Wonderful Wonderfall / SSC #268 / My Challenge #34

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope you had a good weekend. I spent all day Saturday stamping, first at a team meeting then in a techniques class. I'm getting new ideas for you, cuz I'm a good friend like that. Didn't get anything stamped to post here but whatcha gonna do? Watched a little Olympics both days and in between laundry and yard-work and what-not around the house yesterday, I finally got two cards made. Woo-Hoo! Not as many as I had hoped to get done, but hey I'll take whatever I can get! I hope your weekend was productive. Oh and I found out my daughter's getting married. Married? Yes, Married. Geesh! HAHAHAHAHA! Everytime I say that it takes me to 16 Candles with Jake and Long Duck Dong. ROFL!!! Are you laughing too? I hope so! Oh and I have about 2 weeks to get the invites done. Guess what you'll be seeing soon on here? :)

OK...slightly less traumatic than the whole getting married is today's card. I used our new leaves set WonderFall and our new Autumn Accents, Leaves, Die. I have to say I really wish they had done this as a framelet and not a die. Getting the stamped image cut out with the die was easy enough, getting the stamped image in the right spot, not so much. Let's just say I was saying some not very nice things while I was making this card last night.

Here it is-

Thank You card featuring
WonderFall Stamp Set, Day of Gratitude Stamp Set
and Autumn Accents Bigz Die

This is a fairly simple card and I think it would be especially good as a masculine card. I started with a base of Soft Suede. I layered on a piece of Crumb Cake and our new embossed DSP, Natural Composition Specialty. If you haven't checked out this DSP yet I highly recommend it. It has beautiful embossed patterns on one side and a slightly textured feel to the other side. I sponged both pieces with Crumb Cake ink, wrapped a length of Linen thread around them three times and knotted it on the back. This layer was then secured to the base with Tombow. Next came the leaves....oh, the beautiful, pain in my **** leaves. I ended up, after multiple times of not getting the stamped image centered even with the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, (it's harder to use when you don't have an edge to use) coming "close enough" on the two larger images and just fussy cutting around to make it as even as possible. Very frustrating. When I figure out the best way to use this combo, and I will, I'll let you know. I used Tombow to secure the lower 3 leaves under my linen thread and Dimensionals to secure the Always Artichoke leave and the acorn. I also stamped/cut the acorn twice, once in Crumb Cake and once in Soft Suede. I then cut just the top off on the Soft Suede one and ran it through my Big Shot with my Lattice E.F. I used a Naturals Button and some more linen thread for a little accent. I threaded it through, knotted it and then tied a little bow. This was adhered with a Mini-Glue Dot. For the banner, I stamped a sentiment from Day of Gratitude in Soft Suede on a scrap of Very Vanilla,  flagged the end free-hand, and then sponged all the edges in Crumb Cake.

Here's the sketch I used for my inspiration-

I did something I rarely ever do. I totally changed an element. I generally incorporate all of the elements in a sketch and have only recently started changing the shape of the element. For today's card I omitted the framelet shape completely and used my cut-outs to create kind of a free-form shape there instead. I have to say, I'm pretty excited by how it turned out.

Here's the inside-

Inside of Thank You Card featuring
Day of Gratitude and WonderFall Stamp Sets

Pretty Clean & Simple here. I stamped my sentiment in Soft Suede and my leave in Always Artichoke.  A little sponging to the edges and my card was done. No glitter, no bling, nada. What do you think? 

That's all I have for you today.Pretty simple for one of my cards, but I'm trying to make some of them a little easier for my beginners to recreate.

I hope you liked today's card. I love hearing from you, so if you liked it or have questions or comments I'd love to hear from you. I read all of my questions and they make my day! If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's card, I've put the buttons here on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by my little corner of the world today. You are very appreciated! I hope to see you back here real soon for more cards and projects. Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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End of the Week Technique # 9 - Wine Bottle Gift Tags

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Hey y'all! I'm back! Yes, it's kinda scary, but not quite as bad as when little Carol Anne said it in Poltergeist. :o) *tee-hee* Took you back didn't I?

I was up late Wednesday night working on some birthday gifts and Hostess gifts for Thanksgiving day and this is what I came up with. I saw these a few weeks back and thought they were just an Amazing idea and knew they would be great not only for my Thanksgiving Hostess gifts, but for anytime. In fact, we're doing them at my Last Minute Gifts Class in 2 weeks. Have you signed up yet? There's still room. I showed these to people yesterday, and they were a huge hit. So quick and easy and so versatile too. I used a wine bottle, but you could use Champagne, or Sparkling Cider would be a great alternative too.

I got this idea from Andrea Walford and her Makeover Monday Challenge. It's a work from your own stash challenge where she takes something she she sees in a mainstream publication or online and then does her version of it with whatever she has in her studio and then challenges everyone to do their version with whatever they have. It's very Quick and Easy. I was so surprised how easy it was and how many ideas I had to adapt it even more. I've put the video here so you don't have to go elsewhere to view it.

So, I got out my Fall Colors and went to work. My initial thought was about stamping leaves and cutting them out and attaching them and maybe using my lattice folder somehow, but then I decided to try a different embossing folder. I'm so glad I did. It made things go so much quicker and the results were just stunning! What do you think?

I used Cajun Craze and More Mustard cardstock for the Gift Tag. I used the Elegant Lines Embossing Folder and put the cardstock in it across the folder instead of lengthwise. I then moved it up and realigned it with the edge and ran it through again. I used my Scalloped Border Punch to create a pretty edge on the bottom cardstock, and then SNAIL'ed the two layers together. (How many of you are gasping right now that I used SNAIL instead of Tombow? LOL!) I inked the sentiment from Day of Gratitude which is one of my All-Time Favorite sets in Soft Suede and stamped it on a Scrap of Very Vanilla and punched it out with my Designer Label Punch and framed it with another scrap of More Mustard. I popped this up with a couple of dimensionals added a few pearls of various sizes on the tag and the label and my tag was complete.

