Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge - December 2023

 

Happy December crafty friends!!!  Today I'm sharing my card for the Happy Little Stampers monthly Christmas challenge however before we get into my process I have a bit of sad news.  Our fearless leader Kylie has decided to close down all HLS challenges for the immediate future therefore December is the final date for all Happy Little Stampers challenges.  I cannot even begin to fathom how she's managed all of these for so many years.  Thanks for everything you do Kylie!

On to my card.  Our final prompt is Festive Animals which immediately had me searching for my stash of SSS storybook dies.  I love the black and white of pandas so it was an easy decision.

The panda was die cut in white and then blended with inks to achieve the colors.  In retrospect I should have chosen colored cardstocks because you can see how the red ink bled into the white stickles on his hat.  The background was pierced with panel die and adhered to a red card base.  The assembled panda was adhered to the center and set off with a narrow black frame.  White glitter cardstock was used for both the snow at his feet as well as the snowflake.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white onto a strip of green cardstock.

Supplies:

Simon Says Stamp - Storybook Panda die

Taylored Expressions - Christmas greeting stamp 

Simon Says Stamp - Snowflake die

Honeybee - tiny star confetti

MFT - Basic Stitched Lines die

We'll miss you Kylie!  I do think she's been on the hunt for someone to take over the challenges.  Let me know if you're interested.

I invite you to visit our blog for more holiday inspiration.  Prompts are always optional but remember that only holiday cards qualify.  We would love to see your card in our gallery.  

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge - November 2023

 

How's the Christmas card crafting going?  Happy Little Stampers is here to help!  Our prompt for November is Bah Hum Bug....which is certainly one I can embrace.  LOL!  

I began with the sentiment, which is one I just adore.  The little elves are part of a different set but I thought they were the perfect accompaniment.  Because they're so small I opted to put them on a tag to create my focal point.  The red panel was ink blended around the edges and then embossed with a 3D folder.  I used a red/kraft/white color scheme which happens to be a favorite holiday color combo of mine.

Supplies:

Hero Arts - Offbeat Holiday stamp set

Hero Arts - Irreverent Elf Messages stamp set

Sunny Studio - Build a Tag 1 die set

Papertrey Ink - Linen Cover Plate

Altenew - Checked Diamond 3D embossing folder

I invite you to visit our blog for more holiday inspiration.  Prompts are always optional but remember that only holiday cards qualify.  We would love to see your card in our gallery.  

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - October Christmas Challenge

 

It's time for another monthly prompt over at the Happy Little Stampers Challenge blog.  This month we're focusing on Stencils however any Christmas card will do the trick.  

I used a holiday stencil to first ink blend the background, followed up with a layer of glitter paste.  The Joy is a two part die cut and the sentiment is from a preprinted pack.  With all of the sparkle I didn't think much else was needed.

Supplies:

Hero Arts - Leaf and Berry Stencil

Simon Says Stamp - Joy die and shadow

Tonic Studios - Moonstone glitter paste

I invite you to visit our blog for more holiday inspiration. As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - August Christmas Challenge

 

The Happy Little Stampers Design Team is back with another Christmas challenge.  Our (optional) prompt is Elf for the month of August.  

I colored my stamped images with Copics, adhered them to a panel of designer paper and stamped the sentiment on the lower portion.  The panel was then adhered to a fog card base with the tiny stars added as the finishing touch.

Supplies:

MFT Stamps - Santa's Elves stamp set

Honeybee Stamps - Stargazer gold stars

I invite you to visit our blog for more holiday inspiration.  Prompts are always optional but remember that only holiday cards qualify.  We would love to see your card in our gallery.  

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - July Christmas Challenge

 

Happy Fourth of July to my USA friends.  I hope you're all enjoying a wonderful day off from work and spending it with family and friends.  

Today I'm sharing a card created for our Happy Little Stampers July Christmas challenge where the (optional) prompt is Twinkle.

This fabulous die set is new to me and I really, really wanted to use it while still adhering to our prompt so I gave this cute reindeer some twinkling stars on his antlers.  

I used several different colors of cardstocks to die cut the elements and then followed the package design to adhere them together.  I added the stars to his antlers (the packaging shows flowers), adhered him to an embossed panel, added a die cut sentiment banner and then finally an overload of bling.  (In hindsight, it was far too many but it is what it is.)  The whole panel was popped up with fun foam onto a heavyweight red card base.  

