2008 November » fresh & fun

Winter Cottage

Nov 172008

Here is the last, and most time intensive card, from my Stamp a Stack last Saturday. I think this might be my Christmas card to send to my family. We painted our door on our house in San Antonio red. I loved that red door, and the house…and living in that glorious city (sigh….can you tell I miss Texas?).

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Real Red cardstock folded in half. It’s followed by a 4″ square of Chocolate Chip and a 3 3/4″ square of the Ski Slope Designer Paper.

A 3″ x 3 3/4″ strip was scalloped on one of the long ends with the Scallop Edge Punch and adhered to the Ski Slope Designer Paper. 5/8″ wide Red Grosgrain ribbon was tied around the Chocolate/Designer Paper layers, before those were adhered to the card base.

The house from the beautiful To You & Yours set was stamped in Chocolate Chip Craft ink on a 2″ x 2 3/4″ piece of Shimmery White cardstock. After it dried it was colored with Aqua Painter and Classic inks (Old Olive, Real Red and Baja Breeze). It was layered on a 1/4″ bigger piece of Kiwi Kiss cardstock and the edges were paper pierced. The layers were attached to the card base with dimensionals.

The sentiment from the same set was stamped in Chocolate Chip classic ink on Shimmery White cardstock and punched out with the 1″ circle punch. A 1/2″ Kiwi Kiss circle was taped to the top, overhanging a little. The overhang was cut off and a 1/4″ Chocolate Circle was added on top of the Kiwi. Then the triple circle was taped to a 1 1/4″ Baja Breeze circle. I underlined the sentiment with a paper pierced row and pierced a hole in the center of the Chocolate circle to tie the sentiment to the ribbon with Gold Cord. A dimensional keeps the sentiment in place.

Last I added Dazzling Diamond Glitter with Liquid Glue. I know it’s retired (what was SU thinking?), but it’s my favorite glue to add Glitter to images. It dries pretty quickly and dries raised, giving your image a 3D aspect. Plus….it really holds that Glitter in place. I don’t like loose glitter.

On the inside of the card I first taped a 4″ square of Whisper White cardstock.

A 1 1/2″ x 4″ piece of Chocolate Chip had one edge punched with the Scallop Edge Punch. It was adhered to the lower part of the white square. A 1″ x 4″ strip of Ski Slope Designer paper over the scalloped layer finishes the inside off.

Holiday Lineup

Stampin' Up! 27 Responses »

Nov 162008

Here is another card we made yesterday. It was simple, quick, and I think pretty cute.

The card base is a 6″ square of textured Kiwi Kiss cardstock folded in half. The 1 1/2″ x 6″ designer paper strip is from the Frosty Day paper pack. 5/8″ wide Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon was tied around it.

The image from Holiday Lineup was stamped in Black Stazon on a 2″ x 3 3/4″ piece of Whisper White cardstock. It was layered on a 1/4″ bigger piece of Chocolate chip cardstock and the edges were paper pierced.

Next I stamped the right edge of the image again on a scrap of Whisper White cardstock and punched out with the 1 1/4″ circle punch. The partly image was colored with Aqua Painter and classic inks and layered on a 1 3/8″ Tangerine Tango circle punch-out.

The sentiment is from the stamp set Short & Sweet. It was stamped with Black Stazon on Whisper White cardstock, punched out with the small oval punch and layered on a 1″ Tangerine Tango circle. The sentiment was underlined with a paper pierced row and taped underneath the ribbon knot.

I let everyone pick the image they used for this card. Here are my other two samples.

Beautiful Deer

Big Shot, Nestabilities, Stampin' Up! 18 Responses »

Nov 152008

Remember the card I made for my A2 card box? Well….this is basically the same. I LOVE the shape of the Top Note Die. I think everyone should own one.

I started out by folding a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Riding Hood Red cardstock in half and cutting it with the Top Note Die. The Baroque Background was stamped over it with Riding Hood Red and the edges were sponged.

Next I stamped the snowflake from Winter Post in Whisper White on a Kraft label that I had cut with my new Nestabilities. I stamped the reindeer from the same stamp set in Chocolate Chip ink on the bottom left of that label. I used classic ink for my sample, but I think I will let my customers stamp it in Chocolate Chip craft ink inkstead.The label was adhered to the next size Label cut out and sponged in Chocolate Chip.

5/8″ wide Olive Grosgrain Ribbon was tied around the card at the fold. The sentiment is from the Cute & Curly stamp set. It was stamped first in Kiwi Kiss and punched out with the Curly Label Punch. It was stamped again in Chocolate Chip and the label was cut out and adhered over the Kiwi (I think I will prestamp the chocolate labels to make it easier).

RAK from Dawn

RAK 6 Responses »

Nov 152008

Check out the adorable card Dawn Easton sent me.

She is such a sweet heart. I am sure you already all know her. If not, run on over to her blog. Dawn makes the cutest cards.

BIG EXCITING NEWS!!!!!!!!!

Promotions 11 Responses »

Nov 142008

I haven’t gotten to stamp yet, but I just can’t wait any longer to tell you guys the exciting news.

My good friends Cambria Turnbow and Joy Kennedy started their own stamp line!!!!!!! Can I have a big SHUT UP!!!!

I am so proud of them. They are such sweet ladies. I hope you get a chance to go and check out their new site and their darling new stamps.

