Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Stamp Simply Celebrates-- Day 3!

We're on DAY 3 of a major celebration!! My bloggin' bud Sharon Johnson over at No Time To Stamp celebrated a huge milestone recently and now the festivities are underway to celebrate! She hit one million on her blog counter!!!! So, she invited her Stamp Simply design team along with some wonderful friends along to play! There will be candy and challenges and plenty of gift giving ideas ripe for the holiday pickings for 12 whole days!


Today's challenge is over at Tammy Hershberger's place - Stamp Happy! Do you like to get a lot done, and quick? Who doesn’t!!! Tammy’s Featured Project is all about mass producing. What better time than to learn a few tips on making cards quickly?

So, I stepped up to the plate today and decided to take Tammy up on her challenge! I did three quick cards and am providing you with the "sketch" behind each one! You'll see, they are all VERY easy and can be mass produced in nothing flat!

Here's CARD #1
This card is really easy as pie! The main pine cone image is 2-1/2" by 3-1/2" and is matted on a 2-3/4" by 3-3/4" piece of brown that was edged in gold. Mask the top part of the card and stamp the pine cones with Versamark. Add a brown satin ribbon and the sentiment in brown ink and you are pretty much done! The pine cone was stamped in brown and has a watercolor wash in green over the boughs. I also added a bit of sparkle with a Copic Spica pen on the cones. Sponge some Antique Linen Distress ink around the edges of your main piece and.... DONE!SKETCH #1: When you break down the card to a sketch-- you can see just how basic it is! Think of using different focal images, and just pre-cutting your main pieces and mats with coordinating cardstock and ribbon! Doesn't get any easier than that!
Here's CARD #2
This card is again very, very basic! The mat of decorative paper measures 4 by 5-1/4". The main focal image is 3 by 4" with the mat being 1/4" larger all the way around. Stamp your ornaments and gold emboss, then color using an aquaflow brush and re-inkers! I added some gold cording for the ornaments to hang from and then added my sentiment down below. For a little extra pizazz, I added some super small rhinestones on the center ornament. I also used some gold leafing pen around the decorative paper mat to tie the gold together. SKETCH #2: Again, when you break this baby down, there isn't a lot to this card!
Here's CARD #3
Thank goodness for Spellbinders Nestabilities! These dies really lend themself to mass production! For this card, I used two sizes of the classic oval and a scalloped oval that would fit the larger oval. Add in some decorative paper, a gold leafing pen for the edge, some grosgrain ribbon and a rhinestone and you're almost done! This main image was just colored by masking and applying red and green ink to different parts of the stamp. I accented the top of the ornament with a bit of gold marker. SKETCH #3: If you pick out some decorative paper and get that die cut machine going, you could easily pump out quite a few of these cards in one fell swoop! There is not a ton of stamping on it but it sure is festive!
There you go ---- three easy cards to finish up those holiday cards! I should point out -- all three cards were made with the same two Hero Arts Christmas sets! Joys Of The Season features the main images. And, Holiday Messages was the set I used for all the sentiments!
There are others who took Tammy up on her challenge! Check out...

Remember! If you want to try your hand at a challenge, you can upload projects and link to your blog in a comment or you can upload to Splitcoast using the key word SSC08!
Jennifer Buck - The Buck Stamps Here - has some tasty candy up for grabs!

Joan Fricker - Joan’s Garden - check out her candy offerings as well!

And, if you want to stay up to speed on different daily challenges and blog candy giveaways, click HERE to travel to "Party Central!" That's where you'll find a daily rundown of all the Stamp Simply Celebrates happenings!

That's it for today folks! See ya back here tomorrow!

20 comments:

Darlene said...

WOW ... three!! All are fantastic but #1 is my favorite! And thanks for sharing these great sketches too! I'll be working on these!!

Sharon (notimetostamp) said...

Julie, Julie, Julie -- WHAT can I say!!! Your 3 cards are all fabulous -- complete with sketches -- how WONDERFUL!!! 3 great sketches for mass producing -- love them!!! And I LOVE your little Stamp Simply Celebration banners and your new holidy look to your blog -- you are just WAY too talented, my dear -- WAY!!!!! Everything looks so wonderfully festive!!!

Barbara Schram said...

What great cards and sketches, Julie! LOVE them all! Your blog is looking all dressed up for the holidays, super job!

Tammy Hershberger said...

AWESOME cards, Julie and PERFECT examples of how quick and easy it is to get a lot done in a little time! Thank you so much for providing such wonderful inspiration! (Hey, love those Stamp Simply banners, too! Where'd those come from?)

Anonymous said...

Wowzers, these are all so fabulous! Wish I had time to join in as a sample maker! I'm definitely going to play this challenge as soon as I return home.

Julie, you ROCK, I'm so jealous girl . . . LOVE THOSE STAMP SIMPLY BANNERS!!!!

Janine said...

Beautiful Julie!! Thanks for posting the sketches too...
You sound busy woman... I will update you soon.!!

LeAnne said...

These cards are perfect for mass producing and they still look wonderfully charming! Your blog looks great, too! I am inspired!
LeAnne

Cindy Lawrence said...

Great sketches and SUPER beautiful cards, Julie! Absolutely perfect for mass producing! You are a gift to us all, girl! :)

Cindy Haffner said...

in all your casrds Julie, so festive.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful cards Julie!! I love the first one it just jumped out at me:)

Jules said...

Fabulous quick cards!!!!
Your work is always fabulous!!!!

Bev J. said...

Those are all great cards-I especially like the 1st one. tfs

Deborah Saaranen said...

What a gorgeous set of quick cards! Love that you supplied the sketch as well!

Anonymous said...

Oh, my goodness, these are sooooooooo pretty, Julie! I especially love your pine bough and cone image. How beautiful the way you did a quick wash of green over the brown. It's so soft and realistic--painted, but didn't take forever. So nice! All great sketch ideas, too. Thank you!!

Anonymous said...

Great sketch cards! All 3 are absolutely wonderful.

Anonymous said...

Julie these are awesome! My favorite is the pinecone card. I think I might have to case that!

Elena said...

Thank you Julie for the great tips and all the details about how you made your beautiful cards! Love your sketches! Thank you for sharing!

Lesli said...

Awesome cards and sketches!!! I love the look of your blog Julie - so wonderfully festive!!!!

Anonymous said...

Julie: Love the new holiday look to your blog, and I love all the stamp simple cards. You are so talented. Marie-Paule

Shirley said...

So so Christmas and so pretty too!