Christmas

One Night in Bethlehem…

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…the start was humble.

This is a lines from a parody of the 1980’s classic “One Night in Bangkok.”  It was remade to tell the story of Christmas.  And, there is so much truth to this line.  Our Lord Jesus left the Glory of His Father to be born of a woman in a meek and lowly manger to save the people of the world from an eternity in hell.

So, that being said, Stampin’ Up has provided the world with another gorgeous set celebrating that humble beginning!

The Night of Bethlehem Bundle (146043/146044) features the Night in Bethlehem Stamp Set (144809/145282) and the Bethlehem Edgelit Dies (144676).  With this bundle, you can make some of the most beautiful Christmas cards that not only send greetings, but celebrate the arrival of a King!

This clean and simple slider card allows Joseph to led Mary to the stable where Christ will be born.

Layering the village pieces can provide shadowing for a great visual effect.

Then, there is a little sponging.  I sponged the background then added the village and the star cut from the new Champagne Foil Sheets (144748).

That’s really all I have for you today.  Short and to the point… much like me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time… keep it simple, Stampers!

🙂  Joanne

 

 

Merry Little Christmas

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Hope you all enjoyed the 2017 Holiday Catalog Product Spotlights that I blogged about last week.  That was great fun.  All the gals came up with unique takes on each of the products.

And, I’ll let you in on a little secret…

I bought the Detailed Gate just for that blog hop and now I absolutely love it!  So, watch for a whole week of projects featuring that die!

Today, I wanted to show you how a simple piece of Designer Series Paper is really all it takes to create an easy yet spectacular card!

When I first glanced through the catalog, I fell in love with the Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper (DSP to those in the know!).

 

These first two designs were inspired by the work of Lori Pinto.

This card  shows three different designs of the paper.  I just love that plaid.  I had to have this paper just because of that plaid!  I created the layers based on the largest square stitched shape.  I then added the sentiment and a little Black Rhinestone for some bling.

This card is basically the same as the card above.. but so very different.  This is a prime example of “same but different,”  wouldn’t you say!

And, here is the last one for the day…

This design was CASE’d from Mary Fish.  She did a treat bag that looked like this.  And, since it’s been awhile, I have done a project sheet for this one 🙂

Proj Sheet – Season of Cheer

You’re welcome!  LOL  Here is a glance at the items used to create this simple card!

 

Product List

Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$8.00

Old Olive 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$8.00

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$9.00

Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper

$11.00

Watercolor Christmas Wood-Mount Stamp Set

$25.00

Watercolor Christmas Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$18.00

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

$7.00

Basic Black 3/8" Shimmer Ribbon

$7.00

Black Rhinestone Jewels

$5.00

2" Circle Punch

$18.00

Paper Snips Scissors

$10.00

 

What projects are you thinking of with this Designer Series Paper?  Post them on my facebook page…  the link is on the right hand side —>

Until next time… keep it simple, Stampers!

🙂  Joanne

 

Product Spotlight: Painted Harvest

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Welcome to the Holiday Catalog Product Spotlight Blog Hop!  I am excited to have hopping through these pages to see the versatility of the products available in the 2017 Holiday Catalog.   This Blog Hop features bloggers from all over the world.

The first product we would like to direct your attention to is the PAINTED HARVEST Photopolymer Stamp Set (144783).  It is really a quite spectacular stamp set that has more uses than you would think upon first glance.

Here is what I have crafted using this set.

I honestly cannot tell you who created this set.  It was a “make-n-take” that we did at a recent demonstrator event.  Don’t you just love that acetate box!  It can hold 5 embellished cards and envelopes.

Here is an close up of each of the cards as well as the box.  The sentiments come from Painted Harvest as well as Merry Little Labels.  They also show off that beautiful designer series paper!

This next card was designed by Carol Payne.  It was part of our “shoebox swap” we did at our last team meeting.  It’s one of the great things about being part of a team of demonstrators.  Stampin’ together is such fun!

What is simple about this card is that there is not punching or cutting.  It is just some masking and stamping.

And, here’s this one…

For this card, I used some post-it notes to mask off Very Vanilla paper so that only half of the flower would be stamped and voila… cone flowers!  I did not stamp off any of the center (cone) but made sure to put the pointy side up…

The background was double embossed.  First, I put some VersMark ink on the Layered Leaves Dynamic Textured Impression Embossing Folder (143704) and ran it thru the Big Shot.  I then used copper embossing powder and set it with the heat tool.  It adds a bit of rustic fun!

Did you ever think that flower could make a gorgeous wreath?  I layered different greens to create this effect.  On the large flower, I used Lemon Lime Twist then Wild Wasabi.  Then, I used Garden green to stamp the smaller flower. I used the dots image and stamped in Real Red… Then I quickly put clear embossing powder and set it to create a little shine to the berries.  I did the same with the sentiment that came from the Snowflake Sentiment stamp set (144817/144820).

And finally…

Now, I am not the first one to see these cute little hedgehogs in the stamps… but oh my… are they not the cutest!  I stamped them in Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, and Early Espresso.  I wonder what other things are hidden in this set, don’t you?

Oh – those leaves were also stamped then punched using the new Leaf Punch (144667).  You can save money by buying the punch and the stamp set together as a bundle – the PAINTED HARVEST bundle (146021),

Well, thanks for stopping by!

Now, hop on over to Sara Rayner or hop back to Janet Wakeland

Until next time… Keep it simple, Stampers!

🙂  Joanne

The One Left Behind

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Lemme ask you this.

Have you ever made a card that you just didn’t love.  Something was wrong with it, but you couldn’t pin-point it?

That’s exactly what I ran into while making my cards for the Stamper’s Dozen Blog Hop on Monday.  I will admit… I actually screwed up something on one of the cards so I thought I would re-do it.  Then I liked the screw up better.  Still, I couldn’t let all that other work go to waste so I tried to create another card using it… but it just didn’t have the same feel about it.

Well, here it is.

Now, of course… if you don’t know what I did wrong… you won’t know what this picture is really all about.  It’s the foil… but I don’t mind this foil here… I just didn’t like it as much.  But, I still feel like there is something missing or too much added or something.  Maybe it’s the brightness of the copper in the back with is drawing my attention away?  I don’t know.

What say you?  What is wrong with the cards… what would you have done differently?

Oh – and that mistake I made… When I ran the foil through the Big Shot in the Embossing Folder, I forgot to do any distressing to it first.  (FYI – this technique is called “tarnished metal”.)  So, I set it aside and tried again.  But then, I didn’t think the embossing was deep enough, so I ran the second one through again… but the wrong way! I DEbossed instead of EMbossed.  Ugh!  But, I kept working with it and didn’t seem like it would work.  I went back to the other silver foil snowflake to see if I could reclaim it.  It didn’t turn out bad.  I just liked the other one better.  Couldn’t let it just go to waste so I tried to create a card with it… but my brain wasn’t functioning and I got the card above!

Now… it’s not a terrible card.  At least, I don’t think it is.  But, it’s just not hitting that “great” card spot in my soul.

Does a card have to hit you like that for you to consider it worthy?  What do you do with it if it doesn’t?  This one will probably be my nephew’s Christmas card this year! You better not tell  him this was a cast-off!

Well… Until next time… keep it simple, Stampers!

🙂  Joanne

Stampers Dozen Blog Hop – August Holiday Catalog Sneak Peek

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Hello and welcome to my first hop here with the Stamper’s Dozen Blog Hoppers!  I am so excited and honored to be a part of this group!  This month we are featuring our favorite sets from the NEW 2017 HOLIDAY CATALOG.

I have chosen the Snowflake Sentiments Bundle (146052/146053) featuring the Snowflakes Sentiments Stamp Set (144817/14420) and the Swirly Snowflakes Thinlits Dies (144678).  When you get your catalog, you can find the set on page 35!

This first card is simple yet elegant!

For this card, I used Silver Foil to cut the band of snowflakes using the Thinlit.  I used silver embossing for the sentiment and other snowflakes.  A little silver edged ribbon and some rhinestones is all it too to add that touch of sophistication to this very easy card!

The next card has a completely different feel! It was inspired by Robin Messenheimer.

Who says that you have to use red and green on a Christmas card?  This one uses two of the new In Colors…  Berry Burst and Lemon Lime Twist.  They play really well together on this modern, non-traditional card.  And, BONUS…  I made a project sheet for this one!

Proj Sheet – Christmas with a Twist

And, my last card with the set…

Now this one is very masculine.  I just love that “TARNISHED FOIL” effect.  Don’t you?  I actually used the NEW Winter Wonderland Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (144686) to de-boss the snowflake image in the silver foil.  Add some black ink and embossing powders and you get this great effect.  That little snowflak in the corner comes for the same Thinlit used on the top card.. I just cut it away for the bunch.  Wouldn’t the man in your life love to get this card this Christmas?  (PS – the sentiment came from the NEW Christmas in the Making stamp set (144841/144845).)

I hope you enjoyed these projects.

Remember, you are currently visiting Joanne Cantrell…

Now, hop on over to Patty Chenail

Or hop back to Debbie Naylor

Until next month… keep it  simple, Stampers!

🙂  Joanne