Creation Station December Blog Hop: Ice, Ice, Baby!

 

Welcome to the December Creation Station Hop!  Whether you've arrived from Julie's blog or have started the hop here, I am glad you've stopped by.  Our theme this month is "Ice, Ice, Baby!"  You'll see plenty of sparkle and shine today as you hop from one blog to the next.

I've chosen to use the Feels Like Frost specialty designer series paper (#150444) in my projects today.  I love the ice covered foliage in this photorealistic paper--and it fits right with the theme!  I've paired three of the blue shaded paper patterns with Night of Navy and Misty Moonlight card stock and Balmy Blue Glimmer paper (#153513).

My card features the beautiful sentiment from Peaceful Boughs stamp set (#150541).  It was stamped in Night of Navy ink onto Shimmery White card stock, embossed with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder, and die cut with a frame from the Beautiful Boughs dies (#150661).  The floral die cut pieces mimic the icy foliage in the paper pattern.  They were die cut using the Dandy Wishes dies (#154315, available January 5).  The Night of Navy die cuts were coated with Shimmery Crystal Effects (#150892) and allowed to dry overnight.  A card base of Night of Navy, a layer of Balmy Blue Glimmer paper and a spattering of Clear Epoxy Droplets (#147801) and Night of Navy Holiday Rhinestones (#150457) complete the card.

The gift tag features similar icy foliage in a lighter patterned paper design and die cut foliage in Misty Moonlight (also coated with Shimmery Crystal Effects) and Balmy Blue glimmer paper.  The sentiment is from the Wrapped in Christmas stamp set (#153481).  It was stamped in Misty Moonlight, embossed with clear embossing powder and die cut with another frame from the Beautiful Boughs dies.  The tag is actually two tags--one of Balmy Blue glimmer paper and the other the decorated designer series paper which was adhered to a Misty Moonlight card stock layer. These were tied together with Metallic Mesh Ribbon (#153550) and the Misty Moonlight/silver baker's twine from the Flowers for Every Season ribbon combo pack (#153620). More droplets and rhinestones complete this fancy, sparkly tag.

The rectangle tin (#153519) was decorated with a different icy foliage pattern.  I rounded the corners of it and the Balmy Blue Glimmer paper layer with the Detailed Trio Punch (#146320).  The die cut foliage is from the Forever Flourishing dies (#152714).  The Misty Moonlight die cuts were again coated with the Shimmery Crystal Effects.  The sentiment is from the Curvy Christmas stamp set (#155364).  It was stamped in Misty Moonlight on Shimmery White card stock, embossed with clear embossing powder and die cut using a Stitched Nested Label die (#149638)   A bow of Metallic Mesh ribbon wrapped around the tin,  more droplets, and some Misty Moonlight In Color Enamel dots (#152480) complete the tin's decorations. 

Now hop on over to Martin's blog to see his icy projects--you are going to love his style!

To Martin Stone's Blog . . .

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season!

--Sara Nell 

Creation Station November Blog Hop--The Great Outdoors

 

Hello! Welcome to the November Creation Station Blog Hop.  We are a group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators from around the world who create and share projects with you each first Sunday of the month.  This month our theme is "The Great Outdoors" and we are creating with monochromatic color palettes.  If you landed here from Yvonne's blog, you've already seen some fantastic projects.   You are sure to find more great inspiration around our hop, so remember to click on the "Next" link at the bottom of each post to travel around and see each design team member's projects.

To me, there is nothing cuter in nature than a little chipmunk.  Lucky for me, chipmunks have their very own monochromatic color palette and I went with it:  Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso.  The chipmunk image is from the Field Journal stamp set (#152609). It was stamped in Early Espresso ink onto Very Vanilla card stock, then colored with Crumb Cake (#154882) and Soft Suede (#154906) Stampin' Blends.  He  It was die cut with a Stitched Shapes circle die (#152323) and layered over an Early Espresso scalloped circle die cut using the Layering Circle dies (#151770).  The "Hello" is from the Free as a Bird stamp set (#149468).  Leaf shapes were die cut out of Soft Suede and Early Espresso card stock using the Forever Flourishing dies (#152714) and then layered under the chipmunk.

The plant image from the Field Journal stamp set was randomly stamped in Crumb Cake onto Crumb Cake  card stock for the top layer of the card.  It was spritzed lightly with water and embossed with the Tasteful Textile 3D embossing folder (#152718).  It is layered over Early Espresso card stock.  A double length of Linen Thread (#104199) tied around the layers and into a bow and a Crumb Cake card base complete the card.

