Happy Thanksgiving Weekend...

...from my flock to yours!

{Stamp Set Spotlight} Season of Joy: Day 4

"JOY!" is right! I have been meaning to write and publish this post for a few days now, but as luck would have it, I've been busy out with the kids, playing in the *snow*! It's a rare treat for us in the Pacific Northwest to get enough snow to sled and play in... With two snow days from school, this feels like a mini Christmas Vacation!

This card was made for another sketch challenge... I used my Color Coach for the color guidance; not a traditional combination of colors, but I really like it! We've got Elegant Eggplant, Baja Breeze and Rose Red at work here...An easy way to add oomph to a card is with a bit of texture. I used the Perfect Details Texturz Plate with my Big Shot on the Baja Breeze here...To achieve the two-tone stamping here, you can use the masked inking technique that I demonstrated in this post: http://www.studio-sara.com/2010/04/technique-video-masked-inking.html .

The sparkly brad comes from the Holiday Mini Catalog. It and four other colors can be found in the Glimmer Subtles pack.
Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Season of Joy

Papers: Elegant Eggplant, Rose Red, Baja Breeze, and Whisper White card stocks

Inks: Elegant Eggplant, Rose Red and Baja Breeze Classics

Accessories: Big Shot, Perfect Details Texturz Plate, Scallop Circle and Scallop Edge punches, Rose Red stitched ribbon (retired), Stampin' Dimensionals

Thank you for visiting!

{Stamp Set Spotlight} Season of Joy: Day 3

Love the swirls in this set and this card shows them off. With a little VersaMark, they add a lot of visual interest and they were a snap to make!

This card was created for a sketch challenge at 365 Cards:

I wanted it to look like we were seeing the Christmas tree through a window... The sentiment is also part of this set. I love the dots beneath the words; there's a lot you can do with rhinestones or paper piercing to add a little more oomph to the sentiment!

The tag is made using the Ticket Corner Punch (on River Rock). I've just tied two knots in the narrow grosgrain and glued them down with Mini Glue Dots.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Season of Joy

Papers: Cajun Craze, So Saffron, River Rock and Whisper White

Inks: Always Artichoke Classic and VersaMark

Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Whisper White Narrow Grosgrain, Mini Glue Dots

Thanks for the visit! Day Four of the Stamp Set Spotlight is coming soon!

{Stamp Set Spotlight} Season of Joy: Day 2

I'm sure that the botanically-minded readers will know that the bloom pictured here is a poinsettia. However, I'm willing to bet that I can use this stamp pretty freely all year long. I used it to make a winter-themed card.


I paired the Regal Rose with the Blushing Bride (which I'd run through the Big Shot, using the Petals-a-Plenty Textured Impressions folder). It's adhered to a sueded piece of Early Espresso.

The poinsettia is stamped on a tag from the Two Tags Bigz die, which comes with a ready-made slot to keep the "mini card" closed. Narrow Pretty in Pink grosgrain makes for a sweet knot.

I'm going to make a few more of these quick and easy cards for December birthdays and winter "Thank You" notes...

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Season of Joy

Papers: Regal Rose, Blushing Bride, Early Espresso and Whisper White card stocks

Inks: Regal Rose Classic (I "stamped off" to give it tonal distinction)

Accessories: Big Shot, Petals-a-Plenty Textured Impressions folder, Two Tags Bigz die, Pretty in Pink Narrow and Early Espresso Grosgrain Ribbon

{Stamp Set Spotlight} Season of Joy: Day 1

As I plan my cards this year, I have been trying out a couple of different ideas using the set, Season of Joy. I love its versatility; the swirls can be used all year long, as can the "hand stamped" stamp with the star. I love the flower and I'll get use out of the snowflake all winter long. I love the possibilities that abound with the block of sentiments, too (more about that later this week)!

For this card, I'm using a new color combination for me, courtesy of the fabulous (and indispensable) Color Coach. I've used Basic Grey, Baja Breeze and Cajun Craze. Three colors I never would have thought to combine, but I like what I got here!

I love how the Perfect Details Texturz Plate coordinates with the swirls from this set. I fed the Baja Breeze piece that backs the Christmas tree through my Big Shot and voila -- instant texture!

I also added a touch of glitter...

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Season of Joy

Papers: Basic Grey, Baja Breeze, Cajun Craze and Whisper White card stocks

Inks: Baja Breeze and Basic Grey Classics, VersaMark

Accessories: Big Shot, Perfect Details Texturz Plate, White Narrow Grosgrain Ribbon, Tag Punch, Oval Punch (#119855)

Thanks for the visit! I look forward to sharing more of my Stamp Set Spotlight this week...

Button, button, I've Got a Button!

Recently, while clearing out my stampin' stash, I discovered a slew (and I mean a SLEW) of samey buttons. Thought I'd combine some with a few fun buttons (Real Red, Chocolate Chip and Tempting Turquoise). They're all retired buttons, but there's a whole collection of new colors available on page 186 of the Idea Book and Catalog.

--To add some pop to the card, I thought I'd use my scoring blade on my paper trimmer and score borderlines for each button. Simple to do, and adds a fun and inexpensive detail to the card (you've already got a trimmer, right?!).

--To add further "punch," I used the Word Window Punch on a piece of Real Red (stamped first with Teeny Tiny Wishes, because that's so much easier than lining up the stamp on the punched image, remember!).

--I also used my Big Shot and the Perfect Details Texturz Plate to mimic the scoring of the Pumpkin Pie piece. I lined up my Early Espresso piece just so on the plate so that only the front half of the card body caught the texture, leaving me a smooth surface on which to write.

--Speaking of Early Espresso, I used little slivers as "thread" and gently tied knots in my buttons. With a gentle touch, this is an easy, fun and inexpensive way to add to your project. Linen Thread is what I used to tie off the other buttons. All of them are easily adhered with Mini Glue Dots.

--Finally, this color scheme is brought to you by the fabulous Color Coach! Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso, Real Red (and I added Tempting Turquoise)... Thank heavens for a little help!

Thank you for your visit today!

And the Winner Is...

Exciting news! One of the challenge blogs with which I participate awarded me with a "Spotlight Designer" award last week! The blog is 365 Cards and the challenge for which I won was for a card that was inspired by the 365 Cards blog itself.

Pam, the lovely host at 365 Cards, just updated the blog's look and what struck me most about it was the beautiful colors and how it seemed like a stained glass window. I've been wanting to pop the pieces out of my Lattice Die Cut and make it look like a stained glass window, so this was just the challenge for me!

The 365 Cards blog is also full of these lovely fall colors, so I knew this would be my 2010 Thanksgiving card.

Here's a video with some hints which I hope will streamline your process. My software updated (without my permission) and I'm still learning the new tricks... :)

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: More Mustard, Wild Wasabi, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso and Whisper White card stocks

Ink: Early Espresso Classic

Accessories: Big Shot, Lattice Bigz die, Two-Way Glue, Modern Label and Word Window punches, Early Espresso grosgrain ribbon

A New Look for November!

Ugh, finally! While I love that hummingbird card and the banner and buttons that were here, they were well overdue to be changed. This new card card is one that I'll post about later this week...

With My Digital Studio, I used Wild Wasabi and Early Espresso, which were two colors used to make the card (using the Lattice die cut for the Big Shot). I also used the Torn Edges stamp for the leaf border at the bottom of the banner. The flourish is from Baroque Motifs and I changed the opacity setting to 30 so that it was just barely visible.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a great day!

This Week in the Studio...

Whew! I hope you had a fun and safe Halloween! We had a lovely time celebrating with family (we get to eat a big dinner together first and then head out to Trick-or-Treat). We had a house full of grandparents, aunties, uncles and two especially darling nephews/cousins. Fun, fun, fun!

Here's my crew as they're ready to board the Hogwarts Express. We've got Harry in his Quidditch robes (see the snitch in his right hand?), Hedwig, his owl, and Hermione Granger. Go, Gryffindor!

Here's a sneak peek at the projects I'll be posting this week. I'm starting to plan for my Thanksgiving and Christmas cards -- this is a really fun part of preparing for the holidays.

I realize that in my last post, I said I'd show you my son's birthday invitations; I'll do that, but I'll also share his thank-you notes, as well. We'll take care of that later this week.

Hope your week has gotten off to a good start and I look forward to sharing the whole stories behind these projects, a new blog header and buttons and some videos...

Take care! Thanks for your visit!