2021 July- Dec Mini Catalog

Frosty with Stenciled Snowflakes

Hi friends! Today I have a fun & quick card that was created with the November 2021 Paper Pumpkin kit. I just love Christmas carols, stories and movies. Whenever I see a super cute snowman, I think of “Frosty the Snowman”. So I am naming my card “Frosty” because I can; after all, it is my card. LOL!

Anyway, the kit was originally designed as treat holders, but I wasn’t planning on sharing this sized treats this holiday so I re-purposed the contents.

I made my card base in Poppy Parade. Next, I mixed a small amount of our Matte Finish embossing paste with a few drops of Pool Party; then I used the Snowflake stencil in our Adorning Designs Decorative masks to stencil onto the card front. The snowflakes turned out looking more gray than blue because of the Poppy Parade paper, but even though I didn’t anticipate this, I do like it. BTW, these masks are going to retire at the end of the month; so grab yours now.

You can speed up the drying process by using your heat gun. But I wasn’t in a hurry so, I waited until the following day to adhere the snowman to the front allowing the sides and bottom extend past the card front. Then I trimmed down the snowman at the edges. I inked up only “Merry” from the kit sentiment’s “Merry Christmas” and stamped it on the front.

My Posts during the holidays will be inconsistent. We’ll be spending a lot of time with family. But I’ll still be escaping to my studio for some mood enhancement & I’ll share my creations as time allows. If you don’t want to miss a thing, sign up to follow me.

Happy Stamping, Marilyn (aka MJ)

Candy Bars with Tags

Yesterday evening my church friends from our Ladies Bible Study met for a holiday dinner celebration. I wanted a little something even though we weren’t exchanging gifts. So I got Godiva Chocolate bars from the Dollar store & decorated them.

I had quite a bit of the now retired Penguin Playmates DSP from the last Sale-a-bration. So I used the fun colors in stripes and dots to wrap the candy. BTW, we’ll have another Sale-a-bration coming in January. I think you’ll be very happy with the free-bees.

The tags were made using Giving Gifts dies (part of the Time of Giving bundle) which will be retiring at the end of the month. It’s a very versatile set as you have pumpkins, ornaments, snowflakes & Santa’s sleigh tags plus seven coordinating dies.

Using Fresh Freesia card-stock, I die cut the Santa’s sleigh & backed it with Just Jade to coordinate with the paper. The word “Joy” was from the Merriest Moments stamp set was stamped in Misty Moonlight. That set & bundle will be returning next year but not until the July-December 2022 mini catalog. Now’s a good time to secure it so you can start your cards early for next year.

I used Fresh Freesia Open Weave ribbon & the Misty Moonlight twine from the Flowers for Every Season pack as tag ties. Below is a picture of many of the decorated chocolate bars. I sure hope they enjoy the special wrapping & the candy!

Supplies: All Stampin’Up
Paper: Fresh Freesia, Just Jade, Penguin Playmates DSP (retired)
Ink: Misty Moonlight
Stamps: Merriest Moments
Dies: Giving Gifts
Ribbon: Fresh Freesia Open Weave, Misty Moonlight twine (from the Flowers for Every Season trio pack)

Have a great Tuesday! Happy Stamping, Marilyn (aka MJ)

Last Chance – Retiring Items

Hi Friends! My card today is showcasing items that are on the Last Chance list.

I love DSP & this paper may not have hit your radar as it is the flip side of one of the Sweet Stockings critter papers. But I love this side- so fresh & fun! Many of the Designer Series Papers from the July- December catalog are on the last chance list.

I love these colors together- Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive & Pool Party. The Cherry Cobbler & Gold ribbon & the Wonderful Gems will be retiring soon too.

Supplies: All Stampin Up
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Pool Party, Sweet Stockings DSP (retiring soon)
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Stamps: Christmas to Remember
Punches: Symmetrical Stems Border, Everyday Label, Label Me Fancy
Dies: Forever Flourishing
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler ribbon (retiring soon), Wonderful Gems (retiring soon), Simply Elegant Trim

Ghirardelli Double Treat Holder

Hi friends! I have a fun treat holder for you today. It’s actually more like a sleeve. And SO easy.

One of my book clubs gathered last evening & I wanted a little something for them but didn’t want them to feel obligated to reciprocate. So I purchased twin packs of Ghirardelli chocolates.

Cut a piece of 5.75”X 3.25” Real Red cardstock. I have a large stack of this size paper left from another project & I’m happy it worked out.

Score at 2, 2.25, 4.25 & 4.5. Burnish the edges. Then fold up like a candy bar wrapper & adhere with Stampin Seal+.

I didn’t have time for die-cutting so I stamped in Real Red a sentiment from Christmas to Remember stamp set & punched out with the Everyday Label punch. Also Holiday Hugs DSP was punched & rotated 90* & adhered with Mono liquid glue.

I decorated the tag with a bow made of Real Red Stitched Grosgrain ribbon from the Playful Pets duo pack. The Cute Stars stars were also added. Here’s a close up

The blue one was made for my dear friend who’s Jewish. I used a scrap piece of retired Dapper Denim, Beauty of the Earth DSP, sentiment from November’21 Paper Pumpkin, White Glittered Organdy ribbon & again Cute Stars.

I hope you have a great weekend! Happy Stamping, Marilyn (aka MJ)

Magic is in the Air

Happy December, friends! I hope you are having a great day. I’m posting a little later than usual as I had to enter my Stampin’ Up order. As demonstrators, we are able to order from the new January -June 2022 & the January- February Sale-a-bration catalogs.

I am sharing an alternative to our November Paper Pumpkin. This month’s kit featured gift packages as shown below. The second photo shows all the components that are in the kit.

The die cuts are larger than a standard A2 card (4.25 X 5.5), so I cut off a portion of the lower tree so it would fit on a card. The presents were made with real red cardstock & the rectangular present was stamped with the diagonal rectangular image in the stamp set.

Here is a super close up picture. I hope you like it & will consider subscribing to Paper Pumpkin. For just $22, you get the entire kit shipped right to your door. Here’s a little tickler about what the December kit looks like.

Have a great day. Happy Stamping, Marilyn (aka MJ)

Stenciled Christmas to Cherish

Happy Monday, Friends. Have you recovered from the Thanksgiving holiday? This year we had a small celebration at our home so there wasn’t any travel or lots work to be done in prep or getting back to normal.

I had some fun with the new stencils in the holiday (July- December) mini catalog . It’s not a technique I use frequently but it’s always wonderful.

Today I chose to cover my entire front panel with our white stencil paste on Real Red card stock. I had previously cut a circle out before stenciling.

I cut a white scalloped circle frame & adhered over the circle. I used versamark to stamp the sentiment in Real Red card stock & heat embossed in white. Then I reverse mounted it under the stenciled panel.

I added a bow in Real Red ruffled ribbon & a strip of Real Red double stitched satin ribbon.

I hope you like it! Happy Stamping, Marilyn (aka MJ)

All Supplies: Stampin’Up
Paper: Real Red, Basic White
Ink: Versa mark
Stamps: Christmas to Remember
Accessories: Adorning Designs Decorative masks, Embossing Paste (white matte), Embossing powder, Layering Circles dies, Real Red Ruffled Ribbon, Real Red Double-Stitched ribbon

Wonderful Snowflakes

Happy Friday, friends! I’m sorry I missed you on Wednesday; I had a head cold which really dragged me down. Thank goodness it wasn’t COVID or Flu! And with the Thanksgiving holiday, I just didn’t get a card & post done for you. My apologizes.

Speaking of the holiday, I hope all my American friends had a great Thanksgiving. Here, it was just a small group of four even though My Mister bought & roasted a 26 pounder. Yikes! I need a great skinny turkey tetrazzini recipe. Please help!

I had so much fun making this card and a stack of 9 others just like it, but they are very detailed, so not exactly quick. I wanted to make some special cards that had a feminine feel. Center stage is our Wonderful Snowflakes from our July- December mini-catalog. They are stunning IRL (in real life) & pair perfectly with the Whimsy & Wonder DSP. I just wish my picture could capture the shimmer.

I embossed a piece of Marvelous Magenta card stock with our Wintery 3D embossing folder (EF); one folder is snowflakes (shown here) & the other is pine boughs. These folders are 3-3/8″ wide so you can emboss just part of your paper. (& fits in the mini Stampin’ cut & emboss machine).

Next I lightly sponged some white craft ink over the snowflakes to bring out the pattern. Then I heat embossed my sentiment with silver embossing powder on the lower 1″ of non-dry embossed area. In STL, we are a high humidity area, which can sometimes make heat embossing a challenge- the powder sticks to anything moist. So, I always use my Embossing Buddy & even put some on my fingertips. I have a fine dry paintbrush & also use the putty end of my Take Your Pick tool to remove excess powder. Below is a close-up of the front panel.

I tied silver elegant trim around the front panel twice where the folder embossing and non-embossing area meet & tied a knot. A piece of 1/4″ strip of Silver Foil Specialty DSP demarcates the division of the DSP and Marvelous Magenta embossed card stock.

Thanks for stopping! Happy Stamping, Marilyn (aka MJ)

Supplies: All Stampin” Up
Paper: Thick Basic White & Marvelous Magenta card stock; Whimsy & Wonder DSP: Silver Foil Specialty Paper.
Ink: Versa-mark, White craft.
Stamps: Christmas to Remember
Accessories: Silver Elegant trim, Silver embossing Powder, Wonderful Snowflakes

A Christmas to Remember

Hi friends!

I have an easy to duplicate card for you today. One sheet of DSP will make 9 identical cards!

The minute I saw the “Painted Christmas” suite & DSP (page 16-19 July-December catalog- aka the “mini catalog”), I knew it would serve as my “go to” for this year’s holiday cards. I LOVE the colors especially our newer Evening Evergreen & Soft Succulent in-Colors.

Start with a sheet of 12×12 DSP & cut into 4” squares. To add a little texture, I embossed with the Tasteful Textures Embossing folder. Then I chose matching card stock, ink & ribbon. Here I used Evening Evergreen.

Next, adhere the DSP to an Evening Evergreen card base & add a 1/4” strip of metallic paper such as the “Brushed Metallic” or “Silver Foil” paper. Here I used the now recently retired Sale-a-bration “Be Dazzling” Specialty paper. [sorry- I couldn’t resist using a retired product… it’s just so pretty! I hope you got some].

I stamped my sentiment from “A Christmas to Remember” stamp set & die cut using the “ Seasonal Labels” dies. I left room at the top to add ribbon which was tied in a knot. I used about 6” for each bow. For 9 cards that’s just 4.5 feet. You’ll still have lots of ribbon left for other projects.

Because I’m using dark card stock , I needed to add an inside panel for sentiment & a personal note. I used Basic White & used another sentiment stamp from “ A Christmas to Remember” set. I added a couple of evergreen sprigs from the “Christmas Season” stamp set. And POW, nine cards done in a flash!

Using this 4” x 4” piece of DSP is a fairly standard sketch that you can use over & over; flip it sideways or put the paper at the top. You can add a layer or two but it won’t be quite as quick but certainly makes a bigger impact.

Change up & mix the colors of the card stock, inks & accessories & you’ve got a much different card! Add some coordinating jewels or gems for more sparkle. This is one of the things I love about Stampin’ Up – the color coordination! Here’s one last view.

Join me again this Wednesday for a fun Inking Royalty blog hop. I’m honored to participate with some of the most talented stampers! I can’t wait to see their creations!!

Until then, Happy Stamping! Marilyn (aka MJ)

Christmas Bird

Happy Sunday, friends!

I had some extra time this weekend to play in the studio. One of my favorite things to do is to play along with card challenges. So I chose the Global Design Project Challenge “Case the Designer” & this week it is Stesha Bloodhart (Stampin Hoot). Below is my card & the second picture is the card to case.

Don’t you just love her card!

I chose a base of Real Red & added a layer Crumb Cake to keep with Stesha’s card. On top of the Crumb Cake is a green plaid which looks like DSP but it is actually from our October Paper Pumpkin, specifically I cut down the envelope.

My bird is from the “Free as a Bird” stamp set which was stamped on a Crumb Cake circle using Momentous Tuxedo Black. Then I used my Crumb Cake blend to outline the image.

A Real Red Scalloped Circle is on top of the Merriest Moments frame cut down using a scallop circle. A few leaves from the Forever Flourshing dies were added under the sentiment panel. The sentiment is from the set “Christmas to Remember” & stamped in Real Red. Red Rhinestones were added for a little sparkle.