Double Bonus Christmas

 Today is our sister Blair’s birthday but it is also the 25th of the month so that means it’s time to post a Christmas card or 2.  Since it’s Blair’s birthday we are posting 2 cards using retiring Stampin Up products.

The blue card was made by Cammie when she was going crazy with her retiring Perfectly Preserved stampset #126692.  Cammie used the glimmer watermark pad and silver embossing powder #126857 to stamp all the images on this card including the trees from the Lovely as a Tree stamp set #127793.  In case you did not know it the Lovely as a Tree stampset is the oldest stamp in the Stampin Up catalog and is a must have set that is NOT retiring.

The second card is my Christmas card.  So sorry for the busy background but chevrons are hot right now so why not use it as a background?  My card is a simple santa suit.  The beard was cut using Apothecary Accents  framelits #127003 and then I stamped the sentiment from the retiring stampset, Just Believe #120453 stampset.  I just bought this set and am sad that it is going away.

Sweet Honey Bee

 Today’s card is swarming with lots of fun Stampin Up products.   The background paper fooled me.  For the life of me I could not figure out what DSP Cammie used.  I should have known better- She created it herself using the Summer Silhouettes #126447 and then she ran it through the Honey comb folder #129378that was inked in black.   For the Mason jar, Cammie used the soon to be retiring Stamp set and framelit Perfectly Preserved #126692and then brayered various shades of yellow to create the honey.  Cammie added bees that she stamped from the retiring Nature Walk #121997 stampset and then hand cut them and scattered them about.  She finished the card by adding linen thread to both the jar and the card front.

Hoppy Birthday to you

Hoppy Birthday to our dear friend Karen Phelps. Cammie made this card using the mason jar from the soon to be retiring Perfectly Preserved #126692 stampset and cut the jar using the coordinating framelit.  Cammie filled the jar and scattered frogs from the Spring Sampler #125512.  The Spring Sampler set is available in the Stampin Up spring catalog and is the perfect set to fill the mason Jar with various images.   To create the fun sentiment, Cammie used the Wacky Wishes Hostess set #126412 from the current Stampin Up catalog.  When inking up the image, Cammie did not include the “A” from Happy so she was able to hand write the O to create a custom and perfect sentiment for this card.  Cammie completed the card by adding punched Scalloped Edged borders #119882.

 

Remember time is running out to order items from the Stampin Up Spring catalog or the Annual catalog.  Lots of fun stuff is retiring and will be gone forever but of course there is new stuff coming when the new catalog launches on June 1st.

Olive You

 Cammie loves olives and can eat them straight out of the jar.  She loves black olives and green olives and today’s card is preserves her olives in a jar! She filled the mason jar stamped from the soon to be retiring Perfectly Preserved stampset and cut it out using the coordinating framelits.  The olives were stamped using the Best of Love #132987 stampset and then hand cut to fit in the jar.  The lone olive is stamped from the Best of Love stampset.  The jar is mounted on a strip of Old Olive Brights Paper stack (retiring on 1 June) and trimmed with the rickrack edge cut from the Tasteful Trim Die#120893.

The Best of Series of Stamps are part of an on going year long celebration from Stampin Up.  This year Stampin Up is celebrating their 25th anniversary to  Each month during 2013, we’ll smash up some of our all-time-faves with a new never-before-seen stamp to create twelve “Best of” stamp sets.  The sets are available for the entire year with a new set introduced each month. Check out all the Best of Sets available to date.

January Best of Set: Best of Birthdays

February Best of Set: Best of Love

March Best of Set: Best of Flowers

April Best of Set: Best of Butterflies

May Best of Set: Best of Brides &Babies

Thanks a Bunch

 I love this card that Cammie made for today’s post featuring the soon to be retiring Perfectly Preserved stampset #126692 and the Friendship preserved set #127913 which made it into the new Stampin Up catalog.  Cammie used the Fancy Fan Folder #127751 textured folder to add texture to a portion of the whisper white cardstock.  She then used the Simply Scored Tool #122334 and the Simply Scored stylus #125624  to created double horizontal lines.  Cammie used a Real Red Stampin Up marker to color just the Thanks a Bunch portion of the stamp from the Friendship Preserves and added it to the non textured area of the card.  Cammie used the Perfectly Preserved stampset and coordinating framelits to make the jar lid and the apples.

