Blog Candy Winner and Wisemen Lantern

Today's post features another one of my lanterns. This one was created for the Stampendous holiday 2011 catalog. I used Thermo Acetate to form the cylinder shape. The Wisemen image was stamped on the front with Black StazOn ink. On the back of the acetate, I played with lots of gooey stuff! I squirted a generous amount of Ranger Glossy Accents over the acetate. Then I added drops of various colors of Ranger Alcohol Inks, swirled a bit with my finger, and sprinkled with the Frantage Elements Mica Flakes. Then I took the thin white tissue that comes with the acetate, crumpled it up, smoothed it slightly, and applied it over the wet goo. The whole thing was set aside to dry. Once dry, the panels were attached at the sides with brad fasteners to form the cylinder shape. Ordinary rope was covered in Versamark ink and embossed with Aged Gold Embossing Enamel and glued around the top and base of the lantern. A vellum cylinder insert was edge punched and inserted for more opacity in the lantern. A few small flameless candles were tucked inside.
For Saturday's post, I promised to give away blog candy to one commenter who had the correct answer to my question, and the winner of the Cling Jumbo Santa Believe set was...

  

craftymom205

Congrats! I'll be emailing you for your address and sending this off to you via snail mail right away. Have fun creating cards, bags, tags, gifts, etc. with your new set! 

To the rest of you, keep checking back each Saturday as the team will be offering more blog candy this month. Have you played along with the November challenge to use chipboard on your projects? Be sure to link them onto the Stampendous Impressions' blog in order to be considered for winning the prize for the month...the new Cling Jumbo Songbird! Saturday, December 3rd, will begin a whole new challenge to play with! See you then! 

 

It's the Holiday Season...FUR Real!

 Blog Candy Alert! However, you need to read through today's post to get the opportunity! There will be a quiz!
The thing about working in the paper-crafting industry, is that you end up thinking about Christmas about nine months out of every year. All the sample designs need to be created months in advance in order for stores and customers to have the time to purchase the latest must-haves for the holiday season. This card is a great example of this. I created this card back in June for the Stampendous Holiday 2011 catalog which was released in July. Fortunately, I love designing for the holidays...especially when I can use my favorite furry feline, Fluffles. Fluffles is known for continually getting into mischief (like most cats), and once again, there he is...in trouble. He and his pal are cohorts in crime as they attempt to steal the goodies out of the Class A' Peel Jumbo Velvet stocking. (By the way, this stocking sticker was applied to a white cardstock panel and both were run through the Big Shot with a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder to add a dotted swiss texture.) Both "cat burglars" were stamped, colored with Copic markers, and cut out, in order to be precariously perched together above the stocking. Another Velvet Class A' Peel design, the Stackable Trees pops off the fun red patterned paper along with the appropriate sentiment, "Just droppin' in to say...Meowy Christmas". As I'm sure you are well aware, the holiday season is officially in full force now, and Stampendous is chock full of wonderfully beautiful and humorous images, products, and ideas for creating the perfect holiday gifts, cards, tags, bags, and boxes. For more inspiration, visit the rest of our Stampendous "elves" listed at right, as well as the Stampendous Impressions blog. The team have been very busy this month creating with chipboard, and we are challenging YOU to play along...create your own, post it, and link it to the Stampendous blog. You can enter as many times as you'd like, and one lucky winner will receive the Cling Jumbo Songbird image seen here:

So, do you think you read my post carefully? Well, if you did, you'll know the answer to the question below. Add your answer (along with your email addy) to the comments below to possibly win this fabulous Cling Jumbo Believe in Santa set:

Here's the question:  Who is my favorite furry feline?

Skip the Mall...Shop the GRS Site!

The Gourmet Rubber Stamps team are busy cooking up some fun with the latest Diner's Club set due to be released on December 1st, called "Let's Celebrate".  As usual, this set is full of a variety of fun images...birthday themed, New Years themed, and just because themed! My card features images from this last category. I instantly fell in love with the little Matroyshka doll. I have always loved these and have a few that I display during the holidays. I love how they nest one inside the other, and are decorated so beautifully with these traditional folk art designs. One of these designs is the cute flower motif which I stamped three times across the border at the top in Danube Blue Memento ink. I paper-pieced my doll in shades of blue and green, used Copics to color her sweet little face, and added white gel pen to the details of her dress and apron. The sentiment is perfectly in tune, as it says, "It's what's inside that matters most", so true! While you are still enjoying your turkey-induced coma from yesterday, I suggest you skip the Black Friday sales, and just head on over to the Gourmet Rubber Stamps website and sign yourself up to receive the Diner's Club set on a monthly basis, or have a wild shopping spree! The first 50 customers on the site today will receive a free stamp with their order! On top of that, many of the images are on sale for 25% off! GRS carries seven different stamp lines, including Lizzie Anne Designs. I guarantee that you'll want them all! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the team's blogs:

