Stampin' Llamas Holiday Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Stampin' Llamas Holiday Blog Hop!!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Merry Christmas!  OK, it's a little early for that.  But it's time to start thinking about holiday cards; if I don't start soon, I won't be mailing them until after New Year's!

Following the order of the seasons, I will show you my fall/Thanksgiving card first.

 

Stampin' Up! products used:
Stamps: French Foliage, Day of Gratitude.  Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla.  Ink: Riding Hood Red, Old Olive.  Accessories: Antique Brads.  Tools: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, 3/16" Corner punch, Decorative Label punch.
Other products: twine.

I love, love, love the French Foliage set.  And I had so much fun playing with this set with Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  For this card, I used the crayons directly on the stamps.  I used Real Red, Cajun Craze, a tiny bit of More Mustard, and some Old Olive and Garden Green and blended the colors together to look like fall leaves.  After you've colored the stamp, lightly spritz it with water to activate the watercolors and stamp on watercolor paper.  It takes a bit of practice to figure out the right amount of water to use; too much and your image is blotchy.  Too little, and not all the color transfers.  So if your first try doesn't look right, don't give up.  Practice a little and you'll soon have beautiful leaves!



This next card uses the Christmas Lodge set from the Holiday mini.

Stampin' Up! products used:

Stamps: Christmas Lodge.  Cardstock: Brushed Silver, Night of Navy, Whisper White.  Ink: Versamark.  Accessories: Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder, Whisper White Organza Ribbon.  Tools: Big Shot, Top Note Big Shot die, Heat Tool, 3/16" Corner punch.  

I heat embossed the lodge stamp and the Happy Holidays stamp with Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder.  When you stamp the lodge on white paper, the "snow" is the correct color.  However, on the Night of Navy paper, it doesn't look like snow.  So I used Dazzling Details to color in all the snowy areas.  I think it's perfect since a new snow glistens anyway!  I used the Top Note die to cut both the Night of Navy and the Brushed Silver cardstock.  I then carefully cut along the dotted line on the Night of Navy piece so that I could mat it with the Brushed Silver.  For the Happy Holidays piece, I used the corner rounder punch so that it "matched" the flowing lines of the top note die.  It looked a bit naked on its own, so I used a bit of Whisper White Organza ribbon to help set it off.



My last project is a gift card holder!

 Outside:

Open the first fold:

Fully Opened:

Another angle, to see the fully opened card:

Stampin' Up! Products Used:
Stamps: Forest Festivities.  Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White.  Ink: Black StazOn, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede, Tempting Turquoise.  Tools: Simply Scored Scoring Tool, 1-3/4" Scallop Circle punch, 1-3/8" Circle punch, Word Window punch, Sticky Strip, Blender Pens.  

I used several images from the Forest Festivities set and colored them with Blender Pens.  I will post a (free) tutorial later this week on how to make this gift card holder.

I hope you enjoyed my projects!!  Next up on the Stampin' Llamas Holiday Blog hop is Jackie!  Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Stampin' Llamas First Blog Hop!

Welcome to the second stop on the Stampin' Llamas Blog Hop!  We will be working our way through the Stampin' Up! 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog (IB&C).  The hop is just beginning, so we're still in the first section of the catalog, the Hostess section!  Enjoy!

My first card was made with the Simply Soft stamp set.  This is my favorite stamp set in the entire catalog.  These images just beg for coloring!  I cut a circle from watercolor paper with the 3" Circle Sizzix die.  I stamped an image from the Simply Soft stamp set on the watercolor paper with StazOn ink and colored it with Watercolor Wonder Crayons and an Aqua Painter.  The scallop circle layer was cut with the Scallop Circle #2 Sizzix die.  I stamped another one of the Simply Soft stamps (I call it the dandelion stamp) several times on Very Vanilla cardstock with Crumb Cake ink to make a background for the Thanks (from the Thank You Kindly stamp set).

Stampin' Up! products used:
Stamps: Simply Soft, Thank You Kindly; Cardstock: Island Indigo, Tangerine Tango, Very Vanilla; Ink: Black StazOn, Crumb Cake, Island Indigo; Ribbon: Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon; Tools: Aqua Painters, Blender Pen, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Big Shot, 3" Circle die, Scallop Circles #2 die

I wanted to have a "dandelion" on the inside of the card as well.  I didn't want to use watercolor paper on the inside, but I still wanted to watercolor my image.  So, I stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock and used blender pens with the Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  I really like the effect; it is a bit softer, more like colored pencils. 

My second card was made using the Faith In Nature stamp set.  I wanted some randomly stamped leaves behind the sentiment.  Old Olive straight from the ink pad would be a bit dark behind Early Espresso and make it a little hard to read.  To lighten up the color a bit, I double-stamped it.  I inked up my stamp and then I stamped once on my Grid Paper to remove some of the ink.  Then, without reinking my stamp, I stamped on the Whisper White.  That gave me a lighter shade of Old Olive that doesn't overshadow the Early Espresso sentiment.

For the frame, I found it easier to cut my paper before I emboss it.  I cut out the center of the Old Olive cardstock with a craft knife.  I carefully centered the frame on my Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder and ran it through the Big Shot.  I made a bow with the Whisper White Organza Ribbon and wrapped the ends of the bow around the frame.  Finally, I used Stampin' Dimensionals to pop the frame off the page.

Stampin' Up! products used:

Stamps: Faith In Nature; Cardstock: Early Espresso, Old Olive, Whisper White; Ink: Early Espresso, Old Olive; Ribbon: Whisper White Organza; Tools: Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder. 

Other produts used: Craft knife, cutting mat

That's all I have for you today!!  The next stop on the hop is Martha over at matilliestamps.blogspot.com.  Have a great weekend!

Welcome to Gotta Have Stamps!

Hi, I'm Holly!  Welcome to my blog.  My day, I am a mild-mannered (ok, not really) software engineer.  I spend my day at a computer exercising the left-side of my brain: writing code, testing, and the such.  When I'm not at work, the right-side of my brain comes out to play!  I love to stamp, scrapbook, and generally make a big crafting mess.  I haven't had a good time unless I've got ink on me somewhere!!  My husband affectionately refers to the mess I leave behind as "Hurricane Holly".

I started this blog to share some of my creations with you.  I hope you enjoy what you see!