Sale-A-Bration 2013 Sneak Peek!!!

I LOVE Christmas and all the decorations that go with it! And I'll fully admit that my Christmas tree and decor go up around December 1st, and stay up till at LEAST the end of January (somewhat embarassingly, it's often until I have to take them down to decorate for my oldest's birthday, in late February!). But, despite that, I decided that my blog must move on at the pace of the average person, and while it may be Christmas in my home still, many others have moved on... and so, I've changed my blog presence to showcase the upcoming, and very exciting, Sale-A-Bration 2013!!! Everything here, aside from the Gumball Green is from the One Big Sale-a-bration 2013, My Digital Studio disc. Ask me how to earn this MDS content, or the real hands on papers, ribbons, buttons and stamps for FREE (among others, and an adorable little punch!)

And here are a few digital cards I whipped up to show you a bit more... again, this is all from the SAB disc, except for the Gumball Green, and some basic shape punches. The one new punch is in here though (it has a coordinating stamp on one of the cards), and one of the cards has digital punches based on paper embellishments available in the SAB.

 

Shabby Chic, Fabric and Bead Knot, and Washer Combo Necklaces

For my son's three teachers, using the 3D option of the JAI Just Add Christmas challenge, I thought of trying my hand at the Washer Necklaces I'd been seeing around, and then I thought about trying the Fabric/Bead Knot ones instead. Then I decided I should combine them! I decided, instead of sewing the fabric into a tube, I'd overlap it and let the ends fray a bit for a shabby chic look. (Okay, you got me, it may have had something to do with the fact that my sewing machine is years overdue for a tune up! Which is also why the ribbon is handstitched to the fabric ends.). I used Crystal Effects for pretty much everything here... gluing the paper to the washers, covering the paper, adhering the embellishments, sticking the top washer to the bottom so they would stay aligned properly and attaching the bail to the back. (How many words are there for gluing, lol?)

As it turned out, only one necklace ended up being Christmasy, as I wanted them to match each teacher's style, so I'll just enter that one, but I'll post the pictures of the other two here as well... first the bold and festive one. I discovered that when you put rhinestones under a thick layer of Crystal Effects, they lose their cut, and look like really pretty smooth stones with just as much bling. The DSP is from the mini Paper Stack in the Fall/Winter catty, but there is an equally, dare I say MORE awesome, pack in the Spring/Summer too...

 

No, it's not uneven, that's just how it was laying kind of crooked.

And the others:

The soft and pretty one with the Crochet Trim and some more of my favorite suite ever from last year's Sale-a-Bration (although, I am quite smitten with the Sale-a-Bration DSP coming up next month ;)...

And the bright and funky one, for an equally fun teacher, using our new Pop Tops to embellish it...

Perfectly Decorated Tree

I LOVE how this Be of Good Cheer paper looks just like a decorated tree when you cut it out with the Holiday Collection framelits! Especially when you add some Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details to the dots. Also, the cute new Scallop Rectangle Clearlit, which will be awesome for framing/cutting sentiments out!

I also used some leftovers from my last Faux Linen card we did at Club, and the emboss resist with the Natural Composition DSP. Scraps and extras can come in so handy when you're in a rush (like me right now). Like the Doily I used on this card, which has been sitting in a pile of scraps for ages, because some of the holes in one spot didn't cut through. But with the right layout, I covered those holes up with the Noel tag, and what was garbage is now a centerpiece!

Anyway, for this I used the Freshly Made Sketches challenge, and again, the SUO Glitter theme and JAI's Just Add Christmas...

 

And the sketch:

A Bright Noel

The blitz is finally continuing... this one is simple but bold, with a lot of shimmer (far more than it looks like in this picture). I love how the doily looks so Christmasy here, even without altering it. This is the Red Hot Stampers sketch challenge, Just Add Ink's Just Add Christmas theme, along with Stampin' Up! Only's Season of Glitter theme (this baby is Super Smooched!)...

Here's the sketch:

Another quick and simple...

Here's another spin on the one I did last week for the Unscripted Sketches challenge, this time with the ColourQ palette...

The challenges:

First sneak peeks! Spring and Sale-a-bration!

Here's a cheerful card I whipped up with the new Sunshine & Sprinkles Designer Series Paper and Cloudy Day Textured Impressions Embossing Folder from the Spring/Summer Catalogue. Also, the center of the tag is done with the Pretty Petites stamp set and the Petite Curly Label punch, both from the Sale-a-Bration flyer. This punch will also still be available after SAB, and has more stamps in the Catty that coordinate with it!!

I used the sketch challenge from Freshly Made Sketches, and the color challenge from The Color Throwdown...

Here comes the Christmas card Blitz!!!

If there's one thing I'm great at, it's procrastinating... so last night I finally made my list of people I need to make Christmas cards for, subtracted the ones I already had made for Club and random challenges, and got started on the rest. I'm trying to keep them simple and easy, which is a challenge for me as the designing and playing is my favorite part of paper crafting. I'm not a fan of assembly lines or making multiples of cards, so one way I'm trying to speed it up is to use the same sketch for 2 or 3 cards, but change the details for each card. I'm also trying to incorporate as much of my new Spring pre-order goodies as possible, while still keeping it Christmasy. If all goes well, I'll be posting a lot this week ;) So, here we go....

This one I tried out the new Honeycomb embossing folder from the Spring catty. I used the Pals Paper Arts color scheme, the Unscripted Sketches sketch and Crazy4Challenges theme of favorite holiday stamps...

And the inspirations...

Natural Compositions for Easy Emboss Resist

I'm starting to gear up for Christmas by creating a variety of fairly simple (but hopefully still impressive, easily and quickly reproducible Christmas cards. This is my first clean and simple one, and I decided to try emboss resist on the pre-embossed Natural Compositions Specialty paper... I think I like the effect, but I'm looking forward to trying it with different and darker colors for more POP! I am also loving this new single stamp, the Vintage Faceted buttons and Sweater Trim.

I used the Color Throwdown challenge, Freshly Made Sketches sketch, SU-Only's Challenge for a clean and simple Christmas card, and Hand Stamped Sentiment's snowflake theme...

Pretty Party

I started out with the Creating Pretty Cards sketch and the Stampin' Royals inspiration photo, with the full intention of making a boy's birthday card, with brightly patterned pennants and boy friendly elements.... I ended up having to give him a card from my pre-made stash instead, because as I got into the design for this card, each aspect made it more and more feminine, until the point where I just gave in and started making the flowers I was so itching to add. It may not be at all what I intended, but it's one of my favorite cards overall! Happy Accidents (which is also a fabulous movie I saw recently... you should watch it too!)

And here is the great sketch and the photo with endless elements of inspiration:

Grunge Rock

I've been challenged with multiple boy cards to make this month, and this one is perfect for my nephew's 8th birthday, if I do say so myself ;) After the DSP layer, my next favorite thing is the brad, that I "stamped" on Versamark, and added Tempting Turquoise embossing powder. I used 4 challenges here... the sketch was from Pals Paper Arts, the colours were from ColourQ, Just Add Ink's theme was music, and Anything Goes was stitching.

And the challenge pictures:

Sk8er Boi

No, this card doesn't have anything to do with Avril Lavigne, but that song title is just perfect for this card for a 9 year old boy. Now that I think about it though, maybe I should make and send her and Chad Kroeger a congratulations card, so if I ever run into her at our local grocery store near his Abbotsford home, I'll have a conversation starter ready ;) Anyway, enough about that...

Is it just me, or does it get harder and harder to make boy cards, once they pass the years of dinosaurs, trains and other classic little boy toys? Lately I've been feeling like all the cards I make for boys 7+ are either boring and plain, or the same as all the other ones... but I managed to break my boredom mold with this one, and was quite happy with it, and my nephew seemed to like it too!

