Mosaic Poinsettia

Alright, here's the last Christmas card for awhile.  This was the 5th and final card we made at my recent SAS.  I'd seen this idea to use the Mosaic punch to make flower petals and thought it would be nice for a white Poinsettia.  I also gave them the option to make this with red petals and a white center.  They came up with some neat alternatives as well, like lining the white petal with a sliver of red showing!  If you eliminate the glitter embossing for the sentiment and just use red ink, then this one is pretty fast and simple.

Stop back soon for a birthday invitation and a sympathy card.
~Kristin

CASED Myself

 CASED myself on this one!  I loved how my card below turned out a while back, so decided to copy the layout for a Christmas Stamp-a-Stack recently.  I had seen the trick of brayering ink over the gorgeous embossed Natural Composition DSP and decided to try it.  The results are so neat.  I am anxious to try this again with another color soon.  Anyway, for my SAS my favorite customers didn't mind one bit if I combined older retired products with new stuff.  Thank goodness because it does help with my creativity a bit.   Can you pick out the retired goodies?!?

If you'd like to see yet another card with this same layout stay tuned... in the next few days I'll show you.  Promise!  If you decide to try it for yourself I'd love to see it!  Leave me a link so I can stop by and leave a comment.

Glad you stopped in today!
~Kristin

Clean & Simple Christmas

Here's a clean & simple Christmas card you can do with as little as just punches if you'd like.  I added some Coredinations Pool Party cardstock and the Northern Flurries embossing folder plus some Dazzling Diamonds Detail for the sparkly buttons.  I must add that I did not invent this idea- I found it on Pinterest and made it my own.  Hope you'll try it!

Thanks for stopping in today!
~Kristin

Little Bit Atypical Christmas

 Tired of a traditional or worse, typical, Christmas design?  Try this one on for size.  I borrowed Amy O'Neil's design from below and with a few color and stamp changes- voila:  funky Christmas card.  Why don't you see what you can do with this layout and leave me a link?!  I'd love to see.

See you back here tomorrow with another one to get you humming "Jingle Bells" in October!
~Kristin

Hexagon Christmas

It's October!  Is anyone thinking Christmas cards yet??  Well here's one to get you going.  With the Hexagon Punch and the new Winter Frost Designer Series Papers (or any patterned paper for that matter) this one is simple!

Check out that gorgeous new Chevron ribbon in Island Indigo!  Isn't it gorgeous?!  Here is the card that inspired my layout.  It is by the talented Linda Callahan.  I just simplified it for making multiples fairly quickly.  That's the key to a good Christmas card design isn't it?!

Stay tuned for a few more holiday cards coming soon.  Thanks for stopping by!
~Kristin

Christmas Wrap-up

 Better late than never?  Here are the last few Christmas cards of the season.  I haven't sent the first one yet... wonder if I should just get started for next year and forget about it this year??  I don't think I've EVER sent them out on time.  UGH! 

 Does this design look familiar?  HERE is the original I copied.   A quick and easy one!

 

And maybe a better picture of yesterday's card. 

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and get to stay home and enjoy a relaxing day today.  Here in Ohio we are facing a blizzard, hoping for 10-12 inches of snow!!  Then we'll be off to sled. 

Thanks for stopping by,
~Kristin

Sparkly Noel

Back in November I found THIS STUNNING CARD by Robin Merriman and immediately saved it to my "cards to copy" file!  Well, I finally did, with a Christmas twist.  Obviously I loved her layout and design, plus just HAD to copy the music notes!  For this one I used the tree from Snow Swirled and added some glittler ornaments to the tree.  Colors:  Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Confetti Cream, Sahara Sand. 

I hope you get the gist in this crummy photo- it is actually quite pretty in person.  Thanks for stopping by!
~Kristin

Merry!

Still not much sunlight to take better photos so I'm just going to forge ahead with the photos I've got.  This was another experiment with my new Cordinations cardstock in Pool Party with my Northern Flurry embossing folder.  Fun, quick and simple. 

Hope you are staying warm and safe in your current weather.  Here in Ohio we're facing high winds and the likelihood of snow throughout the night and tomorrow.  Are you ready for the upcoming holidays?  I just finished my wrapping tonight- PHEW!  Have a few more gifts to make out of paper and beads.  ;)  Oh, and need to get started on my Christmas cards.  Better late than never. 

Thanks for visiting today,
~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Pennant Parade

Colors:  Early Espresso, Pool party, Gumball Green

Accessories:  Northern Flurry embossing folder, Early Espresso baker's twine, clear rhinestone brad, Pennant Punch, jewelry tag punch

Down to Your Toes

Hey there!  Guess what- I STAMPED!  I know- shocker, right?!  Well I did.  And I made five Christmas cards and I really like them all, and just for fun I'm going to spread them out.  Might as well since I haven't posted since November.  I apologize in advance for the less than stellar photos.  Didn't have much sun to work with this afternoon.  Maybe I'll get better pics of the rest before I post them. 

Here's my first one.  I've paired Bootiful Occasions with my new Pool Party Coordinations cardstock.  See the lighter color on the textured area??  You get that just by lightly sanding.  Such a neat effect!  Also new to me is this Vintage Faceted Designer Button that I tied on with some Island Indigo Baker's Twine.  Other things to note:  the oval which I cut out with the ALL NEW Ovals Collection Framelit, will be available beginning January 3, 2013 in our luscious new Spring Catalog!

I did stamp the inside too (remember my resolution?) but kept it pretty simple so I didn't bother photographing. 

Well, thanks for stopping by and not dropping dead from shock that I've actually posted something.  If you want to see what else I've been working on go to the top of my page here and click on "Jewelry and Beading."  ;) 

~Kristin 

PS- Just Add Ink is having a final hurrah Christmas challenge so I'll click on over there and link this just for fun!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Thanks to Hurricane Sandy we've got some white stuff outside and even for Ohio this is crazy weather!  We hit almost 80 degrees last week.  Thank goodness we got most of our yard work done although my ferns are still hanging on the front porch looking pathetic. 

 

Since snow makes us think Christmas I might as well share these two Christmas cards I made the other day.  These little "inchies" were laying on my desk from previous projects so I couldn't let them go to waste.  Added them to the Apothecary Accent Framelit that I hadn't used yet then decided to layer the whole piece on this Embossed Holiday Frame.  I don't do much white on white layering, but I think I like the clean look.  What about you?  Finishing touches include a Mini silver brad and two regular sized silver brads, along with some dotted scallop ribbon which I tried like the dickens to tie in a bow but it just didn't work out. 

Here are more little inchie squares I had left over so made this one very quickly! 

 



 And here is the inside using the one pattern that didn't lend itself to a 1" square.  The paper is called Be of Good Cheer DSP.

And finally, a peek outside my backdoor.  It is supposed to change to rain soon so thought I'd take a picture before it is all gone.  We are all happy to have a day off from school today thanks to Sandy!

Have a great day!  Safe and warm wishes to our friends on the East coast being affected by the hurricane and her after effects! 

~Kristin

SUO Supplies
Stamps:  Joyous Celebrations, Many Merry Messages

Colors:  Very Vanilla, Soft Suede,  Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green

Accessories:  Big Shot, Holiday Frame Embossing folder, square punch, postage stamp punch, silver brads, Cherry Cobbler scalloped dotted ribbon, Apothecary Accents Framelits, small oval punch, Be of Good Cheer DSP

Christmas Cards for Sale! Limited Supply.

 Hello!  Long time no see.  I have something new for you today- two somethings as a matter of fact!  How would you like to have 12 of your Christmas cards all done and ready to go?  This selection is available and come complete with inside greetings and envelopes too.  In fact, for $35 we will even throw in shipping for FREE.  These were all hand made by myself and two other Stampin' Up! Demonstrators from leftover supplies from our recent Stamp-a-Stack.  They are high quality and made with 100% Stampin' Up! product.   If you are interested shoot me an email (Stamp_for_smiles (at) embarqmail (dot) com) or leave me a comment here with your email address.  Supplies are VERY limited so first come first serve. 

