First Card of the Year: Vintage Vogue

My first card of 2010 is an anniversary card, one of ten requested by my friend and adopted mom Cathy. My goal is to have a total of five done by Saturday when we meet for lunch.

Without further ado, here's the card:


I got to use a whole bunch of new toys in putting this one together! Most obvious is a new stamp set called Vintage Vogue. Don't you just LOVE those flowers? Just wait until you see the rest of the stamps in the set! This set will always be special to me now because it's the first Stampin' Up! set I own designed to be used with clear acrylic blocks instead of the traditional wood mounts. I'm hooked, as the clear-mount stamps are less expensive and so much easier to store. {Insert satisfied sigh here.}

The other new toy that I'm just WILD about is the Scallop Trim Corner Punch. Check out the corners on the Sahara Sand panel... is that classy or what? It gets better, too: There's a coordinating border punch available as one of many free Sell-a-Bration items! I placed an order bright and early this morning and will be eagerly awaiting the UPS guy ("Mr. Brown") to bring my box of goodies next week! I can't wait!!

Other new stuff (well, new to me) on this card include Thoroughly Modern Designer Series Paper and Vintage Brads. Also, while I usually use SNAIL adhesive for as much as possible, today I broke from my pattern and adhered my fussy-cutted flowers with glue dots to raise them up just a wee bit. One flower is raised higher using Stampin' Dimensionals.

Here's the inside:


Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Great Greetings
Colors: Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, Rose Red, Old Olive
DSP: Thoroughly Modern
Punches: Scallop Trim Corner, corner rounder
And: Vintage brads, Champagne Mist shimmer paint

The "Happy Anniversary" sentiment is from a long-retired SU! set named Great Greetings, circa 1992. It was one of the first sets I ever bought, and -- get this -- it's mounted on FOAM blocks! Stampin' Up!, you've come a long way!

December's One Card... and I'm back!

December was a horrid month for me, but I think I have at least the health issues under control again. I'm INSISTING that 2010 be a better year!

I whipped up all of one card last month, and had to enlist the help of my home health aide to do it:


Stamp: Four the Holidays
Colors: Glorious Green, Real Red, Whisper White
Big Shot: Snowflake #2 die, Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder
And: Silver brad, 2 Mountain Dew cans

I need to jump back into stamping with both feet running as I already have sixty (yup, 60) cards on the agenda! I have orders for ten Anniversary cards, ten Sympathy cards, and then I am DETERMINED to finish up the forty cards for the Build-a-Bear project I started late last year. The bears are done and I just need to dream up some card fronts for them to live on; so I think (hope) that project will go quickly. Meanwhile, I am SO VERY excited about the new products coming out in the Stampin' Up! Occasions Mini and Sale-a-bration brochure!!! <-- not nearly enough exclamation points

To those of my readers who stayed with me during my one month absence, thank you for sticking around! I promise you'll be glad you did when you see the projects I have brewing for 2010!

Be Back Soon!

I thought I'd take a minute to check in since I've been gone for awhile. I've been laying around nursing a messed-up back since the beginning of December -- taking painkillers and alternating between Icy Hot patches and my heating pad. Needless to say, this has really cut into my stamping time! More accurately, it actually hurts to stamp! I'll be seeing my doctor on this coming Saturday, and hopefully she'll be able to identify what's going on and offer a solution. Meanwhile, here I sit going through rubber withdrawal.

It feels like I've pulled a muscle, but I find it hard to believe that if this is the case, the muscle hasn't been able to heal yet, especially with all the bedrest I've been getting.

A shipment will be arriving from Stampin' Up! on Thursday, so I'm trying to loosen up my back today by pushing through the pain and stamping some images for a friend. It would be miserable to have new SU! toys and not be able to use them!

It looks like I'm going to miss the DCBD challenge for this week. I have forty Build-a-Bear cards to make, and I've volunteered to help out a fellow demo by making some cards for her as soon as I'm up and about. I have a gazillion Christmas cards made, but not a single one has been sent out yet. I'm frustrated, but I have to count on people's patience with me until I can get back into the swing of things.

So, have no fear! As Arnold would say, "I'll be back!"

DCBD Challenge #156

The challenge this week over at Diva Coffee Break Designs is a color challenge: Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay, Basic Grey, and Whisper White. Piece of cake!


Stamp sets: Patterned Pines, Holiday Collection
Colors: Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay, Basic Grey, Whisper White
Punch: Jumbo Snowflake
Big Shot: Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder
And: Stampin' Write Markers, gemstones

Christmas Card Mix

I made four cards this weekend -- a scrap card, a CASE, a soda pop can card, and a personal challenge card.


Scrap Card:
Stamp: Holiday Best
Colors: Real Red, Soft Suede, Whisper White
DSP: Christmas Cocoa
Punches: Wide Oval, Scalloped Circle, Scallop Border
And: Stampin' Write markers, Signo Gel Pen

I CASE'd the next card from Brenda Taylor (if I'm reading the watermark on the photo correctly). I just love how this card comes together with a perfect balance of elements, including flocked DSP and Mistletoe ribbon from the Holiday Mini. Brenda, if you're reading this, thank you for my favorite card (so far) of the season!


CASE'd Card:
Stamp: Delightful Decorations
Colors: Real Red, Whisper White
DSP: Christmas Cocoa
Punch: Ornament
And: Mistletoe ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, gemstone

I got the idea from Barb Mulliken to run a Diet Mountain Dew can through my Big Shot with the Snowflake #2 die. This simple card is for a fellow Dew lover... there's not a lot of detail, but I'm sure he'll love it.


