NEW Anita Jeram Christmas Release!!

 

Woah, Colorado Craft Company does NOT do Christmas half-way!! There are a ridiculous amount of adorable new sets designed by Anita Jeram in this release; you might even be tempted to ask Santa ahead of time for the Complete Bundle lol! I can't wait to share the cards I made with just SOME of these sets, all in this post.

You may have arrived from the talented Kassi Hulet's blog, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with Colorado Craft Company's one and only Adrienne Kennedy.

This first card is made with the MIIN set from this release, Bird Perch Mini Stamp Set. Isn't he adorable looking off into the distance, clutching his sprig of holly?! 

The sentiment is from another new set but I thought it went well with bunny's friend Mr. Robin perching on his ears. 

I put some snowflake diecuts I had on hand behind the mini panel that's popped up, but you could use whatever you have, even different sized white circles for snow balls. 

Really a great value if you have a lot of Christmas/winter sets, but still want to get in on the excitement and pick one of these new sets up.

Now on to the full sized sets, this Just Add Snow Stamp Set has two different bunnies in action working on their new winter friend.

So darn cute!! And tbh, these were really quick to color because half of the images are WHITE! I added some shadowing in blue instead of gray, and then chose to made that the theme color of my card, with the sentiment and the dotted background in the same blue. 

The tiny bunny jumping up to "help" roll the snow cracks me up! I added white glitter to the back panel for an extra snowy feel. Also love the little "Brrrrr" sentiment, and that it has its own die cut. I'm a sucker for the little details!!

Another adorable set, Mice Lights Stamp Set gives you a glimpse of two little friends who are completely overwhelmed. I used two of the different sentiments from this set. "My Favorite Color is Christmas Lights" is a great one!

The tree is from another set called Peaceful Fox Stamp Set. There's a cute fox sleeping at the bottom of the tree, but I didn't ink him up and just used the tree image here. No star stamp in the set for your tree? No problem! Don’t forget you can always just draw one (bonus if it’s in a similar style to the rest of your images) and cut it out.

Outlet too big for your scene? No problem! Do the opposite and cut it off! In this case you’ll notice I added the outlet back in lol. Initially when it was directly on top of the tree the outlet looked giant in comparison. But after die cutting several layers of chipboard underneath to bring the mice and outlet forward, and adding a piece of vellum underneath the make the background of the tree a little more foggy, I feel there’s enough separation of the outlet from the tree. In fact, the large white space of the outlet plays a visual calming role between the busy Christmas tree needles and the mice/lights. 

Don’t forget the little guy. Sometimes I overlook the small stamps in a set and don’t bother with them. The Peaceful Fox Stamp Set set comes with several individual lights that I thought worked well to highlight the important word in the sentiment. 

Finally, I've got two similar mini slim line cards with under-the-tree scenes going on.

This card features the Cozy Cat Stamp Set. I took the two sentiments in black and made a little scene -  kitty sleeping, and the little mouse about to cause ANYTHING but peace, hahahaha!    

Look at all the cute little details - the ornaments on the ground, probably from you-know-who all worn out in the stocking, the Christmas card and envelope someone wrote, the presents/bows/tags, and my favorite the little holly on Miss Kitty's stocking sleeping bag. Oh, also kitty's little paw coming out of the cozy stocking : )

Did you notice the tiny mouse waiting for the right time to come out in the corner?! I really had too much fun with this card! The sentiment on vellum above the mouse is also from this set. There are a few who are hoping Kitty's settled down for a long winter's nap : )

Finally, even the title of this set cracks me up ... Sneaky Mice Stamp Set. What do you think he'll find in there?! tisk, tisk!  

Another easy one to color, with lots of solid images. You can add patterns to the wrapping paper if you'd like, like the subtle check on this present.

I used the extra present stamps to build this scene out to fit the wide mini slim line.

Whew! That was quite a fun couple days in my craft room! It's going to be 97 degrees in Chicago today, but I'm officially in the Christmas mood. Any favorites?

Prizes!

