New Release Sneak Peek!

Take a look at one of Our Daily Bread design's December releases: "His Gift" by designer Dina Kowal. What a gorgeous poinsettia image! This image can be used for multiple style designs: charming vintage, clean lined, country, collage, just to name a few! I wanted to head towards a more vintage looking design for today.

I began by stamping the image onto watercolor paper with Versafine Black Onyx ink. I then used my Lyra Aquacolors to watercolor and shade the panel. After letting the image dry completely, I did the Cracked Glass technique using my Versamark pad, Ultra Thick Embossing Powder, and Versafine Sepia ink. I almost didn't crack the embossed panel...it was so shiny and pretty! My next design with this image will probably be shiny and smooth...LOL! You can find a fantastic Cracked Glass Tutorial (with a video as well!) by Beate Johns over at
Splitcoaststampers.


The print dp is Stampin' Up retired Christmas; the music dp is Flair Designs "Christmas Carol Music." Antique copper brads and Fiskars border punch from Michael's completes this design.

The two new December release sets will be available December 1st over at Our Daily Bread designs. Be sure to take in the ODBD Breadstick's Blog Hop on December 1st as well--see it here.

I hope that you have a restful remainder to your weekend...thanks so much for stopping by!

The Real "Reason for the Season"

And here lies the real "reason for the season..." Jesus Christ's birth and sacrifice--all for mankind's salvation! Read more about it in the Holy Scriptures...you will be sure to be blessed this CHRISTmas season!

Christmas card designs that feature the message of the Christ Child are my very favorite! This week's Stamp Simply challenge is to create a design that is easily mass produced, and this most certainly is!
KaiserCraft "Belle" Collection contains lovely colors and patterns...muted cranberry reds, multiple greens, and glimmer as well. These are my favorite colors to use in my home decorations...my Christmas tree is usually placed in my dining room, where I have cranberry toile curtains and a mixture of cranberry and cream plates on a beadboard plate rail.

Spellbinder's Poinsettia dies, as well as a verse from Our Daily Bread design's "Luke 2:11" make the special touches on this card. The verse is stamped with Versafine Black Onyx ink onto PaperTrey Ink's Rustic White cardstock, then die cut with a Spellbinder Oval die. Even though die cuts were used, they are pretty quick to produce, yet add a "wow" factor to a otherwise super simple design.

A Foof-a-La, La, La Collection button, thread through with May Art's narrow cream silk ribbon, finishes this fast and easy Christmas greeting.

Please check out the rest of the Stamp Simply team's easily mass produced designs:

Sharon

Janine Orchard

AJ Otto

Tammy Hershberger

Julie Koerber

Barbara Anders

Jenny Gropp

Barb Schram

Jennifer Buck

and Bethany Paull, November's Guest Designer!

Thanks so much for stopping by...enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend!

Wishing You a Blessed Christmas

Our Daily Bread designs' November release "Blessed Christmas" is a beautiful set. It inclues a gorgeous poinsettia image, two beautiful sentiments, and Psalm 96: "Let the heavens rejoice, let the Earth be glad." My card this evening is created with tones of gold and glimmering metallics.

I began by scoring my pale champagne gold cardstock with my new Scor-It (Sharon has a sale going on now...20% off of Scor-Its!), then covered it with a panel of the Paper Studio's 12 X 12" "Gold Wedding Ornate" decorator paper. The entire card measures 4 X 8", suitable to fit in a business sized envelope. I stamped my ODBD verse directly onto the decorator paper with Versafine Black Onyx ink, then heat embossed it with gold embossing powder.

A border was made with Martha Stewart's Doily Lace Edge punch, along with some gold "Tiny Glass Marble & Bead Accents" (a gift from my hubby!) to trim the edge of the length of the border. I used a sticky red tape to adhere the micro beads. After adding the first layer of beads, I heated the tape with my heat gun, then pressed it once again into the beads.

I die cut my poinsettia with Spellbinder's Poinsettia dies, double cutting the middle shape to make a fuller flower. I sponged the edges lightly with Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress ink. I used thick, large glue dots to layer the blossom, then used a dot to create the beaded center.

A bit more Antique Linen ink sponging finishes this glimmering design.

Thanks so much for beginning your week here!

Candy Cone

Yes, you have read right...candy cone, not candy cane! We're wrapping things up with this week's Stamp Simply Challenge, "All Wrapped Up" --gift wrapping ideas. I decided to present a cone of Christmas candy.


I purchased my cone from Ellen Hutson some time ago. This cone is covered with SEI "Frosty the Snowflake" glitter paper then edged with white gimp trim purchased from Walmart. Pure Poppy Grosgrain ribbon bows and hanging tab (on back--cannot be seen in photo) from PaperTrey Ink, along with a crocheted handmade snowflake (edited to add: purchased at a craft fair) add simple touches.

Take a look at the rest of the Stamp Simply DT designs:

Sharon
Janine Orchard
AJ Otto
Tammy Hershberger
Julie Koerber
Barbara Anders
Jenny Gropp
Barb Schram (Barb's here to stay!)
Jennifer Buck (Welcome back Jenn!)

and Bethany Paull, November's Guest Designer!

If you decide to play along with ssnotime114, please link your creation to Sharon's blog--we would love to see your work!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Flocked Delight!

Look at this beautiful KaiserCraft 6 X 6" Belle Paper--the pointsettias are flocked! The velvet look and feel on this paper is absolutely delicious! I was so excited when I received my order from the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store--I leafed through the new Belle pad and HAD to use this sheet immediately! My design is extremely simple...I really wanted to use as much of the sheet as possible!

The November Our Daily Bread design's "Christmas Verses" added the perfect Bible Verse (Luke 2:14) for my design...I love how the elegant font is enhanced by the swirl background of the dp.

I stamped my verse onto PaperTrey Ink's Rustic White cardstock with Versafine Black Onyx ink, then heat embossed it with Stampin' Up's clear embossing powder. Spellbinder's Petite Ovals were used to die cut the both the verse and framing panels.

May Art's creamy silk ribbon is fashioned into a beautiful accent bow with a Bow Easy, also available at the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store. Three tiny Jolee's Jewels Swarovski crystals from Michael's add a touch of bling.

Here's a close up of the flocked flowers and swirls on the Belle paper.

I hope that you like today's simple, yet gorgeously textured, design.

Have a great remainder to your week!

Get Well Soon!

Time once again for the Stamp Simply Challenge--this week: create a matchbook fold. This is a very simple and quick fold. I made a card this time, but with one extra score at the top, you could create a covering packet for cocoa, tea, or even cough drops!

I'm a big House Mouse fan, and borrowed this stamp from our monthly stamp group leader: JoAnn (Thanks, Lady!). What a sweet scene of House Mouse care!


I was going to pull out my Prisma pencils to color this one, and even started to do so...I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I trashed that idea, and quickly nabbed up my Copics to do the job. I stamped this adorable image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto PaperTrey Ink white cardstock. Multiple Copics were used, as well as Spellbinder oval dies to make up the image panel and border.

Stampin' Up Wild Wasabi, along with Basic Grey's Two Scoops design paper, make up the base of this design. My design measures 4.5" X 10," scored at 4.5" and 1.25" with a Scor-It board.

A Michael's brad and narrow grosgrain ribbon tie this project up!

Take a look-see at the rest of the Stamp Simply DT designs:

Sharon
Janine Orchard
AJ Otto
Tammy Hershberger
Julie Koerber
Barbara Anders
Jenny Gropp
Barb Schram

and Bethany Paull, November's Guest Designer!

If you play along this week, please link your design to Sharon's blog so that we may all enjoy it!

Have a wonderful weekend, and STAY WELL!

Flower Soft Snow Globe Shaker Gift Bag

Have you seen the new Papercraft CD just released from Flower Soft? What a treasure trove of project ideas and actual pattern downloads! It includes Paper Tole and 3D Stacker designs, many background designs, character and sentiment toppers, inserts, and 100 backing papers: 25 different designs in 4 colorways! The CD also comes with a handy project booklet!

My snow globe shaker gift bag project today is straight from the Snow Globe Project Book & Papercraft CD!

My project base is a simple white gift bag purchased from Walmart. I printed off the blue snowflake background papers from the FS CD, making two layers.

The base layer is securely taped to the plain gift bag, just to cover the very front.

My top layer is the snow globe panel layer. I printed more blue snowflake background paper from the CD, then used an oval Spellbinder to cut the opening for the snow globe. I used the largest oval die so that I would have a white border surrounding the globe. The next size oval down fits the snow globe just perfectly!

Take a look at the dimension and detail that the paper tole affords...as you can see in the picture, my penguin and star are four layers deep!

Just before assembling the snow globe, I added Polar White Flower Soft to create the shaker effect. Polar White FS is also glued to the background...coming all together for a snowy, icy scene!

A bit of Offray ribbon and homemade snowflake finish this gift bag...one that will make for a fun gift presentation for young or old!



A quick note about the snowflake: my husband purchased a bunch of these pretty homemade snowflakes (some angels as well--for a future project!) from an elderly woman at a craft sale. She was charging only 50 cents per flake! What beautiful artwork, for oh so little a cost!

Be sure to keep your eyes open for finds like this--craft sales are abundant before the holidays!


I hope that you've enjoyed this post...it was a lot of fun to put together! Be sure to check out the new CD and snow globes at Flower Soft and at the Flower Soft Blog!

JustRite Autumn Harvest

This week's Stamp Simply Challenge is to be thrifty and use either brown postal wrap, or a brown grocery sack. I cut up a grocery sack for this challenge.


I began by stamping my new JustRite Autumn Blessings set, purchased from the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store, with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto PaperTrey Ink's Rustic White cardstock. What a gorgeous sheath of Indian Corn! I colored the image with multiple Copic markers, then paper pieced the bow with dp from Basic Grey's Boxer 6 x 6" paper pad.



Basic Grey Boxer layers make up the body of the design, along with my paper bag. I ran a layer of grocery sack through my Fiskars paper crimper, then ruffled up the edges to simulate a frilly edged border.


I used a tan Copic marker to add shadows on the panels of decorator paper edges, under the oval edges, and on the paper pieced bow.


