the Card Ladies

Welcome to the NC Demos Group Blog hop for August!  Such a busy month, and a few are absent, but there is still lots of crafty getting done!

This time I want to share a sneak peek of a fun new set that honestly didn’t catch my eye at first, but now I love it.  Isn’t that just the way it goes?

It is called Totally Trees, but I keep messing up and calling it Trendy Trees… because that is what they are to me.

I have been enjoying doing the little 3×3 thank you cards to send out with my Etsy Shop orders (see the link for the store at the top right of my page!)

So doing the 3×3 focal points for my full sized cards is a great thing to do also and the logical next step.

This is a great size because when you use a 12×12 piece of whisper white, you can get 12 out of it.

That is great for multiple cards, you just figure out how many you need and divide by 12.

A dozen is a nice multiplier.

For this card, I chose the colors of Rich Razzelberry, Wild Wasabi and So Saffron.

There is a beautiful ribbon pack in the new holiday catalog starting on Sept 1st that has the Rich Razzelberry ribbon in it and I wanted to use that.  And these colors are not my normal choices… but why be normal, right?

So choose a couple of the trees I liked best and stamped them in the Rich Razzelberry and the words to match (the words are from the set Thoughtful Branches).

The long piece of ground was too long for my 3×3 card so I stamped one end in Wild Wasabi and then the other end below it in So Saffron.

The shapes finish off the trees and the little leaves and the grass patch were nice additions.  And do you see a touch of the Wink of Stella in there?  Love some sparkle!

When you do a small focal point, it gives room to add other cool things to the card.  Like a piece of paper with some embossing on it to add texture.

This is the Petal Burst embossing folder from the annual catalog… LOVE IT!

And a great way to attach a layer to an embossed piece is with dimensionals, the stick great and don’t pull of the paper fibers.

So here is my finished card with the lovely ribbon attached.

Yes the colors are a different combo, but I really liked them together.  Fun to try new stuff sometimes… like a set of trees that is very artsy instead of the norm.  Like I said, TRENDY Trees… lol!

Keep on going with the blog hop and visit the blog of my friend, the talented Jo Anne Hewins.  The whole list is below.

Tamra Davis –  You are here!

Jo Anne Hewins

Michelle Irinyl

Melissa Kerman

Tracie Evans Langley

Pam Staples

Frances Wagner

Hello again, have you had fun hopping thru the blogs of some of my extended teammates so far?

If you are starting with me, you have some fun ahead of you.

So sit down, grab a beverage, and get ready to hop with me and some talented friends!

We have a new holiday catalog starting Sept 1st and it is awesome!  As a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, I was able to preorder the products from the new Holiday Catalog in August and have had a wonderful time playing.

I love participating in swaps with my fellow demonstrators.  I think of one idea, make several of this same card (usually around 20ish for each swap) and then send them off to the swap hostess.  And then anxiously await the return mail where I get 20 different ideas in trade for the ones I sent off.

LOVE SWAPS!  Good thing, I am sending off the last of over 200 cards made for swaps in the morning.  eek!

So my ‘tip’ and my card this month is to save your scraps, your leftovers, and especially the leftover DSP… use these things for some NEW card designs.

Here are some little fellows I had left over today… way too cute not to use, right?

Do you see the negative punched shape from my little scarecrow below the partially colored one?

It is from a companion punch to the stamp set my scarecrow is a part of.

A gingerbread man builder punch!!!

But oh, SO much more, too.

My very favorite thing so far is all the ways in which the gingerbread man punch can be used.

Oh yeah, you will see more cards with this shape, but different stamps, all so very cool.

Back to my scraps and leftovers.  I have a couple of little pieces of the new DSP I had used on swaps left and some pieces of the matching Cajun Craze cardstock.

Don’t underestimate the power of just a little piece of DSP… it not only adds a cool pattern, but it can define the color palette for your card.

Why recreate the wheel here?

Get the list of matching colors from the back of each DSP package (or from the item in the catalog or my online store), and then gather the matching colors.

Instant coordination perfection… and EASY!

Another way to add some interest on these little pieces is with added texture from embossing folders.

This is a new-ish embossing folder debuting in this year’s big catalog, Petal burst.

You can add even MORE interest by adding a little ink on the embossing folder before you run it thru your Big Shot.

Just add ink.  For this one, I used the same color ink as the cardstock piece, Cajan Craze.  It just helps the embossed petals stand out even more.

Just rub the inkpad over the embossing folder.  The picture shows which side, the back of the front… lol, just look at the pic, that is easier.

And how do you like the result?

Here is the final card from my ‘leftovers’ and my sweet little scarecrow and his ‘buddy’ the crow.

Time very soon to say ‘Hello’ to Fall here in southern USA, and I can’t wait to ditch this hot summer weather!

I promise to post the original cards as soon and I receive all my swaps back.

Hate to spoil any surprises.  😉

Now on to the blog of Connie Diebler to see what she has been working

Here is the complete list of players this time.