Christmas Stars Shining on High!

These next cards are for my four children for Christmas and they are all using the same design, but with a different color scheme using their favorite colors.  This design was presented at a monthly Stampin' Up card class hosted by Dar Peterson and Luci Kirschbaum in the fall of 2019.  I believe the original design was Luci's, and my thanks to Luci for her design, which I am casing with some modifications.  

I  added more layering, making the card larger, changed the sentiment tag shape, the colors, star positions, and ribbon placement.  I also used a ribbon knot rather than a bow.  The large center star uses beautiful silver Mercury Glass Acetate backed by the darkest color shade.  I have made an inside verse and design which focuses on the bright star seen on Christmas night...the Star of Bethlehem.

The first card is navy and periwinkle (Seaside Spray) and was made for my oldest son David:

The second was made for my oldest daughter, Michele, using Bermuda Bay and Pool Party, since aquas and turquoises are her favorite colors:

The third card is for my youngest daughter, Jackie, and her husband, Josh.  Jackie has always loved red and black and you will find her wearing those colors often.  They were even the color theme for her wedding:

The final card is for my youngest son, Mark, and his wife, Ginger.  Ginger's favorite color falls in the purple hues, and though she likes the lighter shades, I believe she really loves the darker ones more.

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstocks--Silver Glimmer, Silver Mercury Glass, Night of Navy,  Seaside Spray, Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Gorgeous Grape, Purple Posie, Whisper White.  Stamps--So Many Stars.  Dies--Stitched Stars Dies; Chalk Talk Framelits (sentiment dies/ modified).  Ink:  Delicata Metallic Silver, Night of Navy, Bermuda Bay, Memento Tuxedo Black, Gorgeous Grape.  1/4" Seaside Spray Metallic ribbon.  Basic Rhinestones.  Other:  3/8" Offray ribbons--turquoise, black & silver, lavender.  Size: 4-3/4" x 6-1/4".  

Christmas Trees Black & White

 I really got the COVID lost mojo syndrome!  I have just been so unmotivated to do most anything, including one of my favorite pastimes...making cards!  I made only a few Christmas cards, and only those that I didn't have to mail got delivered, because they were VERY local!

Here's an example of how unmotivated I was...I revisited a card I designed back in 2018 and really loved.  I decided to try motivating myself by re-making just a few for two family members that I really needed to give a card to and who didn't receive this design in its first go round in 2018.  This wee bit of motivation only started about six days before Christmas...YIKES!  See this card's design and this year's first completed card below:

Ingredients:  Paper:  Stampin' Up--Whisper White (cardbase); Recollections Signature Glitter Paper/ white; Core'dinations--Black Tie.  Dies:  Spellbinders--Tear Drop Circles; My Favorite Things--Stitched Circle STAX, Stitched Snow Drifts; Sizzix TH-Alternations--Woodlands; Cottage Cutz Expressions--Merry Christmas.  Stampin' Up: Metallic Stars (retired).  Inside:  DCWV--Silver Stag Star dsp.  SU--Basic rhinestones.  SU--Silver Glimmer paper.  EK Victorian Photo Corner punch.  Chatterbox verse.  Size: 4-3/4 x 6 inches.

Sister-in-Law #3 Has a "Freedom" Birthday!

I have mentioned in the past that I have eight (8) sister-in-laws!  With my knee surgery, I missed getting a card made for the first two in 2018.  My third sister-in-law has a birthday just a few days after the 4th of July.

After looking at possible SCS challenges to enter, I decided to do a whole different thing with her birthday and make a patriotic card all about freedom.  In her case, the birthday verse gives her the "freedom" to choose to be "29 again" this year; therefore, I used "FREEDOM for Your Birthday!" as the card front sentiment.

I've been chuckling as I've been making her card and thoroughly enjoying myself.  I do hope she likes her card as well as I think she will.  Take a peek below at the card front and my inside verse and design.

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Midnight Muse (ret.), Real Red, Very Vanilla, Naturals Ivory.  Punch: 3-Corner Curvy (inside-ret.).  Baker's Twine: Real Red/ White.  Patterned papers: Authentique Pride Collection:  Dignity (bg), Unified (Inchie-Dots), Assemble (Inchie-Stripe), Amend (Inchie-Plaid).  Hugs Seam Binding Ribbon: Union Blue.  Spellbinder Dies:  Stars Nestabilities, Postage Stamp Nestabilities (Inchies).  Queen & Co. Twinkle Goosebumps: Red (inside).  Button: stash.  Fishtail Flags--hand-cut.  Chatterbox sentiment/ verse (Fonts: Lobster 1.4 = sentiment/16--verse/15. Cut Above the Rest = setniment (freedom).  Size: 4-3/4" x 6".

Queen of the Gold Star Club!

BRINGING ME A SMILE!  

THIS CARD IS NAMED A

SPLITCOASTSTAMPERS FAVORITE OF THE

WEEK ENDING - AUGUST 13, 2017!!

My oldest son wanted me to make a card honoring the very first winner of his computer gaming challenge that he started almost ten years ago.  It will soon be the Gold Star Club's anniversary, and the card will go to the very first winner of the very first challenge question.  

My son had some very particular things he wanted the card feature.  It had to be gold, glitzy, have a large predominant star, and feature some stardust.  Not particular at all, right?!!  So, with these requirements, I got started.  Below is the result of my endeavors on behalf of the Gold Star Club!  David was thrilled and he thinks the woman, who had the correct answer first, will be as well:

Ingredients:  Papers: SU Naturals cardstock (retired); Recollection Shimmer-Brown; Best Creations: Glitter cardstock-Dark Gold; Paper Pizazz-Funky Stars on Yellow; DCWV Shimmer Stack-Bronze Pumpkin; Bazzill Dotted Swiss-Honey. Spellbinders: 5 Stars. SU Framelits-Holiday Collection-mini stars (retired). Sizzix Sizzilits Swirls (modified). WRMK Deco Corner Chomper.  Darice Rhinestones. Computer-generated sentiment. Handmade sentiment banner mats.

The Story

As mentioned above, about ten years ago, my son, David, started what he called the Star Challenge for his online gaming friends.  He would present a challenge question, and his gaming friends were allowed five chances to answer the puzzle correctly.  If they were successful, they were entered as member of the Gold Star Club.

The very first challenge presented was a two-part question: to name the voice speaking (a pre-recorded interactive part of the challenge) and the title of the game, which was a vintage computer game that he played as a young boy.  It took six months for some one to come up with the correct answers.  Strangely enough, on the very day the correct answer came in via email, a second correct answer followed within a few hours from two members, who didn't know each other and lived in different states!!  It was amazing that no one could guess the name of the voice or the name of the game correctly for over six months and then two were successful on the very same day within hours of one another.  These two winners became the first and second members of the Gold Star Club.  

Further challenges have been offered throughout the ensuing years, but none have taken so long for the correct answer to be presented.  The first person to correctly guess the very first challenge holds the Gold Star Club crown, because she not only answered it correctly, but one her very first try; therefore, she will receive this card honoring the ten-year anniversary of her win!  My son and I both hope she enjoys her card!

Jolly Stars (Totally Lovin' Christmas #6)!

I'm rolling along finishing another card that I started at Liz Thayer's Totally Lovin' Christmas cardmaking event!  This one if full of jolly stars, and indeed, we did have a jolly time making cards, seeing old friends, and socializing as we made Liz's superbly designed cards.

I have to confess that I can seldom make a card exactly as it is designed and presented at an event such as this.  For some reason, when I see an already designed and finished card, my creative mojo starts zinging into my mind, and I have all sorts of ideas of how to tweak or change a card just a bit to make it more me.  Everyone has their own style and ideas in cardmaking, and I hope my hostesses do not take offense if I don't end up with the exact same card as designed.  One thing I know for sure, I love larger than A2 sized cards and I also like more layers of color than many other do.  My changes usually incorporate adding layers, which ultimately makes the card a bit larger.

On this Jolly Stars #5 card, I was not fond of the Iridescent embossed smaller stars, it changed the color too much, and made it so they didn't quite match the shades intended.  I thought I'd try clear embossing, which turned out so well that I decided to clear emboss the larger stars as well.  While I was at it, I embossed the Jolly greeting with Cherry Cobbler embossing powder rather than just stamping it in Cherry Cobbler ink.  Next, I decided the layers needed to have a bit more of an edge between layers, and also I felt it needed a white layer to set off the Mossy Meadow and the Red Glimmer papers.  Thus, I added white as a bottom layer making it my new cardbase.  My final addition was to add Clear Wink of Stella all over each of the stars and to the Crumb Cake band to add a bit of shimmer.

For those of you who are not familiar with the "Winks," they are a liquid brush pen that adds a coat of thin shimmer gloss to any surface by painting it on with its brush tip.  It comes in many colors, clear, black, gold, and silver to name a few.  Spoiler Alert:  the new Occasion mini catalog, which will be introduced on January 5, 2016 and run through May 31st, introduces the Wink of Stella Clear and Gold pens for purchase.  I know you'll like them.  Unfortunately, it doesn't really show up all that much in my card photo, but you certainly can see it when you view the actual card!

Recipe:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Whisper White, Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Red Glimmer.  Merry Moments dsp.  Stamps--Oh, What Fun.  Star Framelit dies (size #1/ #2; #1 = smallest).  Decorative Label punch.  Clear Embossing Powder.  1/4" Real Red Cotton ribbon.  Other:  Clear Wink of Stella.  (Thanks Liz Thayer for the original card design).

Christmas - To You & Yours Re-design #2

I looked at the calendar and my heart took a big pitter patter...OMG..osh, it is only 21 days to Christmas and I am no where near even half way through making my Christmas cards!  I need to get BUSY, BUSY!!!

I brought out my Stampin' Up To You & Yours Card Kit again, and decided to fiddle with it just to see what creative mojo might seep into my being.  If you recall, I had cut all my cardbases in half, as one Pinterest video suggested, thus increasing my foil card fronts to 36 instead of the 18 if the kit was put together exactly as designed.  You know me, I can never follow directions exactly as it seems my creative mojo always tempts in lots of different directions other than what is right in front of me!  LOL

I love the paper with the diagonal red foil and white stripes, and decided to use it with one of the star window cutouts.  Next, I remembered the flat plastic glitter ornaments that I purchased at WalMart a month or more ago thinking they could be incorporated as an embellishment with Christmas cards.  I thought, "Gee, those white glittery snowflakes might be pretty peeking through my star window."

Then, I thought the star window needed to be framed as it is in the kit itself, but the kit provides a gold star frame, and I wanted red.  So, I pulled out by star dies, and found that if I used one of my Spellbinder Stars with one from the Stampin' Up Star framelits, I could replicate almost the exact cutout that the kit provided in any color I wanted.  Thumbs up...am I excited!  

I cut the height of the white star window layer smaller at both the top and the bottom, because I wanted to fit a separated Christmas sentiment underneath.  I added white glitter paper as a trim next to the foil stripe at the sides and adhered it all to a Real Red cardbase.   And thus, with NO shaker on this one, my very modified To You & Yours card was created!!

Recipe:  Stampin' Up cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White; Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer; Red Foil (2015 Holiday); To You & Yours kit: Red Foil stripe.  SU Stamps: Versatile Christmas (2015 Holiday).  SU Ink: Real Red.  Holiday Time: Glitter Ornaments (WalMart).  Craft Medley: red sequins.

Christmas To You & Yours Star Shaker!

I recently purchased the To You & Yours Shaker Card Kit from Stampin' Up's 2015 Holiday mini catalog.  It is a very versatile kit, and it will complete 18 cards of three designs if you follow the instructions provided, plus there are oodles of leftovers in the kit that can be used to create additional cards of your own designs.  In addition, if you cut the foil designer card bases in half and added these halves as a front layer to another colored cardbase, you can actually end up with 36 cards using the three different patterned foil papers that are provided, which was exactly what I decided to do.

The kit provides three different sets of die-cut white card fronts for your shaker windows consisting of: star cutouts, circle cutouts (to make round ornament shakers), and tree-shaped cutouts.  I decided to start with one of the star cutouts.  I decided to modify my card a bit from the design provided on the instructions.  I added a white card base and adhered a layer of brushed gold cardstock.  This would be an added layer under the green, white, and silver foil diagonal striped designer paper.  So, now instead of having just a striped designer paper cardbase, I now had a white layer (the card base), a brushed gold layer and then the striped foil layer.

Next, inside my star shaker window, I decided to stamp a filigreed snowflake from the Letterpress Winter stamp set (2014 Holiday catalog), stamping with Silver Metallic ink to incorporate more silver to bring out the silver foil in the diagonal striped paper.  My snowflake was large enough that it just forms a filigreed background pattern inside the star shaker window.  On opposite diagonal corners, I used the tiny stars stamp from the To You & Yours Too stamp set as recommended by the kit instructions, but decided to add a few more stars and to use a combination of metallic gold and silver inks instead of just the Crushed Curry they recommended.  I think I just wanted a bit more verall bling!  Also, my reasoning was to coordinate with both the gold foil outlining the star cutout that was provided for this card, as well as the silver foil in the diagonal striped paper.  In addition, I thought the card needed a bit more silver than shown in the original design.  I am pretty happy with all the modifications I made so that my card is more mine and not just a copy of the design provided.  

My goal is to try different variations for each of my star shaker cards so they are not all exactly the same.  I may even mix match my papers from the original directions given!

Recipe:  All items other those additionally listed provided in the Stampin' Up: To You & Your Shaker Cards Kit (Holiday 2015).  SU cardstocks:  Whisper White (card base); Brushed Gold (retired); Cucumber Crush (inside).  SU Stamps:  To You and Yours Too; Letterpress Winter.  Encore Metallic Inks:  Gold; Silver.  My Favorite Things dies: Photo Corners.

Following is a copy of the original card design provided by Stampin' Up in the card kit.

Father's Day to Celebrate!

We are celebrating my husband this weekend for Father's Day.  He got a new gas grill barbecuer and wants to cook for the family on his special day, so we are hosting a potluck at our house with our four children and their husbands, wives, and significant other joining in.  We plan to play some lawn games if the weather holds, as you never know in the Northwest and a little gambling game I learned of at my Girls' Get-Away!

For John's card, I made almost the same coffee shaker card previously posted on May 31st.  This card suits him to a "tee," as he is a six-to-eight cups of coffee a day person.  His coffee shaker card is the first version I made of this card, and my former boss's card (and elementary school principal), was the second version.  That version was the simplified version to avoid the pleated ribbon edging on my husband's card, which I found a bit of a challenge to adhere and thought it too tedious to use for my Girls' Get-Away shoebox card (as I planned to use this design for the Get-Away ladies to make from my card kits.  My husband's card, as shown below, is the first and larger version.  Even though the ribbon was time-consuming and tedious, I do love the finished product!  I think John will be please as well.

A little Father's Day verse to come up with, a little design to coordinate with the outside, and voila, John's card is complete!

Recipe:  Stampin' Up products: Cardstocks -  Early Espresso (card base), Real Red, Very Vanilla, Gold Glimmer paper; stamps - Perfect Blend (retired 6/1/15), Guy Greetings (2015 Occasions); inks - Soft Suede & Early Espresso; punches - Confetti Stars (2015 Occasions/ 2015-16 Annual); Dotted Scallop Ribbon (retired 6/1/15); framelits - Striped Scallop; largest Stars (banner fishtail pattern); smallest Banner (pattern for sentiment fishtail); Circle (3-3/4" & 3"); embossing folder - Lucky Stars (2015 Occasions/ 2015-16 Annual); cardboard from designer paper packaging (10-layer shaker frame); ribbon - Early Espresso 1/8" cotton (retired).  TomBow Glue.  Memento Tuxedo Black stamp pad.  Offray 1/4" Early Espresso Grosgrain ribbon.  Darice Dark Brown Seed Beads (coffee grounds).  Stash: Clear acyrlic sheet.  Large gold rhinestone.  Gold star brads.
(Note: I wanted to give credit to the person who originally came up with the idea for this card and the picture in my mind.  With lots of computer searching, I finally found the card I cased. . .boy do I have a good memory. . .thank you Ellen Taylor, who made the original over three years ago.) 

A Coast Guard Retirement...Congratulations!

My son-in-law has decided to retire after 27 years of service in the Coast Guard.  His last duty station was at the USCG Operations Center in Kearneysville, West Virginia - the software development center for the Coast Guard and Homeland Security.  His first question upon receiving this assignment was:  West Virginia! Is there any water or boats in West Virginia?  And, the answer was, "No!"  For a man used to being on a boat in the ocean, I would say this was disconcerting to say the least! 

I am a lover of U.S. history, and I found the Coast Guard's history very interesting.  Here are a few of those items I found to be interesting tidbits:

• The Coast Guard is the oldest continuous seagoing service of the United States, and its original purpose was to collect customs duties in the nation's seaports under the U.S. Treasury Department, starting in 1790.
• It has changed the department that it reports to seven times in its history, as follows:  U.S. Dept. of Treasury (1790-1917); U.S. Dept. of Navy (1917-1919: World War I); U.S. Dept. of Treasury (1919-1946); U.S. Dept. of Navy (1941-1946: World War II); U.S. Dept. of Treasury (1946-1967); U.S. Dept. of Transportation (1967-2003); Dept. of Homeland Security (2003-present).
• It can be transferred to the U.S. Dept. of Navy by the President at any time or by Congress during times of war; therefore, its motto is Always Ready.
• It is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission with jurisdiction in domestic and international water, and also a federal regulatory agency as well.
• In terms of size, the Coast Guard, by itself, is the world's 12th largest naval force.

For Don's retirement, effective July 1st, I made this card with a few photos of "boats" and/or duty stations to which he has been assigned throughout his 27-year career to commemorate and thank him for his years of service to our country.

Recipe:  Bazzil cs (cardbase): Admiral; DCWV: Glitzy Glitter Stack/ The Corrugated Stack; Authentique: Pride/ Unified/ Amend; BoBunny: Dark Denim Dot; Recollections: Photo Burlap.  Recollections Essentials Distressed.  Dies:  Sizzix Tim Holtz Picture Reel BigZ; Spellbinders Labels 15/ Stars.  WRMK Deco Corner Chomper.  Zutter Corner Rounder.  Recollections Star brads.  Stash:  Button, Scrapper's Floss.  (Size: 5-3/4" square).

A Masculine Birthday

Today is my oldest son's birthday.  He has always been a computer gamester, so I went in search of an idea that would fit that theme and came up with My Favorite Things Masculine Graphic Tee die & stamp set combo.  As it turned out, I did not use the stamps.  Instead, I used a sticker from the paper line that I modified to fit the front of the T-shirt to become its logo.  Here is the t-shirt I made just for David's birthday!

Next, I needed to add a little sentiment to the inside, and this is what I came up with as time got away from me and dinner reservations were looming...(doesn't it always, LOL)!

Recipe: 

Paper:  Bazzill cardstock (black card base, sage t-shirt, smoke blue star); Patterns:  DCWV - The Generation Tech Stack.  Sentiment: computer-generated w/Word - Algerian 18 font/ charcoal printer ink.  Edge sponging: Cat Eye Charcoal.  Dies:  Spellbinders - Pinking Circles LG, Lacy Pennants (flags), Stars Five; My Favorite Things: Masculine Graphic Tee.  Stampin' Up button. Extras: black twine, pinking shears, back fine marker (faux stitching), Scotch 1/4" tape gun and foam tape.