Something Special to Share – and a Giveaway

Paper Smooches released their newest Kismet stamp set called Winter Groves on November 15th and I am here today to help promote this sweet set! You will find the new stamp set HERE.

Honestly, I could have created many more cards with this set – for this post, I’m sharing three. I love the set’s holiday-ish feel with an emphasis on the season of winter. I used non-traditional holiday colors for my cards to explore that winter feel.

First up is the adorable penguin and his igloo!

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For my next card, the snowman went ice fishing, using the pole and fish from the Paper Smooches “My Guy” set.

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For my final card, I played with the idea of the “Partridge in a Pear Tree” theme. I imagined a bare tree lit by a string of lights with a bokeh-effect.

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I have one Winter Groves stamp set to give away to one lucky person!  You have until midnight on Sunday, November 18th to leave a comment. I will post the winner here on Monday, November 19th.

For more chances to win, please visit the Paper Smooches Blog and the blog of Jessica Davis!

Simple Scrapper’s 2012 Holiday Kit

For the past week, I’ve been creating a December/Holiday mini book using Simple Scrapper’s 2012 Holiday Kit.

Rather than create an album specific to 2012, I’ve captured memories of the holidays past with room to include memories from this holiday season. I used the kit’s number tags, from Elle’s Studio, for twenty-five different categories of memories. To some extent the memories are organized chronologically for the month of December, as in I have Christmas Day on December 25 and I have a page about advent calendars near the beginning.

I have a variety of page design foundations based on the size and number of photos I used for each of the pages. (You’ll notice mini clothespins on some of my pages. I used those to attach embellishments while I was still working on my page spreads. They are not part of the final design.)

I’ll start with the end – Christmas morning. For this spread page I kept it simple, using a full-page photo with added embellishments from the kit.

Simple Scrapper's 2012 Holiday Kit

For the cover, I chose to use a single word “Magic” with one of the kit’s alpha sets. I embellished it with die-cut stars created from an extra sheet of paper from the kit.

Simple Scrapper's 2012 Holiday Kit

While we haven’t made any gingerbread creations for a few years, they were a huge part of our celebration when my sons were younger.

Simple Scrapper's 2012 Holiday Kit

To incorporate some memories for which I don’t have photos, I journaled with lists. This page, that I printed on my inkjet printer onto cardstock and titled with the kit’s other alpha, lists some of our family’s favorite holiday songs. Just creating the list got me into the holiday spirit! I love having this resource at my fingertips.

Simple Scrapper's 2012 Holiday Kit

A relatively new tradition, although one that my husband’s family celebrated when he was young, is to go to one of our region’s fabulous nurseries to get poinsettias. We’ve already discussed which weekend we’ll go this December.

Simple Scrapper's 2012 Holiday Kit

Using the kit’s tags from Pink Paislee I created a few titled dividers. At the back of the book, I’ve got a section for this December. On the flip side of the card, I affixed a December calendar with some of our activities already penciled in.

Simple Scrapper's 2012 Holiday Kit

I have a few double-page spreads in the book, including this one documenting a trip to the “Make Way for Ducklings” statue in the Boston Public Garden. I incorporated a stamped image from October Afternoon on the journaling side.

Simple Scrapper's 2012 Holiday Kit

I have just a few more pages before the book is complete, at least for the “past” memories! Looking forward to adding pages from our December 2012 activities as well!

CFC 78

This week’s CAS-ual Friday Challenge CFC78 is to create a Clean And Simple project that has something torn on it. I used the MFT notebook die giving the appearance of a page or note torn from a spiral. I’ve been turning to this die a lot lately for my projects. I paper-pieced the Paper Smooches Santa and added his skin tone with a Copic.

Paper Smooches Ho Ho Ho

 

Supplies:

Holiday Card Workshop Days 6-8

We’re into the second week of the Holiday Card Workshop. This week, I’ve been using a lot of Ranger Distress inks. I’m sharing cards crafted with some of my favorite combinations.

My first card was inspired by one of Jennifer McGuire’s. I blended Tumbled Glass and Evergreen Boughs for my background. I placed a landscape cut from an Impression Obsession die on top.

Holiday Card Workshop Days 6-8

My next card is a variation of one made by Kristina Werner. My version is a bit simpler than the one she shared in class. She had stamped snowflakes onto her card in pigment ink. When I did the same, the snowflakes didn’t make much of an impact, so I remade the card adding a little sparkle with Stickles. There’s Iced Spruce in the right-hand corner, Evergreen Bough in the left-hand corner, and Peacock Feathers along the top.

Holiday Card Workshop Days 6-8

For the card I made today, I combined a design from class by Amber Kemp-Gerstel with one I saw made by Cheiron Brandon. The trees are die cut from the card base and the panels with the distress inks are adhered to the back – Peacock Feathers, Evergreen Bough, and Tumbled Glass.

Holiday Card Workshop Days 6-8

You’ll notice that the sentiment is the same on all three cards. It’s from the Hero Arts + Studio Calico “Spread Joy” set. I’ve had it on my stamping block all week!

Supplies:

Simple Scrapper November Premium Membership Blog Hop

Welcome! Today we’re hosting a Simple Scrapper Team blog hop using this month’s Simple Scrapper Premium Membership templates. I documented a trip to the Boeing Flight Museum that we took with our sons when we first moved to the Seattle area. It’s a fantastic museum, and we visited numerous times when they were younger. I’ve never scrapped these photos, which were printed (I scanned them), and was pleased to make something of a set of photos that might otherwise be forgotten. After trying several approaches with flight-themed embellishments, I decided to go for a cleaner, simpler page in the end. The embellishments didn’t add anything to the page. 

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Supplies: Anna Aspnes paper; Robyn Meierotto “Let’s Go” paper; Katie Pertiet kraft paper, photo frames, paint splatters, staples; Bebas font (title); Rockwell font (journaling)

Want to win a one-month Simple Scrapper Premium Membership! Visit the team member blogs and look for the entry link. Entries will be pooled and one winner selected at 11:59pm on Tuesday, November 6. You may enter from multiple blogs.

Use this link to enter a giveaway for a one-month trial subscription to Simple Scrapper: http://ow.ly/ctrlx

Check out the inspiration from the rest of the team:

Julie Aldridge

Sue Althouse

Jeryn Carlisi

Lisa Corbin-Polak

Ronnie Crowley

Jess Forster

Michele Holcomb

Margrethe Aas Johnsen

Amy Kingsford

Pam Lozano

Aimee Maddern

Valerie Mangan

The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping.