Paper Pieced Pumpkin Cards

I admit it.

I make cards ahead.  I already have 3 cards done for next years Thanksgiving, and will post them tomorrow as they are for my Dynamic Duos Guest Designer post.

I have all the Thanksgiving cards I will need for this year for ourselves and my parents, but the desire to make fall themed cards is still there. That's how I end up with cards made ahead of time, because any fall/Thanksgiving cards I make this season will be put away for next year.

These cards are a bit of a cheat, since they were posted on my old blog when I made them. Then they were put in the box to send out this year. Since they haven't been posted on this blog yet, I'm sharing them again.

I made three almost identical cards, even though I only photographed two of them.  Such an easy technique, but so effective! I die cut the pumpkin three times, using 2 different patterned papers and one time with rust coloured card stock. These were stacked together, then sliced into 3 pieces using a metal ruler and Xacto knife.  I die cut three more pumpkins out of kraft card stock to use as the base, and coloured the pumpkin stems with a green Copic marker.

All the pieces were inked, then they were reassembled onto the kraft bases giving me patchwork pumpkins. A bit of faux stitching and ... done. 

As for the supplies? The die is a Sizzix one, but I honestly can't remember who makes any of the other supplies. This would be a fun technique to do on a large leaf, a Christmas stocking etc etc.

Thanks for stopping by today - have a great weekend!

Lotsa Turkeys Thanksgiving Card

This is another Thanksgiving card for my parent's card order ... the foil turkey stickers  catch the light when the card is turned.

I stamped the Hero Arts shadow stamp in a pale yellow ink, and when it was dry I added the turkey stickers (Sandy Lion). That panel was trimmed then matted with red and tan card stock then wrapped with a red satin ribbon.

The whole thing was added to a white A2 card base. I didn't tie a bow, but instead a knot. It will still need a card stock panel to line the envelope, but the knot will stay put as it goes through the mail.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Birdhouse Row Christmas Card

I bought this stamp many years ago, while visiting St. Catherine's Ontario. So many of my stamps have memories attached to them ...

I cut a white card stock panel that fit inside the embossed panel, then stamped the birdhouse row in black. I added colour with chalks, pencils and markers.

While it looks like I used a white pen or paint for the snow, it is actually just the white card stock with colour around it.

This is a simple card, but the blue card and matching envelope are nice and heavy, with almost a felt-like texture. The whole thing just feels good in your hands! Another card for my Christmas Card stash.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Merry Monday #33 Card

I took a little time away from loom knitting a baby gift, our year end and all the other chores I am behind in - to play along with Always Playing With Paper's  Merry Monday Challenge. Here is the sketch:

I rotated the sketch to work better with the Prima Chipboard Deer embellishment:

I am not a huge fan of putting bows on my cards. Ribbons? YES - but bows? Not so much. One, I can't tie a nice bow on my own - the red one above was done with the Bow Easy. Two - they are SO bulky and don't easily go through the mail and/or require extra postage, and three - don't they get all squished in the mail?

I look at the Merry Monday's Design Team cards, and the other entries and their bows are wonderful and the cards look great. I just don't think I can pull it off, on this card for sure. So I took a picture of my card with the bow and without.

I like the one without the bow better ... what do you think?

There was a big sale at Scrappin' Great Deals last year, and I ordered a 6x6" paper stack and matching chipboard set by Prima. From the tiny thumbnail on the website, I thought it would be wonderful for making Christmas cards. Well - it's waaaaaay more funky than I thought it would be and I struggle to use it.  This chipboard deer though, appealed to me immediately.

I added a strip of the same patterned paper inside the card before I stamped the verse.

This was a fun sketch, and when you change up the center shape you can really get a lot of mileage from it!

Supplies:
Card Base - 5 x 6.5" (Michaels)
Patterned Paper and Chipboard Deer - Prima (Northwoods)
Verse Stamp and Punches - Stampin' Up
Word Stamp - Hero Arts
Ribbon - from my stash
Bling - Self Adhesive Gems from my stash (Michaels)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Embossed Pumpkin Thanksgiving Cards

While it doesn't show up in the photos, the orange panel is a shimmery textured card stock by Bazzill. I love how nicely it embosses with an embossing folder -- so crisp! These are two cards that went into my mom's Thanksgiving card order.  The shimmery orange matches nicely with the subdued avacado A2 card base.

I wrapped the panel with a bit of sheer orange ribbon, slipping in an Avacado card stock punched label below the knot.