Supplies:

Spellbinders - Magical Deer die set

Spellbinders - So Many Sentiments die set

Fun Stampers Journey - Cozy Knit embossing folder

Mama Elephant - Confetti Cuts die (stars)

I invite you to visit our blog for more holiday inspiration.  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.  Prompts are always optional but remember that only holiday cards qualify.  

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - June Christmas Challenge

 
It's time once again for our monthly Christmas challenge over at the Happy Little Stampers challenge group where the prompt is To Make A Scene. 

My design looks far more labor intensive than it actually was.  Santa and Scooter are all one stamp so all I had to do to create my scene was to draw in the ground.  Some Copic coloring, glitter stickles and some designer paper was all it took to complete.  

Supplies:

Penny Black - Scootin' By stamp set

MFT - diagonal stripes 6x6 paper pad

I invite you to visit our blog for more holiday inspiration.  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.  Remember, the prompts are always optional but remember that only holiday cards qualify.  

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - May Christmas Challenge

It's time once again for another holiday challenge from the Happy Little Stampers Christmas group.  

I've decorated indoor palms in lieu of fir trees for several years now and of course, you all know my love for flamingos so I had a little Florida Fun with this one.

I had to do a little bit of masking to create my scene.  After that it was some quick Copic coloring, a matted edge and voila!  Instant Tropical Christmas Card using one stamp set. 

Supplies:

Avery Elle - Flamingo Bells stamp set

I invite you to visit our blog for more holiday inspiration.  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.  Remember, the prompts are always optional but remember that only holiday cards qualify.  

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - April Christmas Challenge

 

It's time for another round of Christmas cards with the Happy Little Stampers challenge group.  This month we'd love to see Jingle Bells displayed on your card however any holiday theme qualifies.

I combined metallic die cuts with an embossed white panel to create my "Look Mom! No stamping!" card.  I'm really liking the combination of matte gold and shiny copper and if I'd had more time I definitely would have loved to create multiples of this one.  It's very pretty in real life.

Supplies:

PaperTrey Ink - joy die

Impression Obsession - bell dies

Simon Says Stamp - Layered Vines embossing folder

I invite you to visit our blog for more holiday inspiration.  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.  Remember, the prompts are always optional but remember that only holiday cards qualify.  

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers -- March Christmas Challenge

 

Hello Fans of the Happy Little Stampers Challenge Blogs.  It's been awhile, hasn't it?  The team took a break after Christmas but we're back in full force for 2023.  My post today is for the monthly Christmas challenge but I encourage you to check out the many challenges offered up by Kylie.  

Our first prompt of the new year is Candy Cane.

I used two different holiday die sets, an embossed background and some tiny hearts to create my card.  It was super simple to make yet it has a touch of elegance to it.

Supplies:

Cottage Cutz - Holiday Cocoa die set

Cottage Cutz - Happy Ho Ho Ho die set

Altenew - Checkered Diamonds embossing folder

I invite you to visit our blog for more holiday inspiration.  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.  Remember, the prompts are always optional but remember that only holiday cards qualify.  

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - December Anything Goes With Dies

 

Holiday time is here which makes it easy to decide on just what to make for our Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies challenge.  Today I actually have a two-fer.  This first one is up on the Happy Little Stampers blog.  

This second card was created at the request of my nephew who wanted something in emerald green to give to a special friend.  

Would you believe that I don't currently have any emerald green cardstock?  I know, right?  I created the green background with the help of some Bristol Smooth cardstock and several heavy coats of Mardi Gras ink by Catherine Pooler.  It's absolutely stunning.  The background texture was created with an embossing folder.  I did a die cut inlay technique on the ornaments.  I added a subsentiment in addition to the die cut Merry on the second card and finally some pearls as embellishments.  I really love the look of both of these.  

I invite you to join us over at the blog and hope to see your card in our gallery!

Supplies:

Birch Press Design - Roushan Ornament die

Simon Says Stamp - Kaleidoscope embossing folder

Simon Says Stamp/CZ Designs - Merry die

Simon Says Stamp - Tiny Words Christmas stamp set

Spellbinders - gold foil pearls

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - December Christmas Challenge

 

It's time for our last challenge of the year over at the Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge where our prompt is Stenciling.  

