CELEBRATE THE SEASON!

Hi and thanks for stopping by,

I have to say, I was naughty today (I hope Santa's not listening!). Instead of making Christmas cards and getting what I really needed to do done, I started playing - with some really fun products from Sparkle N Sprinkle! 

We recently introduced two fun and appropriate seasonal embossing powders: Red Marbled Christmas and Green Marbled Christmas - now that isn't hard to remember is it, but look at the results!:

Full of sparkle - OK, I know, what isn't, over at Sparkle N Sprinkle - it would be a misnomer it it didn't sparkle!

OK, sorry about that I digressed yet again today!  If you didn't see my post yesterday, have a quick look at that card. Look at that beautiful metallic background cardstock!

Using a different combination of this lovely metallic cardstock, I decided to go with a more "orangy" hue for my card today. So I took a lovely orange patterned designer paper, die cut it with Spellbinders Botanical Swirls and and covered it in Magic Speckle - "Thanks April" , what a gorgeous covering it became. Felt like I didn't want to cover up the background, metallic look, but couldn't help myself. (Come on, more is never enough!). 

I did feel bad covering the entire left side bottom with the Spellbinder's Nested Poinsettias, but that was what I had intended to do - so I did get over it -  and on with the show! Oh, and don't forget the leaves from Spellbinder's Rose Creations.

I had some "pinkish" colored paper scraps and cut and embossed them with the Poinsettia Spellbinder's die and then covered them in Versamark and applied the new Red Marbled Christmas to each layer.  Oh, yes, and I did the same with some sage green cardstock and the Spellbinder's Rose Creations, except after the Versamark - I applied the Green Marbled Christmas embossing powder. But doesn't it look like the flower and leaves were outlined?  OK, I confess, with a Sakura Glue pen and some Celestial glitter!

The frame was done with a couple of sizes from the Spellbinder's Grand Large Labels. So after cutting and embossing the frame, I applied Versamark and then some Verdigris embossing powder - and then a little Magic Speckle.

The base card was edged with Versamark and then heat embossed with some of the Red Marbled Christmas embossing powder, and edged with a little Distress ink - Rusty Hinge. The frame was set on top with dimensional tape and then the poinsettia was positioned!

The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed in Pine. These Tuscany powders are perfect for detail embossing. I used the Spellbinders Fancy Tags for the Sentiment from Sparkle N Sprinkle Set 507 ( another new and awesome Christmas SNS set). I distressed the tag with Pine and Rusty Hinge.

Wishing I had done something more than copper brads for the flower centers but yellow didn't seem appropriate - thus the metallic look!

Hope you liked what I did today - felt it needed a ribbon of some sort (but that is truly outside my comfort zone! - not enough space on the card!).  This was already a 5 x 7!  Sorry Margaret!

Hugs,

Shona

JINGLE BELL!

Hi there,

Here today with a personal card that I just finished up for the Handbell Choir Director at the church. Just want to point out that there is a definitely a dearth of handbell stamps out there!  Anyone have any leads? I've managed to pick up a wee collection over the years when attending handbell festivals with the kids.

Each winter and summer break for the past 10 years at least, I've been making a card for this wonderful lady. She has instilled a love for handbells in our family, particularly Gillian, who is set to pursue this as a career. This Christmas, I was stumped, as I hadn't managed to get a new bell stamp this year.  Well, I'll just have to do something different with the fold and use this little Christmas handbell stamp as the main focus. 

I had taught a class for Sparkle N Sprinkle at a Convention in the fall and thought that I could use the same card fold idea. The base of the card is 11" x 5 1/2". You will score 2 3/4" in from each end of the long side:

I had been at Michael's over the weekend and picked up some metallic paper - and thought that the red, with gold and silver flecks might work for what I had in mind.  It wasn't too heavy a cardstock, so I had to beef it up with cream on the inside. I added some Goldenrod Velvet Glitter with 1/4" Tear-ific Tape to the edges of the middle inside panel. I used a Tim Holtz Holly bough stencil for the side panels, sponging with Memento inks Pistachio, Ladybug and Desert Sand.  

For the focal image I heat embossed the pretty little Christmas Handbell in Gold Detail and colored in with Copics, to match the colors of the holly on the inside.

I added Dimensional Glue to the bell base and berries and left it to dry. Then used the Sakura Glue pen to add some Celestial glitter to the leaves and bell for extra sparkle!

Using Spellbinders Labels 13, the frame is made by cutting and embossing two of the dies from Gold Metallic cardstock - so pretty!

For the center of the frame, apply Super Adhesive Sheet to white cardstock and use the smaller of the frame dies to cut and emboss, then rip the protective backing so that there is a strip left in the middle of the piece, and to the exposed tape add Reflection Velvet Glitter. Remove the middle section and apply Goldenrod.

Glue the right hand side of the gold frame to the middle of the front and using 1/4" Tear-ific Tape, stick the left hand side of the glittered piece to the left hand side panel. The little handbell, cut and embossed with the small sized matching die cut is attached with a Wobble!

Now for the sound of the bells! I added my "jingle" to the left hand side panel with some gold thread. Here is the closed finished project:

You get the jingling of the bell when you open the card! Hope you've enjoyed my little show and tell today.  Enjoy the rest of the holiday bustle - only 13 days to go! Hey, but whose counting?

Hugs,

Shona

SPARKLE N SPRINKLE DECEMBER MYSTERY PARTY WINNERS

Hi!  Thanks to everyone who played in Sparkle N Sprinkle's recent "Beautiful Geraniums" Mystery Party. We enjoyed making the new projects, and hope you enjoyed browsing. 

April Williams was our Mystery Designer for the contest. With 22 comments left on April's blog, Mr. Random.org was used to generate our Commenting Winner - . Jean Bullock!

Here is another card that I made, while playing with this beautiful new set 519: Geraniums:

I used the same floral frame that I had used in my first card (scroll down to last post to see). I used the two-step stamping technique, stamping the silhouette geranium on watercolor paper with the stamp colored with crayon and misted with water. Then went over the top of the image with the detail stamp. I love the soft look it gives.

I took some of the 2 1/2" Tear-ific Tape and stuck it down to white cardstock. I then cut out some little flowers  and a base for my sentiment and after removing the protective backing, covered them with Bubblegum Glitter.  I fussy cut one of the flowers from the stamped image to go along with my other two little flowers.

The background is the silhouette geranium stamped randomly over white cardstock and then heat embossed with Clear Detail Powder. I ran Memento Angel Pink ink over the top to achieve the resist technique.  

Full instructions for making this card can by found here:

Hope you've enjoyed your little visit with me today!

See you again soon, off to continue with some Christmas cards now!

Hugs,

Shona