Archives for October 2009

I can’t believe there are only 12 weeks till Christmas! It will have come and gone before we know it. I am planning a weekly post with holiday ideas and ways to organize and break into smaller tasks all of our holiday stamping. I hope these posts will be helpful and inspire you to stamp some holiday fun this season.

I’ll be showing cards as well as fun little gift and packaging ideas, like this one. Isn’t this little top note bag adorable? This is one featured on our demonstrator website.

Watch for the first post on Tuesday, as we get ready to count down to Christmas!

Enjoy the rest of World Card Making Day! 

It is World Card Making Day!

If you are still wondering what World Card Making Day is all about, it is really pretty simple. It’s about making cards! October begins the busiest card making/crafting season of the year, and so it is only appropriate to kick of the season with a day when paper crafters everywhere are focused on the same thing. Making cards! Whether you are working on Christmas cards or a birthday card for Aunt Betty, it is just fun to have a day set aside for our favorite hobby.

In honor of the event, I have some fun activities planned for today and I hope you get to play along!

Let’s Make Some Cards!

The hardest thing about making cards, is getting started! So I have designed some challenges to give you a direction to go in. Then whether you make one card today, or fifty, you could earn some free stuff! Here is how. Make a card today! Any card, any design, any style. Scan or photograph a copy of your card and email it to me at nbtubby@tds.net .Please try to keep the file under 200K and send only .jpg files! I will post them on Monday, so you really have two days to finish your cards. One of the lucky participants will win this FREE SET!

But that is not all! I am also giving away another FREE set to those who want to play along with the design challenge! If you would like to have a chance to win this FREE SET……….

Just play along according to these rules. Design a card using this sketch as inspiration……….. OR for a color challenge, design a card using only Black and White card stock, ink and embellishments (clear bling counts as white).

For the design challenge you can use as much creative license as you need, as long as you maintain some of the design elements. I have included a step it up version. The basic card should have a patterned paper or stamped card layer, then your main image (doesn’t have to be square) layered over a ribbon or some other horizontal element (all of the grey colored elements). See the first card in the examples for a version of the very basic design. Then if you like, you can step it up by adding another element in the area depicted by the black oval. The Wings of Friendship card uses the card design more strictly while the other two cards show you some other variations. Get as creative as you like. Use whatever you have on hand. Your card doesn’t have to be Stampin’ Up! only, but if it is, I will feature it in my gallery with artist credit. Email a .jpg copy of your card to the address above and you will be in the drawing for the second free set. Please try to keep the file under 200K and send only .jpg files!  Keep in mind that I haven’t advertised my blog to anyone but my newsletter recipients as of yet, so the odds of winning are pretty good! Don’t be intimidated!

A sketch can help you make cards in a snap. The basic design for this card is shown in the grey components. Then step it up by adding a sentiment or embellishment where the black oval is shown. 

The first card uses the basic design, just a patterned background with a focal element layered over a ribbon.

 This card shows a more strict interpretation of the layout.

This card uses an embellishment, rather than the oval sentiment

And the last sample uses both challenges. I only used black and white and added a row of clear rhinestone brads for my horizontal element.

I hope you get to stamp  today! It is a great day to get started thinking about Christmas cards. Watch for a post later today, kicking off the 12 weeks of Christmas! This will be a weekly post with planning tips and great ideas for holiday stamping!

Happy Stampin’!