My poor craft room has been in a disarray for a few weeks while my basement has been dug up to make way for an unexpected plumbing repair. So, I haven’t been stamping nearly as much as I would like this summer! Thank goodness for online events, or I wouldn’t have done much stamping at all.

This card was my take on a design from an all day craft “online” retreat I was on a few weeks ago. I have done a few of these events and they have been fun! For me, the good thing is,  once I sign up for the retreat, I get a nice kit in the mail that was all ready to go. All I needed to do was find some ink and some stamps that would work and I was good to go!

This card was based on a masculine card design in the event’s kit. I just rearranged a few things and added my own embellishments to “customize” it for what I wanted to do. I simply can’t get enough of the In Good Taste suite of products with the textured, natural embellishments. They add so much interest and dimension to a card. This card uses some of the Faux Suede trim and pulls in a few of the copper color Star Design Elements. And all this this interest and dimension in the embellishments is perfect with a Tasteful Textile embossed background. It all comes together for a rich look and feel.

And I am happy to be putting my craft area back together again! Whew! What a mess. Stamping is so much more fun.

What I Used To Make This Card

Want A Fun Kit For Halloween and Thanksgiving Crafting?

Take a look at the picture to see all the wonderful die cuts in t he September Paper Pumpkin! Next month’s kit is a box full of fun! The kit includes treat boxes you can make, embellish and fill with your own treats for the harvest season. Make a few for Halloween and then save a few for your Thanksgiving table. It’s all going to be fun and you can make it yourself!  Learn more by clicking on the image above.

I think my favorite time of year for card making is fall. I love the colors and the motifs. And this year,  I am very excited about creating some new fall cards using the Plaid Tidings DSP. This DSP is wonderful because the pack includes plaids to fit every holiday coming up and beyond. You have colors perfect for Halloween, Fall, Harvest, Christmas and some that could even take you through to Valentine’s Day!

So,  I took the Gather Together stamp set and a pack of the Plaid Tidings DSP and decided to do a fall themed card. And rather than go the traditional route, I spied this beautiful plaid with lots of Pretty Peacock in it and had to try a fall card with it. There is a tiny bit of Seaside Spray and some accents with Shaded Spruce as well. I wondered if these colors could all come together in a card for fall, but I think they worked!

I love not having to always use a white or vanilla background for sentiments. And having such a pale color as Seaside Spray to work with was great. I used it for the sentiment, a focal point in the collage grouping and as a thin layer for the plaid DSP which provided the separation I deeded for the Pretty Peacock and Shaded Spruce layers.

I wanted something natural and the 3/8″ Embroidered Ribbon was just enough “natural” color to make the card read fall. I took a bit of ribbon and frayed it to get the fibers you see in the collage. That helped to tie the collage and the ribbon together.

At the end, I felt I needed something to frame the collage. The Gold Hoops were perfect for this. I took my wire cutter and cut the hoop in half and added it on opposite sides of the collage. It was the perfect finishing touch!

Products Used To Make This Card

It was time to bring back my Christmas Gleaming, which is a returning favorite from last year’s catalog. Don’t you love it when a stamp set favorite returns? I sure do!  And this one could not be more of a favorite with beautiful ornament stamps and matching punches. Its easy holiday crafting and because its a returning favorite, I can get a head start on holiday projects!

The coordinating Designer Series Paper was carried over too. So if the beautiful Brightly Gleaming DSP was one you loved and used up like I did, it is coming back August 4th! Here’s a peek at the paper from last year’s catalog. Sadly, the ribbon is not available this year, but the richly colored paper with copper metallic accents will soon be back. Look at the ornament tags you can make just using your punches.

Because I was all out of the Brightly Gleaming DSP, I decided to look at a new paper and a new look for this set. And, I found it in the Artistry Blooms DSP in the Annual catalog! It reminds me of the colors in a snowflake themed DSP you will see in the new Holiday Mini catalog in August.

With the frosty night sky colors in the paper, I decided I wanted a lot of bling to set off the paper in a holiday way. The Artistry Blooms Sequins were a perfect color match along with some Pool Party color rhinestones.

I “hung the ornaments using ribbon. On the Tricolor purple Ribbon, I cut off just the purple to hang one ornament and then frayed the rest of the ribbon to hang another. I frayed the ends of all the ribbons just to give it a handmade look.

So, here is my first holiday card of the season. The holidays will be here before you know it. I plan to start crafting big time now so I don’t have to rush later. The key word there is “plan”! We will see how that goes…..

What I Used To Make This Card: