Hand Stamped Sentiments #78-Fancy Folds Challenge

Hello there and Happy Tuesday! It's time for another great challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments. This week, it's all about keeping it fancy...fancy-folding, that is! We are also sending a BIG welcome to our newest Design Team member (and fellow Texan)...the lovely Erica Cerwin, with this challenge! I hope you will join us this week and play along! 

The inspiration for my card came from Laura Lipe. (Thank you for the amazing inspiration, Laura!)  I saw this fun and fabulous card style on her blog and HAD to give it a try. *CLICK HERE* for the cutting and scoring instructions. It's super-simple and can be created from a single 4- 1/4" x 11" piece of card stock.

 Here is the front view of the card: 

 Here is the side view of the card: 

For my card design, I looked to a few of my favorite stampers, Ann Schach and LeAnne Pugliese. Ann recently featured *THIS card* with the stitched border punch and I loved how LeAnne created *THIS card* using the "other" stamped snowman from this set, on Crumb Cake card stock. 


I colored my sassy snowman with some wonderful watercolor pencils I recently received in the mail from my blogging pal Helene, in Norway!! (Click her name to visit her blog.) Thank you, Helene for the fantastic box of crafting treats. Wow! I promise to get better with my water-coloring with practice! ;) 

This card has a LOT of sparkle! The stamped snowflakes (from the ret. Jolly Old St. Nick set) were embossed in Iridescent Ice embossing powder. Then, I got a little crazy with the Dazzling Diamonds glitter on this one. You know it's bad when your husband walks into the room while the afternoon sunlight is streaming through the window and utters the phrase: "Honey, what have you been doing in here? Your face is sparkling like that vampire in the Twilight movie!" Yes, I made him watch the Twilight movies...and am slightly scared that he is referencing them now! LOL! 

As if Dazzling Diamonds wasn't enough, I busted out the Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz for the embossed snowflake panel and then heat embossed both the sentiments (front and inside the card) with Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder. Oddly enough, I held back on adding bling...I thought it would be a little TOO much.

I don't want to "over-explain" the card, so if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. I have listed all of the supplies at the end of the post, too...if you are interested. :)  

Finally, here is the inside of the card, with more embossing and sparkle to compliment the front:

Thanks for stopping by! Please check out Hand Stamped Sentiments and see what the rest of  the DT have cooked up. We hope you will play along and show off your "fancy-folded-creation" this week! Have a very HAPPY day today! :) 


Stampin' Up! Supply List: 
Stamps: Snow Much Fun, Jolly Old St. Nick (little snowflakes, retired), Best Yet (front sentiment, retired) and Occasional Quotes (inside sentiment, retired)
Paper: Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Basic Black and Cherry Cobbler card stock
Ink: Black Staz-On, Versa-Mark and Crumb Cake Classic ink (for sponging around edges
Accessories: Baker's Twine, Embossing Buddy, Cherry Cobbler embossing powder, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Iridescent Ice Embossing powder, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Crystal Effects (buttons and hat), 2-way Glue pen, Large Oval punch, Scallop Oval punch, Dotted Scallop ribbon Border punch, Vanilla shimmer Smooch Spritz, Stampin Dimensionals, Sticky Strip and craft knife
Non-SU! Accessories: score tool, watercolor pencils from Helene and snowflake embossing folder

Got a CASE of CAS Swap

Hello and happy *fabulous* Friday! Today I thought I would share two cards that I made for a swap on Splitcoast. Patty was our hostess for this swap and the theme was "Got a CASE of CAS". Here are the deets of the swap:

"CASE stands for 'copy and share everything' and all you need to do for this swap is to find a CAS ('clean and simple') card in the gallery and CASE it. The idea of casing a card generally means that you will use the main concept of the card and then change at least 2 things about it in creating your new card. This can mean changing the color of card stock, maybe use ribbon instead of brads, you can use a different image, or change the layout a bit, etc..."


My first card was a CASE of a card I saw HERE on Susan's blog, Susan's Day Off Creations. Funny thing is, I think I picked the only card from her blog that she did NOT post in her Splitcoast gallery. Oops! I have had the 2-Step Owl punch since it came out, but this was my first time to actually use it for a project. These little guys are SO stinkin' cute! I added some Crystal Effects to their eyes and to the heart on the wee dude in the middle to make him a little more "one of a kind".

My second card was a CASE of this card HERE from Paula on SCS. I completely over-complicated the flower element on the first 2 attempts...I had to keep reminding myself it was a clean and simple swap. I was making some crazy 3-D flowers that would never actually fit in the envelope to ship them out. I saved them for another project though. (*wink*) I have to admit, I had to resist the urge to add lots of layers to both cards but in the end, I was happy with how they came out. Hope you like them, and my attempt at "clean and simple"! Thanks for visiting today! :)

Card #1 SU! Supply List:
Stamps: One of a Kind
Ink: Rich Razzleberry classic ink
Paper: Cottage Wall DSP (ret), Orchid Opulence (ret.), Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Whisper White card stock
Accessories: Owl punch, Perfect Ploka Dots Embossing folder and Crystal Effects


Card #2 SU! Supply List:
Stamps: Whimsical Words
Ink: Wild Wasabi classic ink
Paper: Afternoon Tea DSP (ret.), Groovy Guava (ret.), Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White card stock
Accessories: Sizzix Flower Layers #3 (ret), Groovy Guava stitched ribbon (ret.), XL Oval punch, Scalloped Border punch, hemp twine and button (non SU!)

Spicy Punched Shrimp

Hello friends! Hope you are having a great start to your week! I wanted to share some recipe cards from a swap I am participating in, over at Splitcoast Stampers. Thanks to Kari for being an awesome host. The focus was on good ol' Southern / Cajun comfort food. YUM! I shared a favorite in our house: Crockpot Jambalaya. I found some super-cute cooking paper while I was out and about last week, but was struggling to find the PERFECT embellishment for the card. 

I thought a shrimp would be fun but how in the world do you create a shrimp accent? Hmmm...not really something you need every day, is it? About a half hour of searching on the web, I found an awesome tutorial for the cutest little bugger, EVER, from Kathleen Hopperstad's blog, My Happy Stampin' Place. She is a punch genius! Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful idea, Kathleen!  Click ---> HERE <--- to see her fabulous tutorial on how to put this little guy together. 

Below are the punches I used to create my shrimp, punched out of Regal Rose card stock. Kathleen uses the SU! Snowflake Punch for his "tail", but I don't own that punch. I opted to use the (ret.) Horizontal Slot Punch...and a LOT of glue, to achieve a similar effect. I also used a Sponge Dauber with Real Red ink, to add that "just cooked look". Haha! 

Here is a shot of the whole "shrimp-tastic" gang, ready to be popped in the mail and sent to their new homes, with fellow swappers:

If you are interested in trying out this yummy, spicy Jambalaya, here is a close up of the recipe: (If you have any tips or additions to the recipe, please let me know, I'd love to try them out.)  

Thanks for stopping by today! Please drop me a comment and let me know what you think...about this project, your favorite recipe, or anything else that is on your mind. I love hearing from you! Off to enjoy the rest of this chilly and rainy day here in Texas. Jambalaya would be perfect today, actually. Hmmmm...

Have a HAPPY day, 

Circle Circus Inspiration

Have you ever stumbled upon a card and absolutely fell in love with everything about it? I sure did! When I saw this one, I knew I HAD to CASE it...which is a pretty rare thing for me to do! I used a slightly different shade of blue and a different embellishment then the original, so I guess it had a little originality. (*wink, wink*)

One of the great things about being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is every month we receive a fabulous "demo-exclusive" magazine delivered right to our mailboxes. It is filled with loads of great ideas and inspiration. That's where this beautiful card sample came from! Just so I give appropriate credit, this card is from the May 2010 issue and was created by a fellow demonstrator, Lisa Nichols.

This card uses one of my absolute favorite stamp sets, Circle Circus! This stamp set is so versatile on cards for any occasion! Every image in this set also coordinates with a punch so it makes it THAT much easier to whip up a beautiful card with perfectly cut-out circles, EVERY time! Also included on this card are three of the new colors introduced in the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog: Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist and Early Espresso. See the full product list below.

Stampin' Up! Supply List:

Stamps: Circle Circus, Wow Flowers (for the "Thank You" in the center circle)

Ink: Early Espresso classic ink

Paper:Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist, Whisper White cardstock

Accessories: 1/2" circle punch, 3/4" circle punch, 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Scalloped circle punch, lots of Stampin' Dimensionals

Non-Stampin' Up! Supplies: yellow fabric flowers, BLING

Thanks for stopping by!