Narelle Farrugia is hosting a simple sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches. I couldn’t wait to play along, so I formulated my plan for a sweet, simple card. My card became more and more simplified as I created it. This 4″ x 4″ card is so simple that it uses NO stamps, NO ink and NO dies or punches. Yikes! That’s simple. Here’s my card:
And here’s the banner for Narelle’s challenge that inspired my card:
Tips, Tricks and Reminders
- Christmas Around the World. This simple card showcases two patterns from Christmas Around the World Designer Series Paper. What a fun pack of diverse images. The bold, rich plaid (Real Red, Garden Green and Basic Black with a touch of Crushed Curry) give this sentiment a warm backdrop. The sentiment (Whisper White, Basic Black and Crushed Curry) is snipped right out of one of the pages of this paper – so many great Christmas sentiments in different languages. Here’s a look at the patterns in this pack of papers:
If you’d like to see graphics for all of the papers in Stampin’ Up!’s 2017 Holiday Catalog, click here. - Snippy Doo. As I mentioned above, I snipped this sentiment from a page of the Christmas Around the World Designer Series Paper (you can see a snippet of it in the bottom, left corner of the picture above). That page has 29 different word bubbles with a variety of Christmas sayings from around the world. That means you have 58 sayings in one pack of paper (there are two pages of that pattern). Because the Designer Series Paper is so thin, I made sure the back of the sentiment was loaded up with Stampin’ Dimensionals for the added support I needed to prevent it from bending in the mail.
- White Christmas. When I added this bold, white sentiment to the card, it was the only bit of white to be found. At that time, the small card felt really dark. I added three Perfect White Accents to pull in the white from the sentiment and add a little more lightness to the card. Looks like the accents might be buttons that hold the band in place. What fun!
Stamp Sets: none Papers: Christmas Around the World Designer Series Paper, Real Red, Garden Green Inks: none Accessories: White Perfect Accents, Stampin’ Dimensionals
I hope you’ll pop over to the Freshly Made Sketches site to see the cards by the design team members and to play along with this week’s challenge.
Thanks for stopping by today!
Brian
My Favorite Things
On Saturday, I shared the list of My Favorite Things from Stampin’ Up!’s 2017 Holiday Catalog. Did you miss it? If you’d like to see what I love most, CLICK HERE to take a look.
Brian’s Bundles
Have you ever wished there was an “I Want Everything Button” for the launch of a catalog (I’m sure I could work one up for you if you need one)? This new catalog is AMAZING, and I’m thrilled to share it with you! To help you make the most of your 2017 Holiday Catalog purchases, I’ve created four, limited-time bundles with select bundles in the Holiday Catalog:
- Christmas Quilt
- Merry Little Christmas
- Painted Harvest
- Spooky Night
I added up products for each of these bundles (each already includes a 10% off bundle) and took off at least 10% more on each. That’s like getting free shipping! You’ll definitely want to review my bundles…
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BRIAN’S BUNDLES
Merry Patterns
When you place an order for $300 or more in September or October, you will earn an amazing, limited-time stamp set – Merry Patterns. The set is added to qualifying orders. If you’d like to gather orders from friends, please reach out to me. I’d love to help you earn this set! 🙂
This is a super cute card! Even with no Stamping the details are great.
Thanks, Jackie! I didn’t even realize there was no stamping until I sat down to write the post. 🙂
You can never have too many Stampin’ Dimensionals. Love how you used the designer series paper for both the background (the plaid puts me over the moon) and sentiment.
Truer words have never been spoken, Mary! Dimensionals are in large supply in the Fungeon. Thanks for your comments.
Wow! Is there some award for creating a great card with No stamps, No ink, No Punches or Framelits? If so, then you’ve just taken that award!
I didn’t realize how many “standard components” were missing until I was done. Thanks, Dianne!
Love this pretty, quick card, Brian. Plaids are my favorite, especially at Christmas and the “no stamp” sentiment is perfect. Have a great Saturday.
Thanks so much, HJ! I didn’t realize how “nutso” I was for this plaid print until I pulled it out for this card. I LOVE IT! <3
Of course I had to stop and think, no stamping, when I could clearly see a stamped sentiment, then my brain kicked in and said he must have snipped it! But from where? Very clever, hadn’t seen that DSP before.
Great card, love the plaid.
It’s an amazing pack of paper, Katrina! Thanks so much for your comment!
Good Morning Brian:
I love this plaid. You will laugh at me but I just bought a new flannel shirt from L.L. Bean with this exact (well, almost exact) plaid. I think that is really funny – and a bit weird. Did I copy you or did you copy me?
🙂 At any rate, it’s obvious I love this particular plaid and your 3 little “buttons” certainly brings this card over the top. Love it!
Thanks, Grace! I’d love for you to send me a picture of your new flannel. 🙂 It’s a great plaid – and the other pages in the pack are pretty nifty, too. I always appreciate your comments.
I just love Narelle! What a fun sketch! You used my absolute favorite DSP from the holiday catalog, Brian! I love everything about your card and the fact that you used lots of Dimensionals!!
Thanks, Carrie! You might not be able to see the Dimnensionals, but they are piled on behind that sentiment. 🙂 Appreciate your comments.
Great card Brian, you had me at plaid. I happen to love plaid and you have used this dsp beautifully. The green background is spot on. The Real Red layer brings out the red in the plaid. It’s perfect and I love it.
Thanks so much, Robbye! I’m glad you like it. This diagonal plaid is such a beautiful paper. It was easy for me to make something pretty with it. <3
Oh yes I love this plaid !! Your card is male perfect and a lot of us that like plaids !!
Love the bold colors !
I’d love to see plaids in every color and pattern – every. 🙂 These rich, bold colors are gorgeous. Thanks so much, Sonny!
I have been trying and trying to resist this beautiful plad!!! Wow! I love what you did here with it!
Don’t resist it, Jennifer! It’s wonderful – and for the time being, there’s more you can buy to replace the paper you use. 🙂 Thanks for your comment!
Oh I do love plaid! Sweet card……made me think of my grandmother who was from England and always said Happy Christmas!
I didn’t know your grandmother was from England – Happy Christmas is a very “British thing.” Thanks, Linda! <3
So cute! You always amaze me with your innovative thinking.
*blushing* Thanks, Candy!
What a fun card Brian! I do love that plaid paper and the speech bubble is perfect! Such a lovely Christmas card! Thanks for joining us this week at Freshly Made Sketches!
Thanks so much for your kinds words, Jen! It was a fun sketch this week. So happy I could play along. Thanks!