One of the colours of card stock and ink I ordered from Stampin' Up was Tangerine Tango. I used the ink to stamp the inside white panel - and I really REALLY like that shade of orange!

Supplies:
Coloured card stock, ink & label punch - Stampin' Up
Orange shimmery card stock - Bazzill
Sheer ribbon from my stash
Embossing folder - Sizzix
Word stamp - Stampendous

Thanks for stopping by today!

Leaf Get Well Card

When I first thought about making a card for the latest challenge at the Dynamic Duo's Blog, I wanted to use this leaf stamp. When I opened up my 'Leaves' stamp drawer though, the tree that I used for my Design Team card (see yesterday's post) was on top and I went with that instead.

Yesterday I thought I'd make another card for the challenge, this time a fairly quick one:

 

The leaf stamp is one I've had for years - my favourite way to use it is with a rainbow ink pad, so this was a stretch for me. Simply stamping it in black? I don't think I've ever done that with this image, but you sure see it's detail this way!

I pulled out my deckle edges scissors for this card too - another old tool but one I used to LOVE using. Haha, this was a nostalgic card to make -- who uses deckle scissors anymore? Who uses any of those fancy edged scissors that were all the rage a few years ago?

Banners, pennants and flags - now THAT is a popular trend these days and one I am happy to jump on.  I read someone's blog (?) and she said she has a little bowl on her stamping area filled with nothing but 1/2" strips of card stock scraps that she uses for flags and banners. Brilliant!  I now have a little glassine bag that I tuck my scrap strips into. Just a few, as we all know there is no shortage of white strip scraps when you are card making!

Supplies: 

Card base - 4 x 6

Coloured card stock - Pear Pizzaz and Basic Black (Stampin' Up)

Button and twine - Papertrey Ink

Word stamp - Gina K

Leaf Stamp - Rubber Stampede

Black Ink - Momento

Green Ink - Lucky Limeade (Stampin' Up)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Dynamic Duo's Challenge 20

It's time for another colour challenge at Dynamic Duo's  where I'm happy to be one of the guest designers for September. This week the colours are Lucky Limeade and Basic Black with the option of doing a Halloween Theme.

Last November I picked up several packages of ADORABLE Halloween K&Co 3-d stickers on clearance. Can I find them? NO.  I wasted way too much time searching through the studio for them, and finally decided to forgo the whole Halloween idea and instead make a card for our Son-In-Law.

His thesis was published, and we are very proud of him!

I thought I had ordered Stampin' Up's Lucky Limeade card stock, but it turns out I only ordered the ink pad. So I used my SU Pear Pizzaz instead (love).

The tree (Hero Arts) was stamped in black on a green rectangle, which was matted with kraft card stock. I embossed the black die cut label (Stampin' Up) with the Swiss Dots embossing folder for some texture, and ran a Pear Pizzaz panel through with a wood grain embossing folder.  After matting the wood grain panel with kraft, I popped the black label up with foam tape, then popped up the tree panel as well.

The twine sits below the stamped rectangle, which I'm hoping will help with the bulk when mailing this card. I will still line the envelope with a card stock panel though.

The words were stamped in black on a narrow strip of the green, which was attached to a scrap of kraft card stock. Then I punched it out (Stampin' Up) and yes - used MORE foam tape to attach it at the bottom of the tree image.

 Here is a peek at the inside.  I added a kraft panel inside the A2 Pear Pizzaz card base, and stamped the tree again in black. We will write our message to him inside, so I didn't add any word stamps.

This fun shade of green paired with black are perfect Halloween colours, so I wanted to at least do a little treat holder:

I used a black and green print patterned paper from my stash to make a simple 'sour cream container', with crimped edges. I always like that look, it helps keep the container sealed, and it's good to haul that crimper out of the drawer once in awhile.  Inside are a couple of nuggets wrapped with a piece of Pear Pizzaz.

I punched a label (Stampin' Up) out of Pear Pizzaz, penned the EEK and added a creepy black flocked spider sticker. The stickers were added to the chocolate nuggets as well. NOT exactly my choice of Halloween images (ug) but those sweet K&Co sticker packages are hiding really well!

Be sure to check out the wonderful submissions from the Dynamic Duo Design Team, as well as the other two Guest Designers for September!

The Dynamic Duos Challenge Blog

Allisa Chilton

Allyson Andersen (GD)

Anne Marie Hile

Anika Lerche

Karen Aicken (GD)   That's me!!

Kim Singdahlsen

Lesley Croghan

Lisa Elton

Michelle Bala (GD)

Melissa Chipperfield

Paige Grabau
Sue Joyce