Inky Divas Challenge - Week of December 25

The challenge for the week was to create a New Year's card.  Only current Stampin' Up! products were to be used so that was a challenge in itself as I don't have any current stamps that would fit.  I searched on Pinterest and found a number of cards that had no greeting on the front so I worked from there.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Shadow Box Frame with Hometown Greetings

Over the last month or so I have seen many examples of light up shadow box frames using the Hometown Greetings dies and mini lights to create a scene.  I did a couple using an IKEA frame with a 5" x 7" opening.  I made a few of them for gifts and realized that I hadn't kept one for myself.  I didn't want to go back to IKEA so I headed to Michael's.  Their frames were on sale for 50% off.  I didn't see any 5" x 7" frames but they did have a 3 pack of 8" x 8" shadow boxes on sale for $19.99.  I bought a pack and headed home to get started.

I have made two - one for a gift and one for myself.  Although I really like the smaller frame I am so happy that I took a chance on the larger size.

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of December 18

The challenge for the week was to create a card using two of the metallic products available from Stampin' Up!

My projects uses the Gold Foil Sheets and gold embossing powder.

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of December 11

The challenge was to create a festive box/treat holder.  A while back I had seen a project on Patty Bennett's blog using the Stampin' Up! acetate boxes.  She cut the box in half, decorated it and then added in some Ghiradelli candy squares.  See Patty's project HERE.

For my entry I used the striped pattern from the Be Merry DSP package.  I used the Merry Patterns stamp set to stamp Merry Patterns on the white stripes.  I didn't wrap the chocolates because I liked the look of the dark green wrappers peeking out behind the belly band.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Merry Patterns, Snowflake Sentiments
Ink - Basic Gray, Snowflake Sentiments, Versamark
Card Stock - Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Be Merry Designer Series Paper
Other - Acetate Box, Foil Snowflake, Real Red 1/8" Ribbon, Metal Rimmed Pearls, Layering Circles Framelits, Stitched Frames Framelits, Pretty Pines Thinlits, Mini Glue Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of November 27

The challenge this week was to make a card with layers.  I decided to make a bridge card.

Ever since the Stampin' Up! annual catalogue was released I have seen multiple bridge cards posted online using the Home for the Holidays/Hometown Greetings bundle.  I finally sat down and made one.  The cards I had seen online fit in a standard envelope but were a bit smaller than what I wanted.  I altered the dimensions so that the centre panel measured 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".  The card barely fit in a 5 1/2" x 7 1/2" envelope.  I made a second card that was 5 1/4" high and it fit perfectly in the envelope.

Card Base – 5 ¼” x 10 ¼” scored at 1 ½”, 3”, 7 ¼” and 8 ¾”

DSP – 1 3/8” x 5 1/8” (4); 4 1/8” x 5 1/8”

1^st House Layer (Back) – 4 1/8” x 5” (may need to trim some from the bottom)

2^nd House Layer (Middle) – 5 ¼” x 5”, score at ½” on each side, centre die between score lines

3^rd House Layer (Front) – this layer forms the bridge.  7 ¼” x 3 ¼”, centre the die.  (I used a piece cut to 11” x 3 ¼”, centred the die and then trimmed the ends after applying the bridge to the card)

I smudged some ink on the front layer (bridge) so I cut another piece of DSP to add to the front of the card.

Stampin' Supplies

Stamps - Home for the Holidays

Ink - Night of Navy, Versamark

Card Stock - Whisper White, Basic Black, Colour Theory DSP, Gold Foil, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper

Other - Black Embossing Powder, Hometown Greetings Thinlits, Card Front Builder Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of December 4

Crystal posted a sketch challenge for the Week of December 4 and asked that we make a festive card.

I had ordered the Foil Snowflakes and the Merry Little Christmas DSP from the Holiday catalogue and decided to use them on my card.  

Stampin' Supplies

Stamps - Home for the Holidays, Snowflake Sentiments

Ink - Smoky Slate, Basic Black

Card Stock - Whisper White, Basic Black, Merry Little Christmas DSP

Other - Foil Snowflake, Softly Falling Embossing Folder, Banner Punch, Layering Circles Framelits, Stitched Frames Framelits, Stampin' Dimensionals, Rhinestones

Paper Pumpkin

This card uses elements from both the October and November Paper Pumpkin kits.  The plaid background is from the October kit, the greeting and leaves (antlers) are from the November kit.

Rachel Tessman always has very creative alternate projects for the monthly Paper Pumpkin kits and November was no exception.  One of her alternates was to create a reindeer with elements from the kit.  You can see the video HERE.  I don't have the punch Rachel used but I did find some that would do the trick.

