Scrapnextras

Quick Gift Card Card!

I have a quick little gift card holder to share today.  This is a version of a pocket card...but seasonally adjusted!

The stamp is by Unity...called Tinsel in a Tangle.  It's a mini set that I grabbed as soon as I saw it because it makes me smile!  I needed a gift card holder for my dd's gymnastics coach and this was an easy way to go.

 The designer paper is Echo Park from last year and I cut the snow hill landscape by taking a 4 1/8" x 3" piece of white cardstock and cutting it in half with a wave.  I flipped one over and glued it on the card flat, and the second, I only glued around the bottom and sides and it forms the pocket.

The little penguin is stamped in Versafine Onyx black and I coloured his tangly tinsel with Spica Glitter pens.  I added a border Martha Stewart's "Drippy Goo" punch...I think it works for snow or icicles too.  Stardust Stickles tops the hills and shines each of the coloured dots.  I finished with some American Crafts ribbon and that was that! 

So quick and easy...just a bit of drying time for the stickles but I'm done my Christmas cards now!  Are you?

Thanks for dropping by!  I hope you are off to a wonderful day! 

Merry Christmas with My Minds Eye

Happy Wednesday!  We're halfway through the week and it's all downhill from here to the weekend!  Now, we haven't made it to Halloween yet, but it's never too early to start on your Christmas cards right?  This time I was playing with My Mind's Eye "12 Days of Christmas" collection, and I had so much fun, I just couldn't stop at one!  In fact, I ended up with four Christmas cards, all using the "12 Days of Christmas" paper and accessory kit.  I love kits, and I love it when everything comes together. 

Here they are!

I worked the pop out die cuts accessory sheet and the designer paper, and I didn't have to pull out any stamps for this set of cards.  I added Rouge Liquid Pearls, Ivory Photo corners, Clear rhinestones and some ribbon by American Crafts.   There is enough to make at least 5 more cards, and if I add a few stamps, maybe 100+! 

Pick up your favorite Christmas products at Scrapbooker's Paradise now!  They sell out fast, and it's often difficult to restock before the season is over.  With Free Shipping over $50.00 on Canadian orders, you can make sure you don't miss out on any favorites this season!

Happy shopping and have a wonderful day!

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #95

 
Happy Sweet Sunday!  Karen has a fun sketch for us this week, and I know you're going to enjoy playing with it!  I pulled out one of Taylored Expressions sets from last year, called Wings of Joy!  It's a fun an whimsical set and gave me an excuse to ink up an image I hadn't used before!  I paired it with the Snow Day Project Pantry kit, that arrived in my mailbox a while back...it seemed the perfect match!

 

 

 
I absolutely love the bright fun colours in the Snow Day paper pad by Crate Paper, which comes in the Snow Day Project pantry kit.  It determined my colour combo right off!  The little line of socks and mittens is so sweet, but it was actually too large to fit in the image panel on my 5 1/4" square card, so I inked it up omitting the little birds and stamped it in Memento Tuxedo black and then I stamped the birds separately.  All the little items were cut out and popped up.  I love the sentiment which is two separate stamps, giving you more options!  I punched the 2nd part out with the word window punch and tied it on with red and white twine.  The ribbon is Bermuda Bay grosgrain, and the little border is from the Snow Day border sticker sheet which is part of the kit.  Oh, I miss those kits!!

If you need a little more inspiration before taking a run at this week's sketch, then pop in for a quick visit at the design teams' blogs!

Joanne Basile
Jennifer Tapler
Vicki Burdick
Sarah-Jane Kale
Karen Motz
Lynn Put
and of course Karen

Ok, that's it for me!  Thanks for dropping by and have yourself a fabulous day!

Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge #26

 
Happy Weekend!  I don't work this weekend and I'm so happy to have the time to be with my family.  We haven't put our tree up yet, so that's the big event planned for today!  So in keeping with the mood, I have another Christmas card to share using the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge #25!

We have a circle card for Challenge #25!  I love circle cards but I rarely make them, so this was a welcome sketch.  It's easy enough to work and I quite like the way my card turned out.  I see even more influence from my fellow Mischief Makers, I just love the way they work ribbon and flowers with that edgy shabby look!  I just need a sewing machine that I can easily pull out and I'd be even closer.