I used the "Hello" greeting, so the card can be used for one of several different occasions or to mail out to a friend.  I made a coordinating tag with no greeting for the same reason: it may be tied to a birthday gift, a Christmas gift or a gift basket:

Many of the same elements used on the card were also used on the tag.  Instead of die cutting the leaves, the smaller leaves on the tag were punched out using the Sprig Punch (#148012).  The Scalloped Tag Topper Punch (#133324) was used to create the tag.  The Early Espresso tag bottom was punched from a 2" by 5-1/2" piece of card stock.  The stamped and embossed Crumb Cake piece was cut 1/8" smaller on both the height and width measurements so it could be layered over the Early Espresso layer as on the card.  A piece of Faux Suede Trim (#152472) was threaded through the tag top hole and tied with a double length of Linen Thread. 

Hope you enjoyed my monochromatic projects half as much as I enjoyed making them for you.  Now it's time to head over to my talented friend Denita's  blog for more inspiration.

To Denita's blog . . .

Have a great day!

--Sara Nell 

 

Warm Wishes--#tgifc286

The TGIF Challenges team has an inspiration challenge for us this week.  Inspiration challenges are fun because you can take any element of the inspiration piece out and focus on that element for your project--or you can focus on two elements or three or the piece as a whole.  I pulled out two pieces of the inspiration piece for my project today:  the wood grain background and the circle motif:

My idea was to create a wreath hanging from the side of a doorway entrance into a house.  I wanted to use this wood siding photographic paper from the In Good Taste designer series paper pack (#152494)--so I couldn't put my wreath on a door!!!  I layered the paper on Gray Granite card stock with a Gray Granite card base--house colors! To soften the "siding" a bit, I lightly sponged Whisper White craft ink over the paper.

 

For my circle element, the wreath, I used a Gold Hoop Embellishment (#152474).  I got these early in the new annual catalog year but have shied away from using them.  I wasn't sure how to attach things to them.  Turns out--it was easy.  I used a thin stream of Multipurpose Liquid Glue along the back of the curved leaf element (from Forever Flourishes Dies (#152714), die cut in Garden Green), carefully layered it over the metal hoop and let it dry.  Then I continued to layer the other pieces on using Multipurpose Liquid Glue for the gold balls [die cut out of Brushed Metallic card stock (#153524) using the Poinsettia Dies (#153522)].  I used Stampin' Dimensionals to adhere the two Real Red Poinsettias.  They were die cut using the Poinsettia dies, then two were layered together and centered with Gold Glitter enamel dots (#152155).  The wreath was attached to the card front using glue dots, adhered under the foliage.  I looped a piece of Gray Granite shimmer ribbon (#152463) around the hoop to "hang" the wreath.

The greeting is from Poinsettia Petals stamp set (#153475).  It was stamped in Early Espresso on to a 5/8" x 3" piece of  Real Red card stock.  I punched the fish tail ends using the Banners Pick a Punch (#153608).  I used my bone folder to create a bit of a wave in the banner, then attached it with one dimensional on one end and two stacked dimensionals on the other end. 

See how others were inspired by this piece over at the TGIF Challenges blog here.

Thanks for stopping by!

--Sara Nell 

To a Friend--#tgifc272

There's a fun sketch challenge this week over at TGIF Challenges.  I don't believe I've ever made a card with a feature like this one before.  I had fun with it and have a tip for you on how to use a Rectangle Stitched die (#151820) and a Tasteful Label die (#152886) together.

As I thought about my project, I kept going back to the idea of using the featured part of the sketch kind of like a wrap for flowers.  I wasn't "feeling" my floral stamp sets this morning.  So, instead, I made a bouquet of leaves using the Forever Fern stamp set (#152559) and the coordinating Forever Flourishing dies (#152714).  I flipped the sketch 90 degrees for my card:

I started with a background pattern from the In Good Taste designer series paper pack (#152494) which was layered on a piece of Soft Suede card stock.  Then I stamped leaf images in Shaded Spruce, Just Jade and Mint Macaron inks on Whisper White card stock.  These were die cut and other die images were die cut out of Crumb Cake card stock. These were all arranged on the background after I glued my wrap pieces on the card. 

My wrap was created with two different dies because I couldn't find another die that I liked for the wrap I was envisioning. I wanted a stitched edge wrap with a pointed end so I could punch a hole in each end and thread linen thread through each hole.  I found my pointed end in the Tasteful Labels die set and then found a stitched rectangle die with the same width.  I die cut two rectangles first and then placed my Tasteful Label die as shown in the photo on the rectangle.  I rolled the die sandwich into the die cutting machine just until I heard a click and backed it out of the machine:

It was very easy to find the right position for the second 

die because the two dies are the same width.

After deciding on how to position my pieces, I folded the ends around to  the back of my Soft Suede layer and adhered them to the back with Multipurpose Liquid Adhesive.  I used an 1/8" hole punch to create the hole to thread two pieces of linen thread through each end.

The greeting was stamped in Shaded Spruce and die cut using another Tasteful Label die.  Some gold metallic pearls and a Just Jade card base complete the card.  

You'll see some fun and beautiful projects using this challenge sketch over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Have a great week!  Hope you got your taxes filed--I nearly forgot!!!

--Sara Nell