Fall Favorites

Fall suddenly announced its arrival last week with some cold and blustery days, so I took some time yesterday to stamp with some of my fall favorites.  This card has them all (well, almost all)--Spice Cake DSP, Day of Gratitude, and Pursuit of Happiness.  I love the sentiments in that stamp set--you've already seen me use "live in sunshine," and more are coming this week.  It's a must-have all-purpose stamp set, and I just love that the sentiments are perfect for any occasion without being specific to a single one.

For this card, I used my 1" Circle punch to cut out a medallion from the Spice Cake DSP, and used this as a center on the Day of Gratitude medallion.  These are new favorite colors for me--I've never been a fan of More Mustard, but I can't get enough when it's paired with Pool Party.  Such a fresh and crisp combination for fall.

The finishing touch to this card is a strip of Soft Suede, which I punched with Dotted Ribbon punch.  Let me know what you think--what are you loving this fall?

Cheers!
~Melanie

Stamps: Day of Gratitude, Pursuit of Happiness
Ink: More Mustard, Soft Suede
Paper: Pool Party, More Mustard, Spice Cake DSP, Soft Suede
Extras: Dotted Ribbon punch, 1" Circle punch

Grateful for Fall Colors

It was pretty humid and muggy over the weekend, so I'm wishing fall and its cooler temperatures to arrive quickly.  This card's inspiration began with another great combo from the Color Coach: Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, and Old Olive.  This bright and warm colors just feel like fall, and remind me of a favorite sweater from long ago.

This is another one stamp set card, featuring Day of Gratitude.  I also used the Lace Ribbon punch for the accent piece.  TIP: The center "flower" of each circle fits the 3/4" circle punch perfectly, so I punched a second strip withe Lace Ribbon out of Old Olive paper, then used my 3/4" circle punch to pop out the center flowers.  Dotto is the perfect adhesive for putting these together, since there are so many empty spaces.

The finishing touch are some Basic Pearls for the center of each flower, and this card is ready to go.
Cheers!
~Melanie

Stamps: Day of Gratitude
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive
Extras: Lace Ribbon punch, 3/4" Circle punch, Basic Pearls

Holiday Gratitude

This is another card I received as a swap, but sadly I don't know who made it because there's no name on the back.  I want to share it with you though, because I think this is so clever--taking a fall/Thanksgiving stamp and remaking it for the holidays with those classic colors red and green.  Simple and easy!  It's inspired me to give this a try, and re-think a number of my stamp sets.  Stay tuned!

Today's bingo piece is....the present.  Hope you're getting close!  And stay tuned for holiday present ideas--I have a busy weekend ahead.

Cheers!
Melanie

Stamps: Day of Gratitude, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Real Red, Garden Green
Paper: Real Red, Garden Green, Whisper White, Shimmer White
Extras: Big Shot, Polka Dots embossing folder, Scallop Square die, Paper Snips, Basic Rhinestone

Fall Wedding Invite #3

This is the third of the fall wedding invitation samples I made up.  This is also a small format invitation, measuring 5.5 x 4.25.  The horizontal layout is different, but also poses some challenges for text layout.  I've been tackling those challenges though, because this is the layout the couple chose.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here.  These colors are Cajun Craze and Chocolate Chip, and Day of Gratitude is inked in Chocolate Chip as well.  I'll be making some alterations to this for the final invitation, but we're getting close.

Here's a look at the insert when it's pulled out of the pocket.  A great thing about these invitations is that text can go on both sides of the insert--we'll be including a map to the location on the back of the invitation text, so that it doesn't get lost and cuts down on inserts.  A perfect fit!

Don't forget all those great sales--let me know if you have any questions or would like me to place an order for you.

Cheers!

~Melanie

Stamps: Day of Gratitude

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Cajun Craze, Naturals Ivory

Weekend Wrapup

It was a busy weekend, stamping-wise.  Not only did I make this lovely card, but I got to share it with others because my good friend Kathy hosted a small, private class for some of her friends to learn the stamping basics.  Kathy was there at the very beginning, and took part in an entertaining session of Valentine making with Kiran and myself way back when--lots of laughter involved!  I'm glad that we still had lots of laughs on Sunday...and that our cards turned out a little bit nicer than those Valentines.  

I got the initial inspiration for this card from LeeAnn Greff's great double medallion card.  I thought layering the medallions is a brilliant idea!  But I wanted a bold palette for my card, so I decided to use the combination of Rose Red, Elegant Eggplant and Baja Breeze that I found in the Stampin' Up! Color Coach.  I love how these vibrant colors look together, so I'm sure I'll be using them again.

Though there's lots on this card, it took minimal stamping, thanks to background stamps.  While I love the medallion on medallion look, I was afraid that there was too much open Rose Red space, so I added En Francais in Elegant Eggplant over the Rose Red Medallion.  Perfect!  Next, I stamped the Day of Gratitude medallion in Versamark on the Elegant Eggplant, then heat embossed in gold.  PAUSE: If you've never heat embossed, you've got to try it!  I still ooh and aah when I see the transformation from dusty powder to a polished finish.  Everyone at Kathy's party loved this!

