Belle Papier {pretty paper}

Time for another holiday design! Slowly I’m working on getting my Christmas cards done. I know a lot of people design one card and mass produce but I just have fun designing each one unique. For this design, I was having fun with my new Flourishes Peace & O Christmas Tree stamp sets. Don’t you just love that script? The tree branches is the Christmas tree from the O Christmas Tree stamped around the edges of the River Rock cardstock.

Homey Holidays

For this design, I wanted to try out a warm, homey look…something a little different. I had this darling new Little Boys paper pack from Cosmo Cricket…love it! It is so sweet and beautiful! I love how flexible it is and wanted to try it out and see if I could make it work for a Christmas design. Do you ever do that? Take paper designed for one theme and make it work for another? I loved taking the Basic Grey Blush last year and using it for Christmas. It was gorgeous! And so, that brings me to the challenge part of this entry. Want to take me up on it?

The Challenge: Take some patterned paper that was meant for a particular theme and use it for a totally different one. See my examples above. So use Christmas paper for another theme, Baby themed paper for an everyday card…whatever. You can comment back on this entry if you wish with your link so that we can check out your ideas.

For this design, I used the sentiment as the focal point of my design. I stamped it onto Very Vanilla Cardstock and then sponged and distressd the edges. I layered it onto the darling plaid Cosmo Cricket Little Boys collection patterned paper and then added some hand stitching to the ends with linen thread. I knew I wanted a homey look to this design and what is more “homespun” looking that hand stitching?!

Quick Tip: When hand stitching paper, you must first pierce the paper with a sharp object before stitching or you will pucker the paper. I use my Stampin Up Mat pack to help pierce my paper to easily get great even stitches.

For the main card base, I used a 5.25″ square card of bordering blue and then layered it with my stamped and sponged river rock cardstock. I then used the blue stripe paper from the same paper pack and zig zagged it to the card front. You know how I love to use my sewing machine!

After adhering both parts of the design together, it still needed a little something. I tucked a little punched river rock tag behind the sentiment panel and stapled a red ribbon to it for a festive touch. The word Joy from the Flourished Words stamp set was then stamped onto the little tag.

To balance out my design, I added two more embellishments to give it more of a subtle Christmas look. A little strip of red rhinestones from A Muse Art Stamps adds some bling and highlights the sentiment. The blue snowflake brad at the top adds a wintery look as well.

So…what do you think? Did little boy paper work OK into a subtle Christmas design? I like it. Hope the recipient does too!

Supply List:

Cardstock: River Rock, Very Vanilla, Bordering Blue - Stampin Up

Patterned Paper: Little Boys 8×8 paper pack - Cosmo Cricket

Stamps: Flourished Words, Peace, O Christmas Tree - Flourishes

Ink: Black, Close to Cocoa - Stampin Up

Other: sewing machine, snowflake brad - Creative Impressions, rhinestones - A Muse Art Stamps, tag punch & Ribbon & linen thread- Stampin up, stapler

Wohoo!! The new Lizzie Anne Designs stamp sets are released today! Eight new stamp sets and eight new Simply Singles! I love them all so much I can’t even pick a favorite! Below is a design that uses the new Ooh La La stamp set and I’ve also created designs in the past week with High Hellos. Both are super cute! I’ve also been stalking my mailbox for the rest of them…maybe they will arrive today?! One can always hope!

Ooh La La Merci - An Ivory And Charcoal Design

This Stampin Up paper, Charbon has got to be one of my new faves! I just love this rich and unique ivory and charcoal Grey look. It has a very elegant look and it really reminds me an on old Paris style. I had to try it out with the new Ooh La La stamp set to see how it would work. With the addition of some silver embellishments…I’m really pleased with the results. This is one of those cards where you really don’t need a lot of stamping..the images combined with the right paper are all you need. And so…I’m going to be few of words today. I just know you can figure this one out. And I know…you really need to get checking out that new stamp line! Have fun! While you are there…check out the new sketch book as well. Tricia has been super busy updating it with lots of great new designs from the design team!

Happy Monday! And oh…I’ll be back later with another design.

Supply List:

Cardstock: Very Vanilla

Patterned Paper: Charbon - SU

Stamps: Ooh La La - Lizzie Anne Designs

Ink: Black, Basic Grey - SU

Other: ornate eyelets - unknown, brad - Making Memories, ribbon - May Arts

Some exciting news from Flourishes…they have released three new stamp sets and have their September promotion now on-line! Due to a few glitches I don’t’ have any samples made yet so you’ll have to make sure you take a peek on their web-site! I can’t wait to get designing with them! This month’s special will help you get a head start on your holiday card designs. Super idea! I always leave it to the last minute! Not a good plan for sure! There are two new holiday releases and one floral set! Keep checking back…I’ll have some samples in the next couple days.

I did create this simple baby card design last week using the Flourished Words stamp set. I just love the elegance of the script font of this set. So beautiful and so easy to use!

Make sure you scroll down…this is my second post of the day. This morning we had another Take Two challenge…you should check out the other designs! The girls’ cards are stunning!

Baby Best Wishes

For this design, I was inspired by this darling Making Memories clear transparencies package I bought at Michael’s last week. Sooo pretty! They just make me want to design baby cards and layouts! Actually I purchased them because some of the tags etc. would work for other designs as well. For this card, I built the color combo and design around the transparency tag. The baby sentiment was stamped directly onto it with Black Stazon.

Quick Tip: When stamping on transparencies, use Stazon ink and careful stamp your image. A straight up and down motion will help prevent smearing. Press firmly but not too hard, your stamp may slide on the slick surface.

I love a monochromatic look and seeing as I also had lots of celery goodies, I decided to go with a white and celery design. The Lily Kate paper worked perfectly for this and I layered it on top of my celery card base after matting with white. A white center panel, keeps the design clean and makes the transparency tag easy to read. another fun Making Memories purchase is my Vintage Hip Textured Tape. I love this tape! So fun and easy to use…it is like a ribbon that is self adhesive. I applied two strips of it and then zig zagged my edges…you know how I love to add a touch of stitching!

The tag was then tied with a May Arts ribbon and adhered with a glue dot under the ribbon. The Best Wishes sentiment was the final touch. I simply stamped it onto the white layer and my design was done! No images on this design but I think it is kind of cute the way it is. What do you think?

And something I thought I’d share…for those of you who like card sketches…here is the sketch for this layout…

Supply List:

Cardstock: Whisper White, Certainly Celery - SU

Patterned Paper: Lily Kate - Basic Grey

Stamps: Flourished Words, Cake Decorating 101 (dots on card base) - Flourishes

Ink: certainly celery, Black Stazon - SU

Other: Sewing machine, ribbon - May Arts, transparency tag & Vintage Hip textured tape- Making Memories, glue dot - SU