November/ December Catalogue New Product Blog Hop

    Welcome to the current round of blog hops.  In this round, we will be featuring our favourite product(s) from the November/ December Seasonal Idea Book.   Remember, this is a Hop in the Round; meaning, if you visit everyone then you'll end up where you started.  If you've come from  Becca, then you're in the right place.  If you get lost along the way, just visit Melinda for the List of Hoppers.

   When I opened this catty for the first time, I remember flicking through the first few pages, until I came to page 14, and then I went "WOW!!", and I fell in love with Serenity.  There's no way I can tell you what it is I like about it because there's so much that I do like.  It's just WOW!  Having said that, I couldn't pick JUST 1 product to feature- there's just so many I HAD to HAVE!  I've mixed a few to show you.

   I wanted to do lots of pretty projects to show off this paper pack but I've restrained myself to just 1 2-page layout and a couple cards.  While I wouldn't classify Serenity as a 'Christmas' paper, or even a 'Winter' paper, it does lend itself to many pretty cards, including cards for the holiday season.  Have a look:

 

   I just love the Blue & Brown colour combination.  I've used 3 of the designer papers here, along with a few of the snowflakes from Elegant Snowflakes (Z3899), a little of the Blue Belle Shimmer Trim, the Steel Stickles and the Blue Belle Glitter Gems.  Sentiment is stamped in Sapphire ink, on Daisy White.  Just a simple card with a lot of layers.

  

  The next card is just a bit of silliness but I like it!

   Here, I've used the Toffee Zipstrip along with the 'variegated blue ice' paper (my name, LOL) as a background for 1 of those silly Christmas Gnomes from Gnome for Christmas (Z3902).  The sentiment is stamped in Blue Belle and matted on Sapphire.  The Gnome, his Mushmas tree (Christroom?) and pressie are coloured with a variety of Triblend markers.  I wanted to bring in the colour scheme from Jingle Joy for this- a variety of pinks and greens and lighter blues.  I think it looks cute (and my husband wants to send this one to his family- LOL).  To finish off, I put a drop of Red Stickles for the holly berry on the Gnome's hat and used the clear Shimmer Brush to lend a little sparkle to the ornaments on the Mushmas tree.

   Finally, here's the 2 page layout I came up with:

I used that variegated paper as my base and cut down the pinecone paper to 9x10.  There's room for 2-4x6's, 2- 4x3's and 2-3x3's, along with any combination of flipflaps!  I used a few of the items off the Sticker Sheet and a couple of the PML cards too- the brown one is for journaling and the snowflake is for interest (note- I used a blue sequin from the Blue Belle pack for the center).  To add a little sparkle, I sprinkled more of the sequins around the pages.  I really like the 2 corner features I came up with to 'contain' the group.  

   Well, I hope you've liked what I've had to show you.  Please visit everyone and don't forget to leave comments- we love to hear from you!  Now you're off to Brenda .  I hope you've found some inspiration here.  Have a gander at the Nov/ Dec Seasonal Idea Book;  undoubtedly, there's something there to make you go WOW! too.

Holiday Cards Blog Hop

Holiday Season Card Hop

   Welcome Back!  This Hop is all about Seasonal Holiday cards, whether you celebrate Christmas or Hannukah or something else entirely, whether you're closer to the North Pole and have already had snow, or if you're celebrating in board shorts under a palm tree. 

The only requirement we had was the products used had to be available for purchase online (you can visit me here in Canada at Newfie-Scrapper, and more about that later*).  This is a 'Hop in the Round', meaning you should end up where you began if you visit all the participants.  If you get lost, you can find a master list of 'hoppers' with Melinda.  If you've come from Lauren, then you're in the right place!  Let's get started!!

 

 

I wanted to show several cards made using Comfort and Joy and Jingle Joy, Blue Belle and the latest set of Mix-Ins.  I made 3 cards with C&J, 2 with JJ and 3 more using the Colour of the Year- Blue Belle.  Let's take a look at the Comfort and Joy cards first.

The first Card uses the November Stamp of the Month- You Warm My Heart (S2011/E).  This card was a bit of an 'Oops' for me because I had a very particular picture of what it should look like in my head and the reality doesn't quite match- LOL.  I stamped the cup in black ink, on the red and fussy cut it out (Note: if you have Perk Up! Thin Cuts, they will fit the cup but not the lid).  I had wanted to highlight the center of the cup using *white* Embossing powder but apparently my 'white' is actually clear, hence the 'oops'! 

Products used include: Comfort & Joy ppk (X7261B), Clear Embossing powder, SOTM** 2011(E), Scarlet cardstock, Glacier ink, Black ink, Blue Belle glitter gems, and Daisy White cardstock.  I LOVE this month's SOTM;  remember, it's only available during November, so order yours now.

 

 

 The second C&J** card uses strips of C&J patterned paper, along with a little Black cs (cardstock).  I used the wreath and banner from the C&J card kit (G1216).  

  Products used include: the larger Stitched Fancy Bracket die (Z3686), New England Ivy cs and ink, Glacier cs, Serenity PML** cards (X7263D), Toffee ink and Christmas Red Stickles (Z3555). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The third C&J card again uses strips, a little New England Ivy cs and the light green patterned paper, with the Zip strip attached. I stamped the sentiment (from C&J- cardmaking stamp & Thin Cuts, Z3773/ C1864) in Candy Apple and die cut it, attaching it with 3-D tape and embellishing with the holly leaves stamp and Red Stickles.

