Woo Hoo, lots to share and blog candy giveaway!

I did LOTS of Christmas cards and am giving away blog candy next week. But first, let me share a card I did for the Splitcoaststampers Limited supplies challenge called "'Leaf' it to me, baby!" which was a challenge to do a card using leaf images. Part 2 of the challenge is to do a pink card in honor of breast cancer awareness month. So here is my card:

I used a variety of scrap papers and ribbons. Additionally I used some thin fibrous pink paper and my Sizzix leaf die cut. I sponged some cocoa ink around the edges to age it a little. I also distressed the rectangle and circle edges and sponged a little brown on the circle, too. I thought this could be an encouraging card for a friend.

So I was checking out Taylor's blog and found a great challenge this week so I decided to integrate it into some Christmas cards. The picture above is specifically for her sketch. I also did several variations just for variety. These Christmas cards are quite contemporary. I stopped by the local scrapbook store and found these cool papers, by Luxe and BoBunny that coordinate well. I also used natural white cardstock, Stampin' Up's Build-A-Brad, some ribbons and buttons and hemp twine. I really enjoyed making these cards. I made 6 in all, and only used [less than] 2 sheets of the designer papers. I switched up some of the sketch to do the other 4 cards- check them out:

So what do you think about these cards? Too contemporary for Christmas? Well, some people on my Christmas list are more contemporary than others. I personally LOVE them. I thought these papers were the coolest for Christmas. So I decided I would give some away as blog candy!

One of each sheet, plus 2 sheets of natural white cardstock, 6 build-a-brads, and ribbons. Use them as you please! Just leave a comment on this blog entry and you're eligible to win. On Thursday, October 30th, I'll use the random number generator online to pick a winner! This is a special thanks to my blog readers!

More cool calendars and 5 Easy Christmas Cards

Ok, so the calendars I did over the weekend, and I'm just getting around to sharing. But last night I was so excited to knock out 5, yes 5, Christmas cards- and still went to bed around 10! I used scraps from last year's designer series papers for 4 of them, so I feel good about less $ spending, too! When I was planning my original calendar project (see previous post), I bought the mini clips from Stampin' Up. Well, they should have been called "teeny tiny" clips because there was no way I was going to fit 12 sheets of cardstock (one for each month) in a clip. So this random thought of putting them to use came to me last night. And they almost make my punched circles look like little ornaments.

Below, I used Christ is Born again, this time for the center of the flower I added some adhesive-backed jewels. The letters were stamped in Versamark, then red, for shadowing, and then I used my Sakura Glaze pen to accent the swooping of the script. The background of the green card is stamped in Celery using the Paisley background, also a Stampin' Up stamp. This card is much nicer in person. I just couldn't get a good pic of it. The scalloped red cardstock came from an old SU card kit. I have a bunch of them.

Here are the 2 calendars I did last weekend, one for my ECU fans out there! Go Pirates! These are a little different than the other calendars. This time I did a sturdy "pocket" and stamped images at the tops of the pages. I have a bunch of pirate stamps that I have used for making other pirate memorabilia in the past, such as marble coasters and such. Oh, and by the way, all of my calendars are magnetic so far! These 2 have a strip of magnet tape on the back. The others that I shared have a magnet on the back of the clip.

Here is the other, more grunge looking. I used old scrap cardstock that I LOVE. I stamped the year on a leftover piece (the back side of the paisley print) and clipped it on with one of those teeny tiny clips I mentioned earlier. Each month has a different inspirational message.

I'm nearing 4000 visits to my blog, so in the excitement of the milestone, I'll be having some blog candy soon. Keep your peepers peeled for details!

Cards and Calendars for Christmas!

I made 3 of these Christmas Cards, using the textured cardstock. I stamped the flower in vanilla and sprayed Pearl Ex hair spray for the background. I used gold cardstock and heat embossed the sentiment in gold. I polished it off with some vanilla ribbon, and voila! 3 more cards done! (But lots more to go...)

I have completed 8 calendars for Christmas already! I love this idea from Stampin' Up's catalog, just have some kinks to work out before I make more. I did mine a bit differently, I formatted mine to fit 4 on a sheet of cardstock (quarter sheet size), so that I could save 1 piece of paper per person,which in large quantities can save me quite a bit of money. I really do love the long skinny version, but price is a factor this day and age.

I used 2 different sets of Stampin' Up designer series paper- Urban Garden and Green Tea, and combined my favorites from the two to make my calendars.

January February and March are shown here. January was as simple as cutting my paper and sticking it on. February I used Serene Sunflower with Old Olive ink and got a 2 tone monochromatic look by stamping off some of the ink to get lighter shades some of the time. I cut out flowers from the designer series paper for March. In person those flowers are incredibly dimensional!

For April, again cut and paste, this time simple stripes. May I used my new set Inspired by Nature and the new In Color 'Baja Breeze'. Another cut and paste for June, and half the year is done.




July was just a random thought- I think I should re-think. I used random cardstock stickers that I had from old simply scrappin and other kits, just pulled out things that matched in color. So all of the July pages for each of the 8 calendars are unique. For August I pulled out Best Blossom which I unsuccessfully tried to sell. Must've been meant to be.

October and December, cut and paste, November was stamped using Autumn Leaf Prints and Going Gray ink. I have to tell you, this appears to be a quick project, but it was quite time consuming. I think if/when I do more it will take less time, but I probably put a good 10 hours into this project. I will do it again, but make some changes for next time.