Just My Type of New Year

Wow, New Year's Eve, can you believe it?! I hope you have some fun plans for this evening.  For us, we will be at home having dinner with friends--my type of New Year's Eve!  Well, I finally found my crafting groove again--a new box of pre-ordered SU goodies will do it every time!  Challenge blogs also help get back in the swing of stampin' too.  I found some fabulous color inspiration at Colour Q:

and this great sketch at a new-to-me blog, Skipping Stones Design:

I paired these two with one of my favorite new stamps from the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog called You're My Type. 

 I just love that typewriter, don't you?  Embossed in black it is really standout--all shiny and solid:

Yes, I did fussy-cut the typewriter..crazy, right...but I really wanted to give it the pop of my one color, red, in the circle behind it.   Love that typewriter font sentiment too--just the perfect fit on the scrolling paper.

The sweet little sentiment inside is from another Mini Catalog sneak peek, P.S. I Love You, which I framed with an image from a great set of heart stamps, I {Heart} Hearts.  I'm still on my MDS hybrid kick too...the black and white designer paper here and on the front is from a digital pack called Night & Day which I just printed on my regular computer printer.  I figured out a cool trick for getting a full sheet of paper to print, without that annoying border, so let me know if you would like a little tutorial.  ;-)

Cheers to you, my friends....here's hoping 2012 is a bright new year for you and yours!  See you next year...

supplies 

stamps: I {Heart} Hearts; available January 4, 2012: Just My Type; P.S. I Love You 

ink: Jet Black Stazon; Versamark; Real Red classic ink

paper: Basic Black, Real Red, Whisper White CS; Red Glimmer Paper; Designer Patterns Stack (Neutrals); Night & Day digital DSP (MDS)

xtras: Scallop Ribbon Border punch; Heart to Heart punch; Black Stampin' Emboss Powder; 3" Circle Die

Imagine the Possibilities {CCMC182}

Happy Thursday friends! I hope you are enjoying a little relaxation between the holidays and looking forward to a new year.  Thank you for all your well wishes...I am finally on the mend!  Thank goodness, that was a long one!  I haven't felt much like stamping so I was glad to have a sketch from Create with Connie and Mary to get my craft back on.

There were three thoughts that inspired me with this sketch: 1) a new year's card, 2) the gorgeous clock from the Forever Young stamp set and 3) the colors and shapes in this plate from Target:

Kinda funny combination, eh?  With all that swirling around in my head, I modified the shapes of the sketch a little bit and came up with this:

Yep, it's another hybrid card!  I didn't have any number stamps (gasp!), so I turned to My Digital Studio and used the Number It Stamp Brush Set to create my background paper.  Of course, in MDS you can make the stamps any color and size you want.  So, I lined up my numbers in a repeating pattern and then went to work coloring them with Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Concord Crush and Melon Mambo.  Once I had the pattern, I just printed it on Whisper White paper and cut to size.

I really built the card and my theme around this clock from Forever Young.  It seemed fitting to emboss it in silver and add just a bit more of the silver shimmer paper for some extra sparkle on new year's eve!

And one of my favorite stamp sets, Word Play, also seemed fitting for the inside sentiment:

Can you imagine the possibilities with this fantastic sketch?  I hope so!  Please check out the rest of the Design Team inspiration over at Create with Connie and Mary and then go get your craft on!  If you can join us, please link up your creation by Wednesday, January 4th at Noon (EST).  I can't wait to see what you create!

supplies

stamps: Forever Young; Number It Stamp Brush Set (MDS); Teeny Tiny Wishes; Word Play

paper: Lucky Limeade, Melon Mambo, Island Indigo, Whisper White cardstock; Silver Glimmer paper

ink: Versamark; Melon Mambo; Island Indigo; Concord Crush classic inks

extras: Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder; Designer Brads In Color; Scallop Ribbon Border punch; 1 1/4" Square punch (to flag the end of the sentiment strip)

Happy Holidays!

Dear friends,

Thank you for all your support and encouragement throughout the year...

Wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays and a bright new year! 

Glimmer Snowflakes {CCMC181}

Happy Thursday friends, and welcome to another week at Create with Connie & Mary! Are you ready for Christmas? I'm not! I am nursing what has become my annual Christmas cold however, so today's card for Connie & Mary is verrrry clean and simple.  The gals gave us a beautiful color duo:

Which just screams out for one last Christmas card don't you think?  I rallied myself and what little creativity I could muster between cough syrup and antibiotics to make this for you:

The card base really is brushed silver cardstock even though it doesn't photograph well. On that I layered some basic grey and whisper white cardstock. I had the idea for the rows of Silver Glimmer snowflakes, made with the Northern Frost decorative strip, but laid out on the white they needed a little something to make them pop.

That's when I got the idea to back the snowflakes with strips of Basic Grey satin ribbon.  I really like the combination of the preppy styled stripes with the glimmer snowflakes.  A Basic Grey sentiment from Hand-Penned Holidays finished it off for me!

And that will do it for today.  I hope you'll join us at Create with Connie & Mary and make something sparkle with this gorgeous color duet.  Be sure to check out the rest of the design team for some wonderful inspiration.  Deadline to play along is Wednesday, December 28th at Noon (EST).

This will likely be my last post before Christmas so I want to thank all of you for your daily visits, comments and encouragement--it means so much to me that you keep coming back and like what you find here.  You're the reason I keep doing this!  To all my friends, followers and readers, I wish you the happiest of Holidays and good times spent with your loved ones.  Happy Holidays to you and yours!

supplies: 

stamps: hand-penned holidays

paper: brushed silver, whisper white & basic grey cardstock; silver glimmer paper

ink: basic grey

xtras: northern frost decorative strip die; basic grey satin ribbon; basic rhinestones

Hybrid Snowboard {CCMC180}

Happy Thursday, friends, and welcome to another week at Create with Connie & Mary! December is just flying by isn't it?  We know you're extremely busy this time of year, so this week the gals have a nice and easy sketch for you:

The sketch is a square but you can alter it to a standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" size if you want.  I have to admit that I am a little burnt out on Christmas cards so I was very happy to use this sketch as a birthday card for my nephew:

It's not Christmas but it's still a winter-themed card.  My nephew LOVES to snowboard and can't wait for that first snow...living in Wisconsin, fortunately that isn't a problem!  I don't own any of the Extreme sports stamps but they're all in My Digital Studio--yay!  

So I added the Extreme Snowboard stamp to a page, colored it in Basic Grey and gave it a deep drop shadow.  The drop shadow feature really makes it pop off the page.  It almost looks like I fussy-cut it, doesn't it?  Behind my snowboarder, I added the splatter stamp from the Extreme Elements set in Pool Party.  Then I just printed that page on Whisper White paper and cut it to size. Even if you don't have My Digital Studio, Stampin' Up's digital images can be used as images in any image editing or word processing program.  How cool is that?

 

I used Basic Grey cardstock for the base and ran it through the Northern Frost embossing folder.  I sponged Whisper White craft ink over the snowflakes to give them a snowy-look.

A piece of Cherry Cobbler woodgrain designer paper from the Frostwood Lodge pack gave this card a rustic "boy" feel but I couldn't resist a little Silver Glimmer snowflake and Neutrals Glimmer Brad for a little sparkle.  Snow IS sparkly after all, right?  ;-)

Well, I think he will like it...and...I hope it inspires you to play along with this great sketch!  If you need even more encouragement, be sure to check out the rest of Design Team's work over at Create with Connie & Mary.  If you decide to play along with us, please link up your creation by Wednesday, December 21st at Noon (EST).  I can't wait to see what you create!  Thanks for stopping by!