Halloween One Sheet Wonder – CASE of the Mondays

Making Halloween cards is so much fun. They can be spooky or playful.  The 2018 Holiday catalog has a couple of cute stamp sets for this holiday.  I selected the Spooky Sweets and the Spooky Bat punch that goes with it.  I also picked up the Takeout Treats which will work for several holidays and all occasions.  I’ve also been playing with some One Sheet Wonders lately.  A  One Sheet Wonder is a template for cutting the paper into geometric shapes that can be used to make several cards. This is a great way to convince yourself to cut that paper you love so much because you know there won’t be a wasted scrap.

For my cards I used a 6×6 inch piece of Garden Impressions.  This is a bold floral pack of paper that is packed with color. But wait – Halloween cards?  I know you’re wondering how that’s possible. The pack as this lovely watercolor Night of Navy and Blueberry Bushel abstract that reminded me of a fall sky at twilight. I had to use it.  My inspiration for the layouts came from Nicole Belesimo.  You can see her cards here.  Both of us used a cutting template from Kathy Roney. Her template is here.  The template makes six cards – and here they are.

Swirls and Curls Spooky Sweets

This is card #1.  I used the Swirls and Curls embossing folder on a piece of Night of Navy to add texture.  The Garden Impressions DSP is set off by Basic Black cardstock. I punched the bats using the new Black Foil that is also in the 2018 Holiday catalog.  I love the shine they added to the card.  The sentiment is embossed using some retired Crushed Curry powder I had – but you could use the new Pineapple Punch powder.  I like the yellow on black. You will see I used it a lot.  The ribbon is Basic Black Satin and there is a stray rhinestone.  I have some black rhinestones left in my stash.  If you don’t, you could use the new Black Blends from the Holiday catalog and color one of the standard rhinestones.

Card #2. I used a layer of Basic Black over the Basic Black card base so that Sppoky Sweets Garden ImpressionsI could stamp my clouds from the Spooky Sweets set and not worry about making a mistake. The sentiment is from Seasonal Chums – available in the Annual catalog. The grey ribbon is from the last Sale-a-Bration. Black Satin would have worked just as well. The moon was stamped in Daffodil Delight on the same color cardstock. I punched it out using the Twinkle Builder punch from the Annual catalog. (I saved the stars for a later card).

Black Foil Spooky SweetsCard #3.  I used a lot of the Black Foil on this card. A wide stripe is layered over Night of Navy.   I punched one end of the foil with the Twinkle Builder. Behind the foil, I used a scrap of Daffodil Delight to make the negative space pop.  The one-inch squares of DSP are layered on Night of Navy too.  More foil bats, a few rhinestones,  and the embossed sentiment finished it off.

Card #4. There are the stars I saved from card 2 plus a few extra.  Take Out Treats and Twinkle Builder PunchThe sentiment is from Takeout Treats, embossed in yellow and punched using the Everyday Label punch. Instead of Night of Navy, I used Blueberry Bushel as my background layer.

Stampin Up Halloween CardCard 5.  I was a bit stumped how to use the four small pieces. As I played around with them I layered them on a black scrap and thought it looked like a window.  I used the retired Season to Sparkle to stamp a dangling spider in one of the panes. Pineapple Punch cardstock layered behind the Night of Navy makes the moon and stars shine.  I layered the sentiment over a piece of Black Satin ribbon using small dimensionals.

Card 6. The last card, I used the Swirls and Curls embossing folder again, but I wanted MORE.  So I got out the small bottle of Champagne Mist Seasonal ChumsChampagne Mist Shimmer Paint from the Holiday catalog. This stuff is so cool. It’s like Wink of Stella on steroids.  I just dipped my finger into the lid and got a tiny bit and then smeared it on.  I kept adding small amounts until I was happy with the look.  I can tell you that a little goes a LONG way. I can’t wait to order the copper, gold and white for more holiday play. For this card, I also got out my Blends.  The new Mango Melody blends with the Pumpkin Pie let me make a very cool jack o’lantern. I also used a gold foil doily and the Triple Banner punch for the sentiment tag. And a rhinestone may have found it’s way onto this mixed media masterpiece.

So there you have it. Six cards using a 6×6″ piece of Garden Impressions DSP for inspiration.  I hope I’ve inspired you to Cut the Paper!

On Stage 6 – Foil Frenzy

For my final swap, I wanted something fun for a masculine birthday. Sometimes we struggle to come up with card ideas that are fun, interesting and not feminine.

Foil Frenzy masculine birthday card swapFor this card, I used the super fun Foil Frenzy paper.  The paper is a fantastic contrast between Kraft paper and foil paper. The foil part of the paper comes in four colors – I used the Soft Sky in two of the three patterns, the stripe and the dots.

I ran a two-inch strip of Soft Sky through the celebrate partner of the Celebration Duo embossing folders. Over this, I mounted the strip of the dotted Foil Frezy.

The balloons were stamped using Soft Sky and Night of Navy and the Happy Birthday Gorgeous stamp set. I used Basic Black baker’s twine for their strings.  The middle balloon is lifted up with a Dimensional.  I cut the sentiment using the Happy Birthday thinlet in Soft Sky and Night of Navy and layered them before adhering them to the card.  And all of that was mounted to a Night of Navy cardstock base.

Super fun, lots of texture, and great for the “no flowers” people in your life.

On Stage Swap 5 – Petal Garden

Swap 5 – A Mother’s Day card using the Petal Garden DSP was inspired by a shabby chic card I saw on Pinterest. The source card didn’t use the amazing and versatile Stampin Up! products – so I got creative.

For this card, I used a thick Very Vanilla base.  On that, I layered a piece of Old Olive that I distressed and then sponged with Soft Suede ink.  The next layer is regular Very Vanilla that I Stampin Up! Petal Garden swapdry embossed with the Garden Trellis embossing folder and also sponged with Soft Suede (are you seeing a theme here?).

The next layer is a piece of DSP, about 3″ by 4″ that I what? – distressed and sponged with Soft Suede.

I used the Layering Squares and the Stitched Shapes dies to cut squares out of Crumb Cake cardstock.  I didn’t distress these, but I did sponge them with Soft Suede. I layered on other sheets of the DSP that started out with a Whisper White background before I… sponged them with CRUMB CAKE this time so that they were a little bit lighter and the images would pop. I also used some Wink of Stella in clear on the rose image, in the lighter areas.

The first square was added on top of the DSP that was mounted on the embossed layer that was mounted on the Old Olive layer.  Before I put that all on the base – I added two layers of ribbon – one was a Sale-a-bration ribbon, the other Old Olive Sheer Ribbon.  I mounted all of that to the thick base. Then added the stitched square so it overlapped the ribbon.

The sentiment is three layers.  The first I stamped the outline in Sweet Sugarplum on Very Vanilla. The stamp is from the Lable Me Pretty set and I used the coordinating punch to cut it out.  I sponged that with Soft Suede and mounted it with Dimensionals. I used the Stitched Shapes dies to cut the small oval in Crumb Cake and then sponged it with Soft Suede.  The last layer is a sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes, stamped in Sweet Sugarplum and punched with the Classic Label punch.  I put a bit of Soft Suede ink on the edges of this, but not much. The addition of a few pearls near the sentiment and up in the top left-hand corner and my attempt at Shabby Chic was done!