I used the Color Throwdown challenge and Mojo Monday sketch for this one, some grungy looking embossing, and the denim ribbon, to "boy it up" a bit extra ;)

Here are the challenges:

Vellum in Flight

This Papillon Potpourri butterfly set and coordinating punch are one of my favorite sets ever, and even though I should have made another Christmas card for club, I could NOT wait till January to play with these! I thought the detailed butterfly would look beautiful on vellum, but when I tried it out, it just didn't quite pop enough. So I gave it a try on Whisper White, and it popped all right, but it didn't have any softness. But then I decided to see what the vellum image on top of the cardstock image might look like... AMAZING!!! Bright, and clear, but with a softness and a very realistic 3D look to it. I will definitely be trying this again! I also used a hostess set (which I realized too late was not current), with a  circus bear on the tag. I just inked the border and sentiment with a marker, leaving the left space empty for a nice seam-binding bow. I used Sunny Challenges & Creations sketch for this and Anything Goes again.

The sketch:

Faux silk and modified Peek-a-Boo!

I love the super easy faux silk technique and thought it would add some extra interest to a fairly basic club card. To do this technique, all you do is crumple up a sheet of plain tissue paper, carefully spread it back out, glue stick the entire cardstock surface, and then smoosh it on. You can add stamping behind it too, but I still with a clean look for this card.

I used the Pals Paper Arts color challenge, the iSpy Sketches sketch challenge, and the Anything Goes challenge. For the oval in the sketch, I decided to swap out to a square, and use a Peek-a-Boo die frame with the door sliced off.

And the challenges:

Crayon Blizzard

I figured the new crayon emboss resist technique I used a few weeks ago would be a GREAT way to make a snowy background for a Christmas card! I used the SnowBurst folder from last years Holiday Mini, but it would be beautiful with the current Northern Flurries folder too. I used the iSpy Sketches challenge for this one, which was a very clean and simple sketch.

And the sketch:

Orchard Season!

We've had our first trip to the local Apple Barn already, and it got me in the mood to use my favorite new line from the Holiday Catalogue. The Orchard Harvest DSP is an all time favorite of mine, particularly the super versatile and homey ginghams, plaids and crosstitching sides. But since I was using the equally awesome Perfectly Preserved bundle, I used the sides shown on this card. For this card I used the Sunny Challenges & Creations sketch challenge, the Crazy 4 Challenges "leaves" theme and the Our Creative Corner inspiration picture.

And the challenges:

Framelits galore!

I LOVE FRAMELITS!!! Sorry for shouting, but it can't be understated... they are so versatile, affordable and take up next to no storage space at all. Of course dies and punches will always have their place at my craft table, I love the addition of this family to the Stampin' Up! line, SO much! I used 4 Framelits on this card, and it just makes things look so clean and professional. This was a card for a friend's 30th birthday, and I used the sketch challenge at Create with Connie and Mary, the colour challenge at The Play Date Cafe and the technique challenge for crayon embossing/resist at Hand Stamped Sentiments. This was a fun new technique that I might teach my club this month.

And the challenges:

Club Challenge Card

And here's the more challenging card we did this month, with the sketch from Craft Project Central and the Early Christmas challenge at Anything Goes. I LOVE the new Core'dinations papers, and all the awesome Framelit bundles!!! I'm posting both the with and without flash pics, so you can really see the properties of the paper, and the awesome new buttons.

And the sketch:

Club Card Basic

I love that I have a club full of girls who've been doing Stampin' Up! for awhile already, so I don't have to stick with JUST simple basic cards, but with time constraints and sharing tools, I still can't go overboard, so I've decided every month, we'll do one challenging card with a new technique or more steps involved, and one basic card that's not too time consuming. Here is the basic we did this month, using the sketch challenge from Clean&Simple.

And the sketch: