The Card That Didn't Win

Here's a card for you. It's one that I dreamed up over the course of a couple of nights. I worked and worked on it to get it just right and then sent it in for the Winter Wonderland contest at SU! Guess I didn't win, because I didn't hear anything. Bummer!
The curtain is made by pulling a thread or two on the 5/8" Real Red Grosgrain. The curtains are DSP scored every 1/4" and folded accordion style. The curtain pull-backs are elastic cord with Pretties Kit beads. I stamped the nutcracker from Yuletide Christmas in StazOn Black, colored with my markers and then covered with Crystal Effects. Merry Christmas was embossed with the Classic Ink embossing technique. (email me if you'd like instructions.)
After cutting out the lattice with my SU! Lattice Bigz Die, I put the lattice back in the frame and made a glitter window out of it. The window is popped up on dimensionals with a tree, bird, and snowflakes stamped behind it. It's so hard to capture the 3-D effect with my camera. Hope you get a bit of the feel of this one.
So, while I didn't win, I am very happy that after dreaming this one up for awhile, it did turn out as I had hoped.

Oh, and don't forget that the Blog Carnival is still going on. Just click the link on the right to go see some great projects featuring the many uses of My Digital Studio, Stampin' Up!'s new digital program.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

p.s. Anne, did you notice all the red? ;-)

Father's Day Idea

I've heard of so many people having a hard time figuring out ideas for masculine cards. So bring on the Designer Series Paper! This card was made with To the Nines, a fabulous textured designer paper. I just love how easy it is to create a wonderful card with the Designer Series Papers. With almost no effort at all! On this card, I stamped the tree in Chocolate Chip and the leaves in Sage Shadow, making sure to stamp the leaves two or three times before reinking.
The edges of the Very Vanilla papers are distressed with my Cutter Kit. Happy Father's Day found it's placement after one of my customers dropped this on an ink pad. :-( Oh well...we know that a mistake makes for new possibilities. Which is also what that Sage tree is behind the words. I meant to stamp the tree in Chocolate Chip and stamped in Sage Shadow instead. Well, we can't throw out a good piece of cardstock, now can we? So it became the background for the greeting. Now you know all my secrets to making good mistakes! See my matching hardware? The large eyelet is Pewter and the brads are from the Vintage Brads.
And now you're asking, why is she posting again? That crazy Julie, she already posted once today. Well, I just don't want you to miss out on Stampin' Up!'s fabulous special on Designer Papers. I hope you are beginning to see how much easier a creation is if you have the right Designer Paper to help you along. And to help you see the possibilities, the Blog Hop this weekend will make your DSP possibilities incredible clear!
24 Demonstrators will be posting to their blogs, each with a different pack of Designer Series Papers. I will be stop #3 with To the Nines. I have a pop-up 3-tier cake, a golfer's card, and a 2-page scrapbook layout ready to go. And I'm still coming up with more ideas. You see, there are just so many possibilities with the DSP that the ideas just keep coming and coming.
Do you have it down on your calendar? Go write the blog hop down and make sure you come to visit sometime between Friday 5 am PST and Sunday 11:59 pm PST. Because after that, the links will be broken and you won't be able to make the complete circle through the blogs and papers. Oh, and by the way, you're going to need some DSP after seeing all of the projects, so don't forget to click on that shopping button you see on the right to order your DSP. Now's the time, baby. We're going to have FUN!!
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station. I look forward to seeing you again soon.
Blessings,
Julie

Color Combo of the Day & Mercy's Sketch

This first card is for the sketch on Mercy's blog. It's a fun sketch and I thought it would work nicely for a masculine birthday card using my Branch Out set. I know I'm repeating myself, but I LOVE THIS STAMP SET!!! The background of the tree scene was made using the Watercolor Wash technique. What's that? Well, color a bit with your watercolor wonder crayon on the plastic of a stamp set container. Mist a sponge and pick up the color off of the plastic. Rub the sponge across a piece of shimmery white cardstock. Repeat with other colors if desired. So on this card, I used Ballet Blue, Brilliant Blue, and Always Artichoke crayons. Isn't that fun? The DP is To the Nines, a new SU! Designer Paper.
This card is for the color challenge of the day. I was a bit leery of putting Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss and More Mustard together, but it turned out better than I thought it would. The background Mustard is DP run through the Big Shot with the Flourish texture plate from SU! After running it through to get the texture, I sanded it so that the white would show through on the design. The flowers are the Simple Flower Embosslit and the leaves are the Little Leaves sizzlet. The dots in the center of the flower are from the Bold Cupcakes sizzlets. I took a ribbon slide from my Hodgepodge Hardware and after filling the channel with Tombow, I sprinkled it with Fine Cosmo Glitter and set it aside to let it dry. I love the look of it. Really dresses up the ribbon.
That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!
Blessings,
Julie

Three Amigas Black, White and Red

This week is Joanne's (aka sleepy inseattle) turn to set the Three Amigas Weekly Challenge. Black and white, with a bit of red. How fun! As soon as she announced what it would be, I thought of this. This card was screaming at me to be made, so I dropped my preparations for a workshop and made it. LOL! It's hard to see, but the main white sheet with the piercing also has leaves clear embossed on it. I used my Watercolor Vine Jumbo Wheel with VersaMark and clear embossing powder. This idea is also from Joanne. Joanne, you rock! Yes, it was a pain to cut out those little birds, but I really wanted the special effect...so worth it! We would love it if you'd like to play along. Just post your card on SCS and use TAWC in the key words. While you're at SCS, check out the wonderful Stampin' Up! gallery. All of the past and present stamp sets are listed there individually.
Supplies: Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock. Branch Out stamp set. Basic Black and Real Red Classic Ink. Crafter's Tool Kit and the wonderful SU! paper snips.
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!
Blessings,
Julie

Branching Out

This has to be one of my favorite new sets out of the new Stampin' Up! catalog. I love it! You can use different colors to get such unique layouts. This was my first attempt for a make & take at tomorrow's workshop, but it just wasn't quite right. I think I'm not satisfied any more with one background layer. It just doesn't look finished off. So...I tried again. This time, with a brain-blast idea for color combo, I tried again.
This is it! Hurray! Know that feeling when you make a card and inside, your brain is screaming "YES! That's it!"? Well that's the feeling I had as this one was coming together. It's still very simple, but I love the clean lines and simple colors. I stamped the butterflies twice each time, before reinking. (That's called stamping off.) I also stamped off the leaves to get two colors on the tree. Add a bit of sponging for the grass, some retired Hodgepodge antique brass and Kiwi Satin Ribbon, and we have the card for tomorrow's workshop! Woo Hoo!!!
Thanks for visiting the Stamping Station.
Blessings,
Julie

Another new stamp set that I LOVE!!

O what a happy set this is! It's called Branch Out. You stamp the tree, then decide what else it needs. I added leaves in 3 different colors, a tire swing, bird house, and a red bird. I sponged the grass and the sky, then called it a card! The texture plate used on the Artichoke and Kraft is Grass from Fiskars. I can hardly wait to get my hands on the SU! texture plates next month. I used Happy Everything for the sentiment, pierced a line underneath the words, sponged a bit of Artichoke over the texture and used up some retired Vintage Brads. You can bet that I'll be using this set more often!
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.
Blessings,
Julie