Day of Gratitude

I had great ambitions to send out Thanksgiving cards this year, but life got in the way. I still managed to put together a set of four cards using the most gorgeous stamp set in Stampin' Up!'s Holiday Mini, Day of Gratitude. These stamps work wonderfully with the Autumn Spice specialty Designer Series Paper, which is actually textured heavy-weight cardstock.

I decided I wanted to work my cards around the largest stamp in the set, the medallion. I used the "rock and roll" technique on some of them, which means I inked up the rubber in a lighter color, then rocked and rolled the edges of the stamp in a darker color ink before huffing and stamping. I love how the medallion layers on itself, too. On one of the medallions I used a large white grommet to frame a specialty circle brad. On others, just a brad sets off the medallion design wonderfully. Oh heck, enough talk -- let's just look at the cards!






Stamp set: Day of Gratitude
DSP: Autumn Spice
Colors: More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Whisper White
And: Punches, 1/8" Taffeta ribbon, large white grommet, specialty brads (some retired), paper snips for fussy cutting

Smiles,
Joyce Spear a.k.a. StamperJoyce

ETA: My apologies for the photos being a bit blurry! I'll have my photographer (me) do a better job next time!

More Customized Birthday Cards

More birthday cards! Gotta say I'm pretty proud of these two, especially the first one. I was asked to do a card with a Smallville theme, so I started out by finding some online photos to use. Once I printed them out, the card began to evolve -- size, colors, accessories all fell into place. (Don'tcha just love when that happens?)

The card is 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", a piece of Basic Black cardstock folded in half. I picked Bravo Burgundy and Perfect Plum as accent colors since they went so well with Clark's cape and the sky in the pictures. I ran the card base though my Big Shot using the Elegant Lines embossing folder, and WOW! it really made the card start to come to life! The fun sentiments are computer printed and nicely layered on both the front and inside. I used the Decorative Label punch from the Holiday Mini behind the ovals. (I love love love this punch!) As a final touch I added some Stampin' Up Basic Rhinestones for some classy bling!




The next card is for a soon-to-be 16 year old. I picked out a card I created some time ago and personalized it using die cut letters. (Man, I love my Big Shot!!)

Inside:

Envelope:

As pleased as I am with these cards, I'm looking forward to moving on to the next projects! I want to make thank you cards for someone who's been especially kind to me over the last few months; some butterfly birthday cards to go overseas to kids in the Compassion program; some more anniversary and sympathy cards; and, of course, holiday cards! Think I have enough to keep me busy? Looks like I have to give up my addiction to Facebook games!

Have you seen the fabulous Holiday mini catalog? If you don't have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator of your own and would like a hard copy of this publication, email me privately and I'll be sure to get one into your hands!

Wishing you delight in little things,
Joyce Spear a.k.a. StamperJoyce