inky friends: handmade holidays blog hop

October 12, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Welcome to My Inky Friends: Handmade Holidays Blog Hop! You will find lots of inspiration for you Holiday crafting! You should have arrived here from Paula and her wonderful Country Home projects. Weren’t they great? If you are starting the hop here, make sure you go through and check out all the stops. You don’t want to miss a thing.

My projects are putting the fantastic set Merry Christmas to All in the spotlight. This is a great holiday greeting set and the coordinating Merry Christmas Thinlits take it to the next level. I just love the dimension and texture of die cut words. I paired this great set with the amazing Joyous Noel designer series paper. I love the new Merry Merlot color. Paired with a touch of copper, it is perfect for elegant holiday projects. I decided to create a card, gift package and ornament trio. Let’s start with the card.

Isn’t that paper gorgeous!? I also used a bit of Neutrals 6×6 DSP (the Crumb Cake dot panel) I layered a Pearlized Doily with a Stitched Shapes circle cut from Wood Textures DSP. A tiny bit of Copper Glimmer Paper draws out the copper foil in the Joyous Noel DSP. I also added a tiny tree from the Festive Farmhouse Elements. The sentiment is stamped on the Wood Texture DSP in Early Espresso Ink. I think it gives a wood burned look to the image.

Next up is a cute little gift card pouch. I started with one of the Kraft Pillow Boxes. I just love those little white polka dots. I kept some of the elements from the card, but changed them up a bit to make the belly band wrapped around the pillow box.

Finally, I made this fun medallion ornament. I started with two 4″x12″ strips of the DSP. I scored them every half inch, fan folded them the assembled them into the medallion. Once again I used the Pearlized Doily and a Stitched Shape circle, this time cut out of Crumb Cake card stock. I added a few snowflakes from the Blizzard Thinlit with added rhinestones.

A fabulous trio perfect for holiday gifting! I am now sending you over to Rhonda and her fun projects with the tiny take-out box! They are so much fun!

Thanks for stopping by! Join me again to put a spotlight on creativity!

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Christmas Wreath

October 5, 2018 By Mary Haugen

The weather here has been nutso this week.. We dropped into the 40’s, back into the 50’s, jumped up to the 80’s for a day, then plummeted back to the low 50’s. Plus rain every other day. Please, bring back the sun and some warmth! I am not ready for winter. At all. I think I need to move farther south.

In spite of the weather, I have been busy creating some fun Christmas cards. And I just got some new goodies that I can’t wait to play with this weekend! I’m excited to share those projects with you soon. Today I have a card that puts the wonderful Wishing You Well set center stage.

I love the combination of Crumb Cake, White and a touch of copper! I embossed the wreath in white and added little “berries” with the Bright Copper Shimmer Paint. I used the stylus end of the Take Your Pick Tool, dipped it in the Copper Shimmer Paint and dotted it on the wreath. a great way to add some detail with the shimmer paint. A Copper Trim bow is a great finishing touch for the wreath. The sentiment is embossed in copper on a little tag cut from the Stitched Labels Framelits. This would be an easy card to mass produce.

While I am not ready for winter and the cold and gray skies that come with it, I do love Christmas and creating fun cards to send to friends and family. But, hey! I can do that year round!! Hmmm – maybe I do just need to move where it is warmer….

That’s a wrap for today. Please, join me again to put a spotlight on creativity!

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stamp review crew: buffalo check

September 30, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Time for the Stamp Review Crew to put another great stamp set in the spotlight! Today’s blog hop is featuring the amazing Buffalo Check background stamp. Buffalo Plaid is very trendy and yet timeless. It can be found all over fashion and home decor. With this stamp, your card making can be on top of one of the hottest trends too! It is great for any occasion and can be the star of the show, or a great supporting role.

Let’s start with featuring Buffalo Check in a supporting role.

Stamped in Crumb Cake ink on Whisper White card stock, Buffalo Check makes a great base for this bouquet from the Wishing You Well set. The layers and ribbon look black in the photo, but it is actually Night of Navy. The flowers and heart are Lovely Lipstick. I love the little corrugated tag!

The next card puts Buffalo Check in the leading role.

Stamped in black ink on Real Red card stock, you get the iconic buffalo plaid. I used the tiny cup from the Coffee Cups framelits and layered it on a white Stitched Shapes circle. I hand wrote the sentiment to get just what I wanted and to fit the space. The ’tis the season repeated on the right is from Itty Bitty Greetings. Final touches are a few pine sprigs from the Pretty Pines Thinlits and tree from the Festive Farmhouse Elements. I used the backside of the tree and colored it with my Garden Green Stampin’ Write marker.

One last card. I know I have shared it before, but it showcases this stamp so well.

I think this is one of my favorite Christmas cards I have made this year. I love Buffalo Check paired with the log patten from the Wood Textures designer series paper stack. (I don’t know why the tiny bit got blurred out in the photo. must have blended with my backdrop too much.)

If you are #madforbuffaloplaid like me, this stamp is a must have. Check out the rest of the stops on the blog hop for more amazing Buffalo Check inspiration! You can go back to the wonderfully talented Nikki or move on to the uber creative Stesha. Enjoy the rest of the hop and join me again to put a spotlight on creativity.

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inky friends: 2018 holiday catalog showcase

September 14, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Welcome to My Inky Friends 2018 Holiday catalog Showcase blog hop! We are shining the spotlight on some of the great new stamp sets in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog. If you are following the hop in order, you have come here from Cindy and her wonderful Winter Woods display. Now, join me as I put the fantastic Wishing You Well set center stage.

I love a versatile set and this one really is great for any season. So, let’s take a look at some of it’s many talents.

I love this wreath with the Wood Textures designer series paper! Lemon lime twist and Berry Burst create a vibrant contrast to the wood. A wonderful card just to let someone know you are thinking of them. But, change out the greeting and this would work for a Christmas card as well. See, versatile!

Since this is the HOLIDAY Catalog showcase, I naturally had to make a Christmas card. I went with traditional green and red, but chose to work with bright and bold Lemon Lime Twist (I seriously can not get enough of this color!) and Poppy Parade.

I love how the bit of striped Poppy Parade paper peeking out from the main panel echoes the striped Poppy Parade ribbon! The three little pearls were colored with my Poppy Parade Stampin’ Blends marker. Voila – perfect coordination! This would be an easy card to mass produce. Simple, but with some fun little details to make it interesting.

That’s a wrap for me. I will now send you over to Twila who is showcasing one of my favorite sets – Dashing Deer. Thanks for stopping by! Come back again and join me in putting a spotlight on creativity!

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dashing deer

September 10, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Let’s kick off the week with another Christmas card. Now, I am totally NOT ready for winter: the snow, cold, short days, ice, cold, gray skies, cold, snow and did I mention the cold? But, with the release of the NEW Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog – and so many great products waiting to be used – it is hard not to get a jump start on some great Holiday creating! Today’s card is a wonderful Christmas greeting using the Dashing Deer stamp set, coordinating Detailed Deer thinlits and Joyous Noel designer series paper.

First off, I love the Joyous Noel designer series paper! The touches of copper accents really dress it up. I started with a strip of it on the left and added a thin strip of copper foil sheet on a Gray Granite card base. I stamped the greeting on the right to create the background for the deer die cut. I really love the pattern on this deer stamp. I added a couple of the tiny flowers cut out of copper foil and layered with a pearl center, and a bow made from Braided Linen Trim. I am loving these colors for Christmas cards. Do you like to change up your Christmas color schemes or are you a traditional green and red person?

That’s a wrap for today. Join me again to put a spotlight on creativity!

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holiday catalog is here

September 5, 2018 By Mary Haugen

It’s here! The Stampin’ Up! 2018 Holiday Catalog is here and loaded with fabulous products and creative inspiration. Let’s kick it off with a project that features a couple of great new products. Buffalo Check background stamp and Merry Christmas to All bundle.

Isn’t this just perfect for a woodsy Christmas?! The Buffalo Check is stamped in black on Real Red card stock and backed with the log design from the Wood Textures designer series paper stack. Kind of has a lumberjack feel, doesn’t it. Change out the Sentiment and it would be great a great guy card “Merry” is cut out in Tranquil Tide with one of the Merry Christmas Thinlit dies. I really love die cut words, and this thinlit set has FOUR! “Christmas” from the Merry Christmas to All stamp set is stamped in black on a strip of Very Vanilla card stock. A bit of Linen Thread and a few gold metallic pearls add just the right finishing touch. I’m ready to curl up with some hot cocoa, flannel and fuzzy socks. Just kidding, I’m am NOT ready for that just yet. I’ll keep the sun shine, shorts and flip flops for a bit longer, thank you. (Seriously, I am NOT ready for winter…)

That’s a wrap for today. Come back and join me again to put a spotlight on creativity!

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inky friends: dc9

August 31, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Time for a design challenge from My Inky Friends! For this challenge, we are featuring a square sketch, inspired by page 16 of the Annual Catalog.

I decided to use some new items from the Stampin’ Up! Holiday catalog which goes live tomorrow! It is chock full of fantastic goodies for all of your holiday projects! For this challenge, I used the Dashing Deer Bundle – stamp set and coordinating thinlits – and the Joyous Noel Specialty Designer Series Paper. Oh. My. Goodness. It is sooooooo pretty! The copper foil accents are stunning.

Colors are Sahara Sand, Gray Granite and Copper. A close up look at a few details:

The vellum circle is cut out with one of the Stitched Shaped Framelits. The sprig is from the Frosted Bouquet Framelits (part of the Frosted Floral Suite) cut out of Copper Foil. For the Soft Suede strip I crumpled it up then separated the layers so it has a look of suede (difficult to see in the photo). I used the Bright Copper Shimmer Paint and the stylus end from the Take your Pick too. to put the copper details on the image at the bottom of the card.

Finished project is a 5″x5″ card. I love the neutral tones on this. What a fantastic Christmas greeting to send.

Head over to My Inky Friends blog and check out the other projects based on this sketch. I hope you will join us and play along. Create your project based on this sketch then upload a link to it on My Inky Friends blog to share it with us. We love to see your projects!

That’s a wrap for today. Join me again to put a spotlight on creativity!

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