Punch Art Scarecrow

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Chris Slogar

This was one of our club projects this month, a repeat of a much-loved project that we did two years ago in club. It is really rare for me to repeat, but this was a request 🙂 and it is such a great seasonal card. One of the gals said that she couldn’t part with the original – I hope she can send one now that she has two!

This card was a CASE, and I have lost track of who to credit, but it was originally done with Autumn Harvest designer series paper and fabric. My original version is shown below.

I think this year’s Color Me Autumn paper works well, too, and the pieces of this happy guy are shown below. Don’t be afraid to change it up to use punches that you have. Also, note that this card is 5″x7″, a bit larger that our usual cards.

Thanks for looking! Have a great Monday!

Holiday Home Easel

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Chris Slogar

Easel cards are fun because your recipient can easily stand them up on their mantel or desk as a little reminder of you. This is the simplest of easel cards – the part that stands up is a 4 1/4″ square of Pear Pizzazz decorated with All is Calm paper and a scene made from the “Holiday Home” and “White Christmas” stamp sets. The card base is 4 1/4″ x 11″, scored at 2 1/8″ and 5 1/2″. You can see how it goes together in the side view.

The lower half of the 4 1/4″ square is attached to the 2 1/8″ length of the card base. I added a greeting on a dimensional to prop it up, and that’s it – easy! I am only sorry that I am not getting better photographs of the pretty colors in the All is Calm designer paper. They are really soft and sweet, and I love the silver accents with this paper. I punched Silver Foil stars with the Confetti Stars Punch.

Have a great weekend!

Holiday Throwbacks

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Chris Slogar

I posted some general greeting throwbacks two weeks ago (see them here), and I set these old Christmas cards aside for a later date. Does anyone remember these sets?

Also looking back, and as a follow-up to yesterdays post about gifts and home decor, I have a few collage frames from the past. I hope they inspire you to get started on one of your own!

The “MERRY” frames are from last year. The “HOHOHO” shown below is a project I designed with Amy Kunkle a few years ago.

If you are not ready for Christmas yet, you can try it with fall colors – the one below is from 2010, using Spice Cake designer series paper. Our current Color Me Autumn paper would be great for this too!

Christmas Collage

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Chris Slogar

‘Tis getting to be the season for holiday decorations and gift items. We made this Christmas collage last night in our Team Meeting. I combined a few new products with some of my favorites to create this.

The “favorites” are my 2 1/2″ circle punch, Itty Bitty Accents Star punch Chalk Talk Framelits, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, “Work of Art”, “Be the Star”, and the star framelits. You can substitute your favorites.

The Holiday Catalog products are the Lucky Stars Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, the Festival of Trees Bundle, a greeting from “Merry Everything” and the strip of designer series paper from Nordic Noel (which could have been any Garden Green dsp). I guess the point I’m getting at is this…you can pull a great collage together with items you have.

To get started, pick a frame size. This one is 5″x7″. Then choose a color scheme and start creating some elements. It does take some playing to come up with a design that works for you – I would say it is “trial and error” except that there is really no “error” involved. I do end up with a pile of unused pieces in the process, but the process is fun. In designing anything, even a simple card, it is really rare to sit down and create just the elements that you need and be done…unless you are CASE-ing. (CASE = Copy and Share Everything).

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Weekly Deals and CAS Fall

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Chris Slogar

Here are this week’s Weekly Deals. Please let me know if you would like me to include anything for you this week. (Shipping is 10% in the group order with no $6.95 min.)

	Sweetheart Punch Item # 133786 Regular Price: $15.95 US/$21.95 CAN Discounted Price: $11.96 US/$16.46 CAN
	Wooden Elements Embellishments Item # 132258 Regular Price: $4.95 US/$6.50 CAN Discounted Price: $3.71 US/$4.88 CAN
	Happy Hour Wood Stamp Set Item # 132013 Regular Price: $29.95 US/$36.95 CAN Discounted Price: $22.46 US/$27.71 CAN
	Label Card Thinlits Die Item # 133479 Regular Price: $32.95 US/$40.95 CAN Discounted Price: $24.71 US/$30.71 CAN
	Yippee-Skippee Wood Stamp Set Item # 131341 Regular Price: $18.95 US/$22.95 CAN Discounted Price: $14.21 US/$17.21 CAN
	Gold 1/8″ Ribbon Item # 134583 Regular Price: $4.95 US/$6.95 CAN Discounted Price: $3.71 US/$5.21 CAN
	Tangerine Tango Baker’S Twine Item # 134578 Regular Price: $2.95 US/$3.95 CAN Discounted Price: $2.21 US/$2.96 CAN
	Write Stuff Ii Digital Kit – Digital Download Item # 120881 Regular Price: $9.95 US/$10.95 CAN Discounted Price: $5.97 US/$6.57 CAN

I also have a Clean and Simple (CAS) card for fall. Once again, I used the Color Me Autumn Washi Tape, this time with a few leaves.

New Home

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Chris Slogar

I always hate to see summer end, but I do love fall colors! I used the Color Me Autumn Washi Tape as my color inspiration for this card. I hope you don’t mind another “Holiday Home” sample – I am loving this set! Besides the great holiday accessories and greetings, there is a “new home” greeting in this set. It was much needed, and it is perfect with those little houses.

The banner for this card was made by laying three rows of Washi Tape on Very Vanilla cardstock. The pieces were then punched with the Triangle punch.

Have a great Monday!

September Greetings a la Carte

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Chris Slogar

Here are this month’s “Greetings a la Carte” choices. “Greetings a la Carte” is a Stamp-a-Stack where you create cards in groups of 8. I held over one birthday card and the Holiday Stars card. I may be able to accommodate past choices or cards from previous Card Buffets – please ask if you have something particular in mind.

This month’s class is next Thursday, September 18 at noon or 6pm. If you already signed up, please contact me with your choice(s). If you would like to join us, please contact me, and select from the “menu” below. They are available in groups of 8 only, and I take orders ahead of time so that I can prepare the right quantity of each.

The price varies based on the design, and each card comes with a Whisper White or Very Vanilla mat piece for the inside (with the exception of the flip card). Dimensionals and envelopes are included, but please bring your other adhesives.

You can sign up for more than one design, or multiples of designs. Depending on the quantity you choose, you may not be able to completely assemble these during the class time, but I will make sure you do the steps you need to complete with my supplies. You may have to finish assembly on your own.

#1 Endless Birthday Wishes – 8/$12

#2 Little Leaves – 8/$12 (with greeting of your choice)

#3 Fall Wreath – 8/$12 (with greeting of your choice)

#4 Fall Notes – 8/$12 (with greeting of your choice)

#5 Holiday Stars – 8/$12

#6 Gold Embossed Nativity – 8/$12

#7 Festival of Trees (pick Real Red or Crumb Cake, or half/half) – 8/$12

#8 Holiday Home Flip Card – 8/$10 (inside shown below)

Holiday Home for Halloween

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Chris Slogar

Fall is in the air today, so how about a little Halloween to go with it? There are some cute Halloween accessories to use along with the houses in “Holiday Home”. As I look at the complete set that I am posting below, I see that I forgot the bats and the spiderweb! Rats! My mind was on the spooky ghost. Anyway, you can see that this is a fun set to use to create scenes.

I colored the houses with Blendabilities. The sky is watercolored with refill ink and an aquapainter. To create the sky, I cut a mat of watercolor paper 4″ x 5 1/4″. I put a couple of drops of each color – Night of Navy, Blackberry Bliss, Raspberry Ripple, and Pumpkin Pie – on my watercolor palette, and streaked them one at a time across the watercolor paper with my aquapainter. Overlap the colors a bit, and squeeze water through the brush on the aquapainter between colors to clean it.

It’s a fun set for $15.95, and it is clear so you can place those little pieces exactly where you want them! All of the pieces are shown below:

Holiday Home, Item 135095 Photopolymer $15.95

Bundled with Homemade Holiday framelits, Item 137631 $31.95

(Framelits also sold separately, Item 135857 $21.95)

More Color for Your Wondrous Wreath

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Chris Slogar

I showed some cards made with “Wondrous Wreath” before – click here to see them – but until now I have only used two different colors for the leaves. A fall wreath really benefits from more color, so I added a third leaf color here. I got this idea from Carol Lovenstein’s card on Pinterest, and she shared the method she learned at Convention.

To understand, you really need to see the different components that make up the “Wondrous Wreath” stamp set. They are shown below. This is a photopolymer set, so the stamps are completely clear for easy placement.

Previously, I used one color on each of the stamps that make up the wreath. This time, however, I used Crushed Curry to ink the stamp with the most leaves. Before stamping, I used a sponge dauber to pick up Cajun Craze from my ink pad, and I tapped it onto the inked stamp. It only takes a little ink – tap it on lightly, and then stamp. I followed this with Old Olive on the overlay stamp (the one with less leaves) and Blackberry Bliss on the berries.

Wondrous Wreath, Item135047 $25.95

Wondrous Wreath stamp/framelit bundle, Item 137624 $43.25

Framelits also sold separately, Item 135851 $24.95

By the way, did anyone notice who photobombed my wreath card picture? Lol! There was a hideous green toy in the background of my shot, so I asked him to “Get toy”, and he brought it over to play. 🙂

Stampin’ Up! also announced a new photopolyment set yesterday, “You’re Wonderful”. Details are shown below.

Download (PDF, 1.17MB)

Weekly Deals and Snail Mail

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Chris Slogar

This week’s Weekly Deals are shown below. If you are local, please let me know if you would like me to include any items when I order to save on shipping.

Also, the Paper Pumpkin Half-Off special ends tomorrow. To receive your first two months for $9.97 each (including shipping), click on the link in the left column and use promo code HALFOFF2 to subscribe. It is really inexpensive to try, and if you are not happy, you can cancel at any time.

	What’S Up Punch Item # 133781 Regular Price: $16.95 US/$22.95 CAN Discounted Price: $12.71 US/$17.21 CAN
	2″ Circle Punch Item # 133782 Regular Price: $16.95 US/$22.95 CAN Discounted Price: $12.71 US/$17.21 CAN
	Sweet Treat Embellishment Cups Item # 116802 Regular Price: $2.95 US/$3.95 CAN Discounted Price: $2.21 US/$2.96 CAN
	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin’ Glitter Item # 133751 Regular Price: $4.95 US/$6.25 CAN Discounted Price: $3.71 US/$4.69 CAN
	Blushing Bride Baker’S Twine Item # 134577 Regular Price: $2.95 US/$3.95 CAN Discounted Price: $2.21 US/$2.96 CAN
	Modern Mosaic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Item # 129984 Regular Price: $7.95 US/$9.95 CAN Discounted Price: $5.96 US/$7.46 CAN
	Hexagon Punch Item # 130919 Regular Price: $15.95 US/$21.95 Discounted Price: $11.96 US/$16.46 CAN
	World Traveler Photobook Template – Digital Download Item # 130066 Regular Price: $17.95 US/$19.95 CAN Discounted Price: $10.77 US/$11.97 CAN

I know more than a few college freshmen this year who will appreciate real mail, so I plan to send a few of these out today.

I know that these kids have better ways to communicate, but nothing says “I care” like a piece of cardstock in an envelope! It means that someone took the time to think of them, get a card together, address an envelope, and send it.

The designer paper is Motley Monsters from the Holiday Catalog, just a 2″ x 4″ strip. The holiday papers include enough non-holiday patterns that they won’t go to waste if you don’t use them in time.

Have a good day!