October 21, 2014

Simple Christmas Wish - CAS(E) This Sketch #96

October 21, 2014/ Shannon Jaramillo

Hello there stampers! We are starting to get closer to Christmas...have you started your cards yet? No? Well then, here's an idea for a quick and fun Christmas card that would be easy to mass produce!

Simple Christmas Wish - CAS(E) This Sketch #96

What do you think? Two stamp sets and a touch of DSP and you are all set!

My inspiration for this card was the super-duper cute sketch this week over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

Isn't that a great sketch?

Design Notes:

Small details like the scallop edge can make a big difference
Using just a bit of Designer Series Paper can stretch your holiday dollars...you can make 16 of the same card with just one 12 x 12 sheet of Designer Series Paper!
Using one ink for all of the images saves time!
I used a Framlit for my sentiment but if you don't have one, no problem! Just substitute for a hand-trimmed square or perhaps a circle punch!
Add a bit of sparkle without the glitter mess with Wink of Stella

I'm working to have all my Christmas stash of cards and tags ready to go by Halloween...I better get on it!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, I truly appreciate your time!

October 11, 2014

Boo the Friendly Ghost - RS#135 & FabFri52

October 11, 2014/ Shannon Jaramillo

Here I am beginning my weekend with two fabulous challenges! First I spotted this challenge over at Retro Sketches:

The challenge is that I get to look through ALL of their past sketches and pick whatever I want!!! Oh my gosh, I was like a kid in a candy store...so many awesome choices! Ultimately, this one grabbed me:

Retro Sketch #9...a loonngggg rime ago but still relevant!! I paired the sketch with the color combo over at Fab Friday:

What a rough color combo...for me it only said Halloween but I wanted to make it a FUN Halloween, not scary. I think I succeeded :)

I used A LOT of supplies to make this fairly clean and simple card! lol. I'm not sure how that happens...

I knew where my ghostie needed to be immediately, but first I tried hexagons behind him. Ick. So I switched gears and pulled out Gorgeous Grunge and then stamped off with my colors before stamping onto my card. Perfect! Just a touch of Tangelo Twist :) Then a few randomly cut pieces of card stock with some Linen Thread to keep it fun. Add a bow, a not-so-scary "BOO" and there you go! Well, not quite. I had to go back and add some scary eyes (in place of my beloved Candy Dots) and NOW it's complete!

Did you spot my mistake? I kept looking at my card after I was done and realized that the set of eyes above Boo the Ghost should have been stamped black to keep my sets of three going...but I don't think your average 7 year old will notice :)

And now I'm inspired to pull out the Halloween decorations :)

Have a great day and I will be back tomorrow with another fun challenge from the Can You Case It Design Team :)

October 05, 2014

Country Christmas - CYCI39

October 05, 2014/ Shannon Jaramillo

Hello Stampers! I'm back today with the Can You Case It Design team and we have a fun sketch for you this week!

There are so many possibilities! My design is one that popped into my head a few days ago while running errands... I always have stamping on my mind!

The lovely embossing folder I used for the background is called On Point. It isn't actually trees, but the shape matched the new Tree Punch perfectly! So it works at Christmas and then throughout the year as well!

I embossed the folder and then trimmed it into four sections. I played with different patterns of the Trim the Tree Designer Series Paper Stack until I found a few patterns that worked well together. Along the way, my card turned a bit country with the patterns so I kept that theme up with all of my other decisions.

I stamped my tree in Garden Green...aren't all the details lovely? So easy to stamp and punch! I stamped the base in Early Expresso and the star in Cherry Cobbler and then fussy cut both out. I popped all of three pieces up with Stampin' Dimensionals and then decided to add the little Cardinal. He's also been fussy cut and popped up. I have used this set before but I only ever noticed the tree stamps, I didn't even see all of these fun little accent stamps!! LOVE them!!!

And isn't the sentiment so cute? There's a matching stamp for the inside of the card as well...

So darling!! I felt that the card needed just a bit "more" so I reached for Candy Dots in Early Expresso, Cherry Cobbler and Garden Green. They add the perfect finishing touch!

I hope you have time to pop on over to the Can You Case It challenge blog to see what the other designers have created with this fun sketch! I can't wait to see what you create!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

September 13, 2014

Hello Fall! - PPA219 and FMS153

September 13, 2014/ Shannon Jaramillo

Hello there and Hello Fall!! Well, maybe Fall for y'all but not for us here in Southern California! It's supposed to get to 106 degrees this weekend! Yikes! We can pretend it's here though by decorating and tuning in to college football:)

Today's card was inspired by two challenges...the color challenge over at the Pals Paper Arts and the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I'm quite pleased with how this card turned out as I have been fussing to myself about this color combination all week. Fall colors just don't come easily to me. I just tried a few new techniques and found a way to make it all work for me!

I started with a Cajun Craze base and built from there. I knew I wanted to die cut my leaf from the Fun Fall Framlits Dies set three times so I eyeballed their placement and tacked the die down with Post-It tape so it wouldn't move. Sometimes even with the magnetic base, smaller dies need a bit of extra help!

Once I had the dies all cut out, I laid a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock underneath the die cut openings and tacked everything down again so I could stamp right through the openings onto the cardstock below. EZ Peasy!

I wanted an aged look to my leaves from the Fall Fest Stamp Set (this stamp set coordinates with the Fun Fall Framelits Dies and you can purchase them together and save 15%!!) so I tried a technique I learned about over at Wild West Paper Arts...my Adhesive Remover!

I inked up my stamp, stamped it directly onto the uneven surface of the Adhesive Remover (calling 'kissing') and then stamped it onto my card. Clean the stamp and the adhesive remover off and repeat! That's it! So easy and fun! Isn't the distressed look awesome?

I added layers of cardstock to set off the Very Vanilla card front, added some Linen Twine to continue the distressed look, and finished it off with a button in Cajun Craze. The ca-yoot sentiment is from the For All Things Stamp Set. So fun!

I used Stampin' Dimensionals to pop my card front layer off the card base and add dimension. I like to work in threes, so I had to add Candy Dots to my card to both balance out my layout as well as complete my sets of threes.

I had fun adding decoration to the inside of the card as well and finished the card off by adding a coordinated pattern paper from the Color Me Autumn Designer Series Paper as an envelope liner! What do you think??

I had a lot of fun with these challenges and just missed the deadline for adding it to the Paper Players Challenge this week which was a Fall card! I've not ever participated in three challenges at once...darn! I was so close! Oh well...next time!

Have a wonderful day and I will be back tomorrow with a new challenge from the Can You Case It Challenge Blog :)