holiday stamps sets, All Holidays.  It covers just about every major holiday in the year.  So versatile!  I pair with my trusty Big Shot Top Note Die, and Vintage Wallpaper Embossing folder, my new Boho Blossom punch, the two Step Bird Punch, and some wonderful Designer series paper from the Bold color pack.

To add a little sparkle on this card, I used my favorite Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, a Rich Razzleberry brad, and some wonderful pearls. I love the different sizes with the pearsl too!

So, go on over to Creative-Sketches.com and post your holiday card! Can't wait to see what you make!

Messages For Mom - Contest Submission

So I finally got up the nerve or punctuality to submit an entry to Stampin Up!'s monthly challenges.  The theme for my entry was Mother's (or Fathers) Day.  I am writing this post in January, and the contest ends in February, so I will have to do an update.  At this point I have no idea if I have a chance or not, but it is my goal to win at least once this year, and to do that, I will have to start submitting every month.

This card is not one I would ever want to make in bulk, but I love the results.  I stamped the flower in this set on watercolor paper, water colored it all in, and then cut all the little flowers out. Then I added crystal effects to the little flowers to add some sparkle and dimension to each one.  I am really loving tearing paper, so that was another fun way to perk up the color palette of Rose Red, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Pear Pizzaz, and Blushing Bride. those colors are part of the color palette for the Springtime Vintage Designer Series Paper which I love!

Creative Sketches Week 1 Challenge

This week at Creative-Sketches.com, we are working with a Sketch challenge.  What can you make with this Sketch?

I don't have any handy Oval cutting dies,so I chose to use my Stampin' Up! Big Shot, and my largest Circle punch. (We have an even larger circle in the current Mini catalog, but I don't on that yet!) I really love Elements of Style, and wanted to showcase the gorgeous flowers in a subtle fashion.  I stamped it out and punched out 2 circles, the trimmed out two more flowers. I used the stamp in the background, for a tone on tone look.  I also used my Color Spritzer to add interest to the bottom half of the card.  my Top Note die, trimmed the long way added another element to the card.  The final element was my grosgrain ribbon.

Pop over and send us your card submissions!

Diva's Challenge #212 Color Challenge

I love doing Color challenges!  They get me thinking of colors I might never have put together.  This week at DivaCoffeeBreak Challenge, the combination was a great one!  Mambo Melon, Old Olive and Peach Parfait.  I don't think I ever would have put those three colors together, but they look wonderful together!

To make my card, I used the Layout sketch from last weeks Mojo Monday.  I did the card last week in time to enter it, but I had a rough weekend with a sick kiddo in the hospital and never got a chance to post to their site.

As soon as I saw this layout I knew I wanted to use Full of Life from Stampin Up!.  It is a great stamp set filled with fun sayings.  One of my personal favorites in the set is "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans."  by Josh Lennon.  I experimented with circle shapes and used my Circle #2 Big Shot Die. I didn't want to pull out the Circle Cutter to make a 2 3/4" circle, so I used the Scallop Flower Fold technique.  I cut out out two scallops, scored them in between scallops, snipped to the center on one line, and folded into a fan.  I used two scallops to give myself the volume  needed. Once I had both scallops folded into a fan, I glued them together making sure the creased aligned perfectly.  It gives a wonderful puffy fan.  And I have no idea how I would ever mail this card!

I also used my newest Designer Series paper, the Bold DSP pack along with the Bold buttons,  Must confess, that is a Pumpkin Pie button.  But it works since the cardstock in Peach Parfait.  I needed a shocking amount of glue dots to get everything together, but I love it!  I think I might have gone overboard with my Striped Grosgrain ribbon this week, but I love that stuff!  I promise the next card will use another ribbon!

Always Valentine

I took an existing layout from a previous post, and converted it to work with a different stamp set.  I really like swapping out layouts that I like with different stamp sets. When something works, it is easier than dreaming up a whole new plan. 

I like this card because it could work as a Valentine, but would also work nicely as a simple card of affection at any time of year. 

Valentine Defined

 

I just love this new set in the Stampin Up! Occasions Mini Catalog.  To create this fun Valentines Card, you need Valentine Defined. I am a sucker for our definitions stamps sets like Define Your Life, so when I saw this one, I had to have it.  I used it once today creating a card for Stamp Club, but this card is for my Love Sweet Love Class next week.  

