A Stamping-filled day!

Today I attend "Stampin' Sparks", a demonstrator event hosted by my upline, Jamilla Ivits.  It was a jam-packed day that just flew by!  We did so many projects I honestly can't even remember them all at the moment!  Suffice to say it was well worth the registration fee.  We got a TON of product included in our kits and did terrific projects that highlight many items from the Holiday Mini.  My head is still spinning a little, but I did want to post the final card I designed for my club meeting tomorrow.  For this one I used the Dasher A La Carte stamp.  This little guy is very popular and perfect for holiday cards.  I know several of my club members own this one too, so I knew it would be a good one to use.  The layout for this card was inspired by one done by Mary Fish a while back.

CAS Holiday card using the Dasher stamp and greeting from the Snow Swirled set.

So I finally resorted to a more traditional Christmas colour scheme for this one.  I knew my ladies wouldn't be satisfied if I did everything in non-traditional colours!  I used cherry cobbler, brushed gold and whisper white for a clean, modern, yet classic look.  I used my Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder on the strip of cherry cobbler cardstock to add a bit of texture.  I stamped Dasher in versamark and then heat embossed him in gold.  The sentiment is stamped right on the card base in cherry cobbler ink.  I finally found a way to use all those gold brads I have in my stash!  They contrast just enough with the brushed gold cardstock to stand out without drawing the eye away from the focal image.  I also need to point out that yet again, I refrained from adding ribbon!!!  My club ladies will love me because they hate messing around with ribbon...all three cards we are doing are 100% ribbon free!  I can honestly say that this is the first time that has ever happened!  I can't wait to see their reaction...I'll report back tomorrow night.  Till then, enjoy your weekend!

Dasher-ing towards Christmas

This time of year is busy for we crafters...so many great holiday craft and gift ideas and so little time to complete them!  As this is my first Christmas as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I had no idea just how crazy things can get with clients and new customers wanting to hold workshops and Stamp-A-Stacks.  I have been spending all of my crafting time cutting paper and prepping for various events and have had almost no time to create anything for myself!  If only I didn't have a full-time teaching job during the day!  Ah well, the Christmas break will be here soon and I'll have a full week off to get my Christmas crafting done!

Today's post is a card I created for one of the Stamp-A-Stack classes I held last week.

Simple card using the Dasher a la carte stamp.

Close up of Dasher...isn't he a handsome fella?

Sentiment is from the Contempo Christmas set.  I used one of the big designer buttons in Baja Breeze to embellish it.

Inside of card.  Snowflake images are from Serene Snowflakes.  Sentiment is from Christmas Greetings.

This card came together as I was prepping for my SAS and realized I was out of Cherry Cobbler cardstock!  I didn't have enough to do the card I had planned to, so I had to think fast and come up with something that used the supplies I had enough of on hand.  I was quite happy with the way it turned out and my SAS guests liked it too!  Here is what I did:

I started with a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of baja breeze cardstock.  I stamped the snowflakes all over the top half using baja breeze ink.  I adhered a 3" x 4" piece of Candy Cane DSP to the bottom half of the baja breeze piece.  I then punched a 4" wide piece of whisper white with my dotted scallop ribbon border and adhered it over the seam.  I added a piece of 1/8" taffeta ribbon in real red and adhered it to the back of the cardfront.  I adhered the whole thing to a real red card base. 
For the focal image I stamped Dasher in baja breeze on whisper white cardstock, punched him out with a 2" circle punch and then sponged the edge with baja breeze ink.  I layered this on a 2 3/8" scallop circle in baja breeze and a 2 1/2" circle in real red and adhered the finished piece using dimensionals.  I added a little rhinestone gem to one of the snowflakes for some sparkle.
For the sentiment I coloured the Merry Christmas from the Contempo Christmas set using my baja breeze and real red markers, stamped it on whisper white and then punched it out using my decorative label punch.  I layered this on another decorative label in real red and adhered it to the cardfront using dimensionals.  I threaded some 1/8" taffeta riboon through a big designer button in baja breeze and tied it in a knot.  I adhered it to the upper right corner of the sentiment using glue dots. 
The inside of the card is fairly self-explanatory.  I stamped the snowflakes in baja breeze and sponged the edges of the white before I adhered the white piece to the inside of the card.  The sentiment is from the Christmas Greetings set and is stamped in real red and then punched out using the decorative label punch again.  It is sponged using baja breeze, layered on another real red label and then adhered inside the card using dimensionals.
A cute card using one of my favourite holiday images!