Holiday Shimmer Hop! (Plus FM87)

To kick off the holiday season (welcome to December, everyone!), some fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrators and I decided to get together and do a holiday blog hop. We've all created fantastic projects to show off some of our favorite products and techniques, so be sure to check out everyone's blogs. Our theme? Shimmer! Totally perfect for the holiday season, huh?

I couldn't pick just ONE sparkly project (how could I, with so many fun options?). So today I have TWO cheerful, festive, and sparkly projects to show you: a card and a gift.

The sparkle on my "Merry" card is just in small bursts, but I really love the touch of "something extra" it gives the image.

Here's a close-up so you can see the sparkle a little better.
Don't you just love it??

Card Supplies:

Paper: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, and Very Vanilla CS; Be of Good Cheer DSP

Stamps: Greetings of the Season, Beautiful Season

Ink: black StazOn (base image), Soft Suede (greeting); water colored with Gumball Green, Basic Grey, Soft Suede; Cherry Cobbler Stamp 'n' Write© Marker

Tools & Embellishments: Scallop Square die (on the Big Shot) and Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details, SNAIL adhesive (as always)

This next project is one I made for the Friday Mash Up challenge (FM87), which is to make a gift project and/or to use their inspiration photo. My project is a gift, and I used the silver glimmer paper like they did in their photo, so I kinda got both elements in there! I got the idea for the adorable candy tray from Stuck On Stampin's "12 Days of Christmas" projects from last year. So cute! The tag has a LOT of sparkle, thanks to the Glimmer Paper from Stampin' Up!, the tray is scored & folded cardstock, and the candy is simply wrapped with some of our Be of Good Cheer DSP. Perfect little stocking stuffer or neighbor gift, if I do say so myself!

Project Supplies:
Paper: Cherry Cobbler CS (tray base), Very Vanilla CS (tag), Be of Good Cheer DSP (wrappers), Silver Glimmer Paper (tag backing)
Ink & tools: Cherry Cobbler, Scoring board (tray), Large scallop circle punch, handheld (1/16") punch
Stamp: Tags 'Til Christmas
Other: Hershey's minis & "pretzel" cellophane bags (from the party store), Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, SNAIL adhesive (as always)

Hop Back: Julie Davidse

Hop Forward: Kris Kilkenny

Happy Thanksgiving! (And welcome to Christmas)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you have a wonderful, safe, and delicious holiday with your loved ones.

I am a firm believer that the Christmas season doesn't start until the day after Thanksgiving. No Christmas music, no Santa, no trees or lights go up until after Thanksgiving is over -- it's all I can do to handle one holiday at a time! But I have one exception (other than the occasional Christmas-in-July music indulgence) -- Cards. I LOVE making Christmas cards, and it just makes sense to start them early on to minimize the last-minute hectic rushing to make that one last card before you hurry out the door to a Christmas party. So here's what I've been working on - enjoy!

Card Details
The top two Vintage-inspired card were made with:
Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes, Greetings of the Season
Paper: Very Vanilla, Be of Good Cheer DSP and Festival of Prints DSP
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Basic Pearls, Baker's Twine (cherry cobbler)
Tools: Vintage Lace embossing folder, Ornament Keepsakes framelits dies

The bottom card was made with:

Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes, Greetings of the Season

Paper: Crumb Cake, Festival of Prints DSP, Very Vanilla

Ink: Soft Suede, VersaMark (ornament)

Accessories: Silver & Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powders (heat embossing)

Thanks to Julie Wadlinger for the fabulous photos!

More Card Challenges

This week, I decided to participate in the Friday Mash Up card challenge, which has a really fun Christmas-themed project. To make it more interesting, I also decided to do the Freshly Made Sketches challenge. So I took the layout from FMS and combined it with the theme of the Friday Mash Up, and here's what I came up with! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I LOVE the thin Old Olive ribbon (1/8" taffeta ribbon from Stampin' Up!).

Card Details

Stamp Sets: Ornament Keepsakes, Greetings of the Season

Cardstock: Crumb Cake (base), Old Olive (ornament), "Be of Good Cheer" Designer Series Paper (DSP)

Ink: Versamark (with silver embossing powder), Soft Suede

Ribbon: 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon (Old Olive)

Again, this was for Freshly Made Sketches FMS #57 and the "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" challenge from Friday Mash up. What do you guys think?

FMS 55 - My entry for this week's challenge!

Ta-da! My entry for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge is done!

I had a really hard time coming up with a card for this challenge, but I think it's because I was trying to kill two birds with one stone. See, it was my best friend's birthday this weekend, too, so I was trying to force this card to be a birthday card -- and it just wasn't having it! So I ended up with this cute "Hello" card instead. I'll make Kelsey her card tomorrow. For now, I'm going to bed!

I had a lot of fun adding all the little pearl accents, and I got to use some of the ribbon I got for FREE during last month's "Back to Spool" promotion.

Materials used for this card:
Paper: Whisper white (for punched images); crumb cake
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight
Tools: Scallop punches, circle punches, dimensionals
Accents: Basic pearls, Raspberry Ripple 3/8" stitched satin ribbon

A Challenge!

Every week, the lovely folks over at Freshly Made Sketches post a sketch challenge. What that means is they give a basic layout for a card, and anyone who wants to participate simply makes a card based on their sketch, posts it on their own blog, and links it to the week's challenge. Then the FMS ladies pick their favorites and award the winners! How fun is that! They've got some GREAT ideas over there; you can scroll through past challenges and see how different people interpret the sketches. If you're ever looking for some inspiration, check them out!

The reason I bring this all up is -- This week, I'll be participating! Whatever challenge they pose, I'll make a card and post it here. It's a great way to get your creative juices flowing, and it helps to push me out of my little tiny comfort zone and into trying something new. Having a layout provided makes it a lot easier to jump in and get started. Why don't you try out this week's challenge, too? Anyone is welcome to join!