Creating the card was straight forward.  I did a zigzag of the hearts on a string to create my background, stamped my other pieces and assembled.  I also stamped my heart punches to give them a little texture. Fun and easy!

Supplies Used:

Punches-1 1/4, 1 3/8 circle, Heart to Heart, and Scallop Edge

Real Red Cardstock, Whisper White Cardstock, Cherry Cobbler Cardstock, Basic Black Cardstock

Basic Black 1/8" Taffeta ribbon

Basic Black and Real Red Classic Ink

Creative Sketches Week

This is my second post as a member of the Creative Sketches Project Team.  Having a blast so far! I was working from the layout below. I created this card using my trusty Big Shot and my Vintage Wallpaper Embossing folder.

I have not used Friends Never Fade stamp set and Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Wallpaper in awhile so it was fun to get those back out.  I have been holding back on this sheet with the huge Pumpkin Pie flowers, but it was just right on this project. I used the coordinating markers to color in my stamp to match the paper.

I used a bunch of punches on this card as well; Word Window, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle, 1 3/4" Circle, and my corner rounder.  I also used my Circle #2 Die from my Big Shots which nests perfectly inside the 1 3/4" Circle. This was my first time using my newest embellishment- my 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain ribbon.

Hope on over to Creative-Sketches.com to submit your sample!

Double Trouble Color and layout challenge

This card used the Mojo Monday Layout #166, with the Diva Coffee Break Challenge #204. I have been on a challenge kick this weekend!  What can I say!  So fun!

 

I used my Birthday Bakery Stampin Up! Hostess Set because I could not stop thinking about sweets when I saw the color combination.  Nothing like a little coloring therapy with cute little cakes to brighten up my day.  I love my blender pens for getting a lighter than full strength marker look.  It makes subtle variations much easier. 

Inkspirations Challenge #50

I saw this Inkspirations Colour Challenge pop up on one of the other blogs I follow, and I had to give it a try!  I really love this stamp set (Apple Blossoms - Hostess Level 2 in the Stampin Up Idea Book and catalog), but have not used it before today. I don't know why it has taken me 4 months to get it out, silly me; this set is awesome!  I am going to make more cards with it now!

I think this color challenge of Pear Pizzaz, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, and Rich Razzleberry worked well for a fresh, bright, and happy card.  I've been doing a lot of Christmas and holiday stamping, so it was really fun doing something not holiday focused. I loved that I was able to use existing scraps for the bulk of the card.  It is always fun to create something lovely from a small pile of scrap paper!

I used a scrap of Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry Grosgrain ribbon, as well as a Rhinestone brad in my folded large oval punch.  I also colored the saying with a marker to get just the one word and punched it with my trusty word window punch.

Spooky Halloween card

My UPS order came and I pounced on the box eager for my web embossing folder. I ran a piece of black card stock through and lightly sponged whisper white craft ink on the web. I love the eerie look it gives!!
Then a punched piece of scalloped old olive, a piece of wicked cool, a large whisper white scallop circle, pierced in each scallop and finally I combined using two stamps to get a new saying! I masked my spooky stamp and stamped each half of my original stamp.I used markers to color each section in too. I love the result!

Quilted Top Note technique

I have seen several cards like this before, so I had to try my own. I punched out several squares from my candy cane dsp, then glued them down in a checker hoard pattern to a 1/4 sheet of whisper white. I flipped it over and cut it out with my Top Note die.


I stamped the real red cardstock, and
Added a few more details like another square, and the real red 5/8" grosgrain Ribbon. I piped the top note.

I could have added some white pen faux stitching or done some actual stitching with a Zig zag stitch on the card itself.

More frankie ideas

This time I made a treat holder with a baby Frankie which holds a Ghiridelli chocolate square.


I used my new label punch from the Holiday Mini Catalog, and my small 1/2" circle punch and used the same basic pattern from my large Frankie. This time I added a shirt for Frankie. Cut the edges off with the corner punch. Stamp the saying in the center and emboss with black embossing powder.

You need a 3x8.5" piece scored at 3", 3.25", 6.25" and 6.5". You can get 3 treat holders from one piece if paper.

Fold the holder so the short piece ends up on the inside flap. This will get punched with the word window punch and then glued down to hold the chocolate inside. A piece of ribbon tied around will keep it all together.

I stamped bats on the top half from the wicked cool set, and used the wicked
Fun ds paper.