Next up is yet another Christmas card, and you can make this one yourself!  ;)  Found this fun sketch at Create With Connie & Mary but guess what... yep, I missed the contest deadline again.  That's OK because I love how it turned out and love the sketch enough to use it again just for FUN! 

Thanks for stopping in to visit me toay!
~Kristin

 

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Bootiful Occasions, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Colors:  Whisper White, Pool Party, Midnight Muse

Accessories:  Comfort Cafe DSP, Northern Flurry embossing folder, Liquid Applique (no longer a SU product, Whisper White Organza ribbon, scallop border punch

Christmas Deer

 So have you seen this Christmas Deer stamp set in the Stampin' Up! Catalog?  It is on page 19.  If you like it, I highly recommend the "wood mount" version for $4 more because of the teeny tiny nature of the ornaments.  I would NOT want to lose one. 

This is my "rustic" version using the deer, complete with the Woodgrain background and the beautiful new Brushed Bronze button from the Holiday Catalog.  This must be a Utah deer because the deer I've seen in Ohio don't have bodies quite this big usually. 

Here is my first attempt to recreate yesterday's card using the deer instead.  I stamped him with Versamark ink then melted the Heat and Stick powder and immediately doused with Dazzling Diamonds glitter for some serious sparkle.  In person, the detail of the antlers does show up much better.  Hard to photo.  This isn't the version we'll be making on Saturday at my annual Holiday Stamp-a-Stack either....

 

But this might be the final version!  This time he is embossed in Pewter then sponged with some Midnight Muse ink.  The ribbon is the new Satin Stitched in Midnight Muse. 

So what do you think?  Do you like this as well as yesterday's card?  I ended up using Marina Mist instead of Baja Breeze.  I didn't have enough of the Baja cardstock and no time to order more... plus, Marina Mist is just my favorite blue anyway!  If you have suggestions on how to improve this feel free to speak up.  I'm unsure of the sentiment placement since this stamp isn't as symmetrical as the tree from yesterday.  And I do miss the paper piercing, even though I don't think the deer would fit anyway.  Hmmmm.

Thank you for stopping by, and for your comments!  They do make a girl feel loved!  Have a great day.
~Kristin

Stampin' Up! Supplies

Stamps:  Christmas Deer, Snow Swirled (sentiment)

Colors:  Marina Mist, Midnight Muse, Whisper White

Accessories:  Pewter embossing powder, scallop border punch, sponge, Modern Label punch, Satin Stitched Midnight Muse ribbon

Editing Magic!

 Good morning fellow stampers!  I'm back with another Christmas card I promised a few days ago.  I was so happy with this one when it was all done, but got busy and left it sit around on my desk waiting to be photo'd... when tragedy struck. 

OK, I'm being dramatic, it's just a card... but it felt like the end of the world for a few minutes when this card, which was my favorite of the last dozen or so, fell over onto an open red inkpad.  Have you ever had this happen??  It's NOT a good feeling.

Here's the original picture.  Isn't that sickening?  But thanks to some wonderful editing tricks I managed to get it close to it's original state, at least in the photo.  Now in person it is still ruined!  And the red inkpad didn't discriminate, it ruined the main image, the ribbon and all the layers of scallops too just to be sure I couldn't reuse any piece of it.  Except the little sentiment down there. 

This was a design I had experimented with for the Stamp-a-Stack this Saturday (still time to register if you live in the area- Kenton, Ohio).  While I love this one, it is not one of the finals because I bought the new Christmas Deer stamp and really wanted to use it.  So the design will be the same, but the stamp and the ribbon (this one is retired) will change.  Plus, the paper piercing is left off- much too time consuming to have 20+ women trying to do it with only one template. 

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!  I'll be back with more SAS designs in the next few days hopefully. 
~Kristin

Oops, forgot the supply list, sorry! 

