2011 Christmas Cards

 Hello Friends! It's once again been a while since I have posted. I haven't been crafting as much lately and am really trying to get back to it. So, I made myself make my Christmas cards again this year, though I had almost talked myself out of it. 10 minutes into the process I was so glad I decided to do it! I am not me without creating! It felt great, I am definitely moving things around in my time to fit crafting back in!


This year I cut back the number of cards I mailed. I waited a little late to start...they just mailed this past week! To keep them simple, I designed a very clean and uncluttered layout. The base of this card is my  beloved Cherry Cobbler. I embossed the Baja Breeze layer with the Northern Flurry folder from SU! It looks so elegant, and took just seconds. A short piece of Cherry Cobbler ribbon wrapped around that layer added just enough decoration. 

          I used the New Silver Glitter paper and the Scallop Border punch to line the side of the card. Dasher is stamped in Crumb Cake, the edges of that piece sponged. Added Clear Rhinestones to his antlers, and it's done. The inside is decorated pretty much the same. The Silver Glitter paper on the top is the piece leftover after running it through the punch for the front scallop piece...I was about to throw them away when this hit me! The Baja Breeze swirls on the inside sentiment are the antlers of the deer (Dasher) stamp being used in a different way. 

So, I am back. It feels great! I can't wait to post more! I am working on Teacher Gifts this weekend, so I will get those posted when they are done!

Merry Christmas!!!

It's a digital thing, you might not understand;)

Every year after Thanksgiving, my Mom sets up an elaborate little Christmas Village. It's a tradition that has become very special to her over the past several years. I don't know why I have never before thought to take pictures of it for her. This year, I think partly because I got a DSLR for Christmas, I decided to get some good pictures of this tradition that our whole family has come to enjoy. I turned the pictures into a 2 page spread, 8 1/2 x 11. I don't know if I will put them in some sort of folder or frame them for her to hang at Christmas. I am printing them today, and I cannot wait to give these to her! I know she is going to love them, and it will be very meaningful to her!

Supplies:
Pictures
Me Digital Studio
...that's it!

Merry Christmas!!! A small gift and a card.

 Here's a pen and keychain I made for a fellow SU demo, Lisa, whom I have been swapping buddies with for a few months. We've had SO much fun together. This is simply and RSVP pen filled with retired DSP. The keychain/purse clip is made on a bookring for easy on/off. It's made from Styled Silver HodgePodge Hardware, Filigree Brads, Rhinestone Brad, and Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon! Crystal Effects holds everything together. The 'L' from Lovely Letters is stamped on acetate in JetBlack StazOn. So easy, just requires overnight drying while held in place with binder clips. The 'tassle' at the bottom is simply frayed ribbon;)

Here's the Christmas card I sent to her as well! It's a quick and easy one. The scallop rectangle uses the Scallop Trim Corner and Border punch, and while this takes some time to master, it's nice to be able to make these square or rectangle in any size you want. The lace trim is sewn on. The brad is non-SU, I found it in my stash, and it worked nicely:) I won't do the supply list below as usual, I am short on time, but this stamp set is Welcome Christmas, and I LOVE it! Also, the base is Crumb Cake and sprayed with the Color Spritzer with Choc Chip marker.

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas! I received from my hubby a Nikon DSLR D3000 camera with lens, super nice bag and all accessories. A Nook (I LOVE to read), and an Epson Stylus Photo 1400 Printer which prints up to 13x19 prints, PERFECT for 12x12 scrapbook pages! Perfect to use with MDS! My girls gave me a diamond/sapphire ring that is gorgeous, I love it so much! (We spoiled them as well!) I also got some Miche bags/sleeves from hubby (forgot that, and it's one of my fave gifts). My Mom and sis were extremely good to me as well! Pics should start getting more interesting on my blog now that I have an incredible camera to play with! There's a huge learning curve going from a PointnShoot to a DSLR, but I am picking it up nicely. And I have a friend who is a pro photographer who I am sure will help me, too! Merry Christmas and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you!

A quick and simple Christmas gift...

 My hostess club met today and this is the project I designed for them this month. We made three cards, all the same, we just varied the colors within the Regal Collection. I LOVE that the SU collections work so well together, you don't have to stress about color combos! Here we used Elegant Eggplant, Cherry Cobbler, and Night of Navy. The base of the cards and the stamped block in the center is Sahara Sand, my new favorite neutral (well tied with Crumb Cake;). It's light and lends itself well to the Regal Collections deep, earthy, rich tones.

 And here is a close up of just the red card. For SU enthusiast (the best kind to be;), we used clear block 'D' inked with Sahara Sand to form the box in the center of the card. This technique adds great depth and interest, and is SO easy to do. Gone are the days of masking off these areas! Clear blocks are so versatile, I definitely use them for more than just clear stamps. We kept these cards very clean and open. I really like the feeling of simplicity and they match more personalities when giving as a gift.

And here is how we packaged them up. This is the Large Cello bag (SU, naturally) filled with 3 cards, and 3 envelopes, then excess folded back and ribbon and tag finish it off. I definitely think a set like this is going to be my teacher gifts this Christmas. Hope you all like it! We had fun making them, and I definitely think it's a nice gift for a party hostess, or someone that you like to give a gift to without really spending much! Supplies below. Thanks so much for stopping by! Remember to take a break this busy time of year, ink a stamp, and enjoy it all!

Happy Stampin',
Naomi

Sets: Welcome Christmas (on the tag...the family), Teeny Tiny Wishes, Holiday Wishes (retired), and Just Believe (flower)

Inks/Paper: Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand, Elegant Eggplant, Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy

Accessories/Tools: Decorative Label Punch, Modern Label and Word Window punches, Sleigh Bells ribbon (retired), sponges, Dimensionals.

Christmas Reflection...

Greetings, friends!!! It's been a while since my last post. Life has certainly sped up around here lately. The new puppy, Allie (the last post is about her), is doing great. She's a wonderful puppy, time consuming, but we wouldn't know what to do without her! I actually have a few things to post. But, my stamp club meets tomorrow, and one of the gift sets I just completed is our project, so I cannot post it until after that. So, come back!

This card is 5x5" and uses one of my favorite simple techniques, called the Reflection technique. Basically, you stamp the image on the cardstock. I then stamp it again on the StampAMaJig sheet, invert it over the original image, and press the inked side down so I get an exact reflection of the stamp. It's so easy and I LOVE using it with water. These trees sit on a shoreline that is laced with freshly fallen snow! I need to go back and snow the treetops too, Oops! The sky and water are brayered, and I simply drew in water ripples with the White Signo Gel Pen. 2 way glue and Dazzling Diamonds were used for the snow. I used a Basic Rhinestone over the sentiment, and some Early Expresso Grosgrain finishes two of the edges.

Merry Christmas!
Naomi

---Early Expresso, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Not Quite Navy (edge sponging)

Santa's Sleigh...

 As unbelievable as it is, Christmas is really sneaking up on us this year! Stores are already shelving Christmas goodies, and I have yet to begin my 'mass produced' family card that will go to our family list. I know, I better get on it! I did get in the spirit a little bit for one of the projects that my Hostess Club made this month! I created (saw a basic sample online) this sleigh from the Top Note Die from SU'! I just cut, freehand, the swoop, and it made a perfect sleigh! The runner and legs are Brushed Silver CS, and the legs are cut with the Scribbles & Swirls Sizzlet, with the Big Shot for SU!. We used some scrap DSP, Ski Slope and cut different size packages to fill the sleigh with. This is a wonderful card for using up those scraps!!! The bows are made with the Beary Girl Essentials Sizzlet. Just goes to show, the Build A Bear line can be used for many things! I created a tiny wreath to decorate the sleigh with the tiny scallop from Itty Bitty Punch pack and the 1/4" Circle punch. Made tiny berries with the pen tip of my Real Red marker. The white background is spritzed with Vanilla Shimmer Smooch and shows up VERY well when the light hits it, the pic below shows some of that. Hope you like it!

Supplies:
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Old Olive, Baja Breeze, Real Red, Whisper White CS - Ski Slope DSP
Ink: Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad and Stampin' Write Marker
Tools: Big Shot, Top Note Die, Beary Girls Sizzlet, Scribbles/Swirls Sizzlet; Work Window, Modern Label, 1/4" Circle, Itty Bitty Punch Pack
Accessories: Dimensionals, SNAIL, Mini Glue Dots, Tombow Multi, Silver Cording, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz

A Sketchy Christmas...

 I have been a little behind in updating my blog. Sorry guys! I have been stamping like crazy, so I do have lots to post now;) Here's a Christmas card I made last week. I am trying to use up a lot of my retired papers, so this card uses Ski Slope DSP, which is retired, but my favorite ever Christmas paper. I also use a retired stamp set, Scandinavian Season, which I really love! The corners, and tree have a red gemstone that didn't show up well in the picture.

And below is the sketch I designed for one of my online groups to use for an October Challenge. I flipped the sketch on it's side for this card. It's such a clean and easy sketch, you could do so much with it. Feel free to play with it!

Supplies:

Paper: Old Olive, Real Red, Chocolate Chip cardstock - Ski Slope DSP

Ink: Old Olive

Punches: Corner Rounder, Photo Corner, Scallop Edge

Accessories: Red gems (Hero Arts), Clear gems

Sketch Designed in MDS

Cherry Mist Christmas...

                         

Here's a Christmas card I made last night, actually I made two of them. For swaps, I am finding it's so much quicker to make 2 of the same card at once. I really ended up liking this one, even though it's very different from what I usually make. I started by running a piece of Whisper White CS through the Big Shot with the Pretty Petals Embossing folder. I then inked up my brayer with Cherry Cobbler ink, and covered the raised images with ink. I LOVE this simple but effective technique. You get the raised texture and color. If you have never tried it, you really should pull out your brayer and give it a go!

Thanks for stopping by!

Paper: Whisper White, Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler CS

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Silver Shimmer Paint

Punches: Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border, Eyelet Border, Ornament

Accessories: Big Shot, Pretty Petals folder, Marina Mist ribbon, Daubers, Filigree Brad, Brayer, Glue Dots, SNAIL, Dimensionals 

Christmas Doors...

These were so much fun to make, and super easy to do more than one at a time! I sponged around the edge of the card to give the door some depth, and the edges of the door sections are heavily sponged on the edges to they look like they are actually raised. The doorknob is a Silver Brad, but it looked way to plain on the card by itself. So, I punched a Modern Label piece, and stuck it back in the punch to make it tiny. I think it's a great shape for this, and I have never seen it done, so it's a truly original idea, which are hard to come by these days! Doesn't mean noone else has ever thought of it, just that I have never seen it, so it's original to me. If you have this punch, give it a try!!! The wreaths are made from circle punches (1 inch circle, overpunched with 1 3/8 circle to make a ring), then the tiny scallop from Itty Bitty Punch Pack was punched a lot and layered on the ring with Tombow Multi. The bow is a SU Sizzlit, it's the Beary Girl Accessories from the Build A Bear line! Both of these had to be sent out for swaps, but I will be making MANY more of these. I think a saying for the inside would be 'From Our Front Door To Yours, We Wish You A Merry Christmas', or something along those lines! Hope you like it, and as always, on to the supply list!
*
Sahara Sand Ink/CS, Real Red & Garden Green CS
PUNCHES...Modern Label, 1" & 1 3/8" Circle, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Curly Label
Beary Girl Accessories Sizzlet
Dimensionals, Tombow Multi, SNAIL
SUO!

Pink and Brown Christmas...

