Week 4 Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Fall has definitely arrived! The days have been sunny and warm with just a cool breeze, and the nights are chilly and crisp. I love it! This, to me, is the "Most Wonderful Time of the Year!". But it also means that we need to get busy with all of our holiday card making.

This week I have used one of Dreamweaver's beautiful new embossing folders, FG675 Pine cones embossing folder, and the new LL3047 Happy Holiday stencil. I have a lot of family who live in northern Minnesota, so this card will be for one of them because it has that "Up North" feel. People who live there know what I'm talking about!  Here it is:

I started by embossing the pine cones on cream colored paper. Used a 1/2" stencil brush to add some color to the needles and pine cones. I didn't worry if some color went on the background, if you would prefer the image to be crisper, lay the matching stencil (LG675) over the embossed image before adding color. Then I tore around the image and added darker ink to the torn edge. The Happy Holiday was stenciled using the same brush, torn and edged with ink. The green checked paper in the background is from Authentique and is called Curiosity from the Wonder collection. Some burgundy burlap ribbon from May Arts added a little pop of color without being too bright and has the perfect texture to match the feel of the card.

Be sure to check out the holiday creations from our team members this week:

Dream It Up!

Wendy Price (GD)

Lyn Bernatovich

Louise Healy

Alison Heikkila

Kristine Reynolds

Pam Hornschu

Gill Wilson

Kristi Parker Van Doren

Happy Creating,
Louise
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Week 3 Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

How can it be the third week of September already???? The weather has definitely turned into fall weather, cool sunny days, chilly, chilly nights. I love it! 

It certainly puts me in the mood for starting all my holiday cards. I love Halloween, so I try to do a card for that (I'll share that with you in early October!). Of course, I can't let Thanksgiving slip by without sending cards for that, though I only send about 30-35 of those. 

Then comes Christmas, THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! Especially this year because we will be welcoming our second grandchild Christmas week we hope. I send around 100 or so cards at Christmas time, so I like to get an early start making them and do a couple of different designs.

Here are three cards I designed for my recent class at Memories and Beyond in Downers Grove:

LL3046 Tall Poinsettia Metallic Silver Embossing Paste
with Blue Leafing 

LL3046 Tall Poinsettia and LX7026 Chevron Bkgd
Glossy White Embossing Paste with Crystal glitter sprinkled on the wet paste

LL3046 Tall Poinsettia Double glitter technique using
Art Glitter True Red, Vine, Fool's Gold, and Crystal

This new Poinsettia stencil (LL3046) is so beautiful and looks great in any technique! The new Chevron Bkgd (LX7026)  is such fun to use, notice how the bottom front of the card is trimmed to follow the pattern.

Don't forget to visit the rest of the team blogs for more great holiday inspiration!

Dream It Up!

Wendy Price (GD)

Leadonna Kimmel

Louise Healy

Laura Drahozal

Lynn Mercurio

Pam Hornschu

Jamie Martin

Happy Creating,
Louise

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An InLinkz Link-up

Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Wow! September is already flying by! Kids are back in school, with all the insanity that goes with it, vacations are a not-so-distant memory, and it is once again time to get busy with the important things in life...crafting for the holidays! Yay! All of September the Dream Team will be featuring all the new goodies we have for the "Most wonderful time of the year", the fall and winter holiday season. New stencil designs, and new dies, all to be found on-line through the Stencil with Style web-site, or your local papercrafting store.

Here's my creation for this week:

Holly and swirls die (DL3005) positive image

Holly and swirls die (DL3005) negative image

This is Dreamweaver's wonderful new Holly and swirls die (DL3005) that matches the Holly and swirls stencil (LL3005). Again, by taking care when cutting the image, you get two cards, the positive and the negative. You can get your holiday cards made twice as fast! I used some beautiful washi paper from Hanko Designs, put some of Dreamweaver's double-sided mounting paper on the back, and carefully centered my die, cutting edge down on the front of the paper, then ran it through my die cut machine. I love the new magnetic platform that Sizzix has, it hold the die in place with no tape. The positive image is a little fragile, so you want to use your Dreamweaver Die-cut tool (DCT) to push the cut image out of the die.  I ran a dark green marker around the edge of the positive image before sticking it down on red cardstock. I also ran dark green marker around the outer edge of the negative image before sticking it down to a red mat. After it was on the red mat, I used a black Micron 01 pen around the edges of all the openings to give them more definition and dimension. Mount them on some coordinating papers and you're finished with two cards!

Of course, we have our monthly challenge for you to play along, so post your own holiday creations, and use the Inlinkz tool on the Dream It Up! blog, for a chance to win the prize at the end of the month. We also have our fabulous Guest Designer for the month of September, Wendy Price! Here's the list of our "A" Team with their links for the week:

Dream It Up!

Wendy Price (GD)

Lyn Bernatovich

Louise Healy

Alison Heikkila

Kristine Reynolds

Pam Hornschu

Gill Wilson

Kristi Parker Van Doren

Happy Creating,
Louise

An InLinkz Link-up

Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Well, yes, I think fall is the most wonderful time of the year, but...

Kids are back in school, with all the insanity that goes with it, vacations are a not-so-distant memory, and it is once again time to get busy with the important things in life...crafting for the holidays! Yay! All of September the Dream Team will be featuring all the new goodies we have for the "Most wonderful time of the year", the fall and winter holiday season. New stencil designs, and new dies, all to be found on-line through the Stencil with Style web-site, or your local papercrafting store.

Here's my holiday inspiration for this week:

Dual Alphabet Die (DD005)
Nested Stockings Die (DG692)

I just love the versatility of our new Dual Alphabet Dies (DD005). You can use the negative image for one card, like I did, and use the positive images for a second card, or store the pieces in the great storage caddy that comes with the dies and use them with other pieces you've saved! Endless possibilities!!

Dual Alphabet Dies & Storage Caddy  DD005

Today I've paired the alphabets with the smallest of our new Nested Stockings Die (DG692) to create a fun and colorful Christmas card. Finish it off with a cute white ric rak from May Arts, a little glitter on the stockings and you've got it! This is a #10 size card. the base card is 7 3/4" x 9 1/4" folded to 3 7/8" x 9 1/4", the perfect size for this project.

Of course, we have our monthly challenge for you to play along, so post your own holiday creations, and use the Inlinkz tool on the Dream It Up! blog, for a chance to win the prize at the end of the month. We also have our fabulous Guest Designer for the month of September, Wendy Price! Here's the list of our "A" Team with their links for the week:

Dream It Up!

Wendy Price (GD) 

Leadonna Kimmel

Louise Healy

Laura Drahozal

Lynn Mercurio

Pam Hornschu

Jamie Martin

Happy Creating,

Louise

An InLinkz Link-up