This is really a Great gift idea. For as little as $5-6, (depending on the cost of your beverage) you've got a gift you're not only proud to give but your Host/ess is happy to recieve. How much nicer is this than sticking the bottle in a bag? You could make multiples of these tags in advance and have them ready to go, just like you have cards ready to go. Trust me that's what I'm going to do.

What do you think? I hope you like it! Better yet, I hope you give it a try soon, and send me pics to show me what you've done. The possibilities are endless. If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

Well, that's it for today. No, really. No third post will be forthcoming. ;-) I hope you have a great day and a fabulous weekend filled with family, friends, fun and of course plenty of time for stamping and designing. If you need to get supplies to make this project or others like it, don't forget you can shop in my ONLINE STORE and avoid the crowds.

Project Recipe
Cardstock-Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Very Vanilla
Ink- Soft Suede
Stamps- Day of Gratitude
Big Shot, Elegant Lines Embossing Folder
Accessories- Clear Block C, Pearls, Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Designer Laber Punch, 1 3/4 Circle Punch, SNAIL adhesive

Don't forget our Stampin Extravaganza too. It's only here for a Limited Time!




Online Extravaganza, Stampin' Up!'s annual sale to kick off the holiday shopping season, will begin 
Monday, November 21, 2011, and run through Wednesday, November 30, 2011.
You may place orders either through my Online Store or by e-mailing me directly at angelshannona@gmail.com

You'll want to be sure to log in to my Online Store beginning  
Monday, November 21, to take advantage of great savings!

-FREE digital downloads valued at $40 when you buy My Digital Studio Express,
-60 percent off select Designer Fabrics,
-30 percent off an exclusive ribbon bundle!

Till next time,
Be Safe,
Shan

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End of the Week Technique #1 Z Fold Technique

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Hey everyone! I've decided to challenge myself to more than just a card or two a week and the post here that goes with it. I've been looking for and trying different card folds, techniques, and craft designs and guess what... there are soooo many! Or at least there seems like so many now, once I start this I hope I don't find myself saying "What in the world am I going to do next?!?!" So each week, around Thursday or Friday, as time allows, I will pick something new to try and showcase.

So, for week #1 I'm showing a card I did for a swap at last weeks team meeting. I did a very simple Z-fold card that I CASE'd (Copy And Share Everything) from France Martin's site Stamp & Scrap with Frenchie. I've mentioned her before. I think she's Amazing! She usually does videos twice a week and has really cute cards and ideas. If you haven't checked her out yet, you can click HERE, (but not 'till you're done reading my post, silly!) BTW, if you have questions about anything you see on her site, she checks her e-mail and replies back really quick. I e-mailed her one day and got a reply back within hours. Pretty Cool!

Anyways... I am loving the Z-fold card lately because you can make it with different score measurements and get a totally different card. A bonus here- I get to use my Simply Scored Tool. So much easier than trying to use my Paper Cutter! Plus, it's just a little different from your everyday card, and I think that's a nice surprise. Here's my card.

Sorry about the poor lighting, I'm working on that. That's what happens when all you have is your BlackBerry. LOL. The base is River Rock, really such a versatile color. I think it's going in with Crumb Cake as one of my favorite Neutrals.  I then stamped the large leaf image from the Day of Gratitude stamp set, which is one of my favorites, along the top fold and and in the bottom right hand corner with River Rock ink for a subtle tone-on-tone accent.
For the center medallion I used Pool Party and Pear Pizazz, both In-Colors, and Very Vanilla . These are all colors from the New Spice Cake DSP, not what I traditionally think of Fall colors, but I really like the combination. Using my Stampin Write Markers I colored directly onto the stamp with More Mustard, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip, (a technique of it's own, maybe this won't be so hard after all, HA!) and then stamped the flowery image from the Day of Gratitude stamp set, in the center square of Very Vanilla. (I didn't even use my Stamp-a-ma-jig, I free-handed them all! I know right? I can hear the collective Gasps going up from all over)  For a little something unexpected, instead of mounting the squares as squares on a rectangle, I turned them all North-South and placed them on the score line. I then used Dimensionals to raise it up off the card.
To finish it off, I used some of our Vintage Lace Ribbon tied to left of the card. I used about 15 inches I think. You get so much ribbon on our spools. I made 8 of these cards and was wondering if I would have enough to do them all, I still have LOTS! I'm a don't use a lot of ribbon kind of girl, so I usually make Faux Bows, or only mount them to the front, but you have to wrap this one all the way around so it looks pretty when you open the card. You'll see below. I felt it needed just a little something else, so I took my new Dazzling Details, glitter glue, and topped off each of the flowers. You can see it a little in the picture. The bottle has a really narrow tip and you can put that stuff just about anywhere! So much easier than trying to use the 2way glue pen.

When you open your card you see the pretty lace ribbon on the inside and two different areas to write on. I really like how the center piece stands out at this angle. If you wanted to, you could add a piece of Very Vanilla to the right panel as well. Totally up to you, change it up like I did and make it your own.
Some of the items I used for today's card are:



Day of Gratitude $18.95






Dazzling Details $2.50







Simply Scored $29.95

As always, you can purchase everything you need to make your own version of this card, and everything else Stampin' Up has to offer at my online store HERE, and Mr. UPS will happily bring it straight to your door.

Well, I hope you liked my card and the first edition of End of the Week Technique. I hope it inspires you to step out of your comfort zone and try something new or re-try something you haven't used in a while. Let me know what you think, and I would love to see any cards to you make! If you liked it, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

See you soon.

Be Safe,

Shan

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