Friday, December 5, 2014

Elegant Ornamental Pine

Wow, is it Friday already?  Where did this week go?!  I've been gone almost every evening, so I know that makes time go by faster.  Luckily I made sure I had enough time to create a pretty clean and simple card for this week's Friday Mashup from Lynda.  This is her mashup for the week... 

Create a project using "Silver or Gold". 
Create a "Christmas Project". 
or Mash it Up! and create a "Christmas-themed Project with Silver or Gold".

I decided to go with gold on my Christmas card.  It was definitely a quick card to make and I love, love, love that since it usually takes me a while to come up with something I like.  Not this time around! :)


Make sure you stop by the Friday Mashup HERE to see other the other great cards and projects the ladies created this week and to play along too. :)



Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies use on this card:

Pretty Print Embossing Folder (retired)

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Thursday, December 4, 2014

From Our House To Yours...

Today's card is definitely not my norm since it's pretty plain and simple, but I have to admit I had fun coloring in the house.  I really don't know how to color things in so I just looked around at other cards using this same house that were colored and tried to learn a little bit about basic lighting.  I don't think it turned out too bad for my first try.  Someday I'll get a chance to study and practice it a little more in depth. :)  Anyway this card is for 'Tis the Season's sketch challenge #31.  I really liked this clean and simple sketch, and hope you do too!  


Head over to 'Tis the Season HERE to check out the other fun Christmas cards using this sketch and to play along too.  Christmas is almost here!  


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies use on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog



Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Bright and Beautiful

Wow, I sure have skipped out on posting for a while.  I even have a few posts out there waiting for me to add just a bit more, but nope...nothing until today.  And that brings me to this week's sketch challenge from Try Stampin' on Tuesday.  You can see the sketch below and the theme for this week is Peace.  I thought this card is pretty peaceful, but I guess that's not the first word I'd use to describe it.  I'd say more shimmer and shine...and it sure was hard to take a decent pic with the glimmer paper and silver embossing powder.  It's definitely much prettier in person. :)


Make sure you check out the other fun cards at Try Stampin' on Tuesday HERE.  Lots of great cards from all the designers.  Make sure you play along too if you get a chance.  We'd love to see what you create!


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used on this card:

Pretty Print embossing folder (retired)

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog




Monday, November 24, 2014

Online Extravaganza!!

 Today's the day...the Stampin' Up! Online Extravaganza!!  The first three things listed are for today only!  The second set is for next Monday, December 1 only!  Everything else is UP to 50% off!!  Each category lists the deals for you.

If you'd like to place an order through me click HERE.  That will take you right to my website, and all you have to do is click on shop in the right hand corner.  Then you will have to log into your account or create an account.  




Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Friday, November 21, 2014

Shimmering Snowfall

Update...I've added a few pics toward the bottom of this post with some instructions on how I made this first card. :)

Have you ever taken a walk out in the snow on a cold evening and as you're walking along you can see the snow shimmering everywhere you look when the light hits it just right?  I sure have and that's what inspired this card...well that and the fact that we've had more snow here in Michigan than we know what to do with right now! lol  We're in for a break I think, but I'm not ready for the rain and sloppy mess that we might have the next few days.  Yup, give me a good snow storm over rain and mud when it's cold out!  So this week at the Friday Mashup Avery has challenged us to do a couple of things...

        Create a project using "a Metal Embellishment (Staple, Brad, Grommet etc.)".                    
 Create a project using "Weather as your Inspiration"

 think storms, Clouds, Rain, Sun, Warm Sandy Beaches. 

     or Mash it Up! and create a "Weather inspired project with a Metal Embellishment".


Now you can see why I made a card with snow...the weather was definitely my inspiration!  I added a few retired brads that I had stashed away to use as my metal embellishment.


Lots of great cards over at the Friday Mashup this week.  Check them out HERE and play along when you get a chance.


I'm actually adding a second card to this post also since I was kind of working on both cards at the same time.  Believe it or not I had this picture stashed away to use another time.  I didn't like how it had turned out when I originally made it, so I did a little more work on it until I was happy with what I had. :)  Wish I had taken a pic of it before I started working on it again so you could have seen the difference.  Too late now though!



I hope you've enjoyed my shimmery snow cards. :)
Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

A picture tutorial for you...

Take a 3 1/4" x 4 3/8" piece of whisper white card stock and a scrap piece of paper or sticky note and cut a curve on it like the pic below.  Attache it to your card stock if you don't have a sticky note using a removable adhesive.


Use the embossing buddy, VersaMark pad and oak tree from Lovely as a Tree for the next step.  Ink up the whole tree with the VersaMark pad, and color the trunk gray with a marker after using VersaMark on the whole tree.  Stamp tree using the stamp-a-ma-jig to place it correctly.  Use white embossing powder for top and clear on the trunk.  Yup, that means you need to be careful when putting on the embossing powder.


Punch out a 1" circle on a thin piece of scrap paper and place it where you want the moon in the sky. Now sponge or use a brayer to color the sky (I used a brayer).  I started with Pool Party and brayered it all the way to the yellow piece of scrap paper.


Next sponge or brayer on Island Indigo going down about half way.


The last color you need to sponge of brayer is Night of Navy.  Go down about 1/3 of the way.


Now that you have the sky done lift off your scrap piece of paper and reposition it so you can start sponging your rolling hills. It's hard to tell in this picture, but if you look closely you can see I've sponged Pool Party about half way up the "hill".  I started by the yellow of my scrap paper and sponged my way up.


Next I sponged Island Indigo starting once again at the bottom of the hill and sponging upward.


In this picture you can see that I've finished off my first hill using Night of Navy and repeated the whole process again on the second hill.


Here's my third hill following the same step each time...sponge on Pool Party, Island Indigo and Night of Navy.


Carefully peel off your moon and if there is any sticky residue left use your adhesive remover to get it off.  You can see in this picture that I also finished off the last hill like the previous three.  I just didn't need to use the scrap piece of paper anymore.  To make it shimmery I spritzed the scene with Smooch Spritz.  If I spray it directly from that spritzer it will have bigger clumps.  For a shimmery look without the clumps I mix a bit of Smooch Spritz with 70% rubbing alcohol and spray it using one of the Stampin' Up! spritzer bottles.  Since I needed a thank you card I added that to this card. :)


Instead of using the Chevron embossing folder for this card I used the Stylish Stripes embossing folder.  I used Island Indigo card stock cut at 4"x 5 1/4".  I then layered that on Night of Navy card stock cut at 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4".


I hope my instructions with pictures helps anyone who wants to give this card a try!  If you have more questions don't hesitate to ask. :)

Supplies used on these cards:

retired brads & sticky notes

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog




Thursday, November 20, 2014

Merry!

Today's card is a fun one that I made for 'Tis the Season's 30th Christmas card challenge.  As you can see this week we have a color challenge for you.  I really liked working with these colors, that's for sure!  Make sure you head over to 'Tis the Season's blog HERE to see what the other designers made...pretty nice cards!  Oh, and don't forget to play along.  Christmas will be here before you know it!



I can't forget to say where I got my design for this card...it's from Stampin' Celebration.  I don't get to play with other challenges very often and this is one I used to play with pretty regularly.  They have a great sketch so I couldn't resist using it this time. :)


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara 

Supplies used on this card:

I'll have to add these later...I can't get my page to load. :(

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

pssst...you make me HAPPY

Happy Tuesday, Everyone!  Here in my crazy part of  Michigan we're still in the midst of a snowstorm.  I can't believe how much snow we've had and it's only November 18!  Well as you can see all the snow made me think of warmer weather. lol  I just needed a break from Christmas cards and came up with this card instead.  The sketch is from this week's Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch challenge #194, and the theme is Twice is Nice.


Well, the "Twice is Nice" on my card are the symmetrical wings on the butterfly.  I tell ya I just was not sure what else to do! lol  Make sure you head over to Try Stampin' on Tuesday HERE to check out all the cards from the rest of the design team.  They are great! 


Just another quick pic. :)  Guess I forgot to mention how I did this card, so I figured I should pop back in and let you know.  I stamped the butterfly with memento ink and colored it in with Coastal Cabana Blendabilities.  Then I inked it up everywhere with VersaMark, covered it with Heat and Stick powder and heated it.  Then I covered it with Dazzling Diamonds and heated it one more time.


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used on this card:

Happy Watercolor - retired

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog