Greenhouse Ornament Step-Up

As many of you would know, I love my punches. One of my favourite punches is the ornament punch as it makes creating simple Christmas cards easy, particuarly when you use it to punch patterned paper. I often try for non-traditional Christmas cards and decided to use the punch with some left over Greenhouse Gala paper for a rather different Christmas look. I made the basic card and then made a second version, with a few pieces a little more involved to add more interest.

This card should be pretty straight forward, one little secret I have used is to layer the colourful ornament on a Chocolate Chip ornament so it is a little firmer and sits up better. The hanging threads for the ornaments are linen thread that has been split in half.

For the stepped up version I have used a layer of textured cardstock, replaced the punched strip with ribbon, painted over sections of the monochrome patterned paper with Frost White shimmer paint and sponged the shimmer paint all over the colourful ornament, used the shimmer paint to create a border on the sentiment piece, painted the linen thread with the shimmer paint, raised the sentiment piece on dimensionals, and edged the design on the colourful ornament with glitter. I used a blender pen to apply the shimmer pain to the ornaments, and a dauber for the border on the sentiment. The glitter outline was done by tracing the edge with Tombow glue then sprinkle Dazzling Diamonds over top. The ribbon is the new seam binding that I ruffled by holding a bunch of strands from the middle of the ribbon and sliding the ribbon along so the edges bunched up and ruffled. I think seam binding is my new favourite ribbon, it is so flexible and easy to work with!

Here's another angle on the card so you can really see the shimmer effect:

All supplies by Stampin' Up!

Basic Card
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Chocolate ChipStamp set: Contempo Christmas
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Greenhouse Gala paper, Ornament punch, Decorative Label punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, linen thread, Dimensionals
Stepped-up Card
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, textured Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Chocolate ChipStamp set: Contempo Christmas
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Greenhouse Gala paper, Ornament punch, Decorative Label punch, Frost White shimmer paint, Tombow multipurpose glue, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Baja Breeze seam binding, blender pen, sponge dauber, linen thread, Dimensionals

Polka Dot Congrats

I've based the layout of this card on the latest Mojo Monday sketch, and I have used one of my favourite colour combinations for it. Once again I have also teamed up Polka Dot Punches with this dotty paper from the Prints pack... I'll try for something completely new next time! But with 6 weeks left to enjoy River Rock and Purely Pomegranate I had to make the most of it . There are only 2 weeks left for you to earn these two sets, Polka Dot Punches and Congratulations, as Sale-A-Bration finishes on February 28th.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: River Rock, Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate, vellum card
Stamp Sets: Polka Dot Punches, Congratulations
Inks: VersaMark, Old Olive, Purely Pomegranate
Accessories: Purely Pomegranate double-stitched ribbon, horizontal slot punch, white embossing powder, Earth Elements brads
Show watched while creating: Brokeback Mountain

Inklings Cyberstamp Challenge 2

The second challenge for the Inklings cyberstamp was a sketch challenge, based on a card in the Stampin' Up! catalogue.


I originally didn't plan to have paper piercing around my image just as it was done in the original card, but I saw this set sitting on my desk and thought it would be fun to pierce around the heart - it also meant I had done the last challenge for the Elite Challenges blog for February. The dotty papers from the Prints packs works in really well too. I think this is the closest I have followed a sketch ever!


You can see all my Elite Challenge cards for this month over at the Elite Challenges blog.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Regal Rose
Stamp Set: Polka Dot Punches, Happy Everything
Inks: Rose Red, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: paper piercing tool, Prints paper in Old Olive and Rose Red, scallop edge punch, Celery grosgrain ribbon, linen thread, Word Window punch, dimensionals