12 Days of Christmas--Day 2

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Hello and welcome to another 12 Days of Christmas project! Today I have a card to share with you that I created using one of my favorite stamp sets in the JJ catty—the Trees for Sale!

I actually really love the soft neutral palette of this card. It has a country home sort of feel to it, don’t you think?

The base of the card is Grey Granite and I paired it up with the Gingham Cottage DSP. I love that this is a stack of DSP all in various Gingham colors and patterns! Its such a great stack of paper for scrapbooking and card making.

Along the border of the DSP I added a strip of Crumb Cake card stock die cut with the scallop border die from Hand-penned Petals. Honestly, I never put this die away. I use it all the time. Beside the die I added a sprinkle of little stars/snowflakes from the stamp set in matching ink.

I stamped the 3 trees in 3 shades of green—Old Olive, Mossy Meadow and Pear Pizzazz. The sold image of each tree was stamped off on my grid paper and the next layer was full strength ink.

 

The sentiment was stamped with Soft Suede ink on Crumb Cake. I added some Linen Thread behind and few Classic Matte Dots in grey to the background.

I love this card design and know it can be modified for any occasion.

Thanks for coming by today! Make sure to go check out Melanie’s project for today!

 
 

12 Days of Christmas--Day 1

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Hello my friends! I am so excited to share 12 Days of Christmas with you—with a twist! My awesome friend Melanie from @melsinkyfingers and I have decided to team up to each share 12 awesome holiday projects with you! At the end of each of my posts there will be a link to go visit her blog and see her project of the day. In the end, you will actually have 24 project ideas!

Thanks Melanie for making this cute graphic for us!

I can’t wait to get started! My first project is this fun notecard set and basic box. I got this project template from another talented friend Lisa Althouse @stampaholic. I just love our stampin’ community!

This basic box is perfect for holding 4 notecards and envelopes. You could even create this project without a lid and use the box to hold holiday snacks or treats (like Oreo Popcorn! I have this recipe on my blog under Lifestyle—Favorite Recipes).

I used the Sweetest Christmas DSP as my color inspiration and paired it up with the Handmade Wishes Bundle. I just love this bundle because the stamp set is so versatile. You can created so many different phrase/sentiment combinations. And the design of the label punch is really unique!

The label on this box is designed to reflect that a treat will be in the box. I plan to add a single card and a little holiday treat inside these boxes! I added another panel to the front of my box that I ran through the Timber 3D folder.

 

Sweet Sorbet has definitely been my favorite red this season. I added a panel to the front of my card and stamped some little snowflakes as an accent.

A couple strips of DSP (its so fun to mix and match patterns), and a cute sentiment stamped on Pool Party card stock in Coastal Cabana, make this notecard so fun. Of course I had to add some Garden Green Ribbon and white Bakers Twine.

I love a good stripe pattern and this Sweet Sorbet/ Blushing Bride one is just perfect for a card front! I softened the front with a panel of card stock and a bit of stamping. The little gingerbread man was the perfect fun add on to this sentiment!

 

I love to stamp little hearts on my projects, they just make everything perfect. This little notecard has DSP with a ribbon border, the punch and sentiment and of course some Bakers Twine. This is such a ‘Good Card Design’!

The best part of this little notecard is the candy canes that are die cut, right from the DSP! Isn’t that brilliant? It makes creating this card so easy!

I hope you have fallen in love with this project as much as I have! I shared it with my team last month and it was so well received, I knew it would make the best project to kick off 12 days of Christmas. I have a few other 3D projects to share, some cards and of course some scrapbooking/mini album inspiration projects. I hope you will check back each day and go over to Melanie’s blog to see her awesome projects as well!

Click here to get to Melanie’s first 12 Days of Christmas post! I can’t wait to see what she made!

 
 

Be Inspired Blog Hop--Stamping with Red & Green!

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Hello friends! It has been awhile! It isn’t that I haven’t been crafting, trust me I have! I have just been sharing more over on Instagram lately. However, I was very honored to be invited to join this amazing group of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators who make up the Be Inspired Design Team! I am so happy to be participating in this blog hop—this hop runs the last Wednesday of each month, so I hope you will come back again to visit!

