Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

Happy Tuesday! It is my first day back at work after a long and relaxing winter break. Arielle chose some great colors for this week’s ColourQ Challenge, and I combined them with the sketch challenge from MDS Monday again. (I love combining these two!)

I used some pictures that we took while visiting my parents. They live right across the street from a park with an amazing sledding hill. We were so lucky to just walk out the door and go sledding!

I recolored all of the ribbon that you see. I started with the Riding Hood Red pleated ribbon, and changed it to Night of Navy, Basic Grey, and Crumb Cake so that it would match the challenge colors. I love how easy it is to recolor embellishments in My Digital Studio!

Happy New Year! I hope that 2013 brings you all that you wish for! For this week’s ColourQ Challenge,  Arielle has asked us to revisit the colors from the past year, and pick our favorite combo. Favorites are hard for me, but I picked CQC #139 from last May, because I thought it would go well with some wintery pictures.

I used these colors to make another scrapbook page from our recent trip back East to visit my parents. We had a TON of snow, which was super fun for Eve.

I hope that 2013 brings you health, happiness, and many pictures to put in your scrapbooks!

I had this cute snowman in a circle lying on my stamp table for a few months now. It was the start of a card that never quite got made. I finally figured out how to use it!

Stamps: Stylin’ Snowfolk
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Pumpkin Pie, Baja Breeze
Paper: Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Floral District Designer Series Paper, Polka Dot Parade Designer Series Paper
Other: 3″ Circle Die, Window Frames Framelits

Don’t you just love the glasses on the snowman? They are so cute!

Many of the challenge blogs are on hiatus for the holidays, but I was happy to see that Unscripted Sketches still has a new sketch posted this weekend.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the sketch was that it kind of looked like a sideways family tree! I love the snowman in the Stylin’ Snowfolk stamp set, but I haven’t used him very much. So I pulled him out for this card, since he fits perfectly in the large box.

Stamps: Stylin’ Snowfolk, Every Little Bit
Ink: Early Espresso, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Bashful Blue, Early Espresso, Whisper white, Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper PackOther: 1″ Square Punch

There is a snowflake stamp in Stylin’ Snowfolk, but I felt it was too small, so I used the one in Every Little Bit instead.

What a fun challenge from the Friday Mashup this week! Two of my favorite things — a clean and simple card with heat embossing! And it combines perfectly with the Paper Players challenge of a clean and simple project with snowflakes!  This card is very similar to my thank you notes from last year, but I stepped it up and heat embossed the Thank You. It isn’t much harder to do, and adds such a classy look to the cards! I need these cards to be flat enough for easy mailing, so I dotted the center of each snowflake with the Silver Sparkle Dazzling Details.

Stamps: Perfectly Penned
Ink: VersaMark
Paper: Marina Mist, Whisper White
Other: Northern Flurry Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Silver Sparkle Dazzling Details, Silver Embossing Powder

The photograph really doesn’t do this card justice. It is so clean and elegant in real life. Best of all, it is easy to mass produce!

What a week it has been! I finally had some down time to stamp, so I played along with the Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

I do love sketches with a small circle focal point like that. I used Stampin’ Up’s Bold Snowflake single stamp for this one. Isn’t it fantastic how it fits in the Blossom Punch?

Stamps: Bold Snowflake
Ink: Island Indigo
Paper: Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, Very Vanilla, Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Pack
Other: Blossom Punch, Crumb Cake 3/8″ Taffeta Ribbon, Basic Pearls

This could easily be used as any kind of winter card. I will most likely use it as a Thank You note. I like the flexibility that comes with not having a sentiment on it.

One of our Hanukkah gifts for Eve was a Club Penguin gift card. She loves to play, but we don’t want it as another recurring charge on our credit cards, so she usually spends her own money on the monthly membership fees by buying her own gift cards. I have been seeing these super cute twisted cards, which are just perfect for gift cards since they have pockets. (Kelly Gettelfinger has a GREAT video tutorial.) It was so fun and easy to make! Since it was for Club Penguin, I decorated the front with penguins, inspired by this card by Julie Davison.)

Stamps: Every Little Bit
Ink: Whisper White
Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie
Other: Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Owl Punch, Googly Eyes, Simply Scored

This is what the inside looks like. As you can see, the Club Penguin gift card is slightly over-sized. A regular gift card fits perfectly.

I will definitely be making more of these twisted cards. They are cute, quick, easy, and perfect for gift cards!

I hope you have been enjoying the Hanukkah Blog Hop so far! Yesterday was Day 5, where we all featured table setting ideas. Day 6 will be on Wednesday. In the meantime, I have a card made with this week’s great sketch from the Paper Players.

The large strip down the middle reminded me of a great card that I found on Pinterest by Paula Dobson. She used the elegant flower from Mixed Bunch as a snowflake, and then sponged ink over it. I tweaked her idea to fit the sketch.

Stamps: Mixed Bunch, Perfectly Penned
Ink: Island Indigo, Pool Party
Paper: Pool Party, Island Indigo, Glossy White, Silver Glimmer Paper
Other: Clear Embossing Powder, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Scallop Border Punch

I thought about adding some rhinestones in the middle of the snowflakes, but I wanted to keep the card flat for mailing. I hope that you will come back tomorrow for a great ColourQ challenge! See you then!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you were able to celebrate today with family and/or friends, however you chose. Since my mother-in-law is making Thanksgiving dinner, I was able to do a little stamping this morning. (I made the pumpkin pie yesterday.) I played along with this week’s great sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

When I saw this sketch, I knew that it would be just perfect for one of the new Single Stamps from Stampin’ Up, Bold Snowflake. It is designed to fit perfectly in the Blossom punch.

Stamps: Bold Snowflake
Ink: VersaMark
Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer Paper
Other: Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder, Blossom Punch, Basic Rhinestones, Silver Embossing Powder, Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon

I glued the Whisper White piece to the Pool Party base before running it through the Big Shot. If you are getting ready to do some Black Friday shopping, don’t forget that Stampin’ Up’s Online Extravaganza doesn’t end until Monday!

If you asked me what my two least favorite Stampin’ Up colors are and I wouldn’t even hesitate before saying Sahara Sand and Bravo Burgandy. I don’t even own ink pads in these colors! Now take a look at this week’s colors from Nacho Average Challenges:

They call it a challenge for a reason, so I decided to stretch myself and play along. Luckily, I do have a Bravo Burgandy Stampin’ Write Marker. I did use a little Pumpkin Pie too, though, because every snowman needs a carrot nose! (I hope that’s okay.)

Stamps: Stylin’ Snowfolk
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Bravo Burgandy, Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Bravo Burgandy, Regals Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack
Other: Whisper White 1/4″ Stitched Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon

I stamped the snowman on Whisper White, then cut him out and glued him on top of the Sahara Sand. I think it makes him pop a bit more.