Christmas Cards

Well it's almost that time!! Can you believe we are THAT close to Christmas already? Have you all made and mailed your cards?

Ok, brace yourselves.....are you braced?  I can't believe it myself but I made my Christmas cards this year!! Every single year for at least the past three or four I've promised to make my Christmas cards and without fail each of those years...yep you guessed it, it didn't happen. I am so happy I actually did it and I do really like them to boot!

Wait though there's more! Don't pass out....I really got on a roll and made matching gift tags! I can't wait to add them to gifts. I only made ten so I think I'm going to attach them to the gifts we give out to the family instead of putting them on any of our gifts for the kids. I'll make more next year (oh see there I go promising to make more next year without fail, lol....).

Take a peek below, tell me what you think for my first official making and mailing of my own Christmas cards.

This is the full set. There are five of each card and tag in a set. The envelopes are all stamped with snowflakes and embossed in silver (it is really pretty in person).

Here's all the little Santa's line up. The Santa is a stamped image that was colored in using watercolor pencils, embossed with black powder and white for the beard. The borders are all hand doodles and the glittery trees were cut from a piece of glittery patterned paper. The glittery card itself was premade and purchased from Michaels...could you imagine trying to glitter an entire card yourself ?...you'd be a sparkling mess for sure, not to mention you'd find sparkles in places you shouldn't for days!

Here's the little Santa tags. I stamped, embossed and water colored the Santa image and then cut it out. I used a 3-D dot to adhere Santa. I had a bunch of these little bells left over from another project and thought they were the perfect addition to the ribbon used to tie the tag on the gift. The backs are all blank so they can be used to write the name of who the gift is for.

 

Now my favorites! The snowmen...I love snowmen! These were created basically the same way as the Santa cards. Each snowman is stamped, embossed and watercolored in. Hand doodle borders and the trees all cut from glittery patterned paper.

And the tags to match, also created the same as the Santa tags. Really the only thing I changed besides the image was the colors, but overall they were the same tags and cards to make. 3-D dots work so well for a little dimension.

 

I also stamped the insides of each card with either "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" and finished them with a "handmade with love" stamp on the back of each!

That's it!

I actaully can't wait to do next years now...maybe I should do it while I'm in the Christmas spirit soon....now there's a thought!

I hope everyone enjoys their holiday and I'll have another post in the New Year. I can't post it yet because it's a gift for Christmas and I know that certain someone visits me here sometimes!

Lumpy Page Designs,

Nicole

Zinnia Kit Cards

Hi all! I have a few cards to share. We were having some of the worse weather here....rain, rain and more rain...weeks of rain....it was making the air in the house very damp. I made these cards one of those damp nights and came down the next day to find them curling! I guess I should have laid them flat or even better yet maybe I need a dehumidifier. The pictures and cards aren't looking the best and I'm blaming it on the sticky damp air! I am happy to announce that the sun has finally made an appearance this week, but I bet the super hot sticky air is now on the way....the kind that hits your chest hard when you walk outside because its so thick. ugh.

Ok, enough of that.

I really did love this kit. The papers and elements are so fun to play with. There's a few kits left so if you haven't had the chance to stop by morethanscrapbooking then you better get movin' before they're all gone! Zinnia by Little Yellow Bicycle.

Technique Thursday - Background Stamping

Hi all! Like promised it's Technique Thursday here on Lumpy Page Designs! Grab your cup of coffee and read on.

Have you ever found yourself looking for the perfect piece of patterned paper for a project? If you’re a scrapbooker or card maker chances are you have. I have the solution for you! Stamping your own backgrounds to create the perfect papers for that card or scrapbook page you’re working on. Super easy to do technique and your possibilities are endless.

I’ve put together an easy tutorial on how to do this. A few simple steps and you’re on your way to making the perfect patterned papers for your project.

Supplies: Cardstock, A Stamp, and Ink (a shade or two darker or lighter than the color of the cardstock – i.e. – pink cardstock – use dark pink, light pink or even red ink).

Start with a plain card / piece of cardstock - for this example I used pink cardstock cut to the size of 5x5 to make a card.

Ink your stamp. Try using either an ink shade close to the color of your cardstock OR you can pick an ink color that is an entirely different color than your background paper color. For this card instead of using a red or pink ink I chose to use a brown ink. I wanted to really make the stamped background stand out on this card. For a more subtle stamped background use an ink color that is a shade or two darker or lighter than the color of your cardstock.

Carefully start stamping the image onto your cardstock. Placement of the stamped image is entirely up to you. For this card I stamped brown flowers all over, but left a section in the center plain. I already knew ahead of time that I planned to place a piece of patterned paper on the section I left bare, so I only stamped the image where I felt it was needed or would show. (For more helpful information about placement of your stamped image read the tip below).

Finish putting your card or layout together by adding all of the extras – brads, buttons, bling, pictures, etc. That’s it, you’re done! It’s that easy.

Tip: You can achieve different affects depending upon what color ink you use to stamp your background. If you’d like a more subtle background design use an ink color as close to the color of your paper as you can (maybe a shade lighter or darker than your paper). If you’d like a pattern that jumps off your paper then pick an ink color that is all together different than the color of your paper.

Tip: I found that clear stamps with a clear stamp block work best for precise background stamping. The clear stamps and block enable you to see where you are stamping each image and you can use the gridlines on the clear stamp block to help you keep things lined up too.

Thanks for reading! Have a great day and have fun stamping your own backgrounds!!

P.S. – I’d love to see YOUR background stamping creations, feel free to email me your results. I’d LOVE to post them to share with everyone!

Nicole

So Tweet

Hey all! Well...my computer isn't fixed yet BUT I do have a card to post. I've decided to break down and use my work laptop to do this post. I don't have any of the luxuries I have on my PC on this laptop, but hey, it's a computer with working internet, so let's do this!

This card was inspired by the new "so tweet" stamp I recently purchased - isn't it cute? You can find them at Scrapbook.com in their Superstore.

I added a few special touches to this card such as stamping the background and cutting rub-ons to fit inside the chickie image.

Friend to Friend

Hi all! It's the first day of Spring but it really didn't feel much like it. I even saw snow flurries today! Isn't that crazy? I've been pushing Spring for weeks now and this week was no exception.

Here's a quick little card I threw together. My husband, we'll call him... Aaron for the sake of keeping his identity safe, actually doesn't like it (he can be my best AND worse critic). I was really surprised by his opinion because I liked it, well until he said otherwise and now I'm not so sure BUT I'm posting it anyway because I'm pretty sure I like it. I really love the colors, he doesn't. I like the roughness/shabby look of it, he doesn't and I like it's balance, he doesn't. SoOoo, lol, what do you think? Am I way off on this one? I will admit I was trying some new things and maybe I went overboard....maayyybbbee

To make this card I stamped the background with a clear flower stamp and used white opaque embossing powder. The image is a Basic Grey rub-on and the words "friend to friend" are stamped. I tore the edges of the solid green paper. Embossed little circles onto the blue paper and used sandpaper across the embossed circles.

















Thanks for stopping! Hope you have a great weekend
Nicole

Happy Easter Card

Tip: Try cutting out your stamped image and applying a glue dot to make it "pop" right off the card.

Sympathy Card

Ok here is one of the two cards I got done last night. This is my first ever sympathy card and let me tell you sympathy cards are tough to do! There was a lot of thought that went into every thing on the card. I didn't want to put too much or too little on the card. I didn't want a cute image or one that didn't fit the sentiment. I didn't want crazy bold colors or dark colors. After it was all said and done this is what I ended up with. I think I could have used more color on the images but I like the three frames of images that feel like they belong together. The one of the left and right are the same flower stamp, I just positioned the stamp in different spots on each square. I got lucky and the sympathy word stamp had the SAME flowers as the flower stamp I had - it was just meant to be! I did some edge roughing up, added a white rub-on and some eyelets to finish it off. Watercolor pencils were used to color in the images.

TIP: Before you color in a stamped image, dry/set the ink using your heat gun.

Thanks for stopping!!

Nicole

Celebrate Spring Card

I am really pushing for Spring here (can you tell?). I love when the flowers are blooming and the colors are so vibrant. In the spirit of Spring coming (soon I hope) I made this card. I cut flowers from the pp that is also the background paper. I used 3D glue dots to adhere them and placed buttons in the centers . The sheep is stamped and embossed with transparent white embossing powder, cut out and adhered with a 3D glue dot.






























Thanks for stopping!
Nicole

Memory Cards

Everyone remembers the game of memory right? Well I saw this idea in Crafts n Things magazine and HAD to recreate it. What a fun little altered art / family project this is! In the magazine they used business cards to create a game of memory. I thought this was such a great idea, what a great little gift too. Now I didn't use business cards, instead I used cardstock and a rounded edge square template. There were no directions in the magazine, just a supply list so I had a general idea of what to do. I was thinking about writing the directions on how I did this if anyone has interest. It was a lot of fun and has a TON of possibilities. I was thinking about making a spring themed deck and maybe Halloween and Christmas! My kids tested them out this weekend and really seemed to enjoy them (ages: 9 and 14 so I was surprised). To keep it a little more difficult I threw in animals of the same kind in different colors. The cards are very sturdy. I glued layers of cardstock together to give them thickness and sealed them with Mod Podge (gives a nice glossy coating and makes them hard). I used pp to cover the backs. I stamped the images and used water color crayons to color them in (I am going to write a tutorial on water color crayons because they ROCK - Luhuhuhve them!). You can make different sized sets too, starting from 12 as the smallest on up to however big you like! This set contains 20 cards total.

