Fun with Six-Sided Sampler

After making fifty fairly traditional Christmas cards for my neighbor to send, I felt the need to let loose and get a little wild -- as I think the following cards will attest to!

I have so many stamp sets that I haven't had a chance to ink up, so I walked over to that pile and grabbed two sets without looking, determined to work with whatever I grabbed. The two sets were Six-Sided Sampler and Too Kind, both from Stampin' Up! I pulled out some brightly colored scraps and started stamping the hexagons on them with Gumball Green, Strawberry Slush, Tempting Turquoise, and Wisteria Wonder inks, and then punched them out with the Hexagon punch. I settled on card bases of Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Strawberry Slush, Pistachio Pudding, and a retired purple, probably Lavender Lace. After trying to piece the hexagons into some sort of pattern on the Tempting Turquoise card base, I realized that all the angles were getting to me, so I decided to go in a totally different direction! I pulled out my Gorgeous Grunge set and stamped the splatters randomly across both the front and back of the card as well as the envelope. After loosening up the creative juices a bit, the rest of the card came together relatively quickly! Here is the final result:

Pretty cool, eh?

I used the following additional items: Sponges, a crackle embossing folder, the Big Shot, washi tape, and Stampin' Dimensionals. I flipped the embossed panel so the crackle design is actually debossed. The "hello sweet friend" sentiment on the front comes with Six-Sided Sampler, but the inside sentiment ("Sending good thoughts your way") is from Too Kind. My usual adhesive of choice is snail (Tombow Mono Adhesive), but for this project I used the green-capped Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue, and it worked like a charm; so much so that I may switch over to that as my favorite adhesive. Doesn't hurt that it smells like Froot Loops, either, lol.

Anyway, here's a parade of the cards with their insides. Note how I shaped the sides of the inside sentiments with the hexagon punch... neat, huh?

If you have any questions about these cards, zip me an email or put your question in the comments -- either way, I will respond.

Looking ahead to the next posts... I've been working on some ATCs that I'll be sharing, and I plan on starting my own holiday cards tonight. I haven't decided yet if they'll be similar to the cards I made for my neighbor or something totally off the wall. Either way, I hope you'll stop by to see them!

Happy Smiles,
Joyce Spear (a.k.a. StamperJoyce)
          

Intermission

Every now and then, between bigger projects, I have to clean up my workspace to clear my mind and get a fresh start. Thought I'd share with you what my space looks like when it's cleaned up:

I know there's still a lot of clutter, but at least it's organized clutter and things are at right angles, LOL!  

I just finished up some "wild" cards that I can't wait to share with you; I'll be taking pictures of them in a few minutes and then blogging them later tonight. They're definitely a colorful backlash to all the conservative Christmas cards I made for my neighbor. Bring your sunglasses tomorrow, you might need them!

Bright smiles,
Joyce Spear (a.k.a. StamperJoyce)
      

Fifty Christmas Cards - Batch Seven (Final!) - Calm Christmas

I am so excited! I completed the order from my neighbor for fifty unique Christmas cards (each one at least a little bit different from all the others) twelve days earlier than the December 1st deadline! The best news is that he was pleased with every single one of the cards! I'm over the moon, as this is the biggest card order I've ever had and, truth be told, I wasn't totally convinced I had it in me. A huge shout out to all the friends who supported and encouraged me on this project; I know I couldn't have done it without you all!  

The stamp set I used for the final cards is Stampin' Up!'s Calm Christmas. I started with card bases of Bermuda Bay, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Marina Mist, Night of Navy, and Real Red. Then I used three different embossing folders (dots, stripes, and a starry swirl) on panels of Crumb Cake. The next layers were a smaller panel of the base color again, over which the main image, a dove, was stamped in Crumb Cake on a layer of Very Vanilla. The "Peace on Earth" sentiments coordinate with the card base colors. Embellishments include a strip of coordinating ribbon over which is placed a Very Vintage Designer Button (in one of three styles) threaded with natural linen thread tied into a pretty little bow. These were my favorite of all the Christmas card styles I made as part of this order, mostly because the simple, elegant design lends itself easily to variations while at the same time being quick and easy to assemble.  

And the inside...

A special thank-you goes to Kay Kalthoff for her card I first saw on Pinterest that inspired me!

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Now that this order is done (hooray!), I have one "mystery image" Artist Trading Card to do before I start on making my own holiday cards! I have lots of ideas up my sleeves, so I hope you'll stick with me for upcoming posts!

It's been suggested that I offer some BLOG CANDY, something I've never done before because I have such a small list of subscribers and I think most of them are fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrators who already have everything I could offer. However, there is an up side to my low readership -- and that's that it increases the chances of winning for everyone who stops by and leaves a comment! So just for the fun of it, I've decided that I will offer blog candy the next time one of my posts gets comments from five different people -or- when I get five brand new subscribers. How do you subscribe? you ask. Simply submit your email address in the Feedblitz section in the right column just underneath my profile. When you do that, you will be sent an email confirming your email address and asking if you still want to subscribe. Click on the provided link and TaDaaa!, you'll be a subscriber! If you're as excited about the possibility of blog candy as I am, be sure to share this blog with your friends and encourage them to leave comments! When either criteria is met, I will make a separate post announcing the blog candy so that all my subscribers will know what's happening and what they could win.  Sound like fun?

Sweet blog candy Smiles,
Joyce Spear (a.k.a. StamperJoyce)
    

November's My Paper Pumpkin

November's My Paper Pumpkin is pretty simple and straightforward.  I stuck to the original design, except that instead of wrapping a long length of garland around the center Noel panel several times, I opted to do a single string. Oh, and I stamped the "Wishing You a Merry Christmas" sentiment on the inside rather than below the garland.

I like the design a lot, and so has everyone who has seen this card.  The beauty of it is that I have several more lengths of garland to use on other cards.  Yay!

Pumpkiny smiles,
Joyce Spear (a.k.a. StamperJoyce)
    

Fifty Christmas Cards - Batch Six: Christmas Star

I'm not one to buy a lot of Christmas/holiday stamps, partly because they're so seasonal and partly because I'm so persnickity about what I like. Every now and then, though, a stamp WOWs me -- and Stampin' Up!'s single stamp Christmas Star did that to me this year. It's a big star, a full 4 1/4" across, with flourishes. The bonus is that if you score on the lines, you can easily create a three-dimensional star! I utilized this feature to make seven 3-D cards after first making one card with the star simply embossed in gold:

I used the sentiments from the Calm Christmas set on both the front and inside of all eight cards. I love this first card for its simplicity, and in person the gold embossing is stunning. I kept the card clean and simple by simply adding a trio of square brads in one corner. I had some gold cardstock in my stash, so that's what I used for the card base.

The rest of these cards are all the same except for the color of the card base:

Card bases are Bermuda Bay, Cherry Cobbler, Gold (non-SU!), Night of Navy, and Real Red. The accent lines were hand drawn with a gold Sharpie (some better than others, sigh). I attached the star with a 1/8" pop dot in the center and micro pop dots under all five points. A clear rhinestone graces the center of each star.

I made two more with silver embossing powder instead of the gold:

These last two card bases are Bermuda Bay and Night of Navy. I personally like the ones that are gold embossed better.

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As of this writing, all fifty unique cards for my neighbor's order are completed -- twelve days ahead of schedule, and with eight cards being bought by another customer a week ago! When I accepted the order, I wasn't totally convinced I would be able to meet the deadline, but I pushed myself and am so proud I did it! My neighbor is super happy with every one of the cards and is already talking about placing a similar order for Valentines Day cards.

I will be posting photos of the remaining cards tomorrow. I believe the last batch of cards is the prettiest of them all!

Starry smiles,

Joyce Spear (a.k.a. StamperJoyce)