October

 One of my favorite months is almost gone, and I haven't done many cards for fall this month.  So I went looking back at my blog for past posts at this time of year.  I found one that featured this Quilted Stencil from Simon Says Stamp, and thought I'd use it once again, with fall colors.  When it came time to find a sentiment, I chose one from a Hello Bluebird Pumpkin Time set.

supplies: white and Audrey Blue cardstock, Simon Says Stamp Quilted stencil, Audrey Blue ink, distress inks in mustard seed, ripe persimmon, and barn door, Sunny Studios Frilly Frames Eyelet Lace die, Hello Bluebird Pumpkin Time sentiment, rectangle and square dies

The temperatures are dipping, so putting out some quilts to cuddle in is something I do about now.  They would pair nicely with a re-read of Anne of Green Gables, wouldn't they?

I'll be entering this into the October Stencil Fun Challenge and the Just Us Girls Challenge, thanks to Linda's suggestion.  I love stencils!

Hope you're enjoying the fall, too; thanks for stopping by today!

Snowy Woodland

Here's a card I made with one of Simon's STAMPtember collaborations - with Gina K. Designs.  I love woodland scenes, and there were just too many cute possibilities in this silhouette set that I couldn't let it pass me by.  It's taken me awhile to get to play with it, but here's my first card using just a few of the elements.

At my parents' home, my Dad had planted several fruit trees in their large lawn and at dusk most of the year, deer would come to snack on whatever fruit they could find.  It's a special memory for me.  Those trees are still there, and continue to produce, so this little scene still plays out each year.

white cardstock, Gina K. Designs (retired) Stay Cozy stamps, VersaFine Onyx Black ink, clear embossing powder, lucky clover, wilted violet, salty ocean, and blueprint sketch distress oxide inks, splattered white paint, Spellbinders Perfect Touch die, snowflakes from my stash

After stamping the trees and deer, and embossing them, I brushed on a mix of distress oxide inks, masking off the ground first.  Then I cut out a smaller rectangle, stamped my sentiment, and splattered some diluted white paint across the panel.  That was then attached to my card base, along with a few small snowflakes.

Thanks for stopping by today - I appreciate your visits! 

Timeless Trees

  Here are some more of the other products in the Simon Hurley Timeless Trees release. 

The Classic Christmas Tree set has a gorgeous large tree, various ornaments and stars to decorate it with, a tree stand, and some presents, complete with ribbons.  

supplies: cream, krafts, greens, and red cardstock, Classic Christmas Tree dies, Holly Flourish embossing folder, Christmas Sentiments BetterPress Plate/die

This pretty tree is made up of a 3 layers, for lots of interest.  I put my little scene against an older embossing folder background, and used a BetterPress sentiment for my card this time.

And the Whimsical Bottlebrush Trees has 2 different trees that you can layer to make as short or as tall as you like!

supplies: white, kraft, teals, and red cardstock, Whimsical Bottlebrush Trees, Holiday Background Panel, silver glimmer foil, Heartfelt Scallop die, Handwritten Holiday Sentiment die, glue and prisma glitter 

After constructing my trees, I put tiny streams of glue along the branches and then dipped them into glitter for a snowy feeling.  Then I placed them on a backdrop of silver glimmered stars/snowflakes.  The sentiment is also from Simon Hurley, released earlier this year

This collection also includes embossing folders, one of which you'll be seeing soon, and some large ornament dies which can be layered.

Thanks so much for visiting today!

Simon Hurley's Mantle Decorations!

 What a fun idea Simon Hurley has come up with: Mantle Decorations!  They are part of his Timeless Trees Collection released about a week ago!  Here are 2 cards I made using the mantle goodies.

supplies: colored cardstocks, It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas dp from  Spellbinders 2023 Make It Merry Christmas kit, Mantle Village and Mantle Decorations die sets (also available as a bundle)

Here's another card using both the mantle sets.

supplies: cream card base, krafts and colored cardstocks, deer, greenery, and cranberry swags from Mantle Decorations set, trees and mantle from Mantle Village set. sentiment from Stampendous Christmas Blessings Sentiments, Perfect Touch rectangle die

That sentiment couldn't be more perfect, could it?  

The Mantle Decorations set also has a set of 3 Christmas Stockings with etched details that can be hung from your mantle, so these sets are packed with possibilities that you can mix and match to your liking.  I hope I've inspired you to give these an extra look.

Thanks for coming by today - I appreciate your visit!  Please stop by again soon to see some more of Simon's newest release.

Spellbinders Shaker Domes!

 Here's a handy new release from Spellbinders: Shaker Domes!  They come in 5 different shapes and each has 6 domes in the package; I chose the Fresh Picked set.

supplies: cream cardstock, a scrap of pink and yellow floral dp, Fresh Picked Shaker dome, Fresh Picked Label die, Fresh Picked Floral Frame 3D embossing folder, gold-foiled sentiment, pink and yellow floral sequins

The Fresh Picked Floral Frame folder is too pretty not to use again, and the matching label dies pulled everything together for this card.  Here's another picture to show you the sequins.

The domes are nice and deep, eliminating the old problem about lifting the card front up enough so that the shaker elements can move freely.  

If you love to make shaker cards, I think these domes will make your process much easier! 

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Woodland Tales

 Spellbinders has released a new collection called Woodland Tales!  It consists of some gorgeous papers, dies, and a beautiful 3D embossing folder.  Today I have some cards using these new goodies.

supplies: white card base, gold foil cardstock, Woodland Tales Printed Vellum and Foiled Acetate, Woodland Tales Sentiments dies, framing dies

 I couldn't wait to open the vellum/acetate paper pack, and I was blown away by this autumn scene!  It truly does bring back memories of walks in the woods in the fall, an activity that became a tradition even more so after we were all grown up and away from home.  I chose this autumn scene on vellum and the gold-foiled acetate sheet of script, and cut out A2 panels of each.  To be able to fasten them to my card base without glue or adhesive showing, I also cut out a framing panel from gold foil and affixed that to the acetate script panel first, then I could turn it over and add dots of glue underneath the frame to attach it to the vellum scene, and then to my card base.  And I thought the sentiment dies made the perfect greeting.  I love these papers!  

Next I played with the die sets that I got from this collection: Finley the Fox and Woodland Tales Fern.

supplies: cream, krafts, green, autumnal shades of cardstock, Woodland Tales Fern die, Finley the Fox dies, Fresh Picked Labels dies, sentiment from Fall Thoughtfulness

We recently returned from a trip to Maine, and while there we took lots of walks in the woods when we could.  One of the things I noticed at that time was that the ferns turned colors, too, all shades from golden to rust, while some remained green.  So those were the colors I put together behind this adorable Finley Fox!  Don't you love how he's prancing?!

Next I used the 3D embossing folder, Fresh Picked Floral Frame, along with some soft floral ephemera from this collection.

supplies: white and Peach Sorbet cardstock, Fresh Picked Floral Frame embossing folder, Woodland Tales Die Cut Shapes ephemera, Woodland Tales Die Cut Sentiment, adhesive foam squares

I hope my cards have given you a feel for all the possibilities this collection has.  Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Yana's Amaryllis Garden

 Here's a brand new 3D embossing folder designed by Yana Smakula as part of her Amaryllis Christmas Collection.  She calls it Amaryllis Garden.

supplies: pink and Brushed Silver metallic cardstock, Amaryllis Garden embossing folder, Peony ink, sentiment from last month's Peace Dove die set

Just look at the wonderful detail in this design!  I didn't know much about amaryllis, so I looked them up and found they are usually pink.  So I simply embossed on a pretty pink cardstock, and then gently rubbed some Peony ink across the surface to bring out those details.  Then I added some silver accents.  I don't think it needs anything else!

Festive Poinsettias

 Yana has another gorgeous release at Spellbinders today!  And she's made us another BetterPress plate with matching stencils for the holidays - Festive Poinsettias!  I have 3 cards today.

supplies: white and plum cardstock, Festive Poinsettias Better Press plate and Stencil Bundle, Black glimmer hot foil, Altenew Cherry Blossom, Green Fields, and Rocky Shores inks, blending brushes, Home for Christmas Sentiment/die

The foil plate measures 4 3/4" X 5 3/4", so after foiling it in Black, I matted it on a plum paper, and then onto a 5 X 7 card that I cut down a bit in length.  Yana's new Home for Christmas Sentiments press plates/dies have some wonderful sentiments that will work perfectly on these gorgeous backgrounds.

Next I foiled the design in Matte Gold and cut it down to fit onto an A2 card, changing up the colors to aquas.

supplies: white and Surf Blue cardstock, Festive Poinsettias press plate/stencil bundle, Matte Gold glimmer hot foil, Altenew Sweet Dreams, Green Valley, and Dark Chocolate inks, sentiment from this month's Glimmer kit, Festive Lights

I really like this color combination.

Here's a third version, done in reds against a black background.

supplies: white and red cardstock, Festive Poinsettia Press Plate/Stencil bundle, Black glimmer hot foil, Altenew Red Sunset, Green Valley, Maple Yellow, and vintage photo distress ink,  Home for Christmas Sentiment Press Plate/die, Matte Gold glimmer hot foil

You can see that this landscape version works just as nicely as the portrait one.

I hope you'll come back again in a few days to see another of Yana's designs from her newest release, called the Amaryllis Christmas Collection.

Spellbinders October Club Kits: Christmas Morning!

The October Club Kits of the Month are now available, and the theme is Christmas Morning!

For my first card I combined the darling Small Dies of the Month with a sentiment from the Stamp/Die set and a background using the Embossing Folder for October.

supplies: colored cardstock, Festive Friends Dies, Holiday Besties sentiment, Checkered Argyle embossing folder

The Stencils of the Month have 2 different designs: Festive Background and Baubles.  

supplies: white, Green Apple, and Doll Pink cardstock, Festive Background stencils, kitsch flamingo and twisted citron distress inks, sentiment from Layered Merry Christmas Foliage stencils/die bundle, holly from Make It Merry Florals

supplies: white and metallic silver cardstock, Baubles stencils, kitsch flamingo, picked raspberry, salvaged patina, peacock feathers distress ink, Silver Lining ink, (retired) Be Bold Christmas "Merry"die, silver sequins

Next up are the Large Dies: Cozy Toes Slippers; I think you'll agree that they are unique!  Because this set gives you lots of options, I made 2 cards with it.

supplies: solid cardstock, reindeer print designer paper, Cozy Toes Slippers Rudolph option and sentiment

I thought this reindeer print from a long expired Doodlebug Christmas pad made adorable jammies to go with my Rudolph slippers.  Ditto for the Santa Print that is in this year's Oh Joyful Day card kit available soon.  I paired that with Santa slippers.

supplies: colored cardstock, Oh Joyful Day design paper, Cozy Toes Slippers Santa option, sentiment from Holiday Besties, Checkered Argyle embossing folder

The other options for slippers in this set are a monster/dinosaur, a penguin, and a bunny.  

My next card features the Clear Stamps/Dies called Holiday Besties.

supplies: white and 2 green cardstock, Holiday Besties critters and sentiment, St Nick tree dies, Perfect Touch rectangle die, tumbled glass distress ink

This set has all of these cute critters, plus 5 different sentiments, and dies to cut all of them out.  I started with an A2 panel, and blended some tumbled glass distress ink onto the top of it, then trimmed it with a Perfect Touch rectangle.  Then I constructed some pine trees and added them along the snow line, stamped my sentiment, and added the sweet animals to finish.

Here is the Glimmer kit: Festive Lights. It comes with Speckled Aura glimmer hot foil, which gives an extra shimmer, perfect for the holidays!

supplies: white and gold metallic cardstock, Festive Lights glimmer plates

There's also a die to cut out the sentiment.  I used it on my next card, along with the lovely Joyful Candy Canes 3D embossing folder.

supplies: white cardstock, Peony ink, Joyful Candy Canes 3D embossing folder, sentiment from Festive Lights, Bright Pink glimmer hot foil, Berry gems

I inked the front of the folder with Peony ink before embossing. then added some bright pink gems and a foiled sentiment of the same color.

Lastly, here is my card using the Stitching Dies for this month, Merry and Bright Cloche.

supplies: colored cardstock, silver metallic cardstock, Merry & Bright Cloche dies

I like the effect of twinkling stars behind the tree.  This set also includes a little star for the top of the tree.

You can look HERE for information on Spellbinders Clubs.  Each is available for new subscribers only from the 6th until the 27th of each month.  If you click on my links under each card, you can see the specifics of each product.  You can subscribe to each of our 10 kits separately, (and you can "unjoin" a subscription at any time without any penalty), or you can get them all, plus a free bonus item each month, and save 60% by choosing the Deluxe Caboodle!

Festive Blooms

 When I saw this Concord & 9th Festive Blooms bundle, I practically fell over myself ordering it!  And it does NOT disappoint!  I spent a happy couple of days playing with it; here's what resulted.

supplies: various cardstock colors in aquas, jade, peacock, pink, white and silver metallic and silver glitter, Festive Blooms die set and stamp set, adhesive foam squares

I really like the banner dies that come in this set - they're a plus that can be used with other sets, and all but one of the sentiments fit inside it.

Part of the set is a pinpoint design that you die-cut into your background, which then acts as a pattern to place the other elements.  I think it's pretty all by itself, so for my 2nd card I cut it on a Mint base and then used fewer of the elements to make my own little arrangement, with another of the sentiments from the stamp set. I used reds and creams with gold accents this time.

supplies: Mint, cream, greens, red, and gold glitter cardstock, Festive Blooms dies and sentiment bundle

These were fun to put together, and I look forward to using these again as Christmas gets closer!  Thanks for stopping by!

Tim Holtz' Festive Wreath

 Tim recently had a release of Vault dies from Sizzix and I wanted them all, but decided on this Festive Wreath set, I think because of the candles in it.  And you know how I am about wreaths.........

supplies: colored cardstocks, green plank paper from a Spellbinders Christmas Card kit, Vault Festive Wreath dies, Holiday Words Script die

I cut the bow, wreath and the word twice, just to make things fuller.  

Here's a second card; a very simple design; I thought I'd put the candles and some greenery on a mantle.

supplies: parchment, red, and various greens cardstock, a piece of wood panel dp, Vault Festive Wreath dies, Stampendous Christmas Blessings Sentiments

I cut the candles in red this time and made 2 sets of them, since they are the focal point for my card.  then I just surrounded them with various greens from the set, and added this lovely sentiment.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Lisa Horton's Essential Holiday Collection: Essential Tags

 Here are 2 more products from Lisa Horton's collection at Spellbinders: Essential Tags dies and Essential Tag Accessories Press Plates/dies set.

supplies: white and red cardstock, striped and pine design papers, Essential Tag Accessories Press Plate/dies, red and green inks, red glimmer hot foil, Essential Tags dies, red gems, red twine and ribbon

The Press Plates have 7 different sentiments in various sizes, plus this pine bough, this little bow, and a bunch of holly. And there are dies for the bow and 2 vertical sentiments.  The tag set includes 4 sizes of tags (I've used the smallest and the largest), 4 long skinny banners, and dies to make a hole at the top of your tag and a reinforcer for it.  The largest tag is 2 3/4" long by a little over 1 3/4" wide, so these are truly tags that you will use to add to your packages.  Because these are press plates, you can also foil them for some extra sparkle, as I did on the Ho Ho Ho one.

I hope I've given you a few simple ways to use these dies!

Lisa Horton's Essential Holiday Collection: Nested Tree Frames and Holiday Background Panels

 I have a couple of cards today using some of the new releases from Lisa Horton's Essential Holiday Collection.

supplies: white, Audrey Blue, black and other colored cardstock, Lisa Horton Nested Tree Frame dies, Holiday Background Panel press plate, Moondust glimmer hot foil, Essential Tags dies, Christmas Wreath Add-ons Snowman dies, Handwritten Holiday Sentiment dies, baker's twine bow, adhesive foam squares

I started with the Holiday Background press plates.  There are 4 separate ones in the package; I chose the snowflake one and foiled it with Moondust glimmer foil.  Then I used the largest of the stitched rectangles in the Tree Frame set to cut it out.  That was glued to the Tree Frame, and the whole thing was centered on my card front.  Then I constructed my snowman and used a chopped tag from the Essential Tags set to carry my sentiment.

Here's another card that uses almost everything in the Nested Tree Frame set; I just kept on layering!

supplies: white, kraft, 3 green, and pale aqua cardstock, Nested Tree Frame dies, Holiday Background Panels falling snow panel press plate, Opal glimmer hot foil, Sending Joy Sentiments press plate, Green glimmer hot foil, tiny clear gems

I really like the idea of the small rectangle backgrounds in the BetterPress set - it's nice to have all these options that fit inside this interesting frame!  Here I used opal glimmer hot foil and the falling snow panel on a pale aqua cardstock.

I'll be back again in a few days with another creation using other new goodies from this collection!

Woodblock Wednesday

 My card for this month's Woodblock Wednesday uses a favorite big woodblock stamp with a favorite motif for this time of year, a wreath.

This is Autumn Words, from Stampendous, dated 2012.

supplies: white and kraft cardstock, Stampendous Autumn Words, VersaMark ink and white embossing powder, peacock feathers distress ink, The Greetery Rustic Wreath Basic dies, Rustic Wreath Twigs dies, Honey Bee Fall Bouquets leaves and acorns, Spellbinders berry branches, finger daubers, fall colors of distress inks

After embossing the Words stamp on white, I diluted some peacock feathers distress ink and painted it across the panel to bring out the words.  Then I constructed my twig wreath and embellished it with leaves, berries, and acorns sponged with distress inks.

You can see all the other entries at Amy's blog HERE.