Stamp With LisaT

Christmas Card Rejects - Part 2

In yesterday's post, I shared some "concept" cards I made for a customer who wanted to make 130 Christmas cards. The final card had to have a way to contain a photo of her kids, but first I just made up a few 'regular' cards using color combinations and patterned paper that appealed to her.

Today I'm sharing two cards made in the winning color combination - Kraft and Bordering Blue. This is such a peaceful & soothing color combination - I really like it (and so did my customer)!

The card above is simple & elegant - a winner if you're looking for something you can turn out in a hurry.  I dressed up what might otherwise be a too-plain card by crimping the bottom of the front. It adds some texture and visual interest without crowding or overwhelming the card. I've used this layout before, so it might look familiar to some of you.

This card features the new Serene Snowflakes dressed up as ornaments. I stamped Whisper White craft ink directly onto the card stock. Last year, I made a similar card with vellum layered on top of the card stock. You can see that card and get some tips for embossing on vellum in that post.

In the next day or two, I'll share the layout of the final version of the card. We found a great way to make the card more than a simple fold-over card and to showcase her photo. I won't share the final card itself (that's Barb's card!), but the layout I will share - it's fun, interesting, and not too hard to mass produce.

Rec ipe for both cards (images copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2009):
Paper: Kraft, Bordering Blue, Very Vanilla
Ink: Basic Gray, Soft Suede
Stamps: Delightful Decorations, Serene Snowflakes, Four the Holidays
Accessories: Ornament Punch, paper crimper, silver elastic cord, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, dimensionals

Christmas Card Rejects

I have a customer who makes her own Christmas cards every year. She makes about 130 and seems to whip them out in no time at all - and they're never 'easy' cards! I help her design the cards each year - we get together and take a look at the colors, patterned papers and stamps that appeal to her. Then I make up a couple of samples and we take it from there.

Although she likes cards with unique folds and always looks for a clever way to enclose a picture of her children, here are some of the 'plain' concept cards I made for her this year. They're not really rejects - just part of the process!

These samples use Kraft paper and the Christmas Cocoa paper:

(the middle star ended up with a gold brad in the center after I took this photo - it just needed something!)

That's it - 3 simple cards, each well suited for mass production! If you haven't started your cards yet, you can't get much simpler than this. They each use such a little bit of the patterned paper that your paper pack will go a long way!

No separate recipes, but I used Kraft, Real Red, Soft Suede & Whisper White card stock, Soft Suede and Real Red Ink, Christmas Cocoa DSP, Season of Joy & Dasher stamp sets, corner rounder, 3/4" circle punch, gold elastic cord, Real Red Grosgrain ribbon, Star Punch, dimensionals - think that's it! Enjoy!
  

Shopping Bag Card

These cards are so fun & easy to make! They easily hold a gift card, cash or small gift. I featured a tutorial for this in my December newsletter, which I mailed out to subscribers today. Not on the list for my free monthly emails? Sign up below, and I'll get December's issue right out to you. You'll also be in time for the last three weeks of my 12 Weeks of Christimas - a series of free project and card ideas for the holidays.

Here's a different view:

Subscribe to my free Monthly Newsletter!

For Email Marketing you can trust

 

 

 

All supplies Stampin' Up! Images copyright Stampin' Up 1990-2009

Photography Tips for Halloween

Halloween offers lots of opportunities for photographs, which, in turn, offers lots of opportunities for scrapbooking! Make sure you get the best Halloween shots by following some of these simple tips from PhotoJojo.com. Remember, there's no do-over for this fun night!

Lighting

Halloween is a particularly difficult holiday to shoot because most of the action occurs after dark, when low-light conditions make it difficult for your camera to get a sharp shot. You’ll get your best Halloween photos at dusk. For that hour or so while the sun is setting, you’ll have enough natural light to easily forgo your flash while still capturing the glow of your jack-o-lanterns and the bright colors of your costumes.

After dusk, use a high ISO setting (400 or more) and hold your camera as steady as you can (or use a tripod) to capture action without a flash. The rich, dark colors characteristic of Halloween are essential in setting a spooky mood, so make sure your flash doesn’t overpower them. Remember, Halloween’s not a bright holiday; and dark and creepy shots can work in your favor.

Brighten your pumpkins’ glow

Sure, you can stick a dozen candles in that puppy, but unless you want to risk a smoking jack-o-lantern, try adding a flashlight instead. Keep an eye on your angle so your camera can’t see the flashlight or its beam of light directly. (If you do opt for more candles, cut a hole in the upper, back part of the pumpkin–it’ll act as a chimney and allow your candles’ heat to escape.)

Quick tip: If you still can’t get the inner glow bright enough and you’re shooting indoors, try lowering or turning off your room lights to compensate.

For more great Halloween photography tips, check out the full article at PhotoJojo.com.

Have a safe and fun-filled Halloween!

Halloween Class Treats - Build A Bear Style

Here are the treats that I made for my son's 3 year-old nursery school class. Since the kids are so young, I used pretzels instead of candy. I put two bags of the Halloween pretzels inside a large cellophane bag and created a 'bag topper' of sorts to hold it together. The front is nothing special - I saved the fun part for the back!

 
 
I had a lot of fun decorating the back with the new Sizzix Stampin' Up! Bear (#117977) - the Build a Bear, as well as the  Kooky Spooky (#117979) dies. The pumpkins were easy. The witches took a little longer but were more fun. Kooky Spooky includes all of the Halloween accessories seen here - the pumpkins, witch's hat and broom. Using the dies is fun & easy - it's like paper piecing without the tedious cutting. Fun and seasonal, for treats, cards, scrapbook pages or other 3-D projects!

The teachers got their treats in some Frankenstein Backpacks that I had left over from last year. Click here for a tutorial.

Just have some teacher treats to make for my daughter's teachers & I'm all set! You can check back for them tomorrow.

What's coming after all of my Halloween treats? I've been playing with the Build a Bear dies and the new My Digital Studio - Stampin' Up!'s new digital papercrafting software. I've made fun cards, calendars, entire scrapbooks and individual pages. I even dabbled a little bit with multimedia projects (as much as my existing hardware & electronic gadgets will let me). There are a lot of very cool possibilities with this fun and (relatively) easy software. I just completed my certification requirements and will be sharing projects when I'm really happy with them - you probably won't be seeing my first attempts. Right now, one of my biggest obstacles is having enough related pictures to make a really nice themed album. I can see that I'll annoying my family by snapping lots more pictures!

Recipe: (all supplies Stampin' Up!; images copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2009):
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Garden Green, Basic Black, Creamy Caramel, Whisper White, Summer Sun, Close to Cocoa
Ink: Garden Green
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Accessories: Big Shot, Build a Bear, Build a Bear Kooky Spooky, Tag Punch, Small Tag Punch, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Large Cellophane Bags

Halloween Treat Pails

As promised, here are some of the other Halloween Treats that I worked on over the weekend. I picked up cute little tin pails that are about 3-4" tall. Filled some Medium Cellophane Bags (#102757) with candy, used stamps and punches, and embellished with Stampin' Up! ribbon. I made about 20 of them, and they're ready to go to school with my daughter on Friday!

Note: the cellophane bags work great for all types of things: treats, embellishments, etc. They'd also make a great "sleeve" to hold memorabilia on scrapbook pages. They come in 3 sizes: Small (3x5"), Medium (4x6") and Large (6x8"). They're easy to pass over in the catalog, but definitely worth checking out - see them on page 159.

I used Batty for You (#116576) for the stamped images in the scalloped circles, and my trusty Teeny Tiny Wishes (#115370) for the sentiment. Pretty easy, but lots of punching! Glue dots hold the paper onto the pails like nobody's business - even though the sentiments are wrapped/bent along the curve of the pail, they're still holding strong, and it's been several days. Gotta love those Stampin' Up! glue dots!

If you're looking for more Halloween treat ideas, check out yesterday's post and be sure to come back tomorrow!

Recipe: (all supplies -except pails- Stampn' Up!; images copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2009):
Paper: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Garden Green, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Garden Green
Stamps: Batty for You, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Accessories: Medium Cellophane Bags, Scalloped Circle Punch, 1 3/8 & 1 1/4" Circle Punches, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Glue Dots, Black & White Gingham Ribbon, Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, 1/4" Black Grosgrain Ribbon

 

Halloween Treats

Haven't posted for a while, but I've been a busy bee! Lots of Halloween treats to share with you. I stamped up a storm at my friend Stasia's house this past Sunday with a couple of other Stampin' Up! demonstrator friends of mine. Loved all of that creativity spread out on two tables in Stasia's stamping studio - but what a mess four stampers make when they really get going!

Here's one of the treats that I prepared while I was there. It's our turn to bring the treats to soccer on Saturday. Naturally, it's got to be a Halloween treat! Have you seen the Pringles Stix? I hadn't, until someone else brought them for soccer treats earlier in the season. Immediately, I knew that they'd work great with the Pillow Box die for the Big Shot! I cut out lots of Pillow Boxes, then cut off the "ends" of the boxes (the parts that are supposed to seal closed on either side). Voila - a perfect litte wrap for these fun Stix!

I borrowed Stasia's fun Tasty Sweet stamp set for the sentiment. The candy corn image from the same set added a touch of color. This is a really fun & inexpensive set and I'm sorry I overlooked it in the catalog (it's on page 24 if you'd like to check it out). Great for cards, treats & scrapbook layouts!

Here's a shot of all of the Stix in their pumpkin basket, ready to go on Saturday. Crossing my fingers for nice weather - they played the first part of their tournament in the POURING rain last Saturday! I've got two more sets of treats to share, so check back tomorrow!

Recipe: (all supplies Stampin' Up!; images copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2009):
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie
Stamps: Tasty Sweet
Accessories: Big Shot, Pillow Box die, Tombow glue, Corner Rounder Punch

Pumpkin Patch - More than Halloween

As I shared in yesterday's post, there's much more than Halloween to Stampin' Up!'s new Pumpkin Patch stamp set. Be sure to check out the Halloween and Birthday cards that I shared yesterday. I only had time to finish and photograph one card today. There's another one not finished on my craft table and I've got lots more ideas, so be sure to check back in the next few days for other great ideas for this versatile set!

Today's sample: New Years!

They sure don't look like pumpkins anymore, do they? I came up with this idea because the little vine stamp reminded me of streamers/confetti! I used Silver and Gold Encore ink to stamp the balloons and the streamers. A white gel pen made the balloon strings. The ribbon slide is from the Hodgepodge Hardware kit and serves to anchor the Gold and Silver Elastic Cord. It's a gray, gloomy day here in northern NJ, so my picture doesn't quite capture the sparkle of this card.

If you must own your own Pumpkin Patch set, you can order it online, anytime! Simply visit my Stampin' Up! website, click Shop Now in the upper right corner and enter item #116449. It's just $22.95 and has year-round appeal.

Come back to see other fun ways to use this set!

Recipe: (all supplies Stampin' Up!; images copyright 1990-2009):
Paper: Basic Black, Brushed Silver
Ink: Encore Gold & Silver, white gel pen
Stamps: Pumpkin Patch,Teeny Tiny Wishes
Accessories: Ribbon Slide - Stylized Silver HodgePodege Hardware, Silver & Gold Elastic cord, dimensionals, mini glue dot

Halloween & Beyond: Pumpkin Patch

Now that I'm done with my Halloween trees, I had to make some gift cards to go along with them. I pulled out my Pumpkin Patch stamp set (it's a new set from the Holiday Mini Catalog). I stamped up some quick & cute cards, which I'll share below. But shame on me! I've been so busy with my trees, I missed some of what's going on in the blogosphere. A customer informed me that people are making non-Halloween cards with Pumpkin Patch. And here's a real "duh!" moment, because as soon as you stop thinking of them as pumpkins and start thinking of circles and ovals, there's a huge range of possibilities with this stamp set!

Here's the Halloween card with Pumpkin Patch:

and here's a peek inside:

This is the fun part: here's a Birthday Card with Pumpkin Patch. How cute would these little balloons be on a scrapbook page? Just think of the possibilites!

I was happy to finally have In Color markers, as I used them to draw in the little knots at the bottoms of the balloons. I used the vine stamp from the Pumpkin Patch set to stamp the end of the string, and hand-drew the strings using a Basic Black marker. Here's a peek inside:

So now my opinion of Pumpkin Patch has gone from a cute Halloween set to a must-have stamp set that is versatile and adaptable to a wide variety of occasions. I've got some more ideas that I hope to stamp up tonight to share tomorrow or over the weekend, so be sure to check back.

Better yet, get your own Pumpkin Patch set and let your creativity fly. Visit my Stampin' Up! website, click Shop Now in the upper right corner, enter item #116499 and you're off & running!

Pumpkin Patch    #116499    $22.95

Recipe: (all supplies Stampin' Up!; images copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2009):

Halloween Card:
Paper: Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Ink: Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black
Stamps: Pumpkin Patch
Accessories: Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig

Birthday Card:
Paper: Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Thoroughly Modern DSP
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Basic Black marker
Stamps: Pumpkin Patch, Teeny Tiny Wishes, On Your Birthday (inside)
Accessories: Melon Mambo Polka Dot Grosgrain, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Dimensionals, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig

Halloween Trees & Ornaments

One of the reasons I haven't posted too many new projects lately is because I've been working feverishly on some Halloween gift items. I decided to create a Halloween tree with handmade ornaments. In typical LisaT fashion, I got carried away and decided to make one for my mom, one for my brother's family, one for my daughter's teacher - but whoops - my little guy just started preschool, so there's another teacher!

I have to say that it was great fun to make these ornaments the first time! Making them for 5 trees got a little tedious! I'm not really into repetition or mass-producing; I'm always looking for the greener project/pasture.

Anyway, here's a sampling of the trees I decorated - there's a huge variety out there, and I tried a couple of different types:

And here's a better view of the tree I'm keeping for myself (sorry the picture's a little blurry - my son kept trying to squeeze in the picture to 'pose' with the tree - he kept sending the ornaments a-rockin'!):

And here's a closer view of some of the ornaments
 

A couple of quick notes on the ornaments shown above:

The medallion ornament was made following my Accordion Flower tutorial. The paper is just larger - I started with a 1.5x12" strip and scored it every 1/2 inch.

If you like the look of the spiral ornament above, it's pretty simple. Punch a large circle (I used the 1 3/4" circle punch). Using scissors, start cutting a spiral shape - just go round and round. Here's the trick: when using double-sided paper, choose the side that you'd like to be on the 'top'. If you're left-handed, cut with that side facing down. If you're right-handed, cut with that side facing up. Trust me!

The 'banner edges' of the greeting ornament was made by inserting each end of my sentiment strip into the corner of the Photo Corner Punch - no more messy scissor snips trying to do this by hand!

If you noticed the dimensional pumpkins, they were created using one of the two pumpkin tutorials I included in my October newsletter. If you're not currently receiving my free monthly newsletter and would like to, sign up using the box below. As an added benefit, you'll receive the remaining nine weeks of my Twelve Weeks of Christmas - easy card, gift and wrapping projects to simplify & beautify your holidays! *If you'd like the October newsletter with the pumpkin tutorials, please shoot me a quick email after signing up, and I'd be happy to get a copy off to you!

Subscribe to my free Monthly Newsletter!

For Email Marketing you can trust

 

 

 

Recipe: (all supplies Stampin' Up!; images copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2009):
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Gray, Kiwi Kiss & Ghostly Greetings (using up my retired stash!)
Ink: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Pumpkin Pie marker
Stamps: Batty for You, Pumpkin Patch, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Eat Drink & Be Scary
Accessories: Big Shot, Lots of Labels Sizzlits, Birds & Blooms Sizzlit, Scalloped Circle, 1 3/8", 1 1/4" & 1" Circle Punches, Photo Corner Punch, Silver Elastic Cord, Basic Black 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, 1/16" handheld punch