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

Seize the Birthday #244

 

It's time for our first August challenge over at the Seize the Birthday challenge blog.  For this challenge we are looking for card designs that use NO stamping.  Thanks to my friend Michele and her generous sharing of these beautiful die cut washi tapes, my card was very easy to create.  

I laid out my initial design onto a white card panel and then flipped through my cover dies to see what I could do to jazz it up a bit.  I ended up die cutting through a transparency in order to have a polka dot stencil.  I used Distress Oxide Spun Sugar to create this soft background to the washi die cuts.  I popped a pre-foiled sentiment onto the design with foam tape and then added my customary sprinkling of pearls.  Sometimes simple is just best, don't you think?

I invite you to visit our blog and hope to see your birthday card in our gallery.  The topping is always optional.

Supplies:

Pink Fresh Studio - Hydrangea Rose washi tape

Pink Fresh Studio - Foiled Sentiment Ephemera

CC Designs - Circle Cut and Stitch Cover die

Little Things by Lucy - Glossy Watermelon pearls

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

Jules

Color Hues/Seize the Birthday -- Honoring Lindsey

 

This is going to be a very difficult post to write.  As many of you already know, the cardmaking community lost one of it's own last week.  I personally have lost one of my dearest friends.  Today is all about Lindsey Martin-Penny.

Before I dive into the challenge details, let me tell you a little bit about my friend Lindsey.

We "met" during one of Tracey McNeely's 25 days of Christmas tags event years ago.  Lindsey contacted me through social media inquiring about the birch background paper I used in my photography.  It happened to be from Pier One and she asked if it would be okay if she used it as well. Duh!  I was so honored that she even noticed.  Occasional conversations would take place, usually in the comments of each other's posts but where we really bonded initially was over books.  I have a little IG account where I post my thoughts about the books I've read. (I'm really far behind at the moment if you're checking.)  As a former librarian Lindsey was an avid reader and some of my most favorite books and authors are a result of her many recommendations.  As the years passed we became close and emailed several times a week.  Topics included crafting, books, recipes, cocktails, our love of Star Trek, our families, etc.  Emails turned to texting.  Texting soon became a daily occurence.  I still find myself reaching for my phone to text her.  My world is so very sad right now.  

On to the challenge:

Today Seize the Birthday is playing along with their Sister Challenge, Color Hues as Lindsey was a member of both teams.  Today's challenge was to be hosted by Lindsey so the Design Teams want to honor and celebrate her beautiful creative life by sharing "Lindsey Inspired" projects using her previously chosen colors of Blue and Purple.  (Love ya Lins but purple will never be a favorite.  LOL!)  In addition to the chosen color duo we encourage everyone to incorporate Lindsey's favorites into their card.  No sympathy cards please.  She would want us all to be happy.  

As I previously mentioned card themes may include the following:

Humor/Humour

Cats

Gardening

Reading

Friendship

Wine/Spirits

Tea

On to my card:

She and I shared so many common interests so choosing a theme was difficult.  I will be honest.  I scrapped the first three versions (all of them totally different from each other) and in the end decided to just go with a Clean & Simple thank you card.  (CAS was her favorite style to create.)

My design is quite simple.  I stamped the heart onto a white card panel and colored it in with different hues of purple and blue alcohol markers.  I stamped my sentiment below the heart, trimmed down my panel and then adhered it to a slightly larger piece of black cardstock for the narrowest of mats.  I popped the completed panel onto a white card base using a piece of black fun foam.  As a final touch I added a bit of Wink of Stella to the center heart before applying Glossy Accents over the top.  I think Lindsey would approve.  

Supplies:

Simon Says Stamp - Center Cut Heart rubber stamp

Simon Says Stamp/CZ Design - Simply Thank You clear stamp set

I hope to see the Color Hues gallery filled with tributes to Lindsey.  Thank you in advance.

_________________

I didn't want to take away from Lindsey but I would be remiss if I didn't mention my recent absence from blogland/social media.  My father passed away quite unexpectedly on July 3rd.  My parents have lived with us for the past year so not seeing him every day has been especially difficult. My world is indeed extremely sad nowadays.  Miss you Pops.  

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

Jules

 

  

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #215

 

It's time for yet another Snarky Saturday with the Sisterhood.  Today's new challenge is Masculine.

Manscape time perhaps?

I find difficult to come up with creative ideas for masculine cards.  I originally bought this sweater die set to create ugly holiday sweaters but realized it was perfect for this challenge.  I pulled out masculine looking designer papers and got to work.  After assembling the sweater all that was left was a bit of stamping. I think we can all relate to the sentiment, right?  ha!

I invite you to visit our blog for more snarky masculine inspiration and hope to see your card in our gallery!

Supplies:

Marianne Designs - sweater die set

Avery Elle - Indigo stamp set

Simon Says Stamp/CZ Design - Sassy Flaps stamp set

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

Jules

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #214

It's time once again for a Snarky Saturday!  This fortnight the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers are celebrating Christmas in July.  We would love to see a little sass in one of your holiday creations.  

Someone should keep a better eye on the reindeer...

... 'cause obviously this guy isn't.

To create my card I began by stamping, coloring and fussy cutting blitzened Blitzen.  I embossed the red background with a folder, cut it down to create a nice white margin and then adhered the intoxicated creature using an action wobbler.  The sentiment was stamped below.  Another CAS card from yours truly.

I invite you to visit our blog for more inspiration from the team.  Be sure to also check out what our Reigning Queen Beverly created for us as well.  

Supplies:

Miss Ink Stamps - Blitzened

Fun Stampers Journey - Cozy Knit embossing folder

Art Impressions - Action Wobbler

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

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - July Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

 

We round out our latest Happy Little Stampers challenges with a new Anything Goes with Dies challenge.  No special prompts required.  Just use a die cut in any shape or fashion and link it to our gallery. It's that simple.  

This lovely tulip die caught my eye recently.  

It was just begging me to give it a home. 

It's very happy now. 

I began by die cutting the tulip from colored cardstock which I enhanced with some ink blending along the edges.  I chose a heavy weight black cardstock to create my card base and added the white die cut panel over top.  I adhered the tulip and stamped sentiment and added in a few clear droplets to finish it off.

I invite you to visit our blog and hope to see your creation in our gallery.

Supplies:

Spellbinders - Layered Tulip dies

Gina K - Assorted Sentiments stamp set

Lil Inkers - Diagonal Plaid cover plate die

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