Christmas Holly

Hello everyone,

Today's card is one that I've had in the back of my mind for a while.

The card base is from Recollections. The holly border image is from Stamp Barn for Heather's Stamping Haven. It is stamped in Stampin' Up Soft Suede on Whisper White, heat embossed with Close To My Heart silver pearl and coloured with Sakura Gold Shadow Gelly Roll pens. The images are layered on Stampin' Up Ruby Red and Garden Green. The sentiment is Cornish Heritage Farms Vintage Christmas Expressions.

I love this card! It is even better than I pictured. Holly is one of my favourite Christmas images and this stamp appealed to me from the moment I first laid eyes on it. I can't wait to explore the possibilities with this stamp and my mojo is just reeling with creativity. I've used the silver pearl embossing powder and Soft Suede ink before and I find the effect absolutely striking. This technique is a favourite and I hope you don't get tired of it.

Please enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Simple Christmas

Hello everyone,

I'm not feeling the greatest today so I've crafted a really simple Christmas card.

The background paper is Impression Obsession Cover-A-Card Flourishes stamped in Nick Bantock Vermillion Lacquer on Stampin' Up Whisper White and layered on Basic Black and Ruby Red. The sentiment is Stamp Barn for Heather's Stamping Haven which was clear heat embossed after being stamped in more Vermillion Lacquer. It is layered on more Ruby Red. The embellishments are Martha Stewart white dimensional mini pearls.

I love the simplicity of this card. The red, white and black are such a striking colour combination. I love the Cover-A-Card stamps and find they're working so much better with the Fiskar press. This is one of the sample pieces that I tried. I'm still using only scrap pieces of paper but I think I'm going to have break into some new card stock soon.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

With Sympathy

Hello everyone,

Sad news today. The mother of one of my colleagues passed away today. She had been quite ill but it still is a horrible time of year to lose someone so close.

The background layers are Autumn Leaves Emily. The solid papers are Stampin' Up Elegant Eggplant and Whisper White. The Elegant Eggplant layer was textured with Sizzix Elegant Lines dry embossing folder. The sentiment is from the Stamp Barn for Heather's Stamping Haven. The embellishments are Amuse Creative Candy white Pretty Pearls.

I really like this card and am only sorry that it had to be made today. I'm sure at some point, because her mother was so very ill, she will considered her mother's passing a blessing but at the moment, is it just difficult. My colleague is one of the most resilient and smart women I know, so she'll get pass this eventually. I hope this card will, in some small way, help.

Please come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Merry Christmas

Hello everyone,

I've been attempting to use up some of my flubbed card bases so today's card, inspired by Sunday's Card Positioning Systems sketch challenge, was crafted to accommodate an earlier attempt.

The card base is from Recollections. The background images are Stampin' Up Snow Burst, Snow Swirled, Serene Snowflakes and The Snowflake Spot. The middle layer is Stampin' Up textured Rich Razzleberry paper upon which is Inkadinkado Winter Trails heat embossed with Stampendous Winter Wonderland embossing powder. The sentiment is from The Stamp Barn for Heather's Stamping Haven. It is stamped on a scrap of Whisper White and cut with Spellbinders Nestablilites Labels Four. The ribbon is Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry polka dot grosgrain. The entire card is highlighted with Star Dust Stickles.

I love this card! From the moment I first glimpsed Rich Razzleberry, I fell in love with the colour. Combined with white, this makes for a very striking card. I fell in love with this sentiment at first sight as well. It is so bold and beautiful, I just couldn't wait to see what I could craft with it.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

With Sympathy

Hello everyone,

We had the most wonderful of holidays in the Dominican Republic. It was one of those vacations you wish would never end then reality strikes. I actually have two cards for you today. Unfortunately life goes on while one is on holidays and when I returned to the office today, I found out that the husband of an old colleague passed away last week. He had suffered numerous bouts with cancer and just couldn't fight one more battle. Needless to say, my sympathy card stash was obliterated so these are two commissioned cards. I didn't use any particular challenges for these cards. I haven't had a chance to go through the dozens of emails in my box let alone surf the blogs.

The card base is from Recollections. The purple strip is DCWV Textured Neutrals. The ribbon is Michael's Special Value. The image is Gina K Lovely Labels stamped in Nick Bantock Damson Plum which is cut with a Spellbinders die cut. It is layered on a piece of Close To My Heart New England Ivy also cut with a Spellbinder die cut. The sentiment is Verve Forever In Our Hearts.

The card base is Recollections. The image is Enchanted Hollow from the Stamp Barn for Heather's Stamping Haven. It is coloured with Stampin' Up Watercolour crayons and misted with water before being applied to watercolour paper. It is layered on a piece of Stampin' Up Close To Cocoa and Not Quite Navy. The sentiment is from the Stamp Barn. The embellishments are Close To My Heart Opaques and Licorice Opaque.

I've very pleased with both these cards especially as they're the first I've done in over a week. I think my former colleague will really appreciate them.