Home is Where Your Heart Lives

A quick little card I put together this weekend. I love the quote on this stamp! The little butterflies are from another project I am working on, well had been working on...current status is stuck. I had a pile of these punched butterflies sitting on my craft table while I was working on this card so I grabbed some, added some pop dots to the backs and put em' on the card.














Tomorrow I am going to have a neat topiary project so stop back and check it out!
Thanks for reading!
Nicole

Hello Little Birdie

Yesterday I shared my decorative paper balls that were made from the March Kit found over at More Than Scrapbooking. Today I am sharing the little hello card I made. I love the bright colors in this kit, reminds me of spring, which I am desperatly waiting for. I've had it up to my ears with the cold weather now (anyone else feelin' that way?).

There's nothing fancy to this card. I used the rub-ons from the kit and cut them out once I rubbed em' on. I roughed up the paper edges around "hello", cut a nice flowing curve (Tip: use a pencil to sketch out your curve, then cut) added some brads and a pink ribbon/fiber (from the kit too).

Thanks for reading!
Nicole

New Baby Card

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in over a week!! I have been having one of those weeks where you just want to crawl under your covers and not come out until things get better. It's Friday now though and I think my luck is changing (fingers crossed!).

Last weekend there was a 24 crop happening at More Than Scrapbooking (shame on me I forgot to post about it) and I managed to get a ton of things done at the crop. It was so much fun! I'll make sure to write a post the next time they are having a crop! You won't want to miss out!

Below is one of my favorite cards that I made for the crop. I made my own patterned paper by stamping and embossing an image. I also made my own paper using a white sharpie paint pen to create some polka dots and lines. The word stamp "New Baby" is embossed also. I added some sheer blue ribbon and glittered a chipboard star to complete the look. I am in LOVE with embossing!!

Supplies: Stamps - Bird, New Baby, Flowers n Swirls; Sharpie White Paint Pen; Basic Grey Bittersweet - Glazed Brad; Me and My Big Ideas Biggest Chipboard Ever - Star; blue ink and embossing powder; green glitter; sheer ribbon; green and blue cardstock

Thanks so much for stoppping!! Happy stamping and scrapping!!

Nicole

Embossing Stamped Images

Alright here we go! I've got a quick little embossing project to share. I'm just learning, so if there's an experienced embosser who has some tips feel free to share please!

This is so much fun, if you haven't tried it yet you really should - you'll never go back to only using ink when stamping.

First you need a few supplies just for embossing - including but not limited to the following: Embossing Ink/Pigment - it stays wet longer than regular inks and comes in a huge variety of colors to match the embossing powders. Embossing Powders - there are several kinds - Opaque and Translucent were the two I chose to try, they are different in their appearance once heated. Embossing Heat Gun - gotta have it to make it all work! Other supplies: Stamps and papers. For this project I also used a circle template.

Step One: Pick which color pigment you want to use and a stamp you like - I used red pigment and a giant flower stamp for this step. Stamp your image onto a nice white (or color of your choice) piece of paper. As you can see below a stamped image isn't very vivid.

Step Two: Add embossing powder to your stamped image. I chose to stick with the same color powder as pigment, you can actually mix it up if you'd like - Black pigment, red powder or red pigment, black powder - all depends on the affect you want. Play around and see what happens. For this project I used an Opaque Red Embossing Powder. It also helps to have a little scoop or spoon to dish the powder out with. Cover the entire image and then slide the excess powder back into the bottle - the best you can, it is a little messy. You should instantly see how much more vivid your image is going to be with the embossing powder.

Step Three: Using your heat gun, heat up the embossing powder. Be careful not to hold the heat gun over one area too long as it WILL burn. Just move it back and forth across the image - I use tweezers to hold my paper down and keep my fingers OUT OF THE WAY! You can see the powder heating up because it will start to look slightly shiny and wet. That's it, now sit back and take a look at your clean, crisp image! I then traced a circle template around the flower and cut it out.

Step Four: Ok, now you will want to grab a blank card I used a black one because I wanted to stamp the word "Girlfriends" in white. Grab your Embossing Pigment. Stamp your image directly onto your card.

Step Five: Repeat the process you used in Step 2 - Add embossing powder (Opaque White was used here), shake off excess and heat up with heat gun. (Notice how much better you can now see the stamped image)

Step Six: The last thing left to do is to stamp a pretty border along the outside edge of the card. I used a full sized stamp for this but only stamped a small portion of the stamp along the edge of the card, using white pigment. Again repeat Step 2 by adding embossing powder and heating.

Step Seven: Assemble your card! Ta Da!! Look how bright all the stamped images are now! This is a really easy card layout, but you can certainly get as complicated as you'd like and keep in mind embossing powder can be used in other ways.

Thanks for reading!! Happy Embossing!!
Nicole