The theme for this month Red & Green—pretty easy for Christmas crafting, especially when we have the amazing Sweetest Christmas Designer Series Paper to work with! Sweet Sorbet is my favorite holiday red this year and you simply cannot go wrong with Garden Green. It has been in the SU family of colors for quite some time, the whole 16 years that I have been crafting!

I just love cute candy canes, don’t you?

This is one of my favorite ‘fun folds’ that isn’t too complicated to create or remember how to create! I simply start with your standard card base, 4 1/4 x 5 1/2, and layered two 3/4 x 5 1/2 inch strips of the striped pattern from the DSP along the edges. I like to leave a little bit of the Sweet Sorbet card stock showing on either edge as well.

Next I cut a white layer (or whatever color you choose) for the ‘card’ aspect to open and close. It is 3 1/5 x 11, scored at 5 1/2. Easy peasy! I decided to run the top flap of the card through the Wintery 3D folder for a little textural interest. And if you look close, its actually the indented side of the folder showing on the front for even more of a twist.

 

I really love to use embossing folders in my designs. It is such an easy way to add interest to the background of your cards.

I decided to pair up 2 of the stamps from Framed & Festive —Falala and Merry Christmas to create one sentiment block and I die cut it using the Seasonal Label Dies.

The candy canes are of course stamped from the Sweet Candy Canes stamp set in Sweet Sorbet. You can add a bit of Wink of Stella to the larger section of the candy canes too if you want a bit of sparkle.

The greenery is die cut from the Candy Cane dies and the Christmas Banner dies and are just tucked in and behind the sentiment. A little bit of Sweet Sorbet twine and In Color Enamel Dots and I felt this card was complete.

 

The best part of using an embossing folder on the folded card is that when you flip it open you still get to enjoy a bit of design on the inside of the card too!

I am making this card with some of my stampin’ friends in an upcoming class and I am so happy to share it with you here as well. I hope you will give this fun fold a try in your own paper crafting too!

Next up on the hop we have my creative friend Janneke Dijkstra - de Jong! You can click on the button to go directly to her blog!

On Stage Vienna Presentation

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Hello friends! I wanted to share some of the super fun projects that I was able to design and share in a video that was streamed in Vienna at our On Stage Conference earlier this month! I was so excited when Stampin’ Up! reached out to me as an extension of my role on the Artisan Design Team. I am just finishing my second term on the team and I was blessed to asked to return for another year in 2023. I have loved every creative challenge and opportunity that has came my way with my role as an Artisan Team Member.

 

It was really excited to get to create with a NEW upcoming bundle called Conversation Bubbles. It is so whimsical and fun! The dies are spectacular!

I was asked to create a variety of projects with this bundle and the new Alphabet a la Mode dies that are also coming out in the January-April Mini Catalogue!

This is my cute bestie Hawkins—where I go, he goes

My first project was a scrapbook page and this is not only because I love scrapbooking (if you follow me on Instagram @stampwithbrenda or my Artisan journey) you know I create a lot of memory pages. So this was actually the basis for my presentation—how to create a scrapbook page from a card design or vice versa!

I used a fun technique on the back ground where I cut a stencil with one of the dies from our Window Sheets. I used a Blending Brush in Pool Party ink to create some ‘thought' bubbles on my page. I then used a Pool Party Stampin’ Blend to DOODLE on top of the designs. Yes DOODLE!!! Doesn’t that take you back to sitting in class, doodling away! You can see I used a variety of stamps and dies from this bundle on this page!

This card was the result of the inspiration provided by my scrapbook page. You can see how many of the same elements carried over. This project is so fun as I love the mixing and matching of stamped images, dies and the negative die opportunity!

TOP TIP: When you #addtocart the Alphabet a la Mode Dies (as I know you all will) please make sure to add the Adhesive Sheets. They will keep your project mess and glue free as essentially you will be creating a ‘sticker’ out of the die cut letters. Trust me, you won’t be sorry to add this to your order!

My favorite project that I made for this presentation was this adorable shaker card. I love me a good shaker card and this one is relatively easy to create! Its a square card with a large circle cut and covered with a Window Sheet. I used the same stencilling technique on the base in Blushing Bride ink and this time and I added ‘YAY’ right to the top of the Window Sheet. I used some of the little hearts and stars from the dies plus a pinch of sequins for the ‘shaker’ aspect of the card.

Then I embellished the front with more stamps, dies and some Iridescent Pearls. Who wouldn’t LOVE to get this in the mail?

Who does’t love a good slimline card! this card is perfect with the little speech bubble at the bottom

Have you been noticing the ADORABLE Designer Series Paper used on my projects—spoiler alert—you can get it for FREE during Sale a bration as a Level 2 Reward. Yep, you know it! It is called the Dandy Designs 12x 12 DSP. Make note!

This slimline card is just the best to showcase how much fun you will have with the Conversation Bubbles Bundle. You can layer and mix and match the sentiments and dies to create a variety of catchy fun phrases. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the color palette of my projects—all driven by the DSP!

 

And as my final project, I knew I needed to make an adorable little treat holder using the Mini Pocket Envelope Die. Clearly we need to utilize a stamp that says YUM and what is better than tucking a cute chocolate or take ou gift card inside this treat holder?

I cannot wait util this bundle is available for you to all order! I had so much fun creating with it and I know you will too! Bookmark this post so you can come back to it in January!

Make sure to visit my blog on Thursday as I am starting a 12 Days of Christmas project share with my friend @melsinkyfingers!

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Color Fusers--September Blog Hop!

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Hello friends! I am so thankful you are checking in today and I apologize for being MIA over the summer! I just don’t know where the days have gone! Life has been busy and now its September and back into the routine of school and all that fun stuff.

I can’t tell you how much I love this color combo! And it is one that I don’t think I have ever put together myself. I think its because Blackberry Bliss is not one of my go to colors, but paired with Fresh Freesia and Pale Papaya it just shines on this project!

This month Stampin’ Up! has a fun promotion on called Perfect Partners and one of my FAVORITE stamp sets, Fresh Cut Flowers, from the Annual Catalogue now has coordinating dies available this month only! Go check out my Instagram feed (@stampwithbrenda) to see how many times I have shared this stamp set!

These new dies to accompany the Fresh Cut Flowers stamp set are called the Fresh Cut Stems Dies!

I decided to use Blackberry Bliss as the base for this card and use a layer of Fresh Freesia to compliment it. I love the unique edge die included in this new set. I added a bit of Designer Series Paper from the Butterfly Kisses collection along the left side and stamped the large floral image in Fresh Freesia ink along the side as the base image.

 

I stamped the image again in Momento ink on some Basic White and then used the “Lazy Watercoloring” technique to color in the flowers in Blackberry Bliss and Pale Papaya. The key to this look is to not color all the way to the edges and layer on the color.

I then trimmed by hand all of the flowers and use them to decorate behind and around the sentiment.

The sentiment is from the Hello Harvest stamp set and cut with the coordinating Rustic Pumpkin Dies. What I love about the Fresh Cut Flowers stamp set is that it doesn’t include any sentiments. So the sky is the limit with what you can pair up with this stamp set.

I also did a little lazy watercoloring on the banner too with Pale Papaya. I love the soft wash of color.

The Fresh Cut Stems dies also include fun little sprigs and little florals that I added to the card to create a soft little bouquet. I added a few of the In Color Opal rounds as you always need something sparkly right?

Now because this card is on such a dark base, I felt like I also needed to stamp the inside as well so that it makes writing your greeting so much easier.

 

I stamped one of the smaller images from the stamp set on the right of the inside base, which is just Basic White. After I colored them with Blackberry Bliss and Pale Papaya, I flicked my Water Painter across the base.

I love to stamp the inside because its an unexpected surprise!

I hope you are as thrilled as I am with this card. I loved it so much I decided my monthly Stamping groups are going to make it too and practice their hand at lazy watercoloring!

I am so excited to see what the rest of the Color Fusers Team has created this month, I am always so amazed at the creativity and variety of the blog hop—-so please make sure you hop all the way around! Please comment or go give my project a like on Instagram (@stampwithbrenda).

Up NEXT on the Hop is the infectious Bonnie O’ Neill and if you want to be a rebel and go backwards, then you will be going to back to see Tami Hewlett. Tami is one of my fellow Artisan Design Team members, we have been on the team for 2 terms together and she is beyond talented!

If you are interested in details regarding my monthly Stamping Group or wish to support my love of stamping you can message me or click on any image below to shop directly with my store! I appreciate all of your support!