Festival of Trees

Happy Sunday - yaaaaaaawwwwwwwwnnnnn …

I gotta say, these 4:00 am wakeup calls are starting to wear a LITTLE thin!  It's 5:41 am - I've been awake since 4:00 am and up since 5:00 am.  It's just wrong on ALL levels! It wouldn't be quite so bad if it was only every now and then but it's been fairly steady for MONTHS now … and I'm getting a little tired of it …. HAAAA - tired of it … that's funny! … yes, another sign I'm totally shattered - laughing in the dark at my own stupid jokes … there is a very good chance I'm totally losing it!

Oh well - maybe later I'll get to nap (**she said knowing better but still staying hopeful!)

On the list of things to do today is a) NOT get dressed … well - I won't be wandering naked but I won't be doing much more than wandering the house in my FABULOUS new Sweet Legs leggings and my old tatty sweater that looks like it's been around since my grandma was a kid … and b) CRAFTING!  Yes - the kids have a four day weekend and yesterday we had our first *real* snowfall so I just want to hibernate and play in my craft cave.  I haven't gone down and made a CARD for WEEKS.  I'm in withdrawal … and if I don't get some paper release soon someone COULD get hurt!  What am I planning to work on?  Well - I have an idea for a technique I want to try for class Tuesday … and  I also want to have a quick play to come up with a car-themed card.  Yesterday Craig bought me a brand-spanking new vehicle (a 2014 Nissan Rogue!!) and I thought it would be nice to take some hand made "congratulation" cards to the salesman to give out to his customers.  Stay tuned to see what I come up with on THAT front!

OK!  So today I am FINALLY getting around to posting four different cards that are all along the same theme and using the same stamp set - Festival of Trees.  Yes - these were made over a month ago … I just never found the time to post them.  (Apparently the best time for blog posting is at 5:41 am!!)

Last month when I was struggling to come up with "one more" Stamp-a-Stack card I decided I would use this little beauty:

 This card was designed by Tara Bazata over at www.inkandpapercafe.com.  It is a GREAT card that is crazy quick and easy and has gone absolutely viral on Pinterest and crafting sites.  Tara used the Festival of Trees set and punch and the All Is Calm Washi tape - the splotch from Gorgeous grunge, a few silver sequins from the Snowflake Sequins in the holiday catalogue and the sentiment from the exclusive hostess set "Good Greetings".  Yes, there is no denying it is a great card! …. so why couldn't I just leave it alone?  Nope - I made it and it just didn't sit right with me.  I felt it needed another colour … so I started to play … four HOURS later I ended up with this:

Bahahahah! See the resemblance?  No?  Me neither!  Hee hee - REALLY the only thing that ended up being the same is the stamp set *lol*.  My mind works in pretty messed up ways!

There WAS a progression to what I ended up with though.  Follow along!

First I just changed the colours and the Washi Tape ...

Yuck.

Then I used some inspiration from Connie Stewart over at www.simplysimplestamping.com, changed the wash tape for some Soft Sky card stock, added a few more trees, changed the sentiment and came up with this:

Getting better, getting better … I like it … but realized it was too many steps for a Stamp-a-Stack.  I tried again, taking away the card stock, adding a few splotches from the Work of Art set and a few more trees to get this:

… then realized that was just as much work as the previous version … tried again and came up with this:

Yes, STILL just about as much work but I decided I really liked the clan look of it and that's where I stopped.  Then I took a nap.  It's exhausting being me *lol*

Can you see all the elements on it?  The layer was run through the Big Shot with the triangle embossing folder (LOVE how it coordinates with the trees!).  The solid tree is punched out from Soft Sky card stock.  The other tree is stamped in Soft Sky and then punched out.  The solid tree is popped up with dimensionals.  I stamped the sentiment from "Mingle All the Way" in Cherry Cobbler and punched it out with the 2" circle punch - it too is popped up with dimensionals.  I tied some white Baker's Twine around the layer but at my Stamp-a-Stack I ran out of white so had to use some Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine … we all actually preferred the Cherry twine - it tied together the colours a little better (HA!  TIED together … hee hee - definitely a little punchy this morning!)  I added 3 glittery stars using the small star punch and attached them with glue dots (regular snail won't work!) … and yes, a mere 4 hours later I had my last SAS card.

Speaking of Stamp-a-Stack - my next Christmas session is next Sunday … perhaps I'll go cut the paper for it now.  Not much else to do at 6:07 on a snowy Sunday morning!  Thanks for popping in.  Stay warm and have a cozy, super stampy day!!

Tam