We're doing two different giveaways! Enter as many times as you'd like until July 31st. Winners announced on August 2nd. Good luck!!

Giveaway 1: All designers will be giving away a stamp set from this release (your choice) to a lucky winner that will be drawn from all the comments left on our blogs or instagram.

Giveaway 2:
We'll be giving away a complete bundle (value $270!!) of this release to one randomly chosen winner that has placed an order using your favorite designer's affiliate link (for example, by clicking on the links on the images in this blog post below).

I am happy to send you to the delightful Koren Wiskman who has some wonderful things to share with you!

Here is the full list of stops on this hop if you need a reference:

Adrienne Kennedy

Amy Tsuruta

Amy Young

Bibi Cameron

Daniel West

Donna Hitz

Erin Thompson

Jenn Shurkus

Jennifer Kotas

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Kassi Hulet

Kelly Griglione

Koren Wiskman

Nancy Sheads

Sandy Allnock

IG:

Adam Karle 

Jasleen Kaur

Joe Sysavath

Laura Inguz

Traci Jenkins

Thanks for stopping by! 
- Kelly

Products used in these projects (affiliate links, thanks so much for your support!):

Peaceful Fox Stamp Set

Cozy Cat Stamp Set

Mice Lights Stamp Set

Sneaky Mice Stamp Set

Just Add Snow Stamp Set

Bird Perch Mini Stamp Set

New Anita Jeram Furry Friend Release and Blog Hop!

Hello Friends! It's time to celebrate furry friends with an adorable new release from Colorado Craft Company's Anita Jeram line! I hope you get a chance to look at the entire release as there are so many different and huggable critters and themes. 

You may have come from the blog of Kassi Hulet, but if not, please feel free to start at the beginning with Adrienne Kennedy CCC's  blog.

The Lift You Higher set features the cutest little scene of a kitty pushing another kitty on a tree swing. The sentiment "Siblings by Birth, Friends by Choice" is entirely sweet and not common to find in stamp sets. 

Did you happen to notice two robin eggs hiding in the tree?! These are from the Tiny Birds Worm Mini Stamp Set. 

I was able to tuck them behind the die cut tree that I left curving out for dimension, so there's a layered bit of dimension in this area of the card. 

They seem to be having a ton of fun, and if you didn't get that from the images, there's a cute little "WEEEEE" stamp and die you can add to your scene!

Another darling set of images can be found in the Stay Pawsitive stamp set. It comes with several sentiments that you can mix and match with the different images. 

Here's a little trick I do often: The first time I colored the little doggie I didn't like how dark I made the face. No worries! I just colored another face, cut it out, and popped it up on top of the first face. Done! This also serves to give more dimension by having the head come out at you.

The crouched doggie patiently waiting for his food bowl to be filled is utterly charming! I like how the sentiment "Stay Paw-sitve" is right underneath the doggie's paws. 

Then to finish off the card I stamped the bowl and a row of doggie bones. There are so many elements in this set that are interchangeable for the card you want to create. 

Finally, for this card from the Treat Yourself set, I let the sentiment take center stage, and added a little kitty being taken care of by her big friend. 

To help her stand out I put a few layers of cardstock die cuts under the kitty. Another detail is the gold thread stitched in long stripes across the card base. 

What a sweet way to show someone they matter!

Prizes!

We're doing two different giveaways! Enter as many times as you'd like until July 12th. Winners announced on July 14th. Good luck!!

Giveaway 1: All designers will be giving away a stamp set from this release (your choice) to a lucky winner that will be drawn from all the comments left on our blogs or instagram.

Giveaway 2:
We'll be giving away a complete bundle or equivalent gift card of this release to one randomly chosen winner that has placed an order using your favorite designer's affiliate link (like by clicking on the links on the images below).

Your next stop on the hop is the uber-talented Kelly Taylor!

Here is the full list if you need a reference:

Adrienne Kennedy CCC

Amy Tsuruta

Amy Young

Daniel West

Emily Midgett

Jenn Shurkus

Jennifer Kotas

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Kassi Hulet

Kelly Griglione

Kelly Taylor

Nancy Sheads

Sandy Allnock

IG:

Adam Karle

Jenn Gross

Joe Sysavath

Laura Inguz

Mansi Bhatia

Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly

Supplies Used (Thanks so much for your support!)

Lift You Higher

Stay Pawsitive

Treat Yourself

Tiny Birds

Six Ways to Use a Stitching Die!! - New Spellbinders Infinity Punch and Pierce Plate

 

Hello Friends! Looking for more ideas on getting the most out of your supplies, especially with the hot new stitching plates?! Great, let's take a look at SIX different ways to use the new Spellbinders Infinity Punch and Pierce Plate! These are organized in order of stitching effort, starting with ...

1) No Stitching!

Sometimes with a stitching/piercing plate this good, you don't even need anything else. Just load it up and run it through your die cutting machine! All those holes and piercings make this look like a fine, vintage, lace tablecloth, don't you think?

In the middle we have the beautiful Fill My Heart Stamp Set which cleverly is designed to be stamped twice - on the top and bottom of the oval - to fill the space. 

Then, since there's only one floral stamp, the rest of the stamp set is filled with tons of sentiments to stamp in the middle. Nine different sentiments to pick from!!

2) One Stitch

We're starting off the stitching options easy - ONE STITCH lol!

It's a large stitch, so it doesn't get lost on the card, and I've stitched four different angles in an asterisk of sorts. 

This is one of the nine sentiments from Fill My Heart Stamp Set.

A little touch that's very appropriate for a sympathy card, even in gold metallic.

3) Stitch minimally - Corner to Corner

Just a step up from one stitch, is a few giant stitches that run the whole border of a card. 

I like to think of this as more of a border drawn around the card, only it's super-easy, perfectly straight, and shinny metallic. To make it a bit more interesting, I took advantage of the cluster of holes in each corner and stitched across once to keep the longer stitches in place a bit. 

Let's talk about this shining star in the middle from the Stylish Oval Thanks Hot Foil Plate, which comes with a die for the sentiment! I love how much of the foil is left on the card, making me feel like I'm really maximizing my foil rolls.  

It's the best of both worlds, lots of foil, and tiny areas to be colored, so no need to spend a lot of time coloring if you don't want to. 

4) Stitch A Little More - Running Stitch 

Here's one to save for a favorite TV show - cut out the middle oval and then do a simple running stitch around the oval. Nothing you need to think about, which is perfect while being in front of a TV.

The sentiment in the middle is the ninth, large sentiment from the Fill My Heart Stamp Set. It was kind of different not having a flower or other graphic design element as the focus of the card, but the font on this sentiment is very attractive, and it fills the space perfectly. 

5) Stitch The Details - French Knot 

Perhaps because I didn't have a graphic angle, I elected to add more stitching details in the form of French knot rosebuds. 

Repeating the stitching in each corner frames the card more, and gives more overall weight to it. 

6) Stitch Maximumly - Long Stitches

My final idea is to go for broke and stitch as much as you can!! 

The Infinity Punch and Pierce Plate has three different pieces - the center (gold), the inner (light green) and the outer (white). The holes that go around the inner and outer ovals mirror each other very well so it's easy to stitch those two sections together.  

For the straight sections you can just stitch straight across. For the curved sections, it works out if you make a few "V's" and stitch from two different outer holes into one inner hole. 

Using gold foil paper for the middle adds a bit of "sexy" to the card, and then I stitched another two "asterisks" topped with gems with the remaining holes. 

I put two sentiments together in the middle, again from the Fill My Heart Stamp Set.

Whew! Were there any of the six ideas that stood out to you? Anything you'd like to try? I tried to make these ideas general enough to use with a different stitching/piercing plate if you have one. If not, the Infinity Punch and Pierce Plate is certainly a great choice!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly

Supplies Used (I really appreciate your support!):

Infinity Punch Plate

Fill My Heart Sentiments

Thanks Glimmer Hot Foil and Die