I cannot wait to see what the other Stamp Simply design team ladies have come up with! Be sure to check them out!


Sharon

Janine Orchard

AJ Otto

Tammy Hershberger

Julie Koerber

Barbara Anders

Jenny Gropp

Barb Schram (filling in for Jennifer Buck)


and Bethany Paull, November's Guest Designer!


If you decide to play along with us this week, please link back to Sharon's blog so that we may see your design!


Thanks for stopping by!

Snow Globes, Blog Hop, and BLOG CANDY!

What a busy release day! Make sure you check both this post and the next for exciting new products, blog hops, and blog candy!!!

How would you like to create your own personal snow globe? Well, now you can! Flower Soft is releasing fabulous new products to help you do just that! You can purchase these new products November 2nd, online, HERE.

I began my snow globe by scoring a card base made from red cardstock. I then covered the front of the card with SEI Peppermint Bark foil decorator paper, found here.

The "globe" part of my snow globe is a dome shaped oval, which comes with a template to create the opening. You can also purchase teamplates (Aperature cards) pre cut. I used a Spellbinder Oval die to cut my opening to fit the globe (on the front of the card).

After preparing the front, I used my new Spellbinder Poinsettia dies to become the focal point of the snowglobe. I cut layers from the Peppermint Bark dp, as well as layers from SEI Christmas Mint marzipan paper. Some brilliant red Kaiser rhinestones make the perfect poinsettia center.

I then attached the poinsettia to the inside of the card, so it would fit into the globe opening. After attaching the flower to the back layer of the card, I added Flower Soft Polar White for the "snow" in the snowglobe. I used double sided carpet tape, as well as Flower Soft glue to adhere the "card" so that it was totally sealed. My card no longer opens as a card, but becomes a card topper.

A bright red ribbon tab and knot finish this design. Plan on trying a snow globe for yourself! It was great fun to create, and makes a fantastic presentation!

Don't forget to visit the Flower Soft Blog: there will be some fabulous blog candy there!

Be sure to see the rest of the Flower Soft design team creations:

Sharon Johnson
Jeanne Streiff (Jeanne is not able to play, but pop by and welcome her to the team!
Deb Saaranen -- you're here now! :)
Charmaine Ikach
Barb Schram
AJ Otto

Thanks so much for stopping by!

You Can't Miss This!!!

Welcome to Our Daily Bread design's November Release Blog Hop! I'm so happy that you were able to stop by! If you did not start at the ODBD Blog, please head there to start at the beginning of the hop (for reasons you will NOT want to MISS! Explained below...)

If you came here from Becca's blog, you're right where you are supposed to be! After you check this out, head to Anglie Zublionis' blog, then to Chris Olsen's blog.

Today is the release of three gorgeous new ODBD Christmas sets: "Blessed Christmas," "Christmas Verses," and "Luke 2:11." I've decided to use the beautiful pointsettia image and Bible verse (Come Let Us Adore Him Let the Heavens Rejoice, Let the Earth Be Glad. Psalm 96:11--stamped inside the card) from "Blessed Christmas."

I stamped my pointsettia image onto pure white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I then colored the image with multiple Copic markers, cut it out with a Spellbinders Label Four die, and sprayed it with Tattered Angels Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist. The glimmer mist adds a beautiful sheen that unfortunately did not show up well in my photo--it looks amazing IRL! A couple of half pearls add interest.

The gorgeous glimmering decorator paper is SEI's Winter Glitterland , also from ODBD. I layered my image panel onto another panel die cut from the dp with a Spellbinder's Labels Seven die.

The panels were layered over sheer white ribbon attached to the cardbase. A corner rounder punch was used on the main card base to complete the design.

If you started at the Our Daily Bread designs Blog, you know that besides the inspirational blog hop, we have blog candy and a challenge for you!

First, the blog candy:

One lucky winner will win the ENTIRE November release!!!!

In order to be eligible to win, you must:

1. Write down each DT name and their secret word or words (My secret word is "the")

2. Comment on each blog on the hop

3. Return to the ODBD Blog and leave a comment there that you left a comment on each blog (but you must not give the secret words there!)

4. Email Grace at: gnywening@yahoo.com by 8PM EST on Nov 3, giving her the DT names with their secret word/words.

5. Grace will verify that all requirements are met and then randomly choose a winner.

6. The winner will be emailed at the email address used when they email Grace.

Now for the challenge (which is totally separate from the blog candy!)

Make a holiday card and give it SHIMMER! There are many ways to give a card shimmer… there are products you spray or paint on like Shimmerz and Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist… there are shimmery papers….use anything you would like, but just show us the shimmer!

1. You have until Nov 15 8 PM EST to link their creation to the ODBD blog under the “Most Recent Challenge” link.

2. You do not have to use Our Daily Bread designs stamps to win but if you have them, we DEFINITELY LOVE to see them!

3. The winner will be randomly drawn and the prize is a $30.00 Credit to the Our Daily Bread Designs Store.

I hope that you've enjoyed today's hop! I'll be looking to see YOUR challenge submission! Best wishes with the blog candy as well!