Card Making in the Mountains: December 2013

Monday, December 30, 2013

Holiday Park - 30 December 2013 Post to Poppystamps Design Team Blog

12/30/2013

Holiday Park

I am not quite ready to say good-bye to snow and the holidays. The card I prepared for you today is more of a winter card with a skosh of holiday with a small poinsettia.

Supplies you will need:

902 Small Blooming Poinsettia

893 Village Lamp Post

859 Walking Cat - small

872 Curious Cat

891 Madison Park Bench

961 Trailing Vine

901 Viva Tree

909 Birthday Candles

945 Woodland Fawn (scarf only)

Adhesives

Snow (glitter, flocking, etc.)

Chalk ink

Q-tips

Cardstock

I created this as a 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" card. The white cardstock is slightly pearlized so it shines like snow. I hand cut a couple of snow drifts to create depth in the scene.

Despite having a large number of die cuts to make it was quite simple to put together. I cut the snow drifts first and gently placed them on the card so that I could slide the tree behind them and be sure I was happy with positioning. Then I built the rest of the scene.

I put the scarf from the deer die on the cat and folded it behind the cat to shorten it a bit.

The candles die provided the candles that I used in the street lamp.

Once the scene was completely put together I used the q-tip in the white chalk ink to create snow in the sky. Then I used a glue pen and added the flocking to the lamppost and the bench. I trimmed a few branches to make it look a bit more sparse for winter then applied the flocking to it.

To finish a windswept snow look, I took a sponge and sponged the chalk white ink to the top corners of the sky area.

Here is a shot of the card prior to adding the snow and flocking if you prefer a simplier design. I used the LET IT SNOW greeting inside the card but it could easily be used as a banner greeting and affixed to the front of the card.

Look for fun new dies and stamps from Poppystamps in 2014!

Until then, I wish you and your family a Happy New Year (einen guten Rutsch).

[CS309B] Let it Snow	[945] DIES- Woodland Fawn	[902] DIES- Small Blooming Poinsettia	[893] DIES- Village Lamp Post
[859] DIES- Walking Cat	[872] DIES- Curious Cat	[881] DIES- Madison Park Bench	[961] DIES- Trailing Vine
[901] DIES- Viva Tree	[909] DIES- Birthday Candles

InLinkz.com

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Church Window for Poppystamps

Church Window

Happy Holidays to all! My December posts for Poppystamps are after Christmas has come and gone but I hope you will still enjoy my church window card.

I created a double window for this card so that it has a window inside and outside of the card.

The first image shows the outside of the card. I created a stained glass effect by applying adhesive to vellum and then using a fine glitter. Then I affixed the Grand Gothic Iron Works window that I cut out of a pearlized white paper. Once it dried, I colored the reverse side (non-glitter) with markers.

Next, I cut the Grand Gothic Iron Work Window a second time from the base of the cardstock.

And then I cut the Grand Gothic Window (frame) twice out of pearlized white cardstock.

Then, I took a second piece of cut vellum and applied Adhesive, Glitter, and the Iron Work Window cut from the blue base. After allowing to dry I glued the two sections together.

While that dried I glued the window frame to the front of the card and then placed the "sandwich" of vellum inside before adhering the second window frame inside.

After this I cut another white piece of cardstock and stamped the greeting, cut several pine sprigs and poinsettia leaves before building the flowers and adhering to the front of the card.

As you can see from the shot below (of the inside) it is much darker looking than the image above which is because there is no light source behind it. The image above I took with the card open and a lamp behind it.

This card can be adapted for a first communion, baptism, Easter or even a sympathy card.

Hope you liked it.

Supplies you will need:

CS305B - Merry Little Christmas Cling Stamp

936 - Pine Sprigs Die

902 - Small Blooming Poinsettia Die

845 - Gothic Grand Window Die

850 - Grand Gothic Iron Work Window

Glitter, Markers and Adhesive, Vellum Paper

Here is hoping that your holidays are full of happiness and love.

Thank you for visiting Poppystamps blog and my blog as well.