I chose to use a non-traditional color palette for my wintery holiday card.  I used dye inks to both stencil the background as well as blend out my white die cuts.  I added a bit of gray shading to the body of the snowman and a bit of blending to the sentiment banner.   No embellishments needed.  

Supplies:

The Greetery - Square Dance stencil set

Simon Says Stamp - Merry & Bright stamp set

Cottage Cutz - Winter Snowman die set

I invite you to visit our blog for more holiday inspiration.  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.  Remember, the prompts are always optional but remember that only holiday cards qualify.  

FYI - All HLS challenges will be on hold until March so the team members can enjoy a little after the holidays break.  

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers -- November Christmas Challenge

 

How is it November already?  No better time to get hopping on your holiday cards.  If you're looking for a kickstart, come check us out at the Happy Little Stampers Christmas blog challenge where we have a new prompt.

Santa Claus!

Today's card design was heavily inspired by Yana Smakula.  She's the queen of dark backgrounds with grid style elements.  

I stamped, colored and die cut my elements and after arranging them to my liking, heat embossed the sentiment in white onto the black panel to create the fourth element of the grid.  I added a drop of white Nuvo drops and a sprinkling of glitter to the pom poms, a few lines of sparkly gel pen for highlights and finally some gold pearls for embellishments.

Supplies:

Ellen Hutson - Holiday Characters stamp set

Ellen Hutson - Retro Holiday Greeting stamp set

I invite you to visit our blog for more holiday inspiration.  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.  Remember, the prompts are always optional but remember that only holiday cards qualify.  

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - October Christmas Challenge

 

Happy October crafty friends.  As you know, Florida was recently hit by Hurricane Ian and life for many will never be the same.  Thankfully my little piece of Florida remained unscathed so we're breathing a huge sigh of relief at having dodged another storm.  My heart goes out to those who have lost everything.  

Now on to something a bit happier....

Today I'm sharing my DT card for the Happy Little Stampers October challenge where our (optional) prompt is Frame.   

This card was super simple to create thanks to an older Make it Market kit from PaperTrey Ink.  I used the stamps, dies and patterned papers to create my focal point, building up the layers with additional die cuts for some dimension. (All images are preprinted other than the stamped sentiment.)  I ran the card through my die cutter using an impression plate to create the texture on the front before adhering the elements.  Super Simple Card.    

Supplies:

PaperTrey Ink - Make it Market Christmas kit (several years old)

PaperTrey Ink - Canvas Impression Plate

I invite you to visit our blog for more holiday inspiration.  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.  Remember, the prompts are always optional but remember that only holiday cards qualify.  

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - September Christmas Challenge

Today's card share was made for this month's Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge where the new prompt is Metallic.

My card is quite simple.  I began by stamping the image and sentiment in crisp black pigment ink followed by heat setting it with a clear embossing powder.  I colored the beverage with three paint pens...one red, one green and one gold metallic.  Because it sat a bit higher up on the panel than I'd intended I chose to add in three horizontal score lines along the bottom before matting it with green glitter cardstock.  The completed panel was adhered to a black card base.

Supplies:

Stampin' Up - Making Spirits Bright stamp set

Jane Davenport by Spellbinders - paint pens

I invite you to visit our blog for more holiday inspiration.  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.  Remember, the prompts are always optional.  

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - August Christmas Challenge

 

It's time once again for our monthly Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge.  Our (optional) theme for August is Flowers.

I wanted to create my card without the use of the obvious holiday poinsettias.  I have no idea what flower this is but stamped in red, I think it works for Christmas.  

I went full-on Betsy Veldman when creating my card.  As I'm sure you know, Betsy was an amazing designer with Papertrey Ink before venturing out on her own with The Greetery.  My card uses her designs from both companies.

I started with this subtly patterned holiday designer paper for my background which I matted with a narrow red border.  I stamped the florals and sentiment in the bottom right and added a sprinkling of clear droplets.  I adhered the finished panel to a card base made with light gray cardstock.  Very simple indeed.

I invite you to visit our blog and hope to see your holiday card in our gallery!

Supplies:

Papertrey Ink - Older Christmas Market kit by Betsy Veldman

The Greetery - 

Simon Says Stamp - Clear Droplet mix

This is actually my second post for the day.  Scroll down if you missed my card for the latest Seize the Birthday challenge.  