The Perfect Man

This was my all time favorite Christmas card I made this year but I had to select the recipients very closely so not too offend anyone.  The card is simple in design.  I textured the front with the vintage wall paper textured folder #120175.  I then used several products from the Stampin Up Holiday catalog including the mason jar framelit from the cannery set #127822 to cut the shape in the card front. I also cut from the retired Christmas fabric the jar top.  On the back side of the card front I added a piece of transparency to give a realistic look to the mason jar.  I also embossed the mason jar using the Perfectly Preserved stamp set #126692 and added a stamped gingerbread man from the Scentstional Season stamp set #121190 and layered it behind the transparency.  I added a hand cut pennant with hand written sentiment: The Perfect man….

Then on the inside of the card I printed the following expression:

… He’s quiet, he’s sweet

And if he gives you any trouble

You can bite his head off!

Pretty Pretty Pumpkin

Today’s card is one that I designed for my Halloween cards this year.  I always have to design a “non spooky” card for my sweet friend that dislikes scary Halloween stuff.  Not sure how we can be such good friends since she does not like Halloween and I love all things Halloween but none the less I continue to make sweet cards for her.  For this card, I used a gumball green base then I took a piece of the Naturals Composition Specialty DSP#126917 from the Stampin Up Annual Catalog and colored it with my cajun inkpad to create a beautiful background.  The naturals composition DSP has glossy raised patterns printed on heavy weight natural cardstock so it is perfect for using the direct ink technique.  For the pumpkins, I thought outside the “apple” and used the apple stamp from the Perfectly Preserved #126692 stampset from the Stampin Up Holiday Catalog and stamped it in pumpkin pie ink to make a perfect pumpkin.  I then cut the stamped image using the coordinating Cannery Framelit dies #127822 and handcut the stem.  For the 3rd pumpkin, I cut 5 pumpkins and folded them in half and glued the halves together to create a 3D pumpkin.  I finished the pumpkin with some bling.  Super simple and I am sure Lisa will love this card and will save it with all the other non spooky cards I send her.  Each year she brings them out and decorates with them which to me is the best compliment of all.

An apple a day

An apple a day will keep the doctor away!  Today’s card is the best medicine for having a wonderful week… receiving a card in the mail for no apparent reason.   This is the card I made and sent to a friend to put happy mail in her mailbox.  The card is a simple design but if you look closely I made a 3 D apple out of the 3rd apple.  I used my favorite stampset of the moment-Perfectly Preserved #126692 from the Stampin Up Holiday catalog.  I stamped each apple and then cut them out using the coordinating Cannery set #127822.  To make the 3 D apple I cut 3 apples and folded them in half and and glued the halves together and then layed it flat.  I stamped the stems using the stampin write markers and then placed the apples down.  The background is gumball green cardstock textured with the woodgrain textured embossing folder #127821.  I made an enlarged window to reveal the sentiment using the word window punch #119857.

Perfectly Preserved Birthday

Happy Birthday belated birthday to my Aunt Betty Joan aka BJ.  I made this card for her in girly wisteria wonder because she is the mother of 7 boys so it is rare that she has something so pretty in her life. Her life is mostly camo and John Deer green and yellow!

I used the  Perfectly Preserved stampset #126692 and the coordinating cannery framelits to make the jar.  I used an aqua painter and pool party ink to give a subtle look to the mason jar.  The middle flower was made by layering several flower itty bitty shapes punches #118309.  I added three micro pearls in the center of the flower and tied the jar with a piece of wisteria twine and an banner cut from the Bitty Banner framelits #129267.  To accent the simplicity of this card, I used the all new Essentials Paper Piercing Pack #126187, piercing mat #126199 and piercing tool #126189.

Fresh Preserves

Today’s card features the Perfectly Perserved stampset #126692  from the Stampin Up Holiday Catalog.  The card base is the early espresso Cored’inations cardstock #127848 textured with the wood grain folder #127821 and then distressed to expose the core cardstock. The mason jar and flowers are from the Perfectly Preserved stampset and tied with a piece of espresso bakers twine.  I adorned the jar with the window framelit #129021 and the coordinating Friendship preserves stampset #127913.