Hello, everyone! I am so glad you stopped by for a minute! Here's a Christmas card I made last night, I actually made this card twice, for two swaps. I LOVE the Greeting Card Kids stamp set, and have been itching to make a Christmas card with this adorable little girl. Notice instead of doing a detailed coloring, I only added a tiny bit of color to the image. I hoped to achieve an aged image look, so the coloring it barely there. I WISH my camera had cooperated! Batteries died and I did not have time to get new ones, these had to mail out this morning. The image is sprayed once close and once far with the new Vanilla Smooch Spritz from SU! It gives a sheen to the image, and the closer spray provided some small 'glops' of shine with look like falling snow when the light hits it! I wish I had gotten a chance to get a better picture. I really like the old, feminine feeling from this card, and such a different color scheme that traditional Christmas!

Supplies : SU only
Paper - Textured Pink Pirouette, Early Expresso, Whisper White
Stamps - All Holidays, Greeting Card Kids
Ink - Pink Pirouette, Early Expresso, Old Olive
Punches/Dies - Corner and Border Scallop Trim Punches, Rectangle Clearlit, CropODile
Accessories - Dimensionals (about 12 on this card), Chantilly Lace Trim, Blender Pens

Torn Paper Frame and a Gift Box...

Every year I throw a Christmas Party for my Hostess Club. We do a drawing in Oct to get our Secret Sister, and we have to make them a homemade gift AND buy them a certain amount of SU items from their wish list and package them with SU products. This is by far my favorite event of the year! This year, I made a frame for my Secret Sister, Amy. I took a plain, unfinished wood $1 frame from a craft store, painted it front and back with white acrylic paint. I then tore several different patterns from the Ski Slope DSP pack. I used Mod Podge to adhere those all over the frame. I then applied another layer of Mod Podge over the top to seal it. I used Baja Breeze textured CS for the insert. I ran Old Olive and Real Red CS through my Big Shot with the Petals A Plenty folder, then punched them with the Ornament punch, as well as a Chocolate Chip piece with a Merry & Bright rub-on. Red and green are stuck on with Glue Dots, Chocolate is popped up on dimensionals. Silver cording finishes these off. I cannot stand empty frames and always fill them before giving. This can be a decoration, or you can put a holiday photo in it.

Amy had 3 ink pads on her Wish List, and those were within our 'budget', so I created a box for them. I started by stacking the 3 ink pads on top of each other, then measuring height, width and length. I added 1/4" all the way around for a nice lip on the box, then scored along the box measurements to make the bottom. I then used the same dimensions for the lid, altering slightly for the edges. I punched the top with the Scallop Edge border punch all the way around and stamped it with the Medallion background stamp before folding. CS is Kiwi Kiss and RidingHood Red (trying to use up retired colors!). I tied some RHR Tafetta Ribbon around the box, then punched the flower with the 5Petal Flower after running it through the Bis Shot with a CB folder. Brad is Making Memories, all other supplies are SU. I tied on a Scallop Oval with Red Twine to put her name on it, so she can easily remove it and reuse the box.

She seemed very happy with her gifts, and I really enjoyed making them!

Medallion Christmas...

I have said it before (many times ☺) and I will say it again, the Medallion background is my most favorite stamp set of all time! I sat down with my printed sketches from Mojo Monday (link in the sidebar) and really liked the sketch from Feb 23 of 09. I knew I wanted to make a card with many layers, and continue to try to use up the many unopened packs of Ski Slope DSP I bought last year before it retired. I am very happy with this one, it's my favorite card this year (at least mass produced cards, immediate family gets one of a kind).

Here is a pic of several of them all together. I love using just a portion of the Medallion image. I find it much easier to use when I am not using the entire image.

Supplies:

Kraft, and Whisper White Cardstock

Old Olive and Real Red ink

Ski Slope DSP

Sleigh Bells Ribbon

Ornament Punch

Sentiment is from All Holidays

Silver Cording

This card is SUO.

3D Ornament...

You know those times when you sit down to stamp and can't think of a single thing to make? I hope I am not the only one who has those...LOL! All I knew was that I wanted the card uncluttered and featuring a 3D Ornament. So, I pulled out my Ski Slope DSP from last year (SO thankful I bought 3 packs of it, it is my all time favorite!), and punched 8 Ornaments. They all got folded in 1/2, glued back to back, then added to a scrap cardstock Ornament for sturdiness. Then, I was stumped. I had nothing...no ideas, nothing. I went through my scrap drawer, and found the previously scalloped Old Olive strip, as well as the Petals A Plenty embossed Chocolate Chip scrap. I decided to cut some Real Red to mat between them, and that was it! The flower on the Baja Breeze base is from a retired Christmas set, and actually was colored with the VersaMarker, and stamped onto the card as it had a circle image around it. I finished it with Merry Christmas in Chocolate Chip in the bottom right corner. It's plain and simple, but when doing all different Christmas cards, that's what I was going for!!! I do have some more elaborate cards to post tomorrow, I hope that will make up for these last two simple ones.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! I am enjoying crackling fires, a fresh Christmas tree and nighttime Christmas movies with my little girls. I hope you are all enjoying this special season as well!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I am LOVIN' the Delightful Decorations stamp set and the Ornament Punch so much this Holiday Season. Almost all of my Christmas cards are made using these this year! This one is a color combo I haven't use before, and I LOVE it now! I chose to pair Real Red, Whisper White and Soft Suede for this one. This is one of the cards I created for my Nov Hostess Club meeting. I 'accidentally' discovered that I really like the Top Note Die in more than one color. It's always the blunders that teach you something new! I ran the beautiful White Organza ribbon under the Top Note, and the red ornaments are stuck on with Glue Dots, the suede one is popped up on Dimensionals. The Silver Elastic cording is going fast, I use it on everything! It works beautifully for 'hanging' these ornaments. I finished off the JOY ornament with a small Clear Rhinestone brad. This is an easy card, very quick to make and I think it packs a big WOW for it's simplicity!

***To the ladies in the Blog Group...please forgive me for my recent absence! I will get to your blogs this week, I PROMISE! We have had a busy month, a death in the family, a huge pay cut, and we haven't shopped for one single Christmas gift yet. It's been one of those months...I am finally starting to catch up, and can't wait to visit all of you. And, over this week, I will catch my blog up as well. Many of my recent projects have been for my Club Christmas Party, which was Sat, and I can't wait to post pics of those now that the party is over!***

Joy Ornament Christmas Card

You know those days when you sit down to craft and are bombarded with these incredible ideas, and even the most mundane of objects becomes enlightening inspiration? Well, last night was NOT one of those for me. In fact, I couldn't think of one single original idea. So, I was looking through SCS (A God-send for stampers block), and came across THIS amazing card by Stampersandee. I was totally impressed with her beautiful card, and decided since I need to start on Christmas cards, I would give it a try. I hope I did her justice! This card is 5x5.

I LOVE my Stamp A Ma Jig! The sentiment stamp in the picture is the stamp I used, however I used SU Markers to color each word separately, then used my SAMJ to align them closer together to fit into the Large Oval Punch.

Stamps: Lovely Letters Alphabet, Holidays & Wishes
Ink/Paper: Metallic Gold paper, Bravo Burgundy/Handsome Hunter ink and CS
Punches/Bog Shot: Damask Texture Plate by SU, 1 1/4", 1 3/8" circles, Scallop Circle, Large Oval, Scallop Oval.
Accessories: Sponges, Mini Glue Dots, Gold Cording

My FIRST Christmas card this year!

It doesn't look like much from this pic, I know. But, if you have never seen a Tri-Fold Shutter card, keep going with this post and see it open! I am NOT one of those stampers who gets her Christmas cards done throughout the year. I wait until Thanksgiving, then spit out Christmas cards in a stress-induced maniacal frenzy. But, hey that works for me. It's just something about stamping in the cold weather, with the fire going, and bundled up that gets me in the mood to make my holiday cards. But this year, I am trying to start now. Here is the pic of my card open all the way.

You can click on the pics to see them full-screen, and for this pic, that is not a bad idea. There is added texture and tons of detail all over this cute Christmas card. It took me two nights of stamping to complete, mostly because there is half a bottle of Stickles on this bad boy and it had to dry before I could do the other panels. I may never do one of these again, but I love how this one turned out. I don't think all of my paper piercing shows up, but it's there, there are Rhinestone brads, Red Crystals, and so much more on this card. I didn't skimp on the blingy's which I normally do! All of the felt snowflakes and mittens were sent to me from the one and only, amazingly talented, Siobhan in Japan!!! Thanks, girl, I love them! Let me know what you all think of this one. I am happy with it! Now, if I can get 2 or 3 Christmas cards done a week I will be close to ready in time for Christmas. I have to save some for stamping while the fire burns!

I can't name all I used here, I just can't remember. But the card itself is Baja Breeze Textured CS, the DSP is Ski Slope, the main stamp sets are The More The Merrier (current Level 3 Hostess), and Perfect Presentation (retired).

3 More Christmas Cards...

Greetings, blog friends! I am posting 3 more of the cards I made last night. I made no more than 4 of each design this year, and I completely finished my cards last night!!! Whoo hoo!!! My husband put them in the mail this morning, and I am SO excited to have them done. Here are the 3 I did last night. Feel free to comment, I would love to know which you like the best. I am not sure how many different designs I did this year, but each card posted on my blog went out, and some didn't get pics taken before I sealed them. Next year, I start earlier!!!


If I had to name this card, I would it Silly Snowmen! I love this one, easy and fun! The base for this card is Ballet Blue, I stamped all over it with the snowflake from Perfect Presentation, then swiped all edges of the card in my Ballet Blue inkpad. I cut a piece of Basic Black CS down to 2 1/4 x 4 3/4, and punched the two long sides with the Spiral Punch to create the 'filmstrip'. This little snowman is from a SU set, I do not know the name. I stamped and colored about 100 of these last year for a card I never got around to making and it is a friends set, but I know it is some sort of tag set. One thing to know, you really need the Square Punches for these cards, but that's the one thing I do not have, so I punched them out with the Large Tag Punch, and cut the top of freehand. Glued those to the black strip, then on the card at an angle. The word JOY is from Perfect Presentation and I used Dimensionals to pop them up a little. That's it. This one was so much fun to make, and snowmen always make me smile.

I think if I had to name this card, I would call it Cheerful Christmas! I love these bright vivid colors, and they just scream Christmas! The base of this card is Baja Breeze, with a strip of Ski Slope DSP down the side (can you tell I am in LOVE with this paper?). I tied some red grosgrain (Offray 1/8" red) over the meeting point, then stamped the little snowflake from Perfect Presentation down the blue side. I stamped the tree from Perfect Presentation on Whisper White CS in Old Olive ink and layered over a piece of Real Red CS. There is a little red blingy on the tree, that's from Hero Arts. I stamped the word JOY from Perfect Presentation on scrap Whisper White CS and cut out and adhered to bottom of card with Dimensionals. Isn't it cheerful?



This one turned out fairly elegant for how little work was involved, and that's a good thing when you are in a hurry! I love the soft hue of Baja Breeze, and the card base is that color, as well as the snowflake DSP called Ski Slope. I used the Slit Punch on the bottom of the card to hold the sentiment, which is from Heard from the Heart. I stamped the snowflake from Scandinavian Season, punched with 1 1/4 circle, layered over 1 3/8 circle, layered over Brushed Silver (love this stuff!) CS punched with the Scallop Circle punch. I put a Filigree Designer Brad in the center, and stuck it on the card with Glue Dots. I hope it's not too simple, and the recipients like it!

Hope you like them all. SU products are in BOLD print, and I always try to give the brand of whatever I use that's not SU. Merry Christmas!

Another Christmas Card & My Little Angels

So, here is another Christmas card I am sending out this year. I do not do mass production of Christmas cards anymore, it just bores me to no end. This year I am sending about 10 different styles, and I really like them all. I have used the same stamp set on all of them to keep them similar, and I have also repeated several colors. This one is a really simple one, but I love it. I used Old Olive CS, and Ski Slope DSP on the side. Chocolate Chip ribbon is tied over where the papers meet, and I layered some Chocolate Chip CS over that with the tree from Scandinavian Season stamped in Old Olive on Naturals White CS. In the center of the flower on the bottom right of the tree, I added half pearls called Crystal Stickers by Mark Richards. I am hooked on these right now. They're already sticky, you just use a tool to pick them up and stick them on! On the bottom right of the card I added a little stamped image from Perfect Presentation, which was a hostess set last year, in Chocolate Chip ink. I love the simplicity of this card.



And here is the My Little Angel part of the post. A wallet size of this picture is going out in all my family Christmas cards this year. Grandparents and aunts will also receive it framed as a small, extra present. Hopefully I will have time to make my own frames. I am thinking of doing the acrylic blocks for clear stamps as frames, it just depends on how much time I have in the next 13 days! But, this is Chloe age 4,and Tara age 2 in their Christmas dresses.

Merry Christmas!

***All products are SU unless specified. The pearls on this card are not, and were purchased at Archivers in Raleigh NC.

My Favorite Christmas Card so far...

(Sorry for the quality of the pic, I find acetate VERY hard to photograph. IRL, the gemstone shimmers and the card looks bright and pretty.)

This is one of those cards that just proves the difference of quality in SU products vs others you find in stores. I attended an event at a local scrapbooking store and one of the make and takes was a Christmas card made exactly like this one. However, the products they used were much lower in quality and not as put together, and I liked the idea, but not the card they made. So, I recreated it at home using SU products, and the difference is unreal!

First I folded a piece of acetate for my outer layer, and stamped the tree from Scandinavian Season in the center a little towards the top with Jet Black Stazon. Then I made a stencil by doing that again on scrap acetate, and cutting around the tree with a hobby blade. I then folded some white textured CS and put between the acetate. I lined the stencil up under where the tree was and sponged it heavily in Kiwi Kiss ink with Stampin' Sponges. I stamped the sentiment from Heard from the Heart in RidingHood Red ink on the bottom of the white CS. I punched two 1/16" holes very close together at the top of the tree and ran Gold Cording through those, and used the cording to tie on the gold know you see. That is the only thing holding the acetate on the card, and it stays perfectly in place, I was amazed! I finished it simply by putting a red gemstone from Hero Arts on the center of the flower shape on the tree. Very simple card that's just a little harder than it looks, and I love the outcome.

Sometimes you just see projects and think, I can do that so much better. I know we all do that, but I am glad I acted on this one. It is remarkably better than the one made at the store, the quality difference in product is unreal.

All items in BOLD print are SU!

Scallop Medallion Christmas Tag

I love this tag! There's snow on the ground here today, we woke up to it falling beautifully and I am now in the Christmas spirit! The tag is made using the technique to make a medallion out of a punch. The tag size is 2.75 x 2.75 inches. I made the medallion out of the Ski Slope DSP, ran Old Olive ribbon through that, tied it up top with Gold Cording, and backed the whole thing with a folded piece of Chocolate Chip CS, folded in half. The inside is lined with Whisper White CS to write To/From message. I figured out how to make a small scallop square to fit inside this, cut a square of CS 2 1/8 inch, then line up in the Scallop Edge Punch center, punch on all sides. The snowflake is from a retired hostess set from last year called Perfect Presentation, it is a round stamp with words around the outside of the flake. I didn't have the exact size circle punch I needed, so I punched the flake out, and to cover the little bit of wording that showed around it, I ran the edges over my CC stamp pad. Popped on a Dimensional over an Old Olive circle. I didn't have any pearls small enough for the edges of the flake, so again I improvised (I am getting better at that!), I had some of the wedding pearls on a string from the craft store. I cut them off the string, and carefully sanded the edges down where they were glued on the sting. Glued onto my flake with Crystal Effects. Whew. Lots of work on one little tag, but I really like how it turned out. I have never used brown at Christmas, but this year I can't seem to stop myself. Hope you like it!

All items SU, minus the pearls, all SU colors, tools are in bold print.