Spooky Halloween

My new Wicked Cool  Stamp set just arrived in the mail courtesy of the wonderful Mr. Brown, so I had to test it out with this fun card using the window sheets.  I used the Wicked Fun Specialty Designer Series Paper in the IB&C as well.  I love the flocked sheets!  I am dreaming up some fun projects using those!
For embellishments, I kept it simple with a single knot in 5/8" grosgrain ribbon and my scallop Trim border punch.

I am excited for my Spooktastic Halloween class.  We will be using this stamp set to make some fantastic decorations for your home!

Supplies for this card
Wicked Fun paper #117400 $11.95
Wicked Cool Stamp set #120600 $14.95 or #118738 (wood) $19.95
Window Sheets #114323 $4.95
Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon #119767 $6.95
Scallop Trim Border Punch #118402 $15.95

You will also need Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry cardstock as well as a few scraps of Whisper White cardstock and Basic Black, Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry markers, Snail adhesive, Dimensionals, and Paper snips.

Scallop Die Baby Bib Card

I made this sweet little card for a friends baby shower. I saw the idea on another blog which I can't quite remember but might have been this one, and had to try my own version of it.

To make this card you need to have a folded piece of cardstock. You place it one the scallop, leaving a few scallops above that won't get cut. You need to trim your DS paper with the circle scissors. (Just got this and that was fun to work with!!) Then you will adhere it to the front of your scallop card. Take a bite out to the tops for your babies neck with either the Wide oval, or large circle. I ran amok with my punch here and had to trim it out.

Then I stamped and colored using the Cute as a Bug hostess set and my watercolor crayons. I punched out the saying with my trusty word window punch, what would I do without it? added some wonderful grosgrain ribbon I had leftover from Sale-A-Bration last year as a handle, and as bow in front, and I was ready to go!

Faux Alligator Purse

I found this here, and absolutely had to try it out! We are doing it at my Mom & Me class today, but might repeat the Technique on a Tuesday at my new Technique Tuesday Class.

A quick instruction list, you will need 3 top notes, 1 box cut with the Box#2 Die, and lots of clear embossing powder and a button, some 1/4: grosgrain, and velcro dots. To do the technique, I took my Versamark pad, covered my top notes with it then coated it with embossing powder. Then I drew lines on them with my boning folder and then embossed it. That creates the faux alligator look. Then I used sticky strip to attach the top notes (use the folded one for the top) to my box, and used a wonderful button and some ribbon on the side to turn it into a clutch. I did use a velcro sticky dot too to seal the purse. Fill it with a 3x3 card, or some dsp covered chocolates.

Diva Coffee Break Challenge #135

I am not a Diva myself but I decided to participate in their weekly challenge using the New In Colors and the New Stamps sets. I know I will be adding more of these challenges to my schedule. For more wonderful challenges, check out their site.

Here is the sketch I worked from.

Here is my completed Card.


I chose one of my personal favorites, the Wings of Friendship, a Hostess Level 2 set. I used the wonderful new In Color Markers to color my bird image and my saying. I found it really easy to get a really incredible flower by coloring my lighter marker first, and then my darker color second for the flower image. I might not want to make 25 of these, but for one or two, it is well worth the effort to control the stamp with my marker.

Ingredient List
Stamp Set:Wings of Friendship
Paper: Razzleberry Lemonade DS paper, Dusty Durango, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede, and Whisper White
Inks:Dusty Durango
Accessories: In Color Markers, Clear Rhineston BRads, Soft Suede Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon, and Snail Adhesive & Dimensionals.

It's Good to Dream Card

This is my card for the new Idea Book & Catalog Swap that I just participated in. The card was lots of fun to make, and I love the new In-Colors. tamping off with your classic ink allows you to use your stamp pad in 3 different tones, stretching your options.
Your main image can be repeated subtly as a great background!


Stamp: Razzle Dazzle Stamp Set

Paper: Whisper White Cardstock, Crushed Curry Cardstock, Melon Mambo Cardstock, Rich Razzleberry Cardstock
Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Series Paper

Accessories: Soft Suede, Razzleberry, and Melon Mambo Classic Ink, Soft Suede Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon, Texturz Plates Stampin Up! Backgrounds, Word Window Punch, 1/16” Hole Punch, Rhinestone Brads, Sponges, Snail Adhesive, Dimensionals