Stampin' Supplies

Stamps - Carols of Christmas, November 2017 Paper Pumpkin Kit

Ink - Memento Black, Garden Green and Cherry Cobbler Markers

Card Stock - Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Colour Theory DSP, Red Glimmer, October 2017 Paper Pumpkin Kit (plaid)

Other - 1/2" circle punch, Card Front Builder Dies, Leaf punch, googly eyes, Wink of Stella, Ornament Punch (retired), Gold Twine (retired), Mini Glue Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of November 20

The challenge this week was to create Christmas gift tags.  We were asked to make at least two different tags and to use current Stampin' Up! products.  When I made the tags I didn't realise that the Gold Baker's Twine that I used is retired.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Carols of Christmas, Merry Little Labels, Hearts Come Home
Ink - Memento Black, Versamark
Card Stock - Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Be Merry Designer Series Paper
Other - Every Day Label Punch, Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, Hometown Greetings Thinlits, Stampin' Dimensionals, Corner Rounder, Gold Embossing Powder, White Embossing Powder, Cherry Cobbler 1/4" Double-Stitched Ribbon, Garden Green 3/8" Satin Ribbon, 3/8" Metallic-Edge Ribbon (Gold and Silver), Gold Baker's Twine (retired)

Stampin' Up! Video - Trim Your Stocking

Stampin' Up! Video - Stamparatus

Stampin' Up! has developed a new stamp positioning tool and have called it the Stamparatus.  It's not available right away but they will be taking reservations for it starting today - see the three reservation windows in the chart below the video.

RESERVATION WINDOWS	AVAILABLE TO SHIP
November 16–30, 2017	Approx. February 1, 2018
December 5–30, 2017	Approx. March 19, 2018
January 15–30, 2018	Approx. April 15, 2018

The Stamparatus will be included in the 2018-2019 Catalogue.

The cost in Canada is $65.00

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of November 13

This week Crystal challenged us to create a card using one of the bundles in the Holiday catalogue and to include some kind of embossing.  I CASEd this card from the Holiday catalogue using the Hearts Come Home/Hometown Greetings bundle. 

The Santa and his sleigh is heat embossed and I used a bit of embossing paste on the lower panel of the card.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Hearts Come Home, October 2017 Paper Pumpkin
Ink - Memento Black, Versamark
Card Stock - Whisper White, Basic Black, Gold Foil Paper, Silver Glimmer Paper
Other - Hometown Greetings Edgelits, Card Front Builder Edgelits, Embossing Paste, Stampin' Dimensionals, Tombow Multipurpose Glue

Stampin' Up! Video - Holiday Catalogue 2017 - Year of Cheer Suite

Paper Pumpkin October 2017 and Dasher

I saw a card posted on a Facebook group I belong to and wanted to make it.  I first had to find the stamp (Dasher).  It has been retired for a few years now but it remains a favourite.  I hadn't used it in a while but as soon as I found it I made my card.  The original card was in portrait mode (4.25" x 5.5").  I decided to make mine in landscape mode (5.5" x 4.25").

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of November 6

The challenge for the week was to make a card using only two colours.  I saw a card on Pinterest that fit that - Real Red and Whisper White.  You can see it HERE.  I decided to CASE the card especially because it uses the Winter Wonder embossing folder.  A very quick and easy card - perfect for making multiples.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Hearts Come Home
Ink - Real Red
Card Stock - Thick Whisper White, Whisper White, Real Red
Other - Winter Wonder Textured Impressions Folder, Rhinestones

Never Forgotten

Alternate - Paper Pumpkin October 2017

I found that the card using the tree background was a bit plain so I added a die cut tree (the dies in the Card Front Builder dies coordinate perfectly with the October 2017 Paper Pumpkin kit).  I also added a couple of bows cut from Cherry Cobbler card stock using the Pretty Pines dies.

Paper Pumpkin October 2017 - Alternate 2

One of my favourite cards using the October Paper Pumpkin kit was posted by Dawn Olchefske.  She used one of the leftover circles from the shaker card panels to create a snowman!

These are my versions of Dawn's sample.

I didn't have the Holly Punch that Dawn used so I pulled out a retired die and cut the leaves out of Old Olive card stock.  The background paper is from a retired Designer Series Paper pack,

For this card I used a snowflake embellishment as well as a Cherry Cobbler enamel dot (both retired).  Rather than using holly leaves I flagged some small pieces of the plaid pattern for make the scarf ends.

The Soft Sky background was embossed with a snowflake (Winter Wonder Textured Embossing Folder).  I found the poinsettia embellishment in my stash of supplies.

Paper Pumpkin October 2017 - Alternate 1

I saw THIS alternate card using the October 2017 on Pinterest.  I didn't have the ribbon the originator used so I pulled out some long retired Stampin' Up! black grosgrain ribbon.  I have been having a lot of fun with the Hearts Come Home/Hometown Greetings bundle and was happy to find a card that used it along with the Paper Pumpkin kit.

Paper Pumpkin October 2017

The October Paper Pumpkin kit was fabulous - I can hardly wait for the November kit to arrive.  We have been told it will coordinate with October's kit.

These are the first two cards I made.  The pretty much follow the kit instructions except for the plaid background.  The kit included 10 full card bases using the plaid pattern.  I decided to cut the bases in half to increase the number of cards I could make.  I trimmed each half down to 4" x 5 1/4" and adhered that to to a thick Whisper White card base.

I'll be posting more cards using the October kit over the next few days.