Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Mr Cardmaker Has the BEST Friends & My Blog Hop with Melanie

Well, this is my first posting since my WONDERFUL stint as Moxie Fabber of the Week over at Moxie Fab World.  I can't begin to describe how wonderful it was to get so much love and support from all of you, both here at my blog and at MFW.  I am one grateful card maker.  Welcome, welcome to my new followers, as well as my dear, regular dropper-inners!

Well, my very greatly talented friend Melanie Muenchinger has been at being her very sweet self again, and she has gifted me not one, but THREE of her fabulous stamps sets that she designed for GinaK Designs.  I could not be more thrilled about that!  I have been in the throws of Christmasing up my house, and, of course, SHOPPING (grrrrr), but I was able to IMMEDIATELY drop it all and come up with a thank you/Christmas card for her.  I am ashamed that she will see it here before she gets it into her own hands, but she is a great lady of immense forgiving capabilities, I am certain.

And, we're HOPPING! (and we're hopping, and we're hopping......oh, sorry.) On to the inserted verbage....

It's a Happy Holiday Hop! Becky and Melanie thought it would be great fun to team up for a little Holiday Hop today. Today we are showcasing Becky's new set, "Warm Woolen Mittens" along with Becky's new cut file "Grand Banners" and "Grand Banners - Winter Sentiments" and Melanie's newest set, "Lots of Letters" as well as some of her other recent favorites. Joining us are some dynamic designers that will knock your socks off with their beautiful work today! Make sure you visit everyone's blog to leave a comment and be entered to win a clear "I do!" and "Beyond Baskets" stamp set! A winner will be announced Thursday. Now on to today's projects!

Here's the list of crafters that you can drop in on to check it all out--

                               Melanie Muenchinger 
Becky Oehlers (Illustrator of Warm Woolen Mittens)
 
And now, back to me!

I made this--

This card was made with Melanie's beautiful Stately Flowers series.  This is from the 5th collection in this series, and I have to say, I have not seen a better mistletoe.  Period.  I am clearly smitten with it.
Now, the set comes with TWO versions of this mistletoe, one larger than the other, plus an extra set of berries, which, as you can see here, I have put to work. 

I stamped all over my 4 1/4"x 5 1/2" SU River Rock card stock with the large image in Versamark ink, and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I also stamped all my berries on a separate piece of River Rock, and embossed them as well. 

After fussy cutting all of the berries, I took my Memento Delicata gold ink pad, pressed it onto an acrylic block, and used my aqua painter to "watercolor" all of the berries.  I purposely made some of the berries more opaque than others, to add depth.  Berries don't usually all ripen at the same moment anyway, right?  So, some reality to my fantasy!

The Merry Christmas sentiment (THANK YOU for adding that to the set, Melanie!) is stamped onto a scrap of ecru colored paper in versamark, and then heat embossed with gold embossing powder.  I punched it with my large circle punch, inked the edges with River Rock ink, and adhered it to the bottom of my card, then trimmed it with snips.  I added the ribbon (winnings from Stampendous), and adhered the card stock to a white, top-folding A2 card base.

With all of that done, I could place my berries.  I used tiny pieces of dimensional foam to pop each of them off of the surface, spacing them out nicely as I went along.  Don't tell anyone, but some of them mask imperfections that may or may not be there during the stamping process.  I plead the fifth on that one...

Sadly, pictures tend to ruin the glossy, shiny finishes on so many cards.  This is really nice and shiny though, I promise!

So, that's my card.  Now that I have it made and PHOTOGRAPHED (my least favorite part of blogging) it, I can get it out to Melanie! 

Do you make your holiday thank you cards?  Or are you just spent after making your Holiday Greeting cards?  I still have to make a good amount of cards this week.  I'd better get to work!

Thanks for stopping by! 
All Best-
Richard

70 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous card, Richard! Love the popped up berries and the way you added the sentiment.
    Hugs and smiles

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  2. WOW this is gorgeous I love the layout and the colours are so beautiful. Caroline xxx

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  3. This is just lovely! You are right, this mistletoe image is amazing. Hugs to you!

    And no, I haven't done my thank yous yet, I haven't even done my Christmas cards yet! yikes!

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  4. Just in case anyone's counting, I am commenting on my own blog. I like prizes, too!

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  5. I love it, Mr Cardmaker! The dimension of the berries is wonderful. An exquisite card that Melanie will cherish!! (And often at Christmas I just do written thank yous for the people we dont see....otherwise i let it slide! My son's bday is on the 18th and we always do written tys for birthdays so i get worn down between those and Christmas cards!)

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  6. Hi Richard, from one of your loyal drop-inners :) Squeal! How exciting would that be to go to the mailbox and find a happy mail with THREE stamp sets! Yay for you, my friend! That Melanie is one of the sweetest people I've met since I began stamping. Love your card, my friend, and I have to agree about the mistletoe - what a beautiful image! Yes, I always try to send out Thank You notes for gifts and kindnesses. That is one thing that I tried to pass down to our kids as they were growing up, as well. Thanks for a great post!

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  7. Love the softness of this shiny gold card. your card is awesome.love your work this is my first visit to your site. you are so talented thanks for sharing.

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  8. Wow! Fantastic card!! I love all the details you added. Now that I've been "introduced" to you and your fun blog, I will definitely be back again and again!

