NC SU Demos Blog Hop - Don't Limit Your Stamps

Hi Stampers! Welcome to the November 2021 NC Stampin' Up! Demos blog hop where we will be showing you other uses for your stamp sets. You may have just come from Frances Wagner's blog. Wasn't her card cute?

Here's a Christmas card I made using the Christmas Season Bundle. It's a beautiful bundle, but what about when you have all of your Christmas cards, 3-d items, and decor pieces done? Well, keep reading for some ideas to use this bundle for other occasions during the Christmas/Winter season and throughout the year.

Those of you who are familiar with the Christmas Season bundle may recognize that the bottom layer under the sentiment is shorter than the die in the bundle. See below how to re-size the die cut. Colors: Mossy Meadow, Merry Merlot, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Basic Vanilla. I also used Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels and Linen Thread.

The layout in this second card is similar, but I got rid of the pinecones and added some more plants so it would look less Christmas-y. Now it's perfect for a Winter birthday. This is a one-layer card. The background was done with the Birch background stamp. I think the sentiment is from a retired set as the name is not coming to me right now. Colors: Mossy Meadow, Merry Merlot, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Basic White. 

Here's one more card in Winter colors. This is also a one-layer card. I covered the middle area of the card and stamped several plants. Once I was done stamping I removed the strip of cardstock from the middle of the card so that part remained white. It looked a little plain so I took a ruler and Stampin' Write marker to line the edges of the white area. The sentiment is from Celebrate Sunflowers and is great for a Congratulations or Birthday card. Colors: Garden Green, Old Olive, Merry Merlot, Cherry Cobbler, Basic White. I added a few Basic Rhinestones to bling it up a bit.

This bundle isn't limited to Winter colors. Check out this birthday card done in Spring colors. It's a similar layout to the first card, but I used a whole lot more dots and doubled the Highland Heather plant. Other colors: Balmy Blue, Petal Pink, Basic White. The sentiment is from Timeless Tulips.

As promised, here are instructions on how shorten your die cut so it gives an even border around your sentiment. I started with a 1" x 3" piece of cardstock. Run it through the Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine with just enough cardstock sticking out the end so you know you won't cut off the end. Notice how the piece does not go the whole way to the end. It will fit on a 1" wide piece but you have to position it just right. If you are nervous about this, just cut your piece a little wider.

Now line it up the other way, so the die shows a little bit of the straight end sticking out. You can see the cut end in the middle of the die. If you position it right, you can feel the edges of the cut piece sort of click into place. This die and the cardstock really are straight. I think my camera must not have been straight, which is why it looks like it gets wider at the one end.

The bottom piece of cardstock shows that the die really fit on that 1" piece and shows you how little extra space there is.

And one last card using the original layout, this time a thank you card in Fall colors. The sentiment comes from Best Birds. The labels are rectangles cut with my Paper Trimmer. Colors: Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Sahara Sand, Basic White.

As you can see, there is no need to limit your stamps and dies - even ones with Christmas right in the name. I've shown you birthday, thank you, and let's celebrate you cards in not only Christmas/Winter colors, but Spring and Fall.

I hope you've enjoyed all of these ideas for using your Christmas stamps in non-traditional ways. Continue on the next blog in the hop, which belongs to Tracie Evans Langley, to see even more inspiring ideas.

November 2021 Blog Hoppers
Toni Campana
Amanda Howard
Frances Wagner
Sue Root
Tracie Evans Langley

Tidings and Trimmings Star Card

 Here's a card we made in my recent Stamp-a-Stack. It's made with the Tidings and Trims Bundle.