Soda Pop Can Card:
Stamp: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Colors: Glorious Green, Real Red, Whisper White
Punch: Modern Label
Big Shot: Snowflake #2 die, Movers and Shapers Modern Label
And: Lots of glue dots

My last card for today is all the fault of Gretchen Barron -- and as I type this, she's probably oblivious to what she started! I read her post today about making Christmas cards in non-traditional colors, and since it's one of my favorite things to do (much to the exasperation of my friends!), and because she asked for other color combinations to try, I challenged Gretchen to make a holiday card using yellow, red, and orange. The more I thought about it, the more intrigued I became... and so I had to try it myself!


Challenge Card:
Stamp: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Colors: YoYo Yellow, Only Orange, Real Red, Shimmery White
Punches: Ornament, Scallop Border, Word Window, Modern Label
Big Shot: Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder, Movers and Shapers Modern Label, Merry Details Sizzlet
And: Real Red 1" Double-stitched Grosgrain ribbon, Real Red brads, Stampin' Write markers, Stampin' Dimensionals

I'm not sure how many more Christmas/Holiday cards I'll be making, as I have more than enough for my own needs. I hoping to sell some, though, so maybe I'll just keep going while I'm in the groove!

DCBD Challenge #155

What's DCBD? Well, it stands for Diva Coffee Break Designs, and it's a weekly (I think) challenge -- usually either a sketch or color challenge. Now that I'm not doing card swaps anymore, I figure participating in DCBD will be a good way to keep the ol' creative juices flowing.

Here are my cards for DCBD Challenge #155:




Stamps: Grateful Greetings
Colors: Real Red, Soft Suede, Whisper White
DSP: Christmas Cocoa
And: Gold brads

Go ahead and take a look at the DCBD blog -- and jump right in on a challenge if you think you're up to it!

The One That Got Away

I was commissioned to make another pet sympathy card this week, and I must say I did a fine job! ... well, until it was time to remember to take a photo before sticking the card in an envelope and sending it on its merry way. They say the memory is the first thing to go, but -- what was I saying?

I used a piece of Shimmery White cardstock as the base, which made for a really classy looking card. The Elegant Bouquet embossing folder offset a picture of a dog dish with some roses in it, which I had layered on Handsome Hunter. I put the "With Sympathy" sentiment from Warmest Regards on the Modern Label punch and then layered that over a slightly larger Modern Label which I cut out using my Big Shot. Inside was a verse, computer printed on Shimmery White and layered on Handsome Hunter, to complete the card.

Here's wishing all my USA readers a very blessed Thanksgiving!

Peace,
Joyce Spear, a.k.a. StamperJoyce

More Christmas Cocoa

It's rare that I set out to CASE (Copy And Selectively Edit) a card, but I was so taken with a card by Jill Hilliard, which you can see here, that I thought I'd give a shot at reproducing it.

Well, I mucked it up -- not once, but twice -- all because I was too lazy to get out my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the sentiment straight. I had to jump through some hoops to save the cards, and here's what I ended up with:




I'm actually rather pleased with both of them, but that could be because I'm absolutely loving the Real Red/Soft Suede/Shimmery White color combination.

Stamps: Holiday Best, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Colors: Real Red, Soft Suede
Papers: Shimmery White cardstock, Christmas Cocoa Specialty DSP
Punches: Jumbo Snowflake, Wide Oval, Large Oval, Scalloped Oval
And: Red button from the Playground Designer Button set, Clear Rhinestone brads from the Pretties Kit, 1" Double-Stitched grosgrain ribbon, Stampin' Write markers

Merry Moments

I made three more holiday cards over the weekend, all of them with the Merry Moments Designer Series Paper.

This first one is my favorite, probably because of its simplicity. The fir trees were made by punching out a strip of DSP with the Scallop Border punch, then using a square punch at an angle to create sections of the tree with 3, 4, and 5 scallops. Then the sections get layered, and a tree trunk gets added. Voila! Instant fir tree! If I do this again, I hope to remember to sponge the scallops so they're more defined.


Stamp set: Four the Holidays
Colors: Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Real Red
Papers: Merry Moments DSP, Shimmery White cardstock
And: Glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds glitter

ETA: I thought I may have seen the fir trees somewhere while "blurfing" (blog surfing). Luckily, Adela jogged my memory that she recently posted a tutorial, which you can see here. Thanks, Adela!


The other two cards I came up with are "okay," although they're growing on me the more I look at them.




Stamps: Warm Words, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Colors: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Real Red
Papers: Merry Moments DSP, Whisper White cardstock
Punches: Jumbo Snowflake, Word Window, Large Oval, Scalloped Oval, 1-3/4" Circle, Round Tab, Ticket Corner
Big Shot: Snowflake from Merry Details Sizzlet
And: Chocolate Chip felt ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Clear gemstone brad (from the Pretties Kit), red gemstones (from my stash)

The More the Merrier

Here's three cards I made today using the level 3 hostess set, The More the Merrier, along with some Christmas Cocoa DSP.




Stamps: The More the Merrier, Four the Holidays, Teeny Tiny Wishes
DSP: Christmas Cocoa Specialty
Colors: Soft Suede, Real Red, Shimmery White
And: Stampin' Write markers, Word Window and 1" Circle punches, Stampin' Dimensionals, 1" Double-Stitched Grosgrain ribbon, 3/4" Polka-Dot Grosgrain ribbon