 

 
I don't suppose it's really as "Christmassy" as it could have been, but I love it anyway!  I had picked up the kraft scallop circle cards in a kit with envelopes a while back (on sale!) and I was a little disappointed when I realized they weren't cards, only scalloped circles.  I hadn't touched them and then I saw this post by Julee Tilman (Poetic Artistry), where she showed how she made her circle cards, and a whole new world opened up for me! 

I started by embossing the front circle with the large snowflakes embossing folder by Sizzix.  I scored a line along the top of the back circle and ran adhesive along the top.  The designer paper is last year's Eskimo Kisses by Basic Grey and I paired it with Bravo Burgundy.  I stamped the "Nice" stamp from Waltzing Mouse's Around Christmas Time set, in Bravo Burgundy on kraft and then again on white.  I punched out the word "nice" and popped it up in the centre and added wine gems to the dots along the edge.  I did a little sponging with Antique Linen distress ink on the doily and the image.  The belly border consists of a scalloped border of Bravo Burgundy and Kraft taffeta ribbon tied in a bow.  I added some tiny roses then nestled the sentiment section up to it and popped it up.

 
Here's a head on image so you can see the sentiment a little better!  I think it's just the cutest and most fun sentiment for a Christmas card to a friend!

Are you going to play with us?  I would love to see your take on the sketch!  If you need more inspiration head over to the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge blog!  You can use whatever stamps you like, and if you have Waltzing Mouse stamps, I can't think of a better reason to ink them up.  Link your creation to Sketch 26 post on the Challenge Blog and you could be one of our Top Mice featured on the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge blog next week.

Have a wonderful weekend!  I'll be back tomorrow with the return of the Sweet Sunday Sketch!

Combining Challenges! CAS95 & FTL118

 
I just love making Christmas cards.  Sometimes it's to use up the incredible amount of Christmas supplies that I buy, but mostly I just love the look and feel of them.  I had sometime on my hands...time that I probably could have used more wisely, but I chose to make a card.  It was a quick one.  I saw the Clean & Simple Challenge #95 on SCS and the Fall to Layout from the Clean & Simple blog and decided I could combine them easily and this is what I came up with. 

 
CAS95 was to use Flower Accents.  OK, so this may be more of a focal point than an accent, but it works for me.  Fall to Layout #118 was pretty simple.  I thought the flower could work as the circle and the leaves for the other element. 

I decided that Clean & Simple doesn't have to be white, and intentionally looked for something that would work with another colour.  I pulled out this strip of designer paper by Echo Park and started there.  The card base is Wild Wasabi and the border is Real Red.  Believe it or not, that border had already been punched!  I guess I decided against in on another card and there it was, ready to go!  I layered the poinsetta's (by Bazzill) and added a little yellow rose (Recollections) and some leaves.  The sentiment is from Joy and Wonder, a Unity set I picked up on sale last year.  Lastly, I added some piercing in the corner for a little added detail and that was it!  Here's a close up of the flower.

 
OK...I'm posting this late, so now I'm off to bed.  Make it a wonderful day!

Sleighbells

 
It's rather odd not to have a Sweet Sunday Sketch for you today, but it's Thanksgiving weekend in the US, and Karen is celebrating with her family along with most of the Sweet Sunday Stampers and my American readers.  We, here in Canada, celebrate our Thanksgiving nearer to harvest time, in October, so this weekend was nice and relaxing...at least in regards to stamping.  I finally pulled out a Christmas stamp that I just had to have, and inked it up for it's debut.  This is the result.

 Stamps:  Noel (Harmonie)
Paper:  X-pressit blending cardstock, Real Red, Bermuda Bay (SU), Harmonie Noel DP
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories:  Copic Markers (R24, R27, R29. R39, BG10, BG15, W1, G000), Clear glaze pen (Sakura), Detail Gold ep (Stampendous), stitched grosgrain ribbon (Offray), red felt snowflake (SU), snowflake button (Jesse James), gold cord, Jingle bells (?)

 
The stamp set is Noel by Harmonie and it matches their Noel paper line.  I stamped the sleigh in Versamark on X-pressit blending card.  I embossed it in detail gold ep and coloured it with Copic markers.  Then I cut it out and popped it up.  The stars were also stamped and embossed in gold and coloured with Copics.  You have to be careful around the embossed parts.  I found if when I coloured over the embossed portions, especially with the lighter colours of Copic markers, it caused the embossing to smear.  With the red, when I coloured over it, although the ink is fairly translucent, the deepness of the red took away from the shine of the embossed portions.

I tied some stitched grograin ribbon around the focal image and layered a snowflake button on a felt snowflake.  I tied gold cord through the button holes and dangled these tiny jingle bells from them!  Way too cute!

The sketch comes from a card I made when I was on the Splitcoast Dirty Dozen.  You can see it here if you're a fan club member.

OK...I feel better now.  I made something with a stamp set I just had to have, but had never used!  Only 2354 left to go!  Well maybe not quite that many LOL!  

 I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend no matter how you spent it.  Thanks for dropping by!  I'll see you again, real soon.

 

Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge #25

 
I love colour and pattern, but I also love the drama and contrast of black and white!  When I got the Waltzing Mouse set "Festive Foliage", I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it...and you know, I think it took me longer to photograph this card than it took to make it!

 
I really wanted to capture the beauty of these images and the crisp winter feeling they remind me of.  The pinecone & bough image from Festive Foliage was stamped in Versafine Onyx Black in both corners of the smaller panel and embossed with Black Sparkle embossing powder.  I borrowed the sentiment from Teeny Trees, and embossed it as well.  I wish I could capture the subtle sparkle...but it looks kind of garrish on camera.

 

The rest of the card is all dressing.  I used the polka dot border embossing folder to create the embossed border, the ribbon is black and silver satin and since the sketch called for embellishment on the lower right, I added some bling!

Are you ready to try out the sketch yourself?  You can use any stamps you like, but we always love to see what you do with your Waltzing Mouse stamps.  Upload your creation here and next week you could be featured as one of our Top Mice!

Need more inspiration?  Pop in to the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge blog and see what the Mischief Makers have done with it!

That's it for me today!  Have a fabulous day and thanks so much for spending a bit of it with me! 

Double Challenge Card

 You know it's funny, but my youngest DD mentioned to me last week or so, that I don't do any stamping just for fun.  I tried to explain to her that design work is fun, and getting free stamps...well need I say more?  But just the same, I know what she means.  I haven't stamped without a commitment in a while.  So today I stumbled along some free time and I was able to do the Colour Challenge on Splitcoast Stampers and I combined it with the Mojo Monday 166 sketch!  I am feeling pretty good, and I hope DD is too!

 
One of my favorite stampers is Julee Tilman, and I get her blog posts in my inbox every morning.  I just love everything she does.  She seems to be able to do any style from vintage to clean and simple and everything in between.  This card was definitely influenced by her.  I tried to distress and add a vintage touch...Julee style!

The card base is Kraft, and the designer paper is last year's Christmas Mint by SEI.  I embossed the kraft with the Holly Ribbons folder, then sponged a little Chocolate Chip ink around the edges and over the embossing.  The music stamp is called Musical Background by Hero Arts and the sentiment is from Flourishes' Christmas Music.  I stamped both in Chocolate Chip Craft ink and embossed the sentiment in clear.  I used EK's Fleur d'lis punch on Chocolate Chip to cover the seam and added some old ruffled Chocolate Chip grosgrain by Stampin' Up!  The chipboard flourish is my Maya Road and I sprayed it with Tattered Leather glimmer mist.  I added three pearls to the music panel, and then I spritzed the entire card with Pearl glimmer mist.  The flower is by prima and my last addition was the old looking candy cane that was in a Jessie James Christmas button pack tied with linen thread.

This card took me forever...I started it last night, left it for sleep at midnight, and as soon as the kids were off to school, I went down to finish it.  Eek...then I had to scramble to get some housework and laundry done.  I love having days off during the week while the kids are at school, but I can easily squander my time either stamping or on the computer, and have nothing done when they walk in the door after school.

I hope you are having a fabulous day.  We're in a deep freeze here, so I am sending warm wishes to you wherever you are!

Christmas Emma

Happy Monday.  Hmmm...is there such a thing as a Happy Monday, I'm sure there is and that's my wish to you!  I'm back today with another go at the Playing in Paradise Sketch Challenge.  Those who know me, know I love my sketches, and I think this month's sketch is really fun, plus it's a good excuse to get another Christmas card done.

Stamps:  Christmas Emma (CC Designs)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Prism Simply Smooth white & Ivory, green & red, Everybody Loves Christmas Designer Paper (Echo Park)

Accessories:  Just the Edge Christmas Borders (Bazzill), Loop border punch (Martha Stewart), Fire Red Glitter (In the Making), Circle dies (Spellbinder), Snowglobe embossing folder (Sizzix), gold cord, Xyron Sticker maker, Copic markers E50, E51, YG11, YG13, YG17, R24, R27, R29, E33, YR31

Christmas Emma was my starting point.  She reminds me of a time when I had "little" girls, who loved to dress up in fancy Christmas dresses and wear sparkly shoes.  Those were the days...before the super skinny jeans and dyed hair.  Emma is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black on Prism Simply Smooth white, and coloured with Copic markers.  I stamped her one more time and coloured the wreath and cut her out so I could pop her up and "out" of the Spellbinder circle.  The circle is embossed with the new Holly & Berry Sizzix folder.  My friend Karen Motz did this on her Sweet Sunday Sketch card here, and I loved it!

The jingle bells are from Bazzills "Just the Edge" border strips.  I love these.  There are 8, 12x12" strips in a pack and you can do all sorts of fun things to jazz them up.  I pulled the jingle bells out and ran them through the Xyron sticker maker then coated it with Fire Red microfine glitter.  Then I burnished it with my finger, to make it really sparkle.  I decided that Emma could use a little sparkle, so I added some glitter to her shoes and also to the berries on the wreath.

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Once everything was good and glittered, I tied some gold cord through the jingle bells and put it all together!  I think she is so sweet!

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Now it's your turn to try out the sketch.  When you're done, link your fabulous creation up here!

That's it for me folks!  I'll see you again real soon!  

Sweet Sunday Sketch #94

  Hello Stampers!  It's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch, and I had some fun putting this one together.  I decided to venture out and do something different with my circle, and use some of these fabulous felt snowflakes I've had for so long.  I think this is an easy sketch to work with and I hope you do too and will play along with us!

 

 

 

I've had these felt snowflakes from Stampin' Up! for quite a while now, and honestly I have hardly used any.  I ordered a couple sizes, and these big ones really threw me.  I mean they are big...about 3" across.  But I want to get in the habit of using some older stuff, since it helps me justify the massive quantities of new stuff that crosses my threshold these days, so I layered them up in place of the circle!  The sentiment is from Flourishes Warm Winter Wishes and I set it in a Chatterbox brad...I am going to run out of those little gems.  It's one product I have really made use of.

The card base is Kraft and I used Flourishes "Warm Winter Wishes" to make the snowflake background in Riding Hood Red.  I ran the Riding Hood Red section through my Cuttlebug with my big snowflake embossing folder, and tied Baja Breeze ribbon around it.  I taught a class the other night and we used large red Kaiser pearls, and I was left with all the little ones...so I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to use them up.  I added pearls to the spokes of the white snowflake and to each of the stamped ones.  Here's a close up of the snowflake:

And another view straight on.
 Funny thing, I had the card set for the shoot, and decided it needed something else....so that's how the border of snowflakes on the blue came to be.  Did I make the right call?

You are going to love taking the tour to see what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers did with the sketch...I know I love this part the best.  And when you're done, ink up your stamps and give the sketch your best shot!  Link it up here, on Karen's blog.  One lucky person will be selected to be featured on Karen's blog next week!

Joanne Basile
Jennifer Tapler
Vicki Burdick
Sarah-Jane Kale
Karen Motz
Lynn Put
and of course Karen

Happy Sunday folks!  Thanks for dropping by...it's truly been a pleasure having you!