Little Yellow Bicycle Christmas

It has been a wet and cold few days as "The Storm" spread a wide swath across the country.  I have stayed busy and warm inside  playing around with several different collections of papers from Little Yellow Bicycle. I am especially in love with their Christmas collection, Once Upon a Christmas. I love the shades of red and green that make up this collection. The damask pattern is so elegant, the tiny starlight print is so sweet and the red houndstooth is so very versatile.

I'm looking forward to making scrapbook pages for Christmas with this. I think it will be perfect to feature my granddaughter and her first Christmas!

This close-up detail is to show the pleating of the bottom section. Scored at 5/8" and 3/8" and then folded gives you the 1/4" pleats. The greeting is one of the tags from LYB Tags & String set and is attached to a green label (Spellbinders Labels Eighteen) with a pewter brad. An ivory satin ribbon divides the sections. The top damask section is actually mounted on the black cardstock base with foam mounting tape. The folded section is fairly thick and so mounting the top layer keeps things even.

 

If you like the papers used for this card, be sure to check out this collection on the Little Yellow Bicycle web site.

Thanks so much for stopping by...

andrea

Bazzill Card Swap

 

I have stepped out and tried another venue that is new to me...a card swap. This is my very first! I had been following posts on BazzillBasicsPaper's Facebook page and noticed the announcement for their card swaps. Interested in their Christmas swap, I marked the calendar for the start date, signed up and then scrambled to find someone who carried the papers! Selecting a few online is a bit harder than in person, but for the most part once they arrived and I began to "fiddle around" with ideas I was happy with choices I had made.

 

This is the card I created: 

 

Products used on this card:

 

Bazzill patterned papers: from the  Believe Collection: Christmas Dress, Silent Night and Weathered Wood

Bazzill cardstocks: Ivy, Leapfrog and Butter Cream

Dew Drop Brilliance Pigment Ink: Galaxy Gold, Pearlescent Poppy

Dew Drop Versa Magic Chalk Ink: Spanish Olive

Rubber Stamp from Stampabilities: CR1104 Reason for the Season

Rhinestone Setter by Darice hot-fix embellishments 3mm Light Siam Glass Stone

Spellbinders Die: Venetian Motifs-flourish; Labels #28 and #18 

Ribbon: Offray 1/4" inch olive

Foam mounting tape

 

• Beginning with an Ivy Cardstock base
• then placing equal sections of Silent Night and Christmas Dress, slightly smaller than the base for a nice color border, then 1/4" olive ribbon covers the seam between the two.  
• I used Label Twenty-Eight to cut and emboss the Weathered Wood and edged this in Pearlescent Poppy then placed it in the center of the card.
• Label Eighteen cut from Butter Cream became the base for the stamped image from Stampabilities stamped in Pearlescent Poppy.
• It was edged first with the Spanish Olive chalk, then lightly at the very edge with Galaxy Gold for a gilded look.
• I would also repeat the gilding on the Leapfrog Venetian Flourishs. The Christmas Dress paper had an old time feel to me and  just wanted to play up that aspect, I think the gilding did just that.
• I used foam mounting tape in the center only of the greeting section. This gave it some lift, but it also allowed me to gently wrap the flourished up on to the label adding dimension to the flourishes too.
• Three Light Siam gems were added to the label and two to the flouishes.

a close up of the "gilding" of the swirls...

 

 

 

Can you see that the flourish swirls pull the sides of the label slightly down on the edges while it also lifts the flourishes up?

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you found the info you needed on the elements in this card from the Bazzill Card Swap and maybe we'll see you again, I'd love to have you drop by!

 

andrea 

 

Now being displayed with others in the swap online at BazzillBasicsPapers Facebook page.

DeNami Color Challenge #11

Today we switch to a fall theme for the DeNami Color Challenge #11.

 

 

The great Fall colors for this challenge are  Chocolate Brown, Desert Orange, Leaf Green and White/ Cream.  (I used cream on this one)

 

 

 

The DeNami Stamp featured on this card is the G 135 Sending God's Blessings and it was stamped in Dew Drop Versa Magic chalk ink: Jumbo Java. The label with the stamped image was brushed with ink from Darice: Harvest Yellow which really doesn't look like yellow at all!  Added to that piece and also on the sides are Copper Swarovski crystals. Because the color of the crystals in the first photo doesn't show up too well this close up will let you see them sparkle. (It also shows up various other imperfections, but...we won't say too much about that!) Foam mounting tape gives a little lift to this layer.

 

 

Several dies were used for this very layered look, beginning with Elegant Swirls by Memory Box (they come out of the dies so very nicely when a layer of wax paper is used.) Then from Spellbinders there's the Venetian Motifs, Decorative Labels Eight, Labels Eighteen and Labels Twenty-Eight.

 

Between the colors, the vine-like swirls and leaf-like motifs I though about pumpkins a great deal as I worked on this! Inspiration for the November Hop is beginning to build! Be sure to stop back for that on November 11th...lots of cards and prizes too!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by....

 

andrea 

 

Made the Fab Three with Runner Up Status...go here to see the winner and runner ups!



Marking 100 Posts!

Today marks the one hundreth post I've made on this blog!

 

Who would have thought I'd reach this mark?

 

Who would have thought I'd stick with it this long?

 

Who would have imagined I'd have so many ideas to share???

 

Amazing!

 

So...today should feature something special, right?

 

Well, here we go! 

 

As you may know I've been on the Design Team for Mosaic Moments this year. It has been a great time working on scrapbook pages and being able to share them with the online community at Journella. It is a place to share your creativity whether it is scrapbooking, photos or writing. The nice thing is that sharing is an option, not a requirement. Long before I was on the Design Team I was "blogging" my thoughts for no one other than myself using the great diary tools of Journella.
 

 

For anyone who would like to join in on Today's Celebration here's what I'd like you to do.

 

Go to Journella and check in. If you've never been before, register, this is to keep this site protected. You can register with your Facebook account if you have one. This is what the Story Board page will look like. (above) 

 

 

 

In the top right-hand corner you will see a spot where you can enter my name and select "Author" in the drop down menu. 

 

Then the page that it will take you to will look like this:

 

 

 

Once here you will see all the things that I've shared. What I'd like you to do is to look at the two September Challenges and the two October Challenges. (you can look at as many as you like, but for the purpose of this event you only need to look at these four in particular!!) They will begin with the title "2012 MMDT..." in fact you can see the October challenges in the photo above. Just click on the Read More button and the full page will display.  Leave a cheer and a comment on all four posts, then come back here and leave a comment saying you've been there done that!

 

You have between now and Midnight Monday October 29th EST to leave all your comments. Winner will be chosen randomly (names picked blindly) and be notified Tuesday morning. The winner will receive a set of 4 Baby Cards (one in each color) and a set of 5 Thank You Cards (also from a previous post). In addition they will have a choice of either black or white 8.5"x11" Mosaic Moments Grid paper that is the current special at Scrap-n-crop and their choice of one color of Paper Tiles, a package of 55 laser cut pieces for using with the grid system scrapbooking, to get you started trying this method out! The winner will have to reply to notification by midnight Tuesday October 30th with their color choices or they will be made for them.

thank you cards


 



baby cards





Paper Tiles-your color choice  Grid Papers-choice of Black or White

 

 

 

 



 

It's nice to have you stop by and hope you will join in the celebration today!!

 

andrea

p.s. Mosaic Moments Design Team Members are excluded from this give away...as everybody has already commented on the posts!!! Family can comment all you like, but you too will have to sit out on the extras!


Doddlebug Christmas!

This card is making a repeat appearance now that the Christmas card making season is upon us!
It first appeared in the August Blog Hop for DeNami Design amongst several other Bold, Bright and Beautiful cards that I made. Several people really liked the color combo and thought I'd like to re-run this as an easy holiday card. The circles in varying sizes work well as ornaments. I thought the small quilt circle that reminded me of many of the ornaments from my childhood was a perfect fit. The bold Doodlebug Design Inc. colors play well on the embossed white background, for a very non-traditional look, and they have so many bold colors, you could easily substitute another color instead of the pink.

Doodlebug Design Pattern Papers
Cardstock: white, Hollos
DeNami Design stamps: Merry Christmas circle; Christmas Trees
Sizzix Embossing Folder: Stars and Swirls set
Art Gone Wild: Craft Cutts Dies: Small Quilt Circle
Spellbinders Circles Dies
Crystal stickers
Martha Stewart glitter (on the swirl dots)
ribbons

Thanks so much for stopping by...

andrea

Deep Red Tree

This too features a die cut tree with a patterned paper below. This time the page extends as a full  layer on top of a sand tone cardstock base. In addition, I used the die on a scrap of cream to cut a star for the top of the tree that fits right into the space. This is a variation you can make with any die you have and layers in colors of your choice...see what you can do!

thanks for stopping by...

andrea

Fancy Tree Die

This card, a departure from snowflakes, does return using the same robin's egg blue cardstock. This time I have used the Sizzix Embossing folder "Christmas and Thin Ice" set to emboss the retro style Merry Christmas greetings. I then took a new Fancy Tree die from Impression Obsession Rubber Stamps and cut the tree out of the blue layer. I then layered a Christmas patterned paper from the Paper Studio line at Hobby Lobby between the green cardstock base and the blue top layer.

thanks for stopping by....

andrea

Snowflake Wreath

 

Robin's Egg Blue layer with corners rounded sit on a white cardstock base. This frosty blue is perfect for a wintery card. I used 16 snowflakes (4 EK Success snowflake punches) arranged in a wreath shape. Swarovski Crystals are added for a little color and bling. A teal 1/8" ribbon bow graces the base of the wreath. I didn't add a sentiment on the outside, but you could easily do that, or leave that fot the inside of the card.

 

thanks for stoping by....

 

andrea

Snowflake Tree

Another flake or two...this time all stacked up!

 

 

 

Using four EK Success snowflake punches and Hot Fix Gems in red and green from Darice for a little bit of bling I began to create my tree. A touch of red ribbon substitutes for a trunk.  I saw a card on Pinterest that inspired this, but it was made with baker's twine and wooden snowflakes on a kraft cardstock base.

 

thanks for stopping by...

 

andrea

 

A Few Flakes

Just a quick look at a new card for today.

 

A variation on yesterday's card. Same ribbon, same snowflake, but a snowflake embossing folder layer and a green cardstock spot for the Merry Christmas greeting (vintage Stampin' Up 1999) that is embossed in silver embossing powder from Ranger.

That's it for today!

Thanks for stopping by...

andrea

A Little More Christmas

Temperatures this week have dipped into the frost zone and even the windows had to be closed! Then Friday the clouds and wind came near to convincing us it was already November! Alas, there are still a few days left in what has been a very glorious fall. Vivid colors and pleasant days have marked this season, my favorite time of the year!

In the coming days there will be several cards to post as I work on various designs. I've added a few new dies, embossing envelopes and stamps that I'm eager to try out. So here's my card for today...

Hero Arts "Merry Christmas" stamp C2850, is an older stamp, but has been very versatile for a causal Christmas greeting on many cards. Sizzlits Snowflakes die #15 was used on silver paper to create the layered snowflake to coordinate with the red ribbon of silver snowflakes. An embossing snowflake border from Sizzix  was then trimmed to an uneven edge...kind of reminiscent of a snow drift finished this white layer that was mounted on a green cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by...

andrea