Christmas Cheer for PPA – and a Sneak Peek

I love when the Fungeon is filled with new stamp sets and new products – it’s like Christmas every day and all year-long.  OK, so the Fungeon is exactly FILLED with new stuff, but there’s definitely some new things down there.  We were able to order select items from the Holiday Catalog while at Convention.  I combined two of these sets to complete this week’s sketch challenge from The Pals Paper Arts.  Here’s my card:

Cheerful Christmas, Wintertime, Stampin' Up!, Brian King, PPA213And here’s the sketch that inspired my card:PPA213Tips, Tricks and Reminders

  • What’s in a Sketch?  Color challenges are pretty specific (not a lot of room for substitution), but sketch challenges are inspiration as far as I see it.  While I don’t have three squares on my card, you can definitely see the three shapes that run corner-to-corner.  In my opinion, there’s room to interpret a sketch and play around with the final project.
  • Added Filigree.  I love the ornamental lines in the Cheerful Christmas sentiment and wanted to add a similar filigree to the top left and bottom right.  My new Wintertime stamp set has a squiggly filigree that would fit in those corners nicely, so…and I wasn’t even concerned about masking the rest of the sentiment because it all fits nicely beneath the Cherry Cobbler oval.Wintertime, Stampin' Up!, Brian King, PPA213
  • A Little Bling.  I love the small, random dots that are built into this sentiment.    Rather than letting them stay flat, I decided to step it up a bit by adding some pearls.  I colored a variety of pearls with pens from my Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive Blendabilities.  Using Blendabilities on embellishments can wear down the tip of the marker, so it’s good to have an extra set of Blendabilities on hand – one for coloring on paper and one for coloring embellishments.Cheerful Christmas, Wintertime, Stampin' Up!, Brian King, PPA213

Stamp Sets:  Cheerful Christmas, Wintertime  Papers:  Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White  Inks:  Garden Green, Stampin’ Write Markers (Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green), Blendabilities (Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive)  Accessories:  Pearl Basic Jewels, Ovals Collection Framelits, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I hope you’ll pop over the The Pals Paper Arts blog to check out the designs from the other Design Team Artists – they are really great.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Brian

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28 Comments

  1. Joanna Fieldsend

    Gorgeous card, as usual you have excelled yourself. I love all your cards, tips and videos, keep up the good work Brian!!

  2. Perfect, simple and has the wow factor. Nice job!!!!!!

  3. super creative – i would never have made a card like that from the sketch – it is a gift – thanks for sharing and inspiring all of us

  4. inspirational as always. I too would have never thought to interpret the sketch as you did, and that is why I admire your creativity so much!

  5. Brian, I love this card. I will have to order this stamp. It’s so striking and the colours match the sentiment perfectly. Bravo!

  6. Love, love, love it!!! Going to CASE for sure

  7. I like these stamps ! But I especially like Happy Winter because it can be used more even after Xmas. I know that both of these will be really pretty embossed .
    Your card is pretty and festive with the colored pearls and I like what you did with the sketch . You did Christmas in July with your creation!

  8. Wow, this card is amazing! Love the colors, balance, and bling. I always learn so much from your posts Brian, thanks!

  9. Brian, your take on the sketch is so unique. Your vision and creativity is mind boggling. I love it.

  10. Brian, I checked out all the other cards made by the rest of Design Team #2 just now. Many of them used either the 3 squares or a variation of that. Some used two squares with something different in the center. All of them are great interpretations of this sketch. And then there is yours … totally out of the box! Robbye said it the best … “your vision and creativity is mind boggling!”

  11. Love it, Brian! Perfectly balanced and I didn’t even need to squint…..

  12. Love the filigree on this stamp and you did a great interpretation of this sketch. You are right, the sketch design is just to give you some guide lines, the rest is up to us.
    Christmas cards need a bit of bling, your card has the perfect amount, love it!!!

  13. Nice! I think we must have had similar Convention shopping lists!

  14. Your challenge interpretation is wonderful. I’m lovin’ the stamps you used. When will the Holiday items be available?

    • Thanks, Sharon. Holiday Catalogs will be mailed out starting August 1. Customers can order from the book starting August 28 (just before Labor Day).

  15. Love it Brian, especially the inside coordination.

  16. It’s the total package Brian! Fun card.

  17. Brian, this is a great card for either an invitation or as a Christmas greeting. Love how you combined both stamp sets. Well, now I need to order those on Aug. 1st!

  18. I LOVE the filigrees! I bought this set too. Can’t wait to get home from Dad’s to play with it!

  19. Brian, I am at a total loss for words…again! When I browsed the online catalog yesterday, I immediately fell in LOVE with this set (as well as many other great things in the catalog). I am so happy you chose this set to showcase today. Your card is nothing short of spectacular! Only you would realize that you could take 2 completely different sets, and find a way to make them work. Just gorgeous! I love how you always make everything shine…you are truly an inspiration to all of us. I can’t wait to get busy and order my pre order! Thanks for sharing.

  20. Wow, Brian! Spectacular! Love all those curls and flourishes and berries and colors and…. 🙂

  21. You inspire me to think outside the box, and get me inspired. I love this card Brian! Thanks for sharing!

  22. definate CASE. Love this stamp

  23. Wonderful, wonderful, Christmas all the way… This is great Brian; can’t wait to pre-order!

  24. Brian, this card is absolutely PERFECT! I truly love your use of the sketch and all of the perfect details. Did I mention it’s perfect? lol, you ARE the King 🙂

  25. Wonderful Christmas card. So crisp & clean.

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