Stampin' Up! Supplies

Stamps:  Snow Swirled

Colors:  Baja Breeze, Midnight Muse Whisper White

Accessories:  Clear Embossing powder, Paper Piercing Essentials pack, Modern Label punch, Baja Breeze Seem binding ribbon, scallop border punch, sponge

Holiday Cheer

I've been working to come up with some designs for our annual Stamp-a-Stack which is coming up October 6th.  Since I've been neglecting my stamping for jewelry lately I'll post four cards at once.  I have another done, but haven't yet photographed it. 

 

 My new order from SU will be here on Friday so I'll have more stuff to play with and post then!  This first one is using the new Holiday Frame embossing folder.  I love how the Cherry Cobbler baker's twine looks but the punch I used on the corners is not by Stampin' Up! so I don't think we'll be making this one. 

For this one i stamped an ornament from Delightful Decorations on the Limited Edition DSP then embossed it with clear powder.  I have ordered the Cherry Cobbler powder so next time I can stamp with Versamark instead of the Versamark then Cherry Cobbler combination.  



 

This style of stamping has a name, something like Subway style?!?  Basically you just gather a large number of sentiments and stamp them in varrying directions.  I have at least 15 different stamps on here, many from very old retired stamp sets, all stamped in various shades of green.  The card base is Gumball Green, and it is finished off with some Cherry Cobbler Seem Binding.  Are you getting the idea that I like Cherry Cobbler for Christmas cards??

And finally... this one is actually Real Red with Always Artichoke and Naturals Ivory.  The tree, from Snow Swirled is an old favorite.  I embossed it in silver on the Limited Edition DSP then sponged over it with Artichoke ink.  If you're wondering, my sponge dauber had some other green on it and even though it was dry, it showed up more than the artichoke.  Next time I'll use a brand-new sponge dauber.  The tree ornaments were punched from the glittery red paper with a standard hole punch and the 1/8" hole punch. 

Thanks for visiting!  Why don't you let me know YOUR VOTE if you had to choose which of these you'd want to make at a Holiday Stamp-a-Stack. 

~Kristin

Step It Up!! {Christmas}

Looking for a super simple, quick and easy Christmas card design?  Then look no further!  I have designed this card to be stepped up three times, adding a tiny bit of detail each time.  Choose the version you are comfortable with or experiment with all four!  

Can you guess what was added? 

Ignore the funky bow... I did get tired of it and fixed it eventually.

 

That's better (the bow I mean).  Did you spot each of the added details?  So what do you think?  Still Clean & Simple, eh?!! 

 

This just might be similar to something at our upcoming Annual Christmas Stamp-a-Stack in Kenton, Ohio coming up on October 6th.  Let me know if you are interested- all are welcome! 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristin

 



First Christmas Card of the Year

Hello again!  I'm back with my very first Christmas card of the season.  You may be seeing more of these in the days to come.  Our annual Christmas Stamp-a-Stack is just around the corner, October 6th, so I've got some designing to do.  If you are interested in details let me know and I'll be sure to fill you in!  (It is held in Kenton, Ohio)

 

For this one I used this sketch from iSpy Sketches.  Isn't it fun?!  Initially I intended to follow the sketch exactly and put a circle embellishment towards the bottom... but then realized that my large embossed snowflake did sort of the same thing, so I left it off.  Less is more, right?!  

 

Well, I hope you like it!  Come again soon!

~Kristin

 

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Petite Pairs

Colors:  Raspberry Ripple, Regal Rose, Pink Pirhouette, Whisper White

Accessories:  square punch, Raspberry Ripple Stitched Satin ribbon, Modern Label punch, Big Shot, Northern Flurry embossing folder, basic rhinestones

 

Joyful Christmas Wishes

Running out of time to make Christmas cards so this just might be the last ones I post.  I hope you like them!  This first one is made with the sketch from Splitcoast Stampers.  The main liberty I took with it was to tilt my main image a bit, just for interest.  I've used the tiny jewelry tag for the first time and the "joy" is from a 2005 stamp set called Small Script.  I think I've mentioned that I don't get rid of stamp sets! 