 

 

 

 

 The next set of cards all use Blue Belle. 

 

For the Joy card, I stamped M1283 on a pc of white cs cut with the Stitched Bracket TC** (Z3631).  I used the long stamp from Elegant Snowflakes-Z3899/ D1981 to stamp along the folded edge of the card and random stamped a medium sized snowflake across the card base.  I covered half the stamped card base with a triangle of BB cs**.  I finished it off with a little Steel Stickles (Z3786).  A nice Simple card!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first Noel card uses M1281, stamped in Sapphire ink, on a piece of white cs die cut with a Stitched Bracket TC (Z3631). The patterned pc is from the most recent Mix-In ppk, X9021, and I used strips of Toffee and BB cs.  The sentiment was popped on 3D tape, allowing for the addition of a little Silver Thread (Z4213) embellishment.

 

 

 

 

 

The last Noel card also uses M1281, stamped in Sapphire on the same shape of white cs.  Again, I used 2 patterns from the Mix-In ppk (X9021) and a pc of BB cs.  I finished it off with the addition of a few BB glitter gems (Z7001). 

 

Just a note on the 2 Noel cards- I debated highlighting parts of the Noel stamp with silver embossing powder (maybe just the inner line) but in the end decided not to, although I think it would look really nice.

 

And, finally, the 2 Jingle Joy cards.  I love when we have 'candy-cane' papers, just can't resist using them!  As you see, I used it here with the Multi Square Window TC and Jolly Characters- C1875. I stamped the characters on leftovers from previous die cuts (white) and then coloured the characters using a variety of Tri-Blend markers. I mounted it all on a black cs mat.  The sentiment, from Elegant Snowflakes (D1981), is stamped in Black on a die cut pc of white cs (Z3631). I popped the sentiment on 3D tape and finished by adding a few BB glitter gems.

And the last card also uses the striped JJ** patterned paper and Jolly Characters- C1875. I cut a strip of the black patterned paper and this Zip strip and placed them over  (!!NOT stuck to) the bottom part of a pc of white cs and ran them thru my die cutter (Z3688).  Then I centered and stamped my character trio and coloured them in.  THEN, I stuck the Zip strip and patterned paper down, centered on a pc of Clover cs and centered again on the candy cane paper.  I stamped the sentiment (from C1875) onto a pc of white cs cut with the smallest TC in that pack (Z3631) and embellished with a bit of silver thread (Z4213).

 

I hope you've enjoyed my cards and have found something to inspire you!  From me, you're off to visit Alyson.  Happy Hopping!

* pls note:  all products used WERE available at the time I made this post.  Since then, several of them have either sold out (not to be restocked) or have been placed on the Unavailable/ Back-ordered List (will be made available again).  I believe the only item sold out is the Comfort and Joy cardmaking kit (G1216), which stamp is used in the 2nd C&J card.  Pls contact either myself or your consultant for help purchasing these items.

**cs= cardstock, ppk= paper pack, SOTM= Stamp of the Month, pc=piece, PML= Picture My Life, BB= Blue Belle, C&J= Comfort and Joy, JJ= Jingle Joy, TC= Thin Cut

November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome back to the Stamp of the Month blog hop.  This month we'll be featuring November's- You Warm My Heart (S2011/E)- it is available in both American and British English spelling (cosy vs cozy).  This is a Hop-in-the-Round, so if you visit everyone, you should end up where you began.  If you've come from Kristine then you're in the right place!

    While I understand people's obsession with coffee, I just can't drink it.  I'm a total Tea- lover.  But I have nothing against a nice 'grande' Cider or Hot Chocolate with a whipped cream topper!  Tea is for all year long/ all day long, cider is a Fall fav and Hot Chocy goes down well while snuggling under a nice warm blanket with a book (reader) and a cat (or 2!)- Bailey's or Godiva optional LOL.

 

     

    I have quite a collection of 'food and drink' type stamps, so I was very happy to see this one and quickly added it to my cart!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Here's my offering for this month's hop; I hope you like it!

   I used Blue Belle, Toffee and Espresso inks, Triblend markers in the same range, as well as red and green for the candy cane and a Black journaling pen for the small accents.  The cup was stamped in Blue Belle, then I wiped the ink off the back rim and handle and filled them in with a Toffee- like marker.  I hadn't clued in that the little design elements actually matched the cup and coffee cup until AFTER I was done, so I used one of my Embossing pens to draw in the designs on the cup, then I heat embossed with Silver powder.  I wanted to achieve the look of a blue/ tan cup with silver motif.  And of course the hot chocolate must have whipped cream and cocoa sprinkles on top, with a little candy cane stir stick!  The 'tablecloth' is from the latest Mix-ins pack, the 'saucer' is the liquid stamp, in Toffee, and I created the background/ wallpaper with a little French Vanilla cardstock and 1 of the smaller element stamps from this set.  

   Please be sure to visit all the participants.  From me, you're off to Haley.  We love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave comments.  Don't forget, if you get lost, you can pick up the trail with Melinda .  Happy Hopping!