I needed a sentiment, and Thank You Kindly came to the rescue yet again.  The sentiment fits perfectly in the new Decorative Label punch from the Holiday Mini.  My final touch was just a few of the pearls.  I don't know if the card needed them, but I definitely needed to use them.  Fun, fun.

I was also making out a new wishlist this weekend, because the Occasions Mini catalog appeared on the demonstrator website last Friday.  Customers can't see the catalog until January, but a great demonstrator perk is getting both a sneak peek and the chance to order a month earlier than everyone else.  Plus a discount!  If you've ever thought about being a demonstrator, you should do it--send me an email and I'd be happy to answer all your questions.

Cheers!

~Melanie

Stamps: Medallion, En Francais, Day of Gratitude, Thank You Kindly

Ink: Rose Red, Elegant Eggplant, Versamark

Paper: Rose Red, Elegant Eggplant, Baja Breeze

Extras: Paper Snips, Embossing Buddy, Gold Embossing Powder, Embossing Trays, Heat Tool, pearls

A Beautiful Fall Challenge

Ah, fall.  Cool, crisp days.  Bright, cheery colors.  Warm, cozy sweaters.  I love this season!  That's why I just had to do this week's challenge over at Pals Paper Arts, PPA64.  The photo the design team chose for this week has all my favorite fall elements--and the expression on the model's face is just how I feel about this time of year.

For my card, I wanted to capture both her cozy sweater and the beautiful falling leaves in the background.  See how they glow?  I replicated the gold and yellow glow by using More Mustard, and then rolling the edges in Old Olive.  The brownish leaves were rolled in Cajun Craze instead of Old Olive.  Though there aren't any in the inspiration picture, bright red leaves are my favorite of the fall, so I got out Poppy Parade and stamped off once before putting it to the card.  Perfect, I thought.  To get the texture of the sweater, out came my Big Shot and the Square Lattice embossing folder.  I mounted this on So Saffron and then Old Olive

Since the image reminded me so much of fun fall days, I think I'll send this card to one of my college friends--we had many wonderful fall days together!  I got out a retired hostess set, Best Yet, for one of my favorite sentiments, but then didn't know what to stamp it on.  So I got my Big Shot out again (why did I put that away?) and the Leaves #2 die.  Note: This is the first die I ever bought, and it still is the one that gets the most use.  I just love it!  I cut a leaf from Poppy Parade, then used Stazon to stamp my sentiment and dimmensionals to pop the falling leaf.

Happy Fall!
~Melanie

Stamps: Day of Gratitude, Best Yet
Ink: More Mustard, Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Poppy Parade
Paper: Very Vanilla, So Saffron, Old Olive, Poppy Parade
Extras: Big Shot, Square Lattice embossing folder, Leaves #2 die, dimmensionals

Luminous Boxes

To follow up on my last post (sorry to leave you hanging for so long!), how about luminaries for gift boxes?  These are super easy to make...so easy, in fact, that I whipped up the fall one before work this morning...and using one of these for a gift box means that the box is also a decor piece for your home.  How lovely!

I first saw this project at the Regional Seminar in Baltimore, and immediately it went into my "to do" file.  All you need is cardstock, a paper trimmer, and some vellum, and then you can decorate it as desired.  For the fall luminary above, I used Early Espresso paper, which I cut into pieces 4" by 8-1/2" long, then scored at 1/2" and 4-1/2".  I used my Circle Scissors Plus (which I love, by the way) to cut circles out of each 4x4 square, and then cut my vellum just shy of 4x4" to fit.  I stamped the images from Day of Gratitude (available in the Holiday Mini) using More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Wild Wasabi, and Riding Hood Red.  TIP: Ink takes longer to dry on vellum, so let your pieces "rest" before adhering them.  Then I just adhered the vellum to my circle frames, and used the 1/2" flaps to glue the luminary together into a cube.

Since we'll be using Flurry Decor Elements at Jackie's party tomorrow, I wanted something that would coordinate with our project, so I came up with this winter/holiday themed luminary.  It's the first one I ever made, and I'm really happy with how it turned out!  I used a number of holiday sets, including Snow Swirled (tree and snowflakes), Northern Hearts (lovebirds and wreath) and Jolly Old Saint Nick (snowman).  My frame is Marina Mist, currently my favorite shade of blue, and my inks are Wild Wasabi, Cherry Cobbler, and Marina Mist.

I could use these for sleeves around holiday treats, or put bottoms in them so that they become actual boxes.  All I need now are candles--I'll be using the electric tealights that are popular now, so this project doesn't become a fire hazard--and they'll give a lovely glow.  This is a great project for any season, any table, and any light.  Wouldn't they make great centerpieces at a wedding?  It's all about the colors and stamps you choose.

Have fun, and make some luminous boxes of your own.

Cheers!

~Melanie

Fall Luminary

Stamps: Day of Gratitude

Ink: More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Riding Hood Red, Wild Wasabi

Paper: Vellum, Early Espresso

Extras: Circle Scissors Plus

Holiday Luminary

Stamps: Northern Hearts, Jolly Old Saint Nick, Snow Swirled

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi

Paper: Vellum, Marina Mist

Extras: Rhinestones