My Christmas Cards

These are my Christmas cards for this year. I did not make too many because I did not receive many. Last year I made so many I ran out of paper. I guess people are cutting back. I tried several new techniques - new to me at least. This is my first card to heat emboss. I used the Illuminations set and Baroque Motifs from SU! I used SU brilliant blue and glorious green card stock. This is my first time to use SU card stock except for the white. It is so much richer looking than the card stock from my LSS. I am hooked! The two large brads on the corners were white. I heated each one and dipped it in embossing powder. Then it just takes a second or two more of heating to finish them in silver. The mirrored card stock is from Stampinscrapin.com . I looked all over for this. Lastly, I embellished each card with Swarovski crystal rhinestones. They are not really much more expensive than those acrylic stones for cards and scrapping and they make a big difference.

Gift Card Holder

I needed a few gift card holders this year so I started with this great technique from Becca Feeken's blog. She has a video tutorial here. Her blog is called Amazing Paper Grace and it is amazing. For the circle I used some sparking paper from Paper Adventures. The center is also from Paper Adventures. I did not actually stamp anything on this card. I embellished the center with some rhinestones. The white background paper was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. Inside I used my Cuttlebug to cut and emboss an oval and them used the computer for my sentiment. I am almost finished with my Christmas shopping and finished the gifts I am making this year last night. 3 more days!

Christmas Coffee Tag

My dh brought coffee back from Columbia for gifts for Christmas. I decided I wanted to make tags for the gifts so I used some Basic Gray paper from the Fruitcake line, kraft paper, Stazon Brown ink, Chestnut Roan Colorbox ink, Fancy Pants stamps and What's Brewin set by Stampin Up! I used the slot punch for the opening at the top. I used some really cute twill ribbon with coffee beans, some sheer swirl ribbon and some two-sided blue/brown satin ribbon.

Monogrammed Sets

I am working on some early gifts. The closer it gets to Christmas the more I want to do other things besides working on gifts and decorations. I know this about myself so I try to get everything done before November. Of course I always think of someone I forgot so...

I love PSX. They went out of business before I even started stamping. I have tried to collect this botanical alphabet but still need a few more. This is a card set with a folder to hold the cards and envelopes. I used my nestibilities to cut and emboss the letter and Stampin Up! markers to color the letter. In my first attempt last year I learned that Stampin Up black ink is permanent but the chocolate chip is not so you need to use Stazon brown if you are going to "paint" on the images. The paper here is Anna Griffin and the solid blue is Bazzill. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on the pink paper and punched the border on the print paper with the Treading Water punch by Fiskars. I so want a Scor-Pal. It would make the folder much easier.

Blessing Card

Here is another set of cards for next year's encourager conference. I used my Nestabilities again. I used the ovals and the ribbon slider tag that also embosses. The patterned paper is by CTMH and the stamp is by All Night Media. I used Marvy markers this time for the image. The white paper was punched with a Martha Stewart punch. Did you know Walmart has started selling some of her papercrafting supplies? Now it is just a little easier to buy more card/scraping stuff!

Both Way Blossoms Card

I just got this Stampin Up set on Ebay and I love it. I also got the Stampin Up markers that I used on the flowers. They are great to work with. I think easier than Copic markers. The paper is Paper Adventures and Bazzill. I used the Nestabilities to emboss and cut the ovals. I am hooked on using their embossing on almost all my cards. I can't wait until the labels set comes out. It is a new shape that comes out next month. The last thing I added was 2 clear Dew Drops.

Sympathy Card

I always have trouble making and buying sympathy cards. It is hard for me to decide what looks appropriate. Here is one of my first sympathy cards using my newest stamp set., Close As A Memory from Stampin Up. I used my Nestabilities to cat and emboss the ovals. The stamp was inked using Stampin Up markers - my first time to use them. Plaid paper is Creative Memories and other print is Paper Adventures. I would love more ideas for sympathy cards. I want to start sending them for our church prayer ministry.