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - July Christmas Challenge

It's time to reset our month long challenges over at the Happy Little Stampers blog.  Today starts a new Christmas challenge where our optional prompt is GOLD.

I chose to do some gold embossing on my very CAS card.

This card was extremely simple to create.  After using an anti-static pouch on my white panel I stamped the image (one piece) in Versamark ink on both the top and bottom edges.  I then heat embossed it with gold ink.  The sentiment die cut is stacked four high to create dimension and help the greeting stand out.

I invite you to visit our blog and hope you join in on the fun!

Supplies:

Simon Says Stamp - Snowflake Season stamp set

Poppystamps - Merry Christmas Poe Script die set

gold embossing powder

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - June Christmas Challenge

 

It's time for a new gallery of entries for the Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge.  This month we are looking for Snowglobe designs however any Christmas card works.  Snow is nonexistant in my area of Florida so I'm always excited to make snow themed cards.  Here it is....

I began with a panel of dark blue cardstock which I ink blended around the edges to create a bit of depth and splattered on some white ink for some additional interest.  I die cut out the globe shape, popped in some die cut trees, added the shaker pouch and shaker bits, sealed it all up with some double sided tape and finally added it to the front of a heavyweight white card base.  I added the snowglobe base and die cut sentiment and this snowy card was complete.

I hope you'll visit our blog for more holiday inspiration.  Why not get started on your cards now?  We'd love to see them in our gallery.

Supplies:

MFT - Snow Globe shaker dies and shaker cover

Impression Obsession - Evergreen dies

Poppystamps - Merry Christmas die

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy LIttle Stampers Christmas Challenge May 2022

 

Well, April sure went by fast!!!  It's time now for a new challenge over at the Happy Little Stampers Christmas blog where the prompt is House.

As luck would have it, I recently took advantage of a sale over at the Ellen Hutson shop where I picked up a fun little Christmas neighborhood set.

I stamped my neighborhood onto kraft ink doing a bit of selective masking in order to fill up the horizontal space on the panel before coloring with Copic markers.  I stamped the sentiment in brown ink for something a bit different and then matted the panel before adhering it to a dark brown card base.  As my final touch I used a stencil and some glimmer paste to represent snow.  

I invite you to come visit our blog and play along!  

Supplies:

Ellen Hutson - Merry Little Christmas stamp set

MFT - Snowfall stencil

Nuvo Moonstone Glitter Paste

Thank you so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules 

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge - April 2022

 

Another month has arrived so it's time for a new holiday prompt over at the Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge blog.  In April we'd like to see some glitter on your cards.    

If glitter isn't your thing, any Christmas card qualifies.  

This particular stamp is all one piece so this was a fairly easy card to create.  I stamped the image and colored it with Copics, adding some shadows to ground it.  I used some old fashioned glitter glue to add my sparkle.  The panel was popped up onto a piece of candy cane striped patterned paper which was adhered directly to a kraft card base.  Some clear confetti finishes it off.

Supplies:

Stamping Bella - Teeny Tiny Townie Hot Chocolate

Taylored Expressions - Build a Snowman Christmas 6x6 paper

Ranger Stickles

Wink of Stella

Pretty Pink Posh - Sparkling Clear Confetti

Why not get a start on your holiday cards by joining us in our gallery?

Thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge - March 2022

 

It's March (wow, right?!) and time for another round of the Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge.  Our optional (but highly desired) theme is Twine.

I began with a white cardstock panel.  I used green dye inks to stencil in the greenery and a red glimmer paste for the florals and berries.  I cut the panel down and adhered it to a kraft card base.  I heat embossed the sentiment in white onto a die cut rectangle which I popped up onto the center of the panel.  I added some faux stitching with a white gel pen, tied a bit of twine around the bottom and finished the card off with some clear confetti.  This has a bit of a "homespun meets glam" feeling to it.

Supplies:

Simon Says Stamp - Christmas Foliage stencils

Simon Says Stamp - Gift of Love stamp set

Nuvo - Glimmer Paste in Raspberry Rhodolite

Pretty Pink Posh - Sparkling Clear Confetti

Get a head start on your holiday cards by joining us in our blog gallery.