Happy Monday to you all---I trust you had a great weekend! Mondays mean it’s time to make merry—Merry Monday, that is! Here is Lesley’s sketch for this week to get your creative holiday juices flowing:
When I saw that long center panel, I immediately thought of this Purple Onion holiday block image, and went to work:
This is actually only a portion of the words, as it is a fairly long stamp, so I inked only the area that I wanted to highlight and cut the remainder off. I find with big images like this, inking a hard rubber brayer first, then brayering the stamp surface, gives me better coverage. Make sure your ink pad is freshly-inked, too! I pulled out some older SU paper featuring bold graphics to use as my background. I also made a little die-cut house and embellished it with a diecut holly, and I have some red glimmer paper peeking out of the heart “window”:
Isn’t that a sweet little embellishment? The ribbon at the top was a gift from my non-crafting girlfriend---she gives me all her goodies from her Christmas gifts! What a friend! I hope you’ll play along with the Merry Monday crafters---we’d love to see your Christmas card creations and are happy that you’re getting a head start on your stash! Stop by the Always Playing with Paper blog for all the details and to see the other designers’ creations as well! And always, if you have any questions, pop me an email (it’s on the right sidebar!).
A Mother’s Day photo with an unhappy little granddaughter – it was so nice outside, she just wanted to get down to run & play:
Much happier now with her bowl of strawberries!
This is lovely and thanks for the info about brayer first. I love the large stamps and background stamps but have difficulty getting good impressions. Your family portrait is fabulous. It is so much fun to watch your grandbaby grow before our eyes. She's darling!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Jennifer
Looks like a wonderful Mother's Day! what a great photo, even is she does look unhappy! Fun and festive card LeAnne, that font is really cute as is that recycled ribbon. I didn't realize the house accent was a die cut! It is very sweet with the glitter paper. Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteLesley
Nice card! My favorite Christmas cards are always those that are red and green. Your card embodies the excitement that surrounds the holiday season.
ReplyDeleteOh so pretty card, family and day! So happy you had a wonderful day.
ReplyDeleteGreat take on the sketch - love the sparkly heart :) Fabulous pictures! Such a cute little dress and loving the pig tails :)
ReplyDeleteFun & festive card. Love the little house.
ReplyDeleteHappy Mother's Day! Beautiful picture.
Great card, and TFS the tip about backgrounder stamps! I love the little house embellie - at first glance I thought it was a little envie! Cute photos too! TFS!
ReplyDeleteYour card is so gorgeously festive LeAnne. I love the little house you made, very cute. I still have some of that dsp lying around too, I never know what to do with it but you have used it perfectly.
ReplyDeleteWhat a super cute Christmas card LeAnne ~ love the little house with the glitter heart!!!! Fabulous!!!! and this 3 generation shot is absolutely stunning ~ what a beautiful family LeAnne ~ have a blessed day :-)
ReplyDeleteFantastic card, great colours and I love the glitter heart.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a wonderful Mother's Day, LeAnne! Love Cassidy's springtime dress! Your card is so fun! The little house with the hollyberry accent is such a fun touch. :)
ReplyDeleteCassidy looks so cute with pigtails! Heck, she looks cute in a paper bag. LOL
ReplyDeleteI recognized that Purple Onion stamp right away; almost bought that one myself, but settled on the Vintage Damask instead. Maybe next time!
I love how you, too, are using some retired SU papers to decorate your MM cards. Why not, right? They're still perfectly wonderful patterns.
Oh, what sweet pictures! I love the shot of your three girls! That is so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteAwww! Cassidy looks adorable in yellow :) SUCH a cute card! I have really dropped the ball on Christmas cards this year, but yours is SO fabulous! Great use of the little PTI house cut, too :) have a great day!
ReplyDeleteLove this Leanne! You put to use that polka dot paper I love, but find so hard to use! (Yep, I'm still hoarding some of this!) Great card! The house it a cute detail.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I need to stop scrolling so fast....the picture of the three of you is precious!
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