Twelve Days of Christmas (in July!) Day 3

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend with lots of stampin' time!  Here is another festive project that uses items from the new Annual Catalogue.  Have a look:

Twelve Days of Christmas in July #3 featuring the Jolly Bingo Bits stamp set and Be of Good Cheer DSP

Isn't that fun?  I was playing around with my Jolly Bingo Bits stamp set and discovered I could spell "JOY" using the images in the set.  I let out a little giggle and set to work designing this card.  Once again, all items are currently available in the Annual Catalogue, so you can get shopping right away!

Jolly Bingo Bits
Be of Good Cheer DSP (126896)
Gumball Green Card Stock (126840)
Cherry Cobbler Card Stock (119685)
Very Vanilla Card Stock (101650)
Gumball Green Stitched Satin Ribbon (126848)
Cherry Cobbler Ink Pad (126966)
Gumball Green Ink Pad (126861)
1" Circle Punch (119868)
1-1/4" Circle Punch (119861)
Perfect Polka Dots TIEF (117335)

I have to say I'm having an awful lot of fun making Christmas projects right now!  It is somehow easier to design without the pressure of GETTING IT DONE in a hurry, as I always am during the holiday season.  I hope you're enjoying this series...tomorrow I'll be back with a sneak peek from the upcoming Holiday Catalogue!

Almost forgot!  I need to show you the latest project from Craft Project Central!  This one is designed by Sharon Burkert.  Check it out:

Serene Silhouettes Masculine Card set designed by Sharon Burkert

What a great set to have on-hand for the men in your life!  I don't know about you, but I always find myself needing a masculine card just when I have NO time to make one!  This set would be perfect to make ahead of time so that the next time I need a quick card I have one all ready to go.  To access the tutorial for this project head over to Craft Project Central and subscribe to July.  The stop by Sharon's blog and let her know how much you appreciate her work.

A Quickie...

Tonight's post will be brief...I am waaaaay too tired to make much sense at the moment, but I wanted to get something up for you all.  This is a card I designed for my Christmas club this month.  This is our last meeting...we've been doing Christmas cards since August(!)...and I wanted to do something kind of fun and playful.  This is what I came up with:

Holiday card using Jolly Bingo Bits stamp set and Frostwood Lodge DSP.

I have had the Jolly Bingo Bits set since last year and have to say it has really been sadly neglected.  I decided to actually put together the stamps (yes, there were many that had yet to be mounted!!) and use 'em!  This card is the result.  The bingo images are popped up with dimensionals and the background is embossed with the square lattice folder.  I drew my colour scheme from the DSP...very warm and traditional.  I chose the scalloped ribbon because I liked the way the scallops worked with the postage stamp punch mats for each image.  The little jingle bells and bakers twine bow add a bit of fun and whimsy.  I sure hope my club members like it...punching all those little postage stamps for their kits took a while!!  Later this week I'll try to post the other projects we're doing...in the meantime happy stamping...and don't forget to check out the deals in the Online Extravaganza!!

Drum Roll, Please...

...and the winner is:  Karen Gilman!!  Congratulations, Karen!  Please send me an email with your shipping info and I will get your goodies in the mail this week!

A HUGE thank you to all who helped me celebrate my Bloggaversary and took the time to leave kind comments.  It has been a crazy year...can't wait to see what the next year holds! 

Now for some stamping!  One of the things I most enjoy about participating in online challenges is the way they jump-start my mojo.  The week up north was a frustrating one and I had kind of been putting off going down to prep for my classes this week and next because I was worried it would again be an exercise in mediocrity.  Thankfully, some of my favourite challenge sites had sketch challenges this week!  They sure did get the creative juices flowing!!  The card I'm going to show you is based on one of the two sketches over at Stamping 411 this week.  Here is the simple sketch...

Since I am in full Christmas mode these days, it was only natural that I do a holiday card (yes, I know, its only August!).  So, here is my version:

Holiday card for SSC217 using the Jolly Bingo Bits and Contempo Christmas sets

Inside sentiment from the Many Merry Messages set

 This sketch was so CAS I had to try my best to reflect that in my card.  Since those of you who follow my blog know what a hard time I have with CAS, I hope you're impressed! This card actually came together quite easily and will likely make my fall line-up.  The poinsettia image is from Jolly Bingo Bits (so handy, that set!)  I also used some of the silver glimmer paper from the upcoming Holiday Mini...so sparkly and no mess!  The sentiment is from Contempo Christmas and is heat embossed in silver.

On another note, there is still time to register for my Christmas Club.  The first class is this Thursday, so don't delay!  I need to confirm attendance by Wednesday so that I can be sure I have enough supplies on hand.  For more information click on the Upcoming Events tab at the top of this page and then call to register today!

Pop can card

Today's card was a bit of an experiment for me.  I have often wondered what would happen if I took the aluminum from a flattened pop can and ran it through my Big Shot with an embossing folder.  I finally gave it a try and was relatively pleased with the result...see what you think...

Focal image created by running a pop can through the Big Shot with the Petals a Plenty embossing folder.

Close up of the focal image.  The sentiment is from the Perfect Punches set.

Inside of pop can card.  The poinsettia image from Jolly Bingo Bits matches the embossing folder perfectly!

Using a pop can to create a card poses a few challenges.  First of all, how the heck do you cut the can apart?  Well, believe it or not, I just used my craft knife.  The metal in pop cans is VERY thin and doesn't take much to cut.  I just sawed it apart using my knife and my knife actually ended up being sharper as a result!
The second issue is one that you can't fix...the edges of the metal are SHARP!!  Use caution when handling it...blood doesn't mix well with ink. 
The third issue is that it is nearly impossible to get a straight edge on the metal.  You can't cut it with a regular paper trimmer.  I used scissors but even then, the edges were less than perfect.  My solution was to mat the metal with a frame to hide the rough edges.  I used the Scalloped oval frame and trimmed the sheet of metal to hide behind it. 
The final issue surprised me a little:  the metal really got stuck in the embossing folder.  I had to pry it off with a fair bit of difficulty after running it through the Big Shot.  The next time I try this I think I won't use any tabs on my platform...hopefully that will make it a bit easier to get the metal out of the folder.
So now on to the rest of the card...its really simple, actually.  After I embossed the metal and die cut my frame I glued the two together using Tombow (you need something strong here!).  While that was drying I embossed a Night of Navy card base using the Perfect Polka Dots folder.  The sentiment was stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed using silver embossing powder.  I punched it out using my 1 3/4"scalloped circle punch and then layered it on a 2" Real Red circle.  I set eyelets in either end of my oval frame using my crop-a-dile and threaded a length of Whisper White satin ribbon through them.  I tied a pretty bow on the left side.  I ran a layer of sticky strip underneath the ribbon to keep it laying flat.  I then adhered my sentiment using dimensionals.  The entire focal image was adhered the card base using sticky strip...again, stronger is better.
The inside of the card is pretty self-explanatory, but I did want to mention a discovery I made.  The poinsettia image from the Jolly Bingo Bits stamp set in the Holiday Mini matches the Petals A Plenty embossing folder perfectly!  I was mighty pleased to discover this...but I am easily amused...you may not be quite as excited about it as I was.  By the way, if you're thinking of purchasing this set, it will carry over into the new catalogue next summer...just thought I'd throw that out there...

Missing My Mojo...

Ever have days when nothing you do seems to work?  When try as you might to create something spectacular, everything ends up simply mediocre?  This whole weekend has been that way for me.  I've been trying all weekend to come up with projects for my Gift Giving class in December (creative ways to package and present gifts for the holidays) .  I started out with lots of ideas in my head but when I tried to make them reality they just didn't measure up to what I had envisioned.  I HATE when this happens!  I feel like I wasted a whole weekend and a bunch of supplies creating things that are just ok.  So, unfortunately, all I have to post tonight is something that I'm not thrilled with and that may not even make my class line-up.  Anyhow...here goes...

Gift box made using my Box #2 die and my Big Shot

 

For the focal image I used the snowman from the Jolly Bingo Bits stamp set and added Dazzling Diamonds glitter snow using my glue pen

I have had the Box #2 die for a while but just unwrapped it today.  I used Baja Breeze textured cardstock and ran it through the Big Shot with the die.  It is a really easy box to assemble and is a cute size for small gifts or stocking stuffers.  (In our family we wrap everything...even stocking stuffers, so I see myself using a lot of these little boxes!)  I wrapped a strip of the striped Candy Cane DSP around the box and adhered it with sticky strip.  The little snowman is from the Jolly Bingo Bits set...a great set with just about every Christmas-themed image you could imagine.  The images are perfectly sized for tags and, even better, this set will carry-over to the new main catalogue next July!  I stamped the snowman in Basic Black ink and then coloured his scarf using my Real Red marker.  I drew in snow with my glue pen and sprinkled some Dazzling Diamonds glitter over it.  It doesn't look very glittery in the photo but it does actually shine...just like freshly fallen snow.  On the lid I wrapped some Real red striped grosgrain ribbon (retired) around the flap and secured it with sticky strip.  I punched out a little tag and matted it on Real Red cardstock.  I added an eyelet using my Crop-a-dile and a bit of silver elastic cord (also retired) to tie it to the ribbon.  This little box should have actually been  pretty quick and easy to make, but I just wasn't feeling my mojo today and I struggled to get it together.  Looking at this now, I think I should have stamped the snowman in a darker shade of blue rather than in black...I think that is the main thing that is bugging me about this project.  The black is just too dark a colour, given the rest of the colour scheme.

Anyhow...there's so-so project #1.  I am going to try to get some sleep tonight and try again tomorrow to come up with something a little more exciting!