Very Simply Susan

I have been looking for a project to use this wonderful black and white checked paper from Merry Little Christmas DSP.  I needed some inspiration to get started and checked the Global Design Project challenge for this week saw it was a color challenge.  So, I decided to get busy and enter!   Only a few hours were left  before the challenge closed, but when I saw the colors, I knew immediately what card I would do!  I have had this idea percolating for a while using the “JOY” die cuts.  I just needed a push to get it going.  Challenges are great for this! You can see more about this challenge by clicking on the #GDP109 icon below.

The color challenge really took me out of my comfort zone. In fact, the entire Merry Little Christmas Suite has taken me out of my comfort zone. At first I was in deep protest about the black & olive green color scheme for this suite of products. I have been very comfortable in my green and red holiday color schemes for many years. I wasn’t ready to leave that well known and well loved territory to an unknown one using black for holiday cards! I mean who uses black at the holidays?  Well, now I do and I love it.  Sometimes you just have to move a little out of  your comfort zone to learn to appreciate something new! Now I see unlimited possibilities using black. The addition of black to the holiday color palette creates both a trendy, sophisticated look as well as more traditional, homespun looks. Black is as versatile for holiday as it is for your wardrobe! A must have.

UPDATE!  This card won a SPECIAL MENTION in the challenge!  I am so thrilled to have been in the Special Mentions for this weeks challenge! #GDPspecialmention and #GDP109

Take a look at the entire suite of products for Merry Little Christmas below for your inspiration and click on the image if you want to see more.

Products Used To Make This Card

_{NOTE: The Typeset Alphabet Bigz Dies were used to make this card. This is a retired item. The current lettering set available is the Large Letters Framelits.} 

It is never to early to start thinking about the upcoming holidays. And the Merry Little Christmas Suite from Stampin’ Up! is just the thing to give you all sorts of options for holiday card making, gift giving and decor.  Today’s card was made for a swap. And I knew I wanted to use the Merry Little Labels stamps and punch.  As I have said before, I am so happy to see more punches from Stampin’ Up! While I love thinnest and framelits for die cutting, punches are perfect for easy card making.

And for this card, I chose the Merry Little Christmas DSP.  At first I have to say I wasn’t a huge fan of the Old Olive and Black combination for holiday cards. But now that I have used it a few times, I see how elegant and classic this color combination is.  It is also right on trend and gives everything you make a fresh look.  This card has lots of layers, which for a swap card, I will typically try to do.  I am swapping with other Demonstrators, so you want to show a lot of product as we share these with customers and want to make sure we are giving everyone lots of ideas for how to use all the wonderful papers, stamps, ribbons and other embellishments.  The image below shows all the fabulous products you can make with items in this Suite.

I stayed with the Merry Little Christmas Suite colors of Old Olive and Black. To make Black  & White Stripe ribbon pop, I found I needed a little something in white. That turned out to be an edge made from the Ticket Tear Border Punch. The edge is small, but adds just the right amount of pop.  The Oh My Stars embossing folder added just a bit of interest to the card base. It made a big difference embossing the card base vs. leaving it plain.  Another tiny detail are the Black Rhinestone Jewels on the Let it Snow sentiment. And I have to give credit where credit is due. I got a lot of help from some fellow demonstrators I was stamping with that day.  It is a joy to have time to get together and stamp together. Not only do we have fun, but we share ideas and help critique each others projects. It makes better stampers of all of us to learn and share like this.

“Ingredients” Used In This Card

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Here is another card uses the Spooky Nights DSP. Again the cat is simply punched from the DSP using the cat punch. How easy is this for card making? The sentiment was cut from the DSP as well.  So, in full disclosure, there isn’t a bit of stamping on this entire card! I think that is what I l love so much about this DSP.  There are several design choices that you can cut out with the cat punch or even the Pattern Pumpkin Thinlets. You can see all the fabulous choices as well as the new Treat Tubes you can fill with all sorts of goodies and decorate. The Black Vintage Crochet Ribbon has the effect of a spider web to it.  There are all sorts of wonders for Halloween and Harvest to be found in the new holiday catalog! Click on the image below to see the entire suite of Spooky Night products.

For this card, I chose to punch out the cat and then fussy cut the hat.  Some Black Baker’s Twine and Black Rhinestones completed this sassy feline’s haute look. To keep the shiny going, I added a little of the Shimmer Ribbon in Basic Black. Our fashionable feline was then layered on a piece of Basic Black card stock cut with the layering squares framelits. This really useful set of framelits includes both straight edge and scalloped edge sizes!

So, time to get your spook on and have some fun!

“Ingredients” used in this card:

_{Click on any link below to view larger image or purchase.}