OSAT Step It Up Blog Hop

Good Morning and happy Thursday! Quick question for all of you. Do you feel like the summer was in slow motion until we August and now suddenly life is in fast forward? I seriously can't wrap my head around the fact that we are already in September! It helps that the kids are back in school but when tomorrows temps are suppose to be 103 degrees (Fahrenheit) it makes me long for the pool!

Today the One Stamp At A Time Blog Hop Team is back with a fun theme! We are Stepping it Up! For those of you scratching your heads wondering what that means, it means we are showing you one card that is simple and for beginners, a card that might be for the casual crafter or card maker and a card that is for the more avid or advanced card maker. I have used the Christmas To Remember stamp set with its coordinating Christmas Season Bundle for todays projects. Lets take a look!

I found it to be a struggle to do a card that is a bit more simple intentionally! The card started with the piece of the Peaceful Prints DSP. I then cut a small rectangle in Basic White and stamped the sentiment with Real Red Ink. The pine branches were stamped in Garden Green with my pine cone stamped in a combination of Crumb Cake and Early Espresso. A nice little Linen Thread bow was a perfect touch!

Now my card for the casual crafter. This card has a lot of the same aspects. With this card I decided to die cut one of the Garden Green pine branches and the Pine Cone. I also added a nice mat of Garden Green behind the sentiment and distressed it a bit with an old pair of Paper Snips. The corner of the Basic White is rolled down and accented with a Gold Gilded Gem. For the ribbon this time, I added a bit of the Very Vanilla Lace.

Now for my avid card! You will notice that my pine cone although using the same colors as the original card, is on a piece of Crumb Cake card stock. I have stamped the pine branches in Garden Green and die cut both of them and is arranged with an accent of Linen Thread behind the Pine Cone. There are a few more Gilded Gems with this card and one of the fun things I did was some heat embossed Gold splatters! On the corner of the Garden Green mat, I also stamped the pine branch. Again a bit of Lace and Linen thread for the bow. Each card sits on a mat of Garden Green with a Real Red card base!

I am so glad that you stopped by to see my creations today and that I have inspired you to Step It Up!

I can't wait for you to see what my friends have created, you can click along the list below to see them all! Have an amazing day!