I'm starting to get rather antsy about my Christmas cards so that's all I expect to be posting over the next couple of weeks.

I hope you enjoy these cards and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Silver & Purple

Hello everyone,

I have to say that one of my all time favourite challenges is Susan Raihala's One Layer Wednesday. Unfortunately due to busy circumstances, she's will have to forgo OLW challenges until November - a crushing announcement. However, thanks to Jennifer Styles at Styles Ink One Layer Wednesdays II has been born and will cover challenges for October. Yea Jennifer! The challenge for this week is to craft a one layer holiday card without using white, cream, red or green as a base.

The card base is Stampin' Up Elegant Eggplant. The image is The Stamp Barn for Heather's Stamping Haven. It was embossed with Close To My Heart Silver Pearl. The sentiment is Cornish Heritage Farms Vintage Christmas Expressions also embossed in Silver Pearl. The embellishments are Close To My Heart Sparkles.

I love this card. It is almost an opposite of yesterday's card. I managed to craft this one in a single attempt but, it is not as straight as I would like though not the worst I've ever done either. I know we're suppose to limite the bling on one layer cards but this layout and the image just beg for bling. This was a really wonderful challenge, the kind I really, really like. I can't wait to see what comes next.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Coppered Friend

Hello everyone,

I know I've said this before, but every now and again I craft a card that blows my mind. This is one of those cards. It all started with Friday's Everything Old is New Again Challenge which asked for a technique that we'd not used in a while. That got me thinking to the copper foil technique that I'd last done in the fall. Today's Tuesday Throwdown was dry embossing so I got to wondering how the copper foil would look after going through the Big Shot in a Cuttlebug folder. I then decided that Mercy Kerin's Tuesday Sketch Challenge would be the perfect sketch to showcase the copper.

The background papers are Stampin' Up Ruby Red and BasicGrey Porcelain. There is no brand name on the copper craft foil which has been smooched with Ranger Alcohol Ink and dry embossed with Cuttlebug's Stylized Flowers. The sentiment is Stampin' Up Pocket Silhouette. The embellishments are Rust Oregon Raindrops.

I love this card. When I first saw Heather's Stamping Haven showcase this technique at last October's Creativ Festival in Toronto, I knew I had to try it and bought all the supplies on site. I've not played with it as much as I would have liked so I really did have to experiment somewhat. This means, of course, there will be other cards with inked copper. The foil worked wonderfully in the Cuttlebug folder. I have to say I had a heck of a time photographing this card. The light is the biggest issue and I'm not all that thrilled with the final photo. That doesn't take away from my love of this card. I can't wait to try more.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Yet Again Birthday

Hello everyone,

Yet again, I couldn't resist today's Sweet Sunday Sketch. Yet again, I couldn't resist the watercolour crayon technique. Yet again, I've put together a male birthday card.

The card base is Stampin' Up Very Vanilla. The background papers are Stampin' Up Mellow Moss and Chocolate Chip both of which were textured with Sizzix Small Dots. The patterened paper is Stampin' Up Sweet Pea. The ribbon is Michael's Special Value. The image is Stamp Barn (for Heather's Stamping Haven) Enchanted Hollow. The sentiment is Stampin' Up Small Script which is mounted on an oval cut from one of the mis-stamps of the focal image.

I'm really happy with this very male birthday card. I love all the natural colours. It took me a number of efforts (seven actually) before I was happy with the final image. This is one of my favourite tree images as it is so very forgiving. I can't say when I'll actually get over my watercolour crayon obsession. I suspect that once I've got time to put together a bunch of cards all at once, I'll get sick of it but, at the moment I'm pressed for time, so every card I make feeds the blog.

Please enjoy and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Sketch Gone Wild - Part 2

Hello everyone,

Here is part 2 of the Tuesday Morning Sketches sketch that inspired a grand total of 14 cards today. Unbelieveable!

The backgound is still that same stash of unknown paper, some Quickutz textured paper and a piece of DCWV textured neutral cardstock. Stampin' Up images and sentiments include All Holidays, Darling Dots, It's Your Birthday, Medallion, Warmest Regards and Wow Flowers. Other images and sentiments include Gina K Tag You're It!, Stamp Barn (Heather's Stamping Haven) Enchanted Hollow and Sweet 'n Sassy Birthday Greeting. I also used Martha Stewart coarse crystal glitter and Stickles.

I am beyond pleased with all of today's cards. I have never massed produced before and I'm not sure this applies and many of the cards are so very, very different. I had done up the backgrounds yesterday and it just so happened that I got two cards from each paper grouping that I cut. I dusted off some stamp sets that I hadn't used before, others that I hadn't seen in a while and some that I had used in previous similar cards. It was incredible how the cards just kind of happened. I didn't give each one a ton of thought except for the ink colour.

I have to say, at this point, I'm pretty tired but when I look at all the cards spread out on my desk, I'm thrilled with the results. It was a great day!

Please enjoy and come back to SPI again tomorrow.

Gisèle