July 12 Kits of Occasions

Hello!  I hope you are having a beautiful weekend.  Today I'm so happy to share my latest 12 Kits of Occasions projects.  My dear friend Marybeth sent the most wonderful Christmas in July themed kit.  (Thank you, Marybeth!)  The papers are gorgeous..don't let my lack of using them fool you!  Sometimes when I get things that I LOVE, I have a hard time using them because, well, then they will be gone.  But truly love every last little bit of this kit.  I guess I'll start out with the cute and work my way to more elegant.

This is the cutest reindeer ever!!!  I was wishing I had about 15 more of him.  And I think this flat red sequin makes the perfect Rudolph nose.

Marybeth sent lots of cute little critters, and I wasn't sure which one to use, so I used them all. :) I also found yet another way to not color...hee.

Marybeth didn't just sent cute reindeer, she sent some beautiful ones as well cut out of the most gorgeous gold glittery paper.  

I didn't own a single thing that Marybeth used in this kit, so there are lots of things that I now wish I owned...like the big scalloped rectangle on this card. :)

My last card is a non-Christmas card, because two of the most wonderful women I know share a birthday this coming Thursday, and I want to make sure that I was prepared.  I'm the worst about sending birthday cards!  I think about them, but I never plan enough ahead.  This card also uses one of my favorite items in the kit, the beautiful flowers from Papertrey's Don't Forget to Write Kit...another item I wish I owned!  Getting the chance to try out lots of new products is one of my very favorite things about this card group.  Now make sure to head over to the 12 Kits of Occasions blog to see what everyone else has made with this fabulous kit.  It is well worth your time...trust me! :)

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O Christmas Tree - Concord & 9th Finale

Good morning!  Today I'm sharing my third and final July Guest Designer post for Concord & 9th.  (If you missed them, the first two can be found here and here.) I had a really fun 3D project I was going to make, but when I started reflecting on my previous posts, I felt like I had focused more on the dies than the stamps in this release.  So today I decided to do the opposite. :) I love stamps.  I am amazed at how the same images can take on new life depending on how you use them or even the colors you ink them up with.   I also know that when it comes to Christmas cards I ALWAYS run out of time.  Mass production really speeds that process up, but sometimes I get a little bored with making 50+ of the exact same card.  So today I'm sharing a hopeful solution to that.  I chose one fabulous stamp set (Concord & 9th's O Christmas Tree), a simple, mailer-friendly card design, and lots of colors and used them to create four cards that I think could appeal to a variety of card recipients. 

First up, The Traditional...

...appropriately named for its color scheme.  This card is the simplest of the bunch, too.  I lined all three trees up, so I only had to stamp once. 

 Next up, The Jewel...

I just love the jewel tones on this card!  If you follow my 12 Kits of Occasions posts, you'll recognize this coloring scheme from my kit last December.  The kit was a year in the making, so 18 months later, this color combo is still a winner for me. :) Besides the color scheme, the only thing that varies on this card is the two-toned sentiment....which made this the most time consuming card of the set.  Masking to make the two toned sentiment was a little tricky with this particular stamp because of how the "y" and "M" overlap, but I really love how it turned out in the end. 

Onto my third card, The Retro...

My very first thought when I saw the bottle rush trees in O Christmas Tree was of little pink, snow capped trees.  And then I thought of the mint colored ones that I know for sure my grandmother had, so I decided to make a card paying homage to those and stamp three different color pastel trees.  I did not snow cap them, but I did brush lots Wink of Stella over them, so they are fun and glittery.  (I know, you can't see it in the picture...you'll just have to trust me. ;) ) I added a shimmery silver card base to up the sparkle factor.  I was half-tempted to recreate tinsel cause that would have really made it sparkle.  Ha!  :)

And my final card, the Trendy

I hesitated a little to call this trendy because I'm the last person in the world to keep up on trends (just take a peek at my clothing), but ombre is trendy for me...and it sounded a whole lot better than The Paint Chip, which is also what this card reminds me of. :D  This card happens to be my personal favorite, too.  Just something about those trees makes me smile. 

And here is the whole lot of 'em...

Fun, right?  You guys, it has been so much fun Guest Designing for Concord & 9th this month!  I really liked their products before....and I will love them forever now!  They are fun.  They can fit into every style.  They are on-trend and yet unique.  There is something about each product that made me think...oh, that choice was brilliant.  And perhaps most important to me, the people behind this company are good.  Most of my communication has been with Angie, and she is kind and generous and talented and optimistic and has a fun sense of humor.  I'm thrilled to be able to support someone like that.  And what a great bonus that I genuinely love their products, too!  And I know you will.  Make sure to pop over to Concord & 9th to see all their fabulous products as well as the awesome cards they share with each product.  Oh, and check out their blog, too....lots and lots of inspiration there.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!
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Concord & 9th Blossom

Happy Friday!  I'm back to share some more projects featuring Concord & 9th's July Release.  Yay!  The Blossom Die might just be my favorite thing in the entire release.  That being said, all of their products work together so perfectly that I don't think I'd want to live without any of them. :) And this card is a great example of that.

I started this card by making the tag first.  After stamping a sentiment from O Christmas Tree, I used the Bags & Tags dies to create the tag.  I love that these dies are open ended, so that you can adjust to whatever height you need.  Such a cool idea!

Next I ran the Blossom Die through the die cut machine about 16 different times, cutting each color multiple times.  As I paper pieced the colors into the white outline, I left a few pieces as single layers, but most of them I layered 2 or 3 times to create added dimension.  I just love how they puff up at varying heights.  For several days I planned to keep the tag just as a tag, but at the last minute I decided I also wanted to see how it would look on a card, so I ended up doing both.  (My die cut machine got an extra big workout for these projects.)  I didn't want to take any focus away from that beautiful flowers, so I added a few score lines on the right hand side of my card base and called it good. 

I have a few more projects that I created with the Blossom Die and coordinating stamp set (you'll love that, too!).  I truly could not stop creating with them.  I LOVE them, and the ideas kept coming and coming.  So stay tuned, because I'll be sharing more in the coming weeks.  I hope you'll have a fabulous weekend.  We've been away from home this week and are gearing up for a super hot and humid weekend.  I'm feeling especially grateful for air conditioning at the moment. :)  Thanks for stopping by today!

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Concord & 9th Christmas in July

Hi, friends!  Have you seen Concord & 9th's July Release?!  It's amazing!  And though I can still hardly believe it myself, I was was invited to be one of Concord & 9th's Guest Designers this month.  Eek!  I feel no shame in admitting that right after I read Angie's email, I ran downstairs (my children were sleeping upstairs) and squealed and jumped and danced around the family room.  Then I read the email again (I was still a bit in shock and disbelief), and then I danced and squealed some more. :) I truly love every single product in this release, so it was hard choosing what to work with first, but I decided to start with the Joy Bundle of stamps and dies as well as the Stripe Builder set.

I stuck with traditional colors and seeing those big, bold stripes from Stripe Builder makes me so happy!   The MISTI is so helpful for a full background stamp like this because if something doesn't stamp evenly the first time, no big deal...just re-ink and stamp again. The fabulous letters were cut with the new Joy die and then glittered for a little pizzaz. ;) The pine boughs and snowflakes were cut from silver cardstock with the Take a Bough die.  I stacked 5 layers of the snowflake, then die cut one final white snowflake and selectively cut out the star portion.  And I finished the card off with a sentiment in the Joy set.  A little sidenote: I had a vision with this card, but I got stuck, so I listened to He is Born (this beautiful song was running through my head anyway) to calm my nerves and help me get in the Christmas mood, and then I sought the opinions of my family, which helped so much.  They are the best!

One of the things I love most about the Joy set is that Angie and Greg designed it to be versatile throughout the year, so this next card is a non-holiday one.  I created a very soft version of buffalo plaid using the Stripe Builder set.  I purposely didn't worry about getting full coverage while inking because I think the light uneven patches really help create the look of soft, worn fabric.

The size of the letters in the Joy die is just perfect for creating a shaker.  I decided to fill mine with some flat marshmallow Pretty Pink Posh sequins and little hearts that were die cut from Concord and 9th's Bags & Tags dies. 

When I was trying decide how to finish off my sentiment, the show Fixer Upper popped into my mind.  I just love the right aligned metal art they use occasionally, so here is my nod to that. :) I die cut one of the small tags from Bags & Tags, and then stamped a sentiment from the Joy set one word at a time. The MISTI really was an invaluable tool for this task.

Phew.  That's it for me today.  I normally try not to be so long winded on here, so thanks for sticking with me!  Creating with these new products from Concord & 9th was so exciting!  I truly love them and cannot wait to show you more throughout the month.  Thanks so much for visit today!  I hop you have a wonderful weekend!

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CASometry Challenge Two: The Final Card

Hi!  Today I'm sharing one last card created for CASometry Challenge 2.  For the challenge we had to choose one stamp set (Concord & 9th's Flourish was my choice) and make at least five cards.  The final stage of the challenge had one additional twist...we had to CASE a card from a previous challenge entry.  I chose to CASE this fabulous card by Olga Moss.

Olga's Card

I loved Olga's card, so I made mine extremely similar.  I just simplified the process of making the card (as I pretty much always do) and simply stamped my images.

I'm so glad I played along with Anna's CASometry Challenge.  I created a collage of all the cards I made for it.  My first card (the large one below) is still my favorite, but there are things I love about each one.  It really makes me want to spend this much time delving into each and every one of my stamp sets.  

Thanks for spending some time here today.  I hope you have a beautiful weekend. 

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Winnie & Walter + Essentials By Ellen Mood Board Challenges

I'm back! :) I couldn't help myself.  I ignored my exhaustion and stayed up late last night, so I could try some more Winnie & Walter's Share the Love Challenges.  I combined three challenges on this card:  Day 1: Florals, Day 4: Transparent, and Day 5: Mood Board by Essentials by Ellen.

The inspiration for this card came from the bottom left picture on the mood board...a room full of white with gold accents. If you look closely, about 2/3 of the way down you can see a hint of the glass table top.  That gave me the idea to add a strip of clear cardstock in a similar place on my card. 

I've seen Jennifer McGuire do several cards using portions of clear cardstock, and I'm so happy I finally tried it for myself.  The little peek-a-boo element makes me so happy.  I used Essential by Ellen's Bold Blossom dies and W&W's In a Word: Kisses Cutaway. (Big thanks to the wonderful Michele for the kisses diecut!  You wouldn't believe how long I spent stamping and temporarily placing every single W&W sentiment I own and never being satisfied.  Then I remembered Michele and die cut some things for me a couple months ago, and I could have jumped for joy when I found this one.)

Okay, just one last view since I can't get enough of the beautiful gold and that little window.  I hope you are all happy and well and have the best weekend! Thanks so much for stopping by today!  My spare time has been short lately, but I hope to spend some time catching up on blogs soon. :)

Winnie & Walter Share the Love Week Challenges

I've been dying to play along with Winnie & Walter's Share the Love Challenges featuring Essentials by Ellen, and last night I finally got a chance.  I combined two challenges:  Day 2: Sentimental Challenge and Day 5: Mood Board Challenge.

My colors came from the top right picture on the mood board and for some reason the paper rosettes made me think of Winnie & Walter's Bigger Bang Confetti, so I used the diamond images to frame my sentiment which is from Essential by Ellen's Bold Blooms.  

The second photo shows just a tad better the beautiful shimmer I added with a Wink of Stella pen. It amazes me each and every time I use it.  In a way this card reminds me a bit of fireworks, which may have been in the back of my mind while I made it since we are going into the 4th of July weekend. Hope it is a great one for all those celebrating. :)