Also showcased on this card is the newer red Glimmer Paper.  This is the first I've cut into it and I love it.  Also love that the Glimmer Brad matches so well.  On the inside I have stamped my biggest "Merry Christmas" in versamark, covered with Heat 'n Stick powder then coated in fine red glitter!  Looks awesome! 

Here's another one... this time I used the Mojo sketch below.  I haven't played along with Mojo for awhile, but this one was nice and simple and worked great for my Gifts of Christmas set. 

Lots of accessories on this one:  Snowflake Sizzlit, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint on the dove, Petal-a-Plenty emossing folder, new Wisteria Wonder Ruffled Ribbon and a new Wisteria Wonder dotted brad!  Lots of fun stuff! 

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope your holiday planning is going well.  I don't even have a tree yet or any decorations yet.  We'll get there!  Having our football season go 15 weeks has really put me behind. 

~Kristin

Dazzling Christmas

OK, here it is.  The second Christmas card CASE I promised yesterday.  Copied from THIS (scroll down to the second card in this post) card by the great Carrie Gaskin.  Once again I had to change up some things since I don't have the stamp set she used.  Did you notice the sparkly details on the tree?  I added that with SU's new Dazzling Details glitter glue with a super fine tip for adding bling in intricate detail.

For extra texture the River Rock strip is crimped and of course the amazing quilted Cherry Cobbler ribbon is textured itself! 

TIP:  Want to know how to make a notch in ribbon like that?  Just fold it in half and cut at an angle away from the fold.  And make sure your scissors aren't sticky like mine were- you'll get a much nicer cut!  For the notch on the end of a strip of paper just use a small square punch, turn it upside so you can see what you're doing, and punch!  Simple as that (with some practice). 

Super simple- hope you like it! 

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Petite Pairs, Pennante Parade

Colors:  Cherry Cobbler, River Rock, Always Artichoke, Whipser White

Accessories:  Pennant Punch, Rhinestone, Quilted Cherry Cobbler ribbon, crimper

Modern Merry

I've been working on more clean & simple Christmas card ideas for our upcoming Stamp-a-Stack.  This one is a CASE of this one by Carrie Gaskin of Artistic Avenger, one of my very favorite stampers!  Her work is amazing- take some time to browse her blog for lots of inspiration!  If I had all the elements she used mine would be even more similar. 

Stop back tomorrow for yet another CASE of the wonderful Carrie Gaskin.  I won't ruin the surprise for our nearly 40 participants just which of these two cards they will be making on October 29th! 

Thanks for stopping by today!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Fine Flourish, Short & Sweet, Pennant Parade

Colors:  Whisper White, Concord Crush, Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi, Soft Suede

Accessories:  Pennant Punch, Decorative Label punch, Basic Rhinestone, white gel pen, mini silver brad, Wisteria Wonder ruffled ribbon

Pennant Christmas

How about another Christmas card today?  Have you seen this new quilted satin ribbon??  Oh my!  It is so luxurious in person!  And it photos nicely too, I'd say.  Had to use my new Pennant Parade stamp set with matching punch to make this Christmas tree, and the new mini silver brads, aren't they cute?!  I've used a few on the inside as well, below.  I would love for this to be a card at our upcoming Stamp-a-Stack, but it is from a new Simply Scrappin' Kit called Christmas Lane and there are only 3 piece so I'm just not willing to give them up. 

Finally, I am really glad I bought Petite Pairs stamp set!  It has 9 sets of sentiments that work together for the front and the inside of a card, like the Christmas set shown here.  I love that they are petite- such a simple and sophisticated look I think. 

Oops, forgot to add a title and the fact that the sketch for this card is from this week's sketch challenge at Splitcoaststampers.com. 

Well, that's all for today.  Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Petite Pairs, Pennant Parade

Colors:  Soft Suede, Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, Cherry Cobbler

Accessories:  Pennant Punch, Mini silver brads, Quilted satin ribbon in Cherry Cobbler, Designer Label punch