Best wishes for a bright and healthy New Year,

[CS305B] Little Christmas	[936] DIES- Pine Sprigs	[902] DIES- Small Blooming Poinsettia	[845] DIES- Grand Gothic Window
[850] DIES- Grand Gothic Iron Work Window

InLinkz.com

Monday, December 2, 2013

PoppyStamps Design Team - Blog Hop: Holiday Tags, packaging, and more

Treats are not just for Santa

Small gifts are a nice way to show someone special how much you care, and a hand crafted tag makes any gift extra special! Our blog hop showcases tags and/or packaging and sometimes even a recipe perfect for gift giving.

If you are following along the blog hop you should have reached me from my dear friend Jeanne Jachna.

I recently purchased some scrumptious truffles from a local chocolate shop, The Chocolate Fetish in Asheville, NC, for a small gift. I wanted a way to make it a bit more personal thus I decided to create my own packaging.

Supplies you will need:

Cardstock

Poppystamps Die - Peppermint Twist [964]

Poppystamps Cling Stamp - Holidays Sparkle
[CS307B]

Double sided adhesive tape
Brilliance Ink
Scissors
Ruler

For my packing, I placed my truffles side by side and measured to determine how long and wide it needed to be. I used a ruler to draw a rectangle and then outlined the sides and drew flaps. It helps to use a scoring tool and score on each fold line. Then cut out the box's bottom. To finish, use double sided tape on the flaps and fold to create the bottom.

Next, trace around the bottom of the box, and add a little extra space (as a buffer) so that the top will fit over the bottom. Again draw the sides and flaps and score. Once the top is cut (and before assembly) cut the swirl decoration across the top.

I love to use Poppystamps dies in many different ways. I am always thinking of how can I use this or that as a component in another project. I certainly like to make my money stretch and the Peppermint Twist die is one of these versatile dies. It is a two-piece die and you can create candies without the swirl and add embellishments with just the base or you can use the swirls separately (as I did here) or use them together and make peppermints!

Once the swirls were cut, I randomly stamped only the snowflake from the Cling Stamp - Holidays Sparkle across the top and the sides of the lid. The photo below shows a lidded treat box with the three truffles peeking through the swirls.

If you don't want to do the calculations yourself, you can find many tutorials from Splitcoast Stampers or on YouTube to help fit the packaging to your contents.

View into the box from the top

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget we have hidden prizes! Refill your coffee, tea, or cocoa and hop on over to the blog of a super creative lady and fellow design team member, Lezlye Lauterbach.

One random commenter from 3 of the following blogs will be chosen to win a Poppystamps die of their choice. So while you are hopping, remember to leave a comment!

Rudlis / Irena Kowalczyk

Sherry Eckblad

Sherry Hester

Remember: You have until December 8 to leave a comment - winners will be posted on Poppystamps Blog on December 9.

[964] DIES- Peppermint Twist

[CS307B] Holidays Sparkle

InLinkz.com

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Waiting For Santa - 30 November 2013 Poppystamps Design Team Blogpost

Waiting for Santa

Greetings and Happy Holidays!

I hope this finds each of you well and enjoying your holiday season with friends and family.

I watched an old favorite the other night, Rudolph, and thought that it would be nice to create something that reminded me of Santa's flight.

Supplies you will need:

Santa's Sleigh [923]

Woodland Fawn [945]

Large Fremont Pine [906]

Let it Snow Clearmount stamp [CS309B]

Brillant Ink, Red-colored Glitter Glue, Embellishments [rhinestone, pearls], Q-tips, adhesives and scissors.

How-to:

I took a few Q-tips and dabbed them on the brillance ink pad and dotted all over the card to create the snow. Then I cut the Fremont trees. All trees on the card are from the Freemont tree, I just cut some of them to be thinner by cutting down with scissors after die cutting to give them the illusion of being in the background a bit. I then added pearls of different colors to simulate lights on the tree.

I cut out a banner after stamping the Let it Snow and added a rhinestone to the center of the snowflake and used a glue circle to adhere to the card. I glued the sleigh slightly tilted as if it were getting weighed down with packages and curved the deer legs just a bit as if it were ready to fly. I added a little of the red glitter glue as a collar for the deer.

For the snowy background I used scissors and rotated the paper slightly as I cut. To complete the card, I added a little wooden laser cut house embellishment.

Have a happy holiday season and "let it snow!"