If you decide you want to order something, Joy created a special code for all my readers. Go shop and at the checkout, enter the code freshandfun. How cool is that? I told you they are the sweetest!!!!

Hugs and smiles

Skating softly

Challenge, Stampin' Up! 15 Responses »

Nov 142008

Boy oh boy…am I running behind. I did finish making samples and cutting for tomorrow’s SAS, but I didn’t have a chance to make a sample for today’s sketch challenge. Well, this morning, I knew it had to be fast. I have a doctor’s appointment and need to go grocery shopping(yuck) today after I bring Rebecca to school. Jenn will laugh when she reads this. Me and quick usually don’t go together.

I love the stamp set Winter Post and the designer paper Ski Slope. So I got those out and started playing. I knew I wanted to use the skating pair, they are so sweet, and that I wanted to keep the colors soft.

When in doubt, I always pick my trusted Chocolate Chip. Today was no different. I started with a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock folded in half.

Next is a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Shimmery White (don’t fret. I cut the inner part out so I wouldn’t waste it, since it doesn’t show) followed by a 3 3/4″ x 5″ piece of Ski Slope Designer Paper.

I stamped the skaters from Winter Post in Black Stazon on Shimmery White, cut the cardstock down to 1 5/8″ x 2 1/8″ and colored them in with Aqua Painter and Classic inks (Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Going Gray (shadow) and Baja Breeze). I stamped the girl skater on Pink Pirouette Pattern Designer paper, cut out her sweater and taped it on top of the image.

The Chocolate Chip cardstock layer measures 2 1/2″ x 3 1/4″ and was layered with a 1/4″ smaller piece of Pink Pirouette Pattern Designer Paper, the same paper that I used for the sweater. A 1″ x 2″ strip of Shimmery White was taped to serve as the middle strip and Satin Kiwi Ribbonwas tried around it. The skater couple was layered on a 3/8″ bigger piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock and adhered over the bigger rectangle with dimensionals.

I adhered the skater layers to my Shimmery/Designer paper layers and added Antique Brass Jumbo Eyelets with Ice Circle Rhinestones to the left hand side. The sentiment is from the stamp set To You and Yours. It was stamped in Black Stazon on Shimmery White, punched out with the 1″ circle punch and layered on a 1 1/4″ circle. On top I added a 1/2″ Chocolate Chip circle. I let it hang off a bit and cut the overhanging part off. The 1/4″ circle is punched out of the Pink Pirouette designer paper and a Antique Brass brad finishes the tag off. The tag, as well as the Shimmery/Designer paper layers were attached with dimensionals.

The inside of the card is really simple. I added a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Shimmery White, topped with a 1 1/2″ x 4″ piece of Pink Pirouette Designer paperand a 3/8″ x 4″ piece of Kiwi Kiss cardstock.

Now that I see it posted, I think I will add the Postcard stamp from the Winter Post stamp set in the center of the designer paper in Chocolate Chip.

I hope to post again this afternoon with some wonderful and exciting news about some friends of mine!!!!

Weekend Sketch Challenge #66

weekend sketch challenge 99 Responses »

Nov 142008

To participate in the challenge and be entered in the raffle, make a card with this layout and upload it either to your blog, or to an online gallery.

If you upload your card on SCS, put WSC66 (NO SPACE INBETWEEN WSC AND 66) in the keyword section. That way we can look at all of them at once!

Post a link to your card to this blog entry as a comment. Please add your entry# to it.

I will determine the winner with Random.org on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. CST.

To see samples made with this sketch now, check out the blogs of

Cambria Turnbow

Charmaine Ikach

Jenn Balcer

Lori Craig

MaryJo Albright

Sharon Harnist

Have fun creating! I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

SCS submissions

Lovely as a Tree Christmas

Stampin' Up! 53 Responses »

Nov 132008

Julie Buhler created a beautiful card last year with this set. I thought it would make a great stamp a stack card. Here is my version of it.

I started out with a 3 3/4″ x 5″ piece of Kraft cardstock. I created a mask out of a 3 3/4″ x 5″ piece of scrap paper by cutting the center out of it, leaving 3/4″ border all around. I layed that over my Kraft paper and sponged White Craft ink in the center. The big pine tree from the stamp set Lovely as a Tree was stamped three times in white to the left of the sponged rectangle. I think I will change that part though. I will either use Snowflakes or the tree row in the background instead, so the tree doesn’t have to be cleaned in between steps.

Next the tree was inked up with Handsome Hunter Classic ink. I added Chocolate Chip over the stem with my marker and stamped it on the right hand side of the rectangle. The sentiment is from All Holidays and is stamped in Chocolate Chip.

The Kraft cardstock was layered on a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock. I paper pierced a border around my white rectangle and added part of a 1″ Chocolate Chip circle to the upper left hand side. In it’s center a Pewter Jumbo Eyelet was set and White Taffeta Ribbon tied through it. Loast these layers were attached to the Handsome Hunter card base with dimensionals.

Again…very simple. Too plain?

Later added, Revised Version:

It’s basically the same as the first post, I just added more white sponging to my rectangle and used the tree row in Whisper White on top of the sponging.

Since Handsome Hunter is so dark, I added a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Kraft cardstock on the inside. Without reinking, I stamped the tree row on the bottom of the cardstock.