Cards In The Mail - Autumn

It's been a couple of weeks since I got a blog post up for you! Thanksgiving was last week, which was wonderful for my family- I hope it was for you too! Honestly, there's been a lot of things going on, but that's the holidays for ya! And that's okay!
The big, huge, downside is that I had to cancel my Christmas card classes. I was really looking forward to my classes, and I was fully prepared to hold them...I just can't be everywhere at once... I have an idea I will probably share in my December newsletter, so watch for that.
I still have plenty of Christmas card ideas to share in the coming weeks so if you're still stamping yours, you'll definitely want to come back. I'll share some Christmas gift ideas too!
But since today is still November, I am sharing the autumny swaps I've gotten in the mail over the last few weeks. Thank you cards are useful and appreciated all year long!

Christmas in the Making!

THIS is a super cute set! I have seen dozens of other stampers say it reminds them of their childhoods... well not me, haha, but I have been sorting and organizing pictures of my mom's childhood and it definitely fits that! I love these girls and I thought they'd be a lot of fun to color!

Wellllll....I hit a snag while coloring and since this one is for a class I needed to keep it simple...and I may have missed, haha....
The problem really comes down to logistics. My classes are set up as "stations". I have a little plastic box holding everything you need to make 'this' card, and either the boxes stay put, or the card maker does, til everyone gets a chance to make the project. That means I need certain supplies in certain boxes and sharing is difficult. The next issue is using what I already have here instead of ordering more, haha...!
So this lovely card is a compromise! The dress and hat are colored using the ink/aquapainter method. I wanted needed to use Fresh Fig because I have the ribbon, and because I thought the rich color worked beautifully with the gold for Christmas! Everything else (hair, boots, mailbox...) are colored with the Watercolor Pencils and a Blender Pen! And even tho that is a little bit complicated for a class setting, I think it turned out gorgeous and we're just going to do it anyway! *grin

Supplies:
Stamps: Christmas In the Making
Ink: Fresh Fig, Archival Basic Gray
Paper: Fresh Fig & Shimmery White card stocks, Gold Glimmer DP
Accessories: Fresh Fig sheer ribbon, Watercolor Pencils, Blender Pens, Aquapainter

Star Of Light

This is a set I bought last year as a bundle and fully intended to use, but we moved in to our house the day after Thanksgiving and trying to get settled into our life here and still had such a tiny baby and it just could not happen, darnit. So this year I am going to use it up! haha! As a matter of fact, I was stuck on this card for a couple of days...I couldn't decide which die to use, which stamps to use, where exactly to use the Glimmer paper...! SO many options!

To make this card, I used the latest from Freshly Made Sketches, except that mine is a standard sized card instead of square.

Supplies:
Stamps: Star of Light
Ink: Night of Navy, Smoky Slate
Paper: Night of Navy, Whisper White card stocks, Silver Glimmer paper
Accessories: Big Shot, Starlight thinlit dies, Dimensionals

A Snowy Card!

I haven't officially decided if this will go in my Christmas Card class or not...I created it with that intention, but we'll see. I used a greeting that is included in the stamp set, along with the snowflakes and that means it can be a card you send anyone in the winter time, or it could be for Christmas if you added a bit inside! Of course if I do use it at a Christmas class, stampers can use any greeting that fits. *wink

In the meantime, I used a recent Clean & Simple sketch, and some nice, cool colors for the card. I haven't used Tempting Turquoise in a while, even tho it is one of the first ink pads I purchased. I am certain of this fact because there is still green sharpie on the top where my son "helped" in my craft room, many years ago, haha...
And here's another view, taken at the front of my house in the shade, because it seems to me the Soft Sky ink was washed out by the sun!

Supplies:
Stamps: Colorful Seasons
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Soft Sky, Memento Black
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Soft Sky, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: White Perfect Accents, Wink of Stella pen, Big Shot, Seasonal Layers Dies

Annnd because Wink of Stella is tricky to see, here's a closeup to maybe help... It is only on the white snowflakes.

Stampin' Blends!

A new product was released on November 1st (a little earlier for demonstrators!) and I haven't had a chance to share that with you.

Stampin' Up! has new alcohol markers that are perfect for blending! This adds so much to any coloring project, and I am excited to get some of my own! They come in 12 of our Stampin' Up! colors, plus two that are ideal for skin tones, and a color lifter!
Not only that, but a fun line-image stamp set and card kit are also available for a limited time to kick-start your blending! You can buy the stamp set and card kit as a bundle or separately.

You will definitely want to check out these fun and informative youtube videos, and click on the brochure on my sidebar for ordering information.



*If you remember a few years ago, we had Blendabilities Markers...these are similar, but much better!

Blog Hop: Pumpkin Style!

Wow, another month down...
Anyone else dragging today with post-Halloween-wipeout? I am just so utterly exhausted, lol... and maybe too much junk food...definitely not enough real food... annnyway, my Halloween can be summarized with these two frames:

Charlie Brown, a pumpkin and "Hermione from the third{Harry Potter} movie"...
annnd a Harry Potter themed party!

(inspiration & sources found all over Pinterest...I have a Harry Potter board...)

So today is November and temperatures are supposed to start dropping! Fortunately for you, a new month means a new blog hop, bursting with inspiration! Just in case you have enough energy to stamp today! Or later this week works too!

Today, I have a stepped up thank you card, which, of course everyone needs in November! I love the idea of sending a thank you card each day, tho I haven't ever pulled it off... If nothing else, you'll want a sweet way to thank whoever hosts your Thanksgiving dinner, or if you're hosting, then whoever helps your Thanksgiving dinner! This one is perfectly autumnal!

The inspiration came from HERE, and actually, I used the stamped version at my card class last month! 

Supplies:

Stamps: Swirly Bird, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Pear Pizazz

Paper: Pumpkin Pie & Whisper White card stock, Color Theory DP

Accessories: Old Olive Mini Chevron Ribbon

And for my stepped up version, I definitely stuck closer to the inspiration, and I used the same supplies except the dies instead of the stamps. Super easy!

(I just forgot to stamp a greeting on the front til I went to photo it, ha!)

Supplies:

Stamps: none

Ink: none

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizazz & Whisper White card stock, Color Theory DP

Accessories: Old Olive Mini Chevron Ribbon, Big Shot, Swirly Scribbles Dies, Fine Tip Glue Pen

Both are quick little cards you can whip up ahead of time! 

Now you can hop on over to Cheryl's blog and see what she's shared to get your creative juices flowing! Then continue thru the hop and be sure and leave all of us your thoughts! We all love comments on our work! 

Cards in the Mail - Halloween!

I better get this post live, just in case you are looking for some Halloween inspiration! My grandmother, great-aunt, and now my mom mail Halloween cards. Personally, I sometimes stick a Halloween card in my kids' lunchboxes, but that's it. Still, they're pretty cute, and definitely fun, and I got a few of them as swaps this year!

If you missed this amazing card Kris shared in a recent blog hop (and swap!) check out her post HERE. She shares all the details to make this easel card!

 

 And this is the inside of Julie's card, making perfect use of the punched out cat!

How about you? Do you mail out Halloween greetings?

Purple Autumn Trees

Hello again!
Late post today but this one is short and sweet. Card #4 from my latest class was also short and sweet!
I am really loving Fresh Fig! I think it lent itself very well to this autumny card. I also discovered today how I'm going to incorporate Fresh Fig into Christmas cards, so that's exciting, haha!
This card was so simple- we stamped the background and the tree using Sahara Sand ink, then sponged the Fresh Fig leaves! Couldn't be quicker!
There absolutely are purple trees- I call them apartment cherry trees. I swear every apartment complex I have lived in has them. The cherries are no good, only good for staining everything they come in contact with... And the leaves are purple. That's what I thought of when I gave this a try. It is also not a 'thank you' card, the way I'd planned the class, but this phrase works so nicely on the card that everyone went ahead and used it too!

Supplies:
Stamps: Hardwood, Lovely As a Tree, Thoughts & Prayers
Ink: Sahara Sand, Fresh Fig
Paper: Sahara Sand, Fresh Fig, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Fresh Fig ribbon, Stamping Sponges

Spotlight Watercolor

My class was last weekend and I wasn't kidding- I missed doing classes SO much!! It was such a fun night with friends! I've already shared two of the five cards we made, and here is number three!

I love this wishing well! I love it! It just turned out that it is a little tedious to color... and you never know what other people think... I thought for a long time how I could use it in a class, and I've pinned dozens of ideas and then for no reason at all I remembered an old technique- Spotlighting! I didn't find any examples of it, but this is how I did it:
First, I decided on the Viva la Verve sketch HERE. We stamped the well on Whisper White card stock in it's entirety. Then we stamped the well on a square of Shimmery White card stock (which I put on an angle) and you just color the part that you got! So quick and easy! And it was fun to show off the Watercolor Pencils!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bright Wishes
Ink: Archival Black, Calypso Coral
Paper: Calypso Coral, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Shimmery White card stocks, Delightful Daisy DP
Accessories: Calypso Coral Ombre Ribbon, Watercolor Pencils, watercolor brush

My swap!

I mentioned the other day that I was working on my latest swap. Autumn is my very favorite season, so I wanted an autumny card.

I went to Pinterest for some inspiration, which I found right HERE. Yep, my card is a pretty close CASE. And that's okay!

Supplies:
Stamps: Colorful Seasons
Ink: Cajun Craze, Old Olive
Paper: Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze card stocks, Delightful Daisy DP, Copper Foil DP
Accessories: Big Shot, Woodland Embossing Folder, Seasonal Layers Dies, Glitter Enamel Dots, Aquapainter

Maybe this angle shows the shine of the copper better? differently? haha...
Not only is this my swap, it's also going to be part of my upcoming class! I really am so excited to get back into classes! Let me know if you plan to come!

Stampin' Up! News!

Stampin' Up! Has more than one fun promotion going on right now! 

1. World Card Making Day! This is usually the first Saturday of October, but we are celebrating til the 10th! Until October 10th, you can get 15% off of 12 different stamp sets, and 15% off of the Notecards & Envelopes (found on page 195). Also- if you order a Fast Fuse Adhesive, you'll get TWO refills for free! View the choices HERE.

2. Sale on Designer Series Paper! Until October 31, when you buy three packages of select DP, you'll get a third FREE! View the choices HERE.  

3. A Hostess Freebie! If you hold a $300 workshop, or place an order of $300 or more before Oct 31, you'll get an exclusive Christmas stamp set FREE! 

4. Paper Pumpkin! If you're already a subscriber, you probably know that the October and November kits will coordinate. I don't know what that means yet (part of the surprise!) but it says you'll "have everything you need to create holiday gifts and cards"! If you're interested in this, and not yet a subscriber, make sure you join before October 10th!

  

And, don't forget the Holiday Mini! If you didn't get one in the mail, I have it posted on my blog's sidebar. There are some super cute and fun products you won't want to miss out on!

Blog Hop: Paper Pumpkin Stepped Up!

Happy October 1st to you! A new month always means a new blog hop around here!
You may have noticed there was not a lot of stamping in September. Hardly any. None...? I did three posts and two weren't my own work and the first was done in August! Yikes! Don't get me wrong, I was super busy with plenty of other things...but I have high hopes for more stamping to come very soon!

I haven't got to play with my last few Paper Pumpkin kits, and I thought that was a good place to start for this hop! This is the latest Paper Pumpkin kit, and the refill kit is available to subscribers HERE. (Refill kits don't include stamps or inks, just the papers and embellishments to create more of the kit)

First up, I made the projects as they're designed:

Eight mini cards like this.

And eight cute pillow boxes like this!

And here they are together.
I would like to point out they provide 18 total of each style of leaf, tho the colors do vary. The kit is designed for 16 projects but there are already supplies for extra! I love that!

And then, I used the latest Freshly Made sketch to design my own card with the same supplies! 

I used the different greeting (now you've seen all three) and the little leaf stamp(which I didn't use on the die cut leaves...) and added the exact leaf bundle from the pillow box above on this card. I turned the greeting tag the other way and that's really it! I also put it on a Crushed Curry base, rather than the Soft Suede. 

Sooo now that I look at it, maybe my card isn't stepped UP, but it is a different way of using the Paper Pumpkin kit! And you know what else? It took me exactly one hour to make all three cards, including looking for a sketch to utilize for my own card, and settling on the card stock base! That's not bad all!  

Anyway, continue on with our October blog hop by clicking the hand below and moving on to see what Cheryl created! And please leave us your thoughts- we all love comments! 

If you'd like to see the instructional video on this Paper Pumpkin kit, and a few more ideas, check this post out HERE.
There are so many ways to use these fun kits and I really hope to get them pulled out and used up soon! You can always sign up to get the monthly kit sent straight to your door every month! I definitely enjoy the cute projects! Just click the Pumpkin icon on my sidebar if you'd like to sign up with me as your demonstrator! It's that easy!