Monday 4 October 2010

A Cute Christmas Project

It's a long weekend here in Australia, the 2nd in 2 weeks. Yes we love our holidays! Not that it makes any difference to me as my life is one long holiday now that I've retired! So what better thing to do than stamp!

I saw this project on a challenge from the Christmas Stamping All Year Long blog, via Feline Playful the most wonderful site for collecting loads of different challenges. It saves you so much time as lots of challenges are listed daily.

I followed the tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers and came up with this solution. I've used lots of my new products from Stampin' Up!® that only arrived on Friday, so it was great fun.

After making the double pocket bag, I decided to create a traditional Christmas theme (I have plans for a modern one too) and thought I'd give the new Classic ink - Cherry Cobler, a bit of a work out. It does coordinate very well with this DSP form the "Jolly Holiday" Designer Series Paper pack available in our new Catalogue.

I've also been doing quite a bit of inked dry embossing with various folders and my Big Shot. This folder is one I bought in the USA last year, and reminds me of snow. At first I inked the folder up by swiping the ink pad directly onto the folder, but the image was a little too dark for what I envisaged, so I just ran another sheet of paper through to get a lighter tone. Perfect!

As I am also entering this in the Midnight Madness Challenge # 74, I followed the sketch for that challenge, but just adhered it to the side of the bag.


The detail photo shows you some of the techniques I've used while stamping the main image. I used my brayer to create the sky inside the circle, then stamped the lovely scene from "A Wish For Peace" by Stampin' Up! in Cherry Cobler. The circle was cut using the Circles # 2 die for the Big Shot, and the border circle was made with my Circle Scisssors Plus. I used a Blender  Pen to drag a little of the colour around in the image, and then tore some card stock to create a mask for sponging the foreground. I used the same technique of the blender pen on the skating couple (Winter Post stamp set) before cutting them out and raising them on Dimensionals. The angel charm is from my stash, as is the Twill Tape.

Part of the CAYL challenge was to make a card to match the bag. Being one to not like too much waste. I decided to utilize the first ink embossed piece of card (you remember the one that was too dark for the bag). So here is the card.


This time I've placed the Cherry Cobler onto a Vanilla Confetti card base. I've also used the new Scallop Trim Border Punch, and the image is from the Winter Post stamp set by SU.  I have just inked the stamp once and stamped off to achieve the 3 shades of Cherry.

And this is what they look like together - I've placed one card in each side of the bag.



This project is for the following challenges:
MMSC#74
 Christmas Card Challenge # 44
Let's Ink It Up
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge: Layer it on.
Paper Sundaes Challenge # 38: something from your stash
The Paper Players #18 Monochromatic
Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturdays:  Open

Wow - this is a first for me - trying to link to more than one challenge so let's hope I find everything OK.  Glad you've stopped by to have a look and I hope my cards and bag have given you some inspiration. I think this makes a really cute as well as practical gift for any age group. 

Until next time,
Happy Stamping,

 








22 comments:

  1. Hi, Stunning creations, love your colour and stamp choices. Thanks for joining us at LIIU and hope to see you again real soon. Cheers Suzanne

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  2. Your Project is so sweet. I love your christmas design!
    Great Job!!!

    Thank you for playing with us on the LET'S INK IT UP challenge. Good Luck!

    Hugs,
    Agnieszka

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  3. Hello Ann - there is no doubt about you my friend - 5 challenges this week - you are amazing!! I love this card - you make me want to be better at what I do Ann - you always take your cards that bit further and I am always inspired!! I am loving this!! Thanks for joining us at the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge this week - we appreciate your support! {{{hugs}}}
    Linda MMSC Design Team

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  4. Wow, this is lovely! The colors are fantastic. Very cool idea. So glad you joined us for this weeks Christmas Card challenge!

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  5. Wow! These are gorgeous! I would be tempted to keep them rather than give them away! lol Thanks for joining us at Sparkle's Christmas card challenge this week!

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  6. Love the vintage feel of the bag! Thanks for playing at Let's Ink It Up!

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  7. These are beautiful!

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  8. Oh wow these are gorgeous, just love how you have created them. Thank you for playing at LIIU. Annette x

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  9. WOW, what a gorgeous note card set!! I just love that red and white together, so beautiful. I'm going to have to try the inked dry embossing. Hope mine turns out as good as yours!!

    Thanks for joining us this week and "using your stash" at Paper Sundae's.

    Hugs,
    Wendy

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  10. wow! This is amazing! Love the set you created! The tote is amazing!
    Thanks for joining us at Paper Sundaes this week!

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  11. beautiful creations! I love the color and style you used!

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  12. Absolutely gorgeous projects! Thanks for joining The Paper Players this week!

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  13. That is so pretty. Thanks for playing with Lets Ink It Up.

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  14. Gorgeous work, i love the colour you've used and the stamping is beautiful! Thanks for joining us at Let's Ink It Up and good luck
    Claire xx

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  15. I am totally blown away by this incredible gift set! I would never have thought to use these colors, but it is beautiful. AND you have the most infinite amount of patience I have ever seen, to cut out those skaters! Just stunning....amazing!
    Thanks so much for playing with the Paper Players this week!

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  16. Hi Ann

    Fantastic creations, so much detail and love the colour. Thank you for playing at Let's Ink It Up.

    Hugs Ali x

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  17. Wow - what a great project! Thanks for joining us at Paper Sundaes!

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  18. Stunning work! Thanks for joining the Paper Players this week.
    Lesley

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  19. Ann, this is wonderful! Wonderful monochromatic design and fabulous detailing! Fantastic gift set collection! Thanks so much for playing along with us at Stamptacular Sunday Challenges!

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  20. Absolutely gorgeous! Such a perfect pairing of stamps, papers & embellies! Thanks for joining us at SSC this week.

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  21. Ann, fabulously creative. Perfectly monochromatic. So much heart, love and effort went into this project and it was absolutely worth it!
    So glad you joined the Paper Players this week
    jaydee

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  22. Beautiful monochrome effect ! Thanks for playing in our Paper Sundaes Challenge!

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Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I hope you found something to inspire your creativity. Let me know you have visited by leaving a comment. I would love to hear what you think about my craft projects.
Live in Australia? You can purchase Stampin' Up! products via my On-Line Store?
Best wishes, Ann.