It's a Frenzy!

Yes, it has been a creative frenzy here these past few days! I think I was productive because I had that lovely 2-day weekend. I do not think I even got out of my jammies on Sunday!

There was some MAJOR stash-diving going on here! I got all of these stamps last year, and am just now using them in earnest. I have had all these ideas in my head for about a year now, so it was wonderful to put them to paper! Once I started, I was on a roll!

This card is all one stamp...can you see why I just had to have it??!?! I tried embossing it in black, but I could not get a good, clean embossed image, and I really tried!

Second shot was Staz-on, and while it was not as much of a pop, it stamped very nicely. I used a blender pen with Bashful Blue to color the window panes to look like the sky. It was a very fuzzy-ended pen, which worked out very well, indeed! I like the mottled look - it seems more like a real sky than if it had come out nice and even.

I used a red glitter gel pen to color their bows, and that piece of ribbon is from my Really Reasonable Ribbon shipment.

Recipe: Stamps - Rubber Cottage; Card Stock - Sahara Sand, Real Red, Whisper White; Ink - Staz-on black, Sahara Sand, Bashful Blue; Other - Red glitter gel pen, SU two-hole punch, SU ticket corner punch, ribbon from ReallyReasonableRibbon.

Now this guy I have also had for a year, so this counts as a stash-dive card, too! I got the sentiment at the same time I got the moose, and they were just asking to be used together!

The card has many layers so it is a bit hefty. The moose and sentiment were actually stamped on separate pieces of card stock, because, well, it increased the chances of getting them straight, and heaven knows I can use all the help I can get in that area! ;-) The ribbon covers up the seam quite conveniently.

As an added touch, I put the retired SU brown Flock on his antlers. They are fuzzy!!!! And I got a bag of those tiny candy canes last year, too, so I USED them! This card was a lot of fun to make, and I am glad it made its way from my brain to card stock!

Recipe: Stamps - Moose by AAA Rubberstamps, Sentiment by Whipper Snapper Designs; Card Stock - Very Vanilla, Mellow Moss, Real Red, Dashing DS paper; Ink - Basic Gray; Other - Red glitter gel pen (hat band), Real Red marker, 2-Way glue pen, Brown Flock, 5/8 inch Olive gg ribbon, Natural hemp, Ticket corner punch, Candy cane.

Next up is my Folding Frenzy. I made about 4 of these origami cards last year, and people loved them. Soooo, when I walked by my stash of Parent Sheet papers (Parent Sheet = BIG) I got at the Paper Source, I thought I'd USE them to make some more of these cards.

This first one uses SU Dashing DS paper, and I have to tell you, it is FAT! I finally figured out why - the DS papers are thicker than regular scrapbook paper, so it is a little (okay, a lot) on the hefty side.

I added the ovals and sentiment (Paper Inspirations) then decided I did not like it, so the rest of the cards did not get sentiments.

Also, in this version I cut the card stock in the usual 1/4 inch increments, so it fits on the card, but there was a big empty at the top. That's when I broke out my Cat's Pajamas Holly stamp and added that to fill in some of the space. I like how it came out!

These next three cards are variations on the same theme. They use different pretty papers, and I paired them with card stock colors that coordinated with the papers, which made them non-traditional holiday colors.

For this one I broke out Pale Plum and the retired SU Carribean Blue, then decided it really called for a black accent.



I really love the texture and feel of this green paper! It almost feels like fabric, but it is not fabric paper - I have some of that, and this isn't it. But there was much enjoyment with the folding process for these! ;-)

I paired this paper with Elegant Eggplant and Sahara Sand card stock.


Last up is this very pretty, soft paper, and I think it is my favorite of all of them. I paired it with Garden Green and Rose Red.

All of these have a gold 'star' brad at the top of the tree. This was another Stash Dive, as I have had them forever! Well, at least a year or so.

So all in all, I think I did pretty well putting a dent in the ole Stash! Papers, brads, stamps, flock ... not too shabby! The other thing I liked about this exercise is it forced me back to using SU's 48 colors, many of which I have been seriously neglecting since our In Color colors hit the market. It was nice to visit old friends. ;-)

Next up - more Stash Diving with my re-worked ornaments. I dug out the perfect snow man stamp from the Stash, and he looks great in the mock-up I did. I'll work on these this weekend and post one of them.