My Muse

Mass Produced Christmas Card

 I made about 85 of these cards this year. And as most of you know, whenever you are mass producing a card, every little step can add a ton of time. For ease of mailing, single layer cards work best as well. It's always a fun challenge to design a card that has very few steps, can be mailed with no extra postage or handling and still looks good. I created the ornament on this card two ways - with ink and also with tinsel embossing. After comparing the results of both, I think I would just stick with the plain ink (as shown here). It gives a crisper, cleaner image and the ribbon adds a touch of sparkle to dress it up.

SUPPLIES  Stamps: Wishes Ornament (Penny Black) & Big Pine Bough (Hero Arts), Ink: Smokey Shadow and Pure Poppy (Paper Trey Ink), Cardstock:  Stamper's Select White (PaperTrey Ink), Ribbon (Michael's)

Thanks for stopping by. Merry Christmas!

Tag Bags

Completely inspired by the darling "tag bags" that Dawn McVey recently featured here, and having some cute Christmas papers and these Paper Bliss trees from my friend, Gretchen - I just had to squeeze in time to make these. They were easy and fun. Now, gotta go put some presents in there!

 

Supplies  Paper: Stamper's Select White & New Leaf (PaperTrey Ink), AKLM Holiday (Me & My Big Ideas), Red (Bazzill), Soft Sky (SU!), Other: Tag die (Sizzix), Christmas Trees (Paper Bliss) Pure Poppy stitched (PaperTrey Ink), others (Michael's)

Better go wrap your presents... Merry Christmas Eve!

Elegant & Easy Glass Ornament

I don't know about you - but I am swamped at this time of year with Christmas projects. I make my own Christmas cards, and several extensive scrapbooking projects for gifts. It definitely has kept me hopping this month and unfortunately, away from making other cards and blogging! 

However, I did want to share this ornament that I made several years ago. Had to wait until I got my tree decorated to get a photo. Isn't it pretty with the light shining through it?!

The glass piece is translucent. I stamped the snowflakes on the backside with white Stazon ink and embossed the "Joy" on the front with silver embossing powder. Just pop it into a ready made frame, add a velvet ribbon and you have a quick, but elegant ornament for a gift!

SUPPLIES  Stamps: Snowflake Serenade (PaperTrey Ink), Ink: White Stazon, Versamark, Other: Frosted Memory Glass and Frame (Ranger), silver embossing powder (SU!), red velvet ribbon (Michael's)

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Hope your Christmas preparation are fun and not too stressful!

Graceful Reindeer

Here's a simple and pretty Christmas card for you. It's a great single-layer card, which is easy for mass production and mailing without special packaging. 

Supplies  Stamps: All Year Cheer III & Baroque Motifs (SU!), reindeer (Michael's Dollar Bin) Ink: Pure Poppy (PaperTrey), Creamy Caramel craft ink (SU!), Versamark Cardstock: Kraft (PaperTrey) Other: Kaleidoscope embossing powder (Stampendous), Ribbon (Michael's)

Hope you're making good progress on your holiday list. Thanks for stopping by today!

Noel Snowflake

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I guess we can all move straight into Christmas mode now, right? I loved this sketch at Our Creative Corner - and it reminded me that I have wanted to make a snowflake card using coarse glitter. I punched out the snowflake image, ran it through my larger Xyron machine and then coated it with the glitter. The coarse glitter really reflects the light. Here's how it turned out:

Supplies  Stamps: 2008 Holiday Tag Collection (PaperTrey Ink), Ink: Versamark, Paper:  Soft Sky (SU!), Stamper's Select White (PaperTrey Ink), Icy Blue Mistletoe (Little Yellow Bicycle), Other:  Giga Snowflake Punch (Marvy), Whisper White Taffeta ribbon (SU!), Sterling Silver Embossing Powder (SU!), Crystal Coarse Glitter (Martha Stewart)

Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend. Thanks so much for stopping by!

There is no other...

Time for another Embellish Challenge. This time it's all about primary colors and brads. As I needed a birthday card for my brother, this seemed like a great time to use this bright color scheme - a nod back to our fun childhood together.

You still have time to play. Check it out here.

Supplies Stamps:  Supah Star (Cornish Heritage Farms Kim Hughes Collection), Ink:  Real Red (SU! Craft), Paper:  Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy, Lemon Tart & Stamper's Select White (Paper Trey Ink), Other:  Brads (Making Memories), New Leaf Twill ribbon (Paper Trey Ink), Clear embossing powder (Hampton Art Stamps)

I created the text on my computer. Thanks for stopping by!

Be Good or Be Stylish...

Here's a fun birthday card for my best stampin' friend, Gretchen. We often find ourselves buying the same products and seem to share the same style. As Oscar Wilde said, "In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing." 

The girl was created from Fashion by Inkadinkado - a clear stamp set with a variety of heads, arms, legs, shoes, tops, skirts, dresses, and accessories. I've had this set for awhile now, but this is the first time I got to play with it. What great fun creating this not so good, but stylish girl. I paper-pieced the shirt and skirt, colored in the hair, skin and glass with Prisma colored pencils and added a touch of Ranger glossy accents to the glass to give it a shine.

Supplies Stamps:  Fashion and "Be Good" (Inkadinkado), Ink: Van Dyke Brown (Nick Bantok), Scarlet Jewel (PaperTrey Ink), Paper: Whisper White (SU!), Scarlet Jewel & Summer Sunrise (PaperTrey Ink), Indian Summer (Basic Grey), Other: Colored Pencils (Prisma), Glossy Accents (Ranger), Embroidery floss (DMC)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a good one.

Plum Thanks

I just received these lush black velvet flower brads from my dear friend, Gretchen - and I wanted to make her a thank you card. With the current Moxie Fab World Plum Crazy challenge and the Mojo Monday 111 sketch, I was doubly inspired:

Supplies  Stamps: Organic Fabric Flourish (Inkadinkado) & Handwritten Sentiments (Hero Arts), Ink: Plum Pudding (PaperTrey Ink), Basic Black (SU! Craft), Cardstock:  Black (Bazzill), Whisper White (SU!), Patterned Paper: Making Memories & 7 Gypsies, Other:  Square Nestabilities, Gem Pen Findings (Making Memories), Black Velvet Floral brad (Creative Imaginations), silver pearls (Michael's), clear embossing powder

For a little extra bit of shine, I added the crystal headed pin and embossed the sentiment. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Beauty is...

I am so happy to finally be able to participate in one of the Embellish Magazine Challenges. For any of you who don't know about it, it's a completely unique online magazine created by Ashley Newell. Her latest challenge is "Embellish for the Cure" in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Thanks for all the inspiration, Ashley!

I used Fall-to-Layout #60 from the clean&simple blog - a fabulous source for simple, elegant card layouts.

SUPPLIES Stamps: Ornamental Beauty (Cornish Heritage Farms Rummage Bin), Ink:  Black (Memories), Going Gray (SU! Craft), Paper:  Sweet Blush & Smokey Shadow (PaperTrey Ink), Whisper White (SU!), Other:  Raspberry Fizz Satin Ribbon (PaperTrey Ink), Crystal embie (Prima Say it With Crystals), clear embossing powder, Score-Pal, Moroccan Screen Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug)

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

THE WITCH IS IN.

I first saw this sentiment on a stamp in the $1 bin at Michael's - and thought it went so well with this image. The sentiment stamp didn't work with my card design - so I created a word strip with my computer. I trimmed the front of the card to reveal the word strip which is attached to the back of the card. Since the card wouldn't stand up on its own, I couldn't photograph it so you could see the entire card! Sorry part of the word strip is hidden by the holder. 

Stamp: Recollections, Ink: Basic Black (SU! Craft), Paper: Whisper White (SU!), Bo Bunny and Carolee Creations, clear embossing powder, Prisma colored pencils, Signo gel pen (Uniball), Orange Zest Extra Fine Polka-dot satin ribbon (PaperTrey), computer, Long Rectangle Nestabilities

Happy Haunting, dearies!