2008 Christmas Cards

Colorful Classic Stripes

Here is my second Kristina Werner Color Inspiration Challenge card - I stayed with the juvenile theme and used the Wild About You stamp set. For the background I really wanted to ink up my new Classic Stripes background stamp.

I thought inking the stripes with my Stampin' Write Markers would create a really sharp background...I really like the way it turned out, but next time I need to color faster. By the time I got to the last stripe, the first one was almost too dry to "huff"! I was really tempted to add some ribbon to this card, but I had to restrain myself! I added the brads instead.

This card is going in to my "Just In Case" card stash. When a birthday sneaks up on me or when I need a thank you card and I don't have time to sit down and stamp one, I pull out my "Just In Case" stash!

Bugs & Kisses - Kristina Werner Style

Here is the card I worked on yesterday for Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge. This week's color combination was Ballet Blue, Ruby Red, So Saffron, and Certainly Celery. When I saw these colors together, I knew I wanted to make a juvenile card. Not only because this combo really lend itself to kid-friendly themes, but I also had to make a birthday card for the son of a good friend!

I decided to kill two birds with one stone and use this week's Splitcoast Sketch Challenge for the layout. Participating in all of these challenges really makes it easy to create a card. All I had to do was decide which stamp sets to use! (FYI - I used Bugs & Kisses and Polka Dot).

My New Recruit

Here is a picture of my newest recruit - this is baby Aubrey! Normally I try to stamp during her naptime, but she really didn't want to sleep this morning. So, off to the craft room we went! Aubrey sat in her little pink chair and watched me stamp for almost an hour - can you believe it?!? She was so patient - I got to stamp TWO cards for Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge (too bad I didn't finish them in time to actually submit them...maybe next week!). Anyway, you'll get to see the cards tomorrow, but I wanted you to see Aubrey today!

Upsy Daisy

When my September Stampin' Success magazine came in the mail last month, there was a great card on the cover that I knew I wanted to CASE. The original card was a tad bit smaller (4 1/2" x 4 1/2" I think) but I have this thing about cards filling up their envelopes. If I'm sending a card in a 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" envelope, I like for the card to be 5 1/4" x 5 1/4". Its a little weird, I know, but it bugs me to have a smaller card floating around in a big envelope. I wanted to keep the proportions of the original card, so instead of just making the Kiwi Kiss card base bigger, I mounted the main layer on to a 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" Whisper White card base.

The main flower image is from the Upsy Daisy stamp set. Since a number of my greetings/sentiments stamp sets were retired this Summer and I am slowly replacing them, I had to pull out an oldie-but-goodie for this card. Its from the Much Appreciated stamp set. This is my all time favorite thank you sentiment - I love the font! You can't really tell it from this picture, but instead of grosgrain ribbon I used Chocolate Chip poly-twill from the Occasions Mini Catalog. I was really disappointed that poly-twill didn't make it in to the big catalog. My fingers are crossed for the Spring-Summer edition!

This is probaby one of my favorite color combinations using the 2008-2009 In Colors. Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, and Chocolate Chip are FABULOUS together! I especially love this combo for Christmas cards. (NOTE: there are a couple of collections of Designer Series Paper that use this exact combo!) I think I'm completely addicted to Kiwi Kiss. You know, I thought it couldn't get any better than Certainly Celery. Then came Wild Wasabi and I fell in LOVE. I was heartbroken when it came time to say good-bye. Now there is Kiwi Kiss and I can't seem to put it down!!! I'm normally more drawn to blues, but now I'm goin' GREEN!

Rock Star Card Elements Kit

One of the products new to the Fall-Winter Idea Book and Catalog is the Card Elements Kit. Each kit features coordinating cardstock, patterned paper, die cut images, embellishments and instructions for two or three different cards. I love the idea of the kits so I added a two of them to my first catalog order.

For this card, I chose to break out the Rock Star kit. I have to admit, this kit uses a color combo that is definitely out of my comfort zone. I love Bashful Blue and Old Olive, but I rarely pull out the Brilliant Blue and More Mustard. But, since the patterned paper and the die cut images are already coordinated, it was a little easier to branch out!

I found this layout in a recent Stampin' Success magazine. It was actually used on a Christmas card, but I thought that it would work well with the Rock Star kit as well! For the circles I used my circle punches as well as my Coluzzle.

The "random" placement of the circles on the card front is actually anything BUT random. I guess its my mild case of OCD that kicked in, but it took me nearly 10 minutes to figure out how to place each circle!

In celebration of National Cardmaking Day (which was Oct 4), Stampin' Up! is running a special on all Card Elements and Simply Sent kits. Contact me if you're interested in trying out one of these kits!

Groovy or Gaudy

I'm still trying to get my creative mojo back, so I've decided to start participating in Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration challenges. The most recent color combination is Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Pumpkin Pie, and Very Vanilla. At first glance, this combo reminds me of Autumn. My instinct was to use a Fall-themed stamp set - maybe something with leaves or pumpkins. But then I thought that a Fall card would be too easy and I wanted to do something a bit more funky. I pulled out my Organic Outlines stamp set and went to work!

The card base is Kiwi Kiss with a border of scalloped Chocolate Chip. I really like the look of using two colors on the main image. First I inked the entire image with my Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad and then I went back and colored over the dots with my Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Marker. I stamped the image on to Very Vanilla cardstock and then matted it with Chocolate Chip. I added a strip of Pumpkin Pie cardstock with Chocolate Chip ribbon along the bottom of the card front to tie the whole look together.

I think I really like how this card turned out...but I'm not totally sure. Sometimes I look at it and love the groovy feel of the color combo and the funky stamp set. And other times it looks a bit gaudy to me. You decide - groovy or gaudy?