It's a little hard to see, but I stamped leaves on the 3.75" x 5" layer of Evening Evergreen with Evening Evergreen ink before adhering it to the card base. This just gives a little more visual interest to the card and adds some depth. The star is made up of two die cuts. The Cherry Cobbler star is flat, but the Basic Vanilla is popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Supplies:

Bundle: Tidings and Trim

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Evening Evergreen, and Basic Vanilla

Ink: Cherry Cobbler and Evening Evergreen

Time of Giving Fall Card

 I had a lot of fun making this card. I especially love how the brick wall turned out. The brick background was made by running a piece of Sahara Sand cardstock in the Brick & Mortar 3D embossing folder through the Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine.  Then I used my sponge dauber to rub Cajun Craze ink over the embossed piece. The key is to rub the ink on gently so that it colors the raised bricks and leaves the non-raised parts Sahara Sand color so that it looks like mortar between the bricks. I also did it so that the color wasn't solid, just like real bricks.

The leaves and the pumpkin were die cut with the Giving Gifts dies and the Thankful stamp is from the Time of Giving stamp set. These are available together in a bundle. The leaves were sponged with various colors using my sponge daubers. I used Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, and Crushed Curry ink. When cutting the scene dies from Giving Gifts, an outline is left around the die so you have to make sure your piece of cardstock is sized to leave the size border you want around it. In this case, I used a die from the Stitched Rectangle dies to cut a Pumpkin Pie rectangle and then ran the rectnagle through the Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine again with the pumpkin die centered on it. Thankful is stamped on the same size rectangle. The Cajun Craze border underneath was cut to size using my Paper Trimmer. I chose not to use a Stitched Rectangle die for the Cajun Craze layer because the next size rectangle was bigger than I was looking for. The card base is Basic Vanilla. Both of the rectangles are popped up using Stampin' Dimensionals. All of the leaves are flat, except the one on the far left is popped up with just a partial small dimensional at the stem end and then flat on the other end.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I you enjoyed the card and the directions on how to get your Brick & Mortar embossing to look like real bricks with the mortar showing in between.

Pretty Pumpkins in Non-traditional Fall Colors

Here's a quick Fall card in non-traditional colors.

Stamp Set: Pretty Pumpkins. Colors: Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry, and Basic Vanilla. Embossing Folder for background: Star-Crossed. Linen Thread around the bottom.

I don't know why it looks wavy but the bottom is straight in real life. Hope you enjoyed today's card. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Pretty Pumpkins Fall Card

Have you seen the Pretty Pumpkins bundle in the Mini Catalog? The more I play with it, the more I love it! The whole bundle is great, but I particularly love the details on the tall pumpkin and the design on the stamped pumpkin. We made this card in one of my classes recently.

Supplies:

Pretty Pumpkins Bundle (Item number 156478)

Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine

Basic Vanilla cardstock: 8.5" x 5.5" card base, 3.75" x 5" layer, and a scrap (I think it was about 2.5" or 2.75" square) for the pumpkin

Cajun Craze cardstock: 4" x 5.25" layer and a scrap to die cut the tall pumpkin

Pumpkin Pie cardstock: a scrap to die cut the smaller pumpkin

Old Olive cardstock: a scrap to die cut the leaf and a very thin strip about 3.5" or so long for the vine

Ink Pads: Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, and Crushed Curry

Sponge Daubers

Metallic Pearls: I used 3 gold ones

Assembly tips: 

To get the multi-colored pumpkin, use your sponge daubers to dab assorted colors of ink directly on the pumpkin stamp. You'll want to use a different dauber for each color ink so you don't mess up your ink pads. Make sure the entire stamp is covered in ink before stamping. You might want to breath on your stamp to help re-moisten the ink before stamping depending how long it takes you to ink your stamp.

To curl the vine, rub the Old Olive strip along the edge of your table to break up the fibers. Then roll it around the pointy tip or stylus tip of your Take Your Pick tool. Arrange it to your liking so that one end is under the multi-colored pumpkin and the other is under the leaf. Depending how your vine lays, you may need a little adhesive to hold it down in the middle, too.

I popped up both the leaf and the multi-colored pumpkin.

Thank you for stopping by my blog. I hope you like today's card and it inspires you to get creative.