Deb

Taylor

Joslyn

Kendra

Kelli

Rose Ann

Joy

Jeni

Simply Thankful

 Happy Thanksgiving! Today I am very grateful for the piles of crafting supplies that I have that made it easy for me to complete this card quickly. The Dreamweaver Stencils' Team challenge was the theme of Thanksgiving. I had grand plans for this card. The other night I paste-embossed the Fall Borders stencil with Matte Black Paste, and sprinkled three colors of the Metallic F/X over the wet paste...Cocoa, Kimono Red, and Ivy Garden. This is so simple and the effect is so pretty...shimmery pops of color against the black surface, especially since I used copper Star Dream cardstock as the base for this. I set this aside to dry overnight with plans to emboss a background and possibly foil a sentiment to go with. Alas, time was not my friend this week. Tuesday the family went to the Auto Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center, where we spent hours oohing and aahing over all the latest and greatest  vehicles. By the time we got home it was quite late and I was exhausted. I got up fairly early yesterday intending to get the house prepared for Thanksgiving and finish my cards...which I did. However, I had to take the easier route for this card. Fortunately, I had some great fall-themed paper, ribbon, and chipboard sentiments that I could throw together in a hurry. I refuse to feel guilty about taking the easy way out! That's what is so great about the creative process...you can go as CAS or involved as you want. That's what all that stuff is there for...and I was really thankful for it this week! Hope your Thanksgiving is simple, relaxing, and full of family and friends.  The Dream Team (listed at right) has been busy this week creating more Thanksgiving wishes for you to check out, as well as the Dream It Up! blog, which happens to feature another card of mine. On a bonus note...only six more days to submit your creations for the Dream Team call. Go check out all the info! We'd love to have you!

Ho Ho Ho and a Cup O' Joe!

 Quickie post today featuring the Ho Ho Ho Santa from the Murray's Law line of stamps from Gourmet Rubber Stamps. I love this line as they are full of sarcastic and cynical humor...the best kind. For this card, I created a pocket on the front of the card that will hold a gift card for a local coffee/tea/cocoa place (in my case...Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf). I have several more of cynical Santa, so be expecting to see more of him in future posts! Meanwhile, you can check out the entire line on the GRS website, along with several other lines including Lizzie Anne Designs.

I'll Have a Blue Christmas Without You

Today is my day on the revolving wheel of Woodware to post for this week's challenge...to Pick a Color and Stick With It! Obviously, I went with blue, and am still in holiday mode as I need a few more cards to complete my card list for this year. This card features the Dreamweaver Stencils' Oval Ornament and Kaleidoscope which layered together to create the ornament shape with the Kaleidoscope pattern. I taped the Kaleidoscope stencil under the Oval Ornament stencil before taping them both down on my textured cardstock with removable tape. With a "sludge mix" of Glossy Blue and Regular White Embossing Pastes, I spread the color over the stencil, removed the excess, and set the panel aside to dry after removing the stencil. Be sure to clean the stencils right away with a little warm water and a nail brush. While the paste was still wet, I poured Stampendous Midnight Blue Glitter from the Holiday Tinsel Glitter Kit over the pasted image. The paste takes around thirty minutes to dry (about half that if you place it on an electric griddle set on low). Meanwhile, the card was formed from medium blue cardstock, with a panel of patterned paper which mimics the Kaleidoscope design rather well. To emphasize this, I stenciled the pattern onto the panel using the deep blue shade from the ColorBox Chalk Ink "Chocolate and Blueberries" set. The pasted panel was adhered to the card, a Stampendous Star Greetings sentiment was added, along with a sheer ribbon bow, and a Dreamweaver Stencils' Embellishment Pin coated with the same deep blue ink inserted through. (Be careful to ensure the pin point is tucked under the layers of paper.) If you haven't been to the Woodware UK blog yet, check it out, and while you are there, follow the links to the rest of the team of Woodware wonders as they complete this challenge in their own unique and colorful way.

The Chipboard Challenge Continues...

 We are into the third week now of the Stampendous November Chipboard Challenge. The team has been showing a variety of ways to highlight Stampendous images and products with chipboard elements. For my cards today, I used the Painting With Powder Technique on my chipboard ovals. The ovals were covered with Versamark ink before pouring Periwinkle Embossing Powder over the sky area, and White Embossing Powder over the area that will include the snow families and their snowy domain. After this first layer has been melted and cooled, talcum powder was rubbed over the surface to prevent EP from the next step from migrating. Then I stamped and embossed in black images from either the Perfectly Clear Winter Warm or Perfectly Clear Snow Place sets, and flakes from either set embossed in white in the sky. Using a glue pen, I applied Shaved Ice Frantage Elements and Apple Red Glitter. Using plain white cards with embossed panels, I adhered my chipboard ovals over another embossed panel and both to the card. The sentiment was simply Class A' Peel Holiday Greetings in Mirror Red. The sentiment from the clear set was stamped on the inside along with a few more flakes. We are challenging YOU to play along with us this month, and link your creation to the Stampendous Impressions' blog by December 1st, for an opportunity to win the new Cling Jumbo Songbird. Need some more inspiration? Here you go:

Taylor Usry

Wendy Jordan

Suzanne Czosek 

Pam Hornschu (me)

Stampendous Blog 

 

While you are visiting the Stampendous blog, be sure to check out our latest group of BlogStars! Also, did you know Stampendous is offering FREE shipping on all orders $50 or over (to US/APO/FPO addresses)?! Use the promo code FREESHIP and stock up on some goodies!!  And if you are in Southern California, make plans to stop by the new Stampendous Outlet store!