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  9. I love reading your blog! You always make me smile! Your card is beautiful! And who of us that stamp haven't covered up something.:)

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  10. Great card, Richard! I'm still mastering fussy-cutting, so kudos to you for cutting all the berries. Everyone needs a balance of reality and fantasy!

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  11. Wow~this is the prettiest card I have seen with the Mistletoe stamp. Great job!

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  12. Very pretty...how wonderful to have a mistletoe stamp!!

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  13. Very pretty! I love all the fussy cutting and dimension!

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  14. Nice card! Every stamper knows there are two sides to every card - and I usually have mine hidden behind the finished product.

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  15. awesome card. Thanks so much. Putting your blog on my list for sure. !!

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  16. Beautiful! Love the cut out flowers popped up.

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  17. what a great way of using the mistletoe stamp. Nicely done

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  18. Beautiful card! I love the extra berries on top. It adds great dimension. Beautiful greeting too.

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  19. {quick inhale} Oh My Goodness, Richard! This card is absolutely fabulous! I bet it looks even better in person - I'll e-mail you my address so you can send it to me! LOL

    WOW. I don't know how you do it all. B.S. (before Steve) I used to make all of my Christmas cards (120 at last count) but his Christmas list was over 200 and with them combined I figured I'd probably convert to another religion if I tried to make hand-made cards every year! We purchased cards and I'm making only a dozen or so for my very favorite people (and card makers like me who won't promptly throw it in the trash!).

    Hugs!!

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  20. Such an elegant card, Richard. Great to see non-traditional colors. TFS

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  21. absolutely beautiful! I love the elegant look of your card! TFS - Sonia

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  22. I love those berries! Thanks for sharing your talents with us. Your card reminds me of a high quality tapestry fabric. : )

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  23. Great job! I love this! :) Sean

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  24. Such a Beautiful Card. loved the colours...
    Hugz Kath...xx...

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  25. Wow - Mr. Cardmaker - what a smashing gorgeous card - I esp love how you 3D popped all the little white berries!!! Thanks for joining us today :)

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  26. What an elegrant card. the berries taht are popped up make this card shine.

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  27. I love what you did with that stamp. I, too, have the state stamps and will try your technique. I love it! Yes, I do make my own greeting cards. I made sixty this year!
    Looking forward to seeing what else you come up with. Thanks for sharing.

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  28. What a beautiful display of the mistletoe image!! Striking!!

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  29. Wow! Stunning card! Love the pops of dimension!

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  30. Wow, this really got my attention! There's something about the layout with the dimensionals and the subtle colors which is very, very appealing! Have to case this one and try color variations.

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  31. I think this is gorgeous and popped up anything is fabulous for hiding teeny tine imperfections!

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  32. My first visit to your blog and I am hooked. Your card is gorgeous and your humor on the blog is great!!! I am now a follower, hope you will join my blog also.

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  33. That is sooooo pretty! She is going to love it!!

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  34. Beautiful mistletoe! Love the popped up berries!

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  35. I do so LOVE the berries popped up! I love stamping my own dp...but you ROCKED this with the popped up berries and the embossing....truly elegance embodied my friend!! It's no surprise that Mel asked you to hop with her...your work is art!! =)

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  36. PRETTY card, the popped up berries add so much dimension and interest! Well done!

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  37. This card is absolutely beautiful. I love the colors you used and the way you popped the berries off the card.

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  38. Great card--I like the popped up berries.

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  39. Beautiful card! I love the dimension that the berries give the card.

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  40. Welcome Mr.CardMaker and your card is lovely and thanks for sharing:))))

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  41. A great mistletoe card design...beautifully done.

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  42. Love the card and the pop up of the berries...awesome amount of work and well worth it from your card.

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  43. Love this card - it is so exquisite. Very impressive.

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  44. Gorgeous card. I love your overall mistletoe/berry design. My mistletoe stamp is getting a workout.

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  45. The mistletoe is gorgeous! I love how you used the other berries and popped them up. LOL about hiding imperfections...very clever. Your card is fantastic!

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  46. Beautiful but my hand is cramping thinking of fussy cutting all those berries! :)

    Nanette

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  47. Very pretty! love the layered fussy cutting!

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  48. You are right, this mistletoe is superb! And your background is stamped perfectly! Love the way you colored and popped up the berries:) This would be great even for a non-holiday card. Have a Merry Christmas Richard!

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  49. That really is a gorgeous card!
    She'll love it!

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  50. I love your colors on this card. I bet it really stands out when you see it with all the embossing. Thanks for your instructions.

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  51. This card literally took my breath away! Absolutely gorgeous and so creative. Wonderful card!

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  52. Your card is awesome. I love the way you popped up some of the berries.

    Blessings,
    Kat

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  53. Really like how you made the berries pop up...gives the cards some very nice dimension. Very pretty.

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  54. great mistletoe with pop up gerries, nine color and background. TFS.

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  55. Fabulous card, Richard! Love those popped-up berries!

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  56. That is an elegant card. :) Vera sent me on this hop.

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  57. A beautiful card and enjoyable descriptive writing. Thanks for joining the hop. I must continue to browse your blog.

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  58. Elegant card....so pretty. And the lovely bow is the perfect finishing touch.

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