Quick and Simple

     Hello!  Today's card is a quick and simple card that would be perfect for a Christmas "thank you".   I cannot take credit for this card but I can't seem to find the original inspiration...  If you know where it came from please let me know so I can give credit! 

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Whisper White, Gumball Green
Ink: Gumball Green
Tools & Accessories: Postage stamp, Merry Minis and 1" square punches, dimensionals

Four-Square Christmas

     Hello!  Today's card is CASE'd from Debra Currier's blog ARTfelt Impressions (here).  If you haven't checked out Debra's blog I highly recommend it, she's so talented!
     And I have to admit that just like last week's card, I {loved} everything about her card and changed nothing! 

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Silver glimmer paper, Festival of Prints DSP
Tools & Accessories: Postage stamp, 1" square and Merry Mini's punches, seam binding ribbon, dimensionals 

Merry Trio

     
     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by Debra Currier's CAS(E) This #5 card over at her blog ARTfelt Impressions (here).  I loved absolutely everything about her card and used what I had in my craft room to CASE her creation.

Stamps: Christmas Greetings (retired)
Ink: Riding Hood Red
Paper: Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Silver glimmer paper 
Tools & Accessories: Merry Mini's punch pack, taffeta ribbon, dimensionals

3-Layers of Christmas

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by Nance Lempinen-Leedy's Triple Treat card over at her blog, Canopy Crafts (here).  I {loved} everything about her card and decided to change only the sentiment.
     While stunning to look at, this technique is incredibly simple.  Cut three pieces of Vanilla card stock, adhere with removable glue dots in layers and stamp!  Carefully remove the Vanilla layers and adhere to Artichoke card stock.  It's ok if the stamped image doesn't stamp 100%, the edges will be disguised with the colored card stock.

Stamps: Watercolor Winter, Rejoicing with You
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Riding Hood Red Always Artichoke
Paper: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke

A Scallop Christmas Tree

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by the bag on page 7 of the Holiday Catalog.  I loved the idea of using scallop circles to create a Christmas tree and thought I'd give it a try on a card.  The best part about making this card was using up little scraps of paper that I've had hanging around.  As with last week's card, this is another quick and simple card that could easily be produced in large quantities!  

Paper: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green, Early Espresso, Be of Good Cheer DSP, silver glimmer paper
Tools & Accessories: 1 1/4" scallop circle, 3/4" circle and Merry Mini punches, bakers twine

Very Merry Christmas

     Hello!   Today's card is another one that was inspired by an article in the demonstrator magazine Stampin' Success.  
This was an incredibly quick card to make and could easily be mass produced!

Stamps: More Merry Messages
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Paper: Very Vanilla, Be of Good Cheer DSP
Tools & Accessories: Merry Minis punches, baker's twine, dimensionals

Using Up Scraps

     Hello!  As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I receive a bi-monthly publication called Stampin' Success.  It's chalk full of ideas to improve my business as well as wonderful ideas for workshops and stamp clubs.  In the October issue there was an article featuring the Festival of Prints DSP pack from the Holiday Catalog.  Taking an economic approach to making my cards recently, I decided to use what I had on hand and make use of some Be of Good Cheer DSP scraps I had laying around.  

Stamps: More Merry Messages
Ink: Early Espresso
Paper: Crumb Cake, Be of Good Cheer DSP, Neutrals DSP
Tools & Accessories: Merry Minis and corner rounder punches, rhinestone jewels

A Little Christmas Sparkle

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by Connie Babbert's Watercolor Winter card over on her blog, Inspired Treasures (here).  I {loved} everything about her card and decided to keep the layout the same but change up the color and dust off my heat tool!
    I can't tell you the last time I pulled out my heat tool and embossed - it's been ages!  And I've also had a package of silver glimmer paper sitting in my paper rack for almost a year now... thought I should get some use out of that, too!

Stamps: Watercolor Winter
Ink: VersaMark
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, silver glimmer paper, Be of Good Cheer DSP
Tools & Accessories: Heat tool, pewter embossing powder, seam binding ribbon, dimensionals

Merry Little Snowflakes

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by bon2stamp's Jolly Little Snowflakes card over at SCS (here).  I loved absolutely everything about her card and changed only the sentiment.  This card was incredibly easy to make and could easily be produced in large quantities!

Stamps: Jolly Bingo Bits, More Merry Messages
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, White craft
Paper: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Kraft
Tools & Accessories: Seam binding ribbon, rhinestone jewels, corner punch

Season's Greetings

     
     Hello!  Don't you just {love} it when you find a card that's perfect?!  That's what happened when I stumbled upon Jen Sannes card over at her blog, Simple and Sincere (here).  I loved her layout and I loved her colors so the only thing I changed was the stamp sets.
     It's hard to tell from the first photo but the Basic Gray card stock is dry embossed with the Finial Press embossing folder.

Stamps: More Merry Messages, Lovely As a Tree
Paper: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Basic Gray, Glimmer Paper
Ink: Night of Navy
Tools & Accessories: Big Shot, Final Press embossing folder (retired), scallop border punch, taffeta ribbon, button

Watercolor Winter

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by tessa's Elegant Christmas Card over at SCS (here).  This card has been sitting in my "favorites" folder at SCS for almost a year.  I loved everything about Tessa's card and the instant I saw Watercolor Winter stamp set in the Holiday mini I knew that would be the perfect set for this card!

     For a little drama I used the Big Shot and the Finial Press embossing folder for a layer behind the image.  Unfortunately, Finial Press is now retired but the Lacy Brocade folder on page 6 of the Holiday mini would be a beautiful replacement.  I should note that I turned the embossed card stock over so you see the debossed image.  I also added a little Crystal Effects to the leaves and berries to make them pop.


Stamps: Watercolor Winter
Ink: StazOn Black, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive
Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, First Edition DSP, Island Indigo
Tools & Accessories: Big Shot, Finial Press embossing folder (retired), seam binding ribbon, scallop edge border punch, Crystal Effects

Christmas Lodge

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by a demonstrator challenge sponsored by my upline, Stella MacKay.  The only rule for the challenge was that all products used must be in the current Stampin' Up! catalog.  Since I have tons of Christmas cards to make each year I thought this challenge would work perfectly with one of my new favorite sets, Christmas Lodge.

     It may be hard to tell from the photo but I used scissors to rough up the edges of the Crumb Cake card stock on the image layer as well as the DSP layer to give it a little bit of texture.  The "flower" was created by punching out two flowers from the Boho Blossoms punch and layering them with a brad.

Stamps: Christmas Lodge, More Merry Messages
Ink: Crumb Cake
Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Neutrals DSP
Tools & Accessories: Scallop Edge Border & Boho Blossoms punches, brad, dimensionals

A Tale of Two Cards

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by Teneale Williams' Birthday Thoughts card over at her blog (here).  I love the idea of using a transparency to create a card - it gives the card such a unique look. 
     If you've never used a transparency to make a card there are a few things you need to remember.  First, when you fold the transparency I suggest using the Simply Scored scoring tool (or similar tool) and a bone folder.  This ensures a nice, crisp fold in the somewhat stiff transparency.  Second, each layer on the card needs a front and a back so that you can hide any tape or dimensionals.  Depending on how much card stock you use this could increase the weight of the card and you may need to add extra postage if mailing.

    I often ask my husband for his opinion on cards I create.  When he saw this card he felt that Christmas cards shouldn't be "see through" and encouraged me to make a second card not using a transparency.  "How about that 'coffee cake' paper, that would look nice" he said.  And wouldn't you know it - he was right!  The Crumb Cake card was defintitely a quick card to make and is beautiful on it's own.  But if you've got a bit more time and you're looking for a little "wow" this Christmas I'd go for the original transparency card.

Stamps: Rejoicing with You
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Paper: Transparency, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake
Tools & Accessories: Big Shot, Labels Collections framelits, Finial Press embossing folder (retired), Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon, Smootch Spritz, dimensionals

Rejoicing with You on Vellum

     Hello!  It's Christmas in July!  Today's card was created with the new Rejoicing with You stamp set and is another quick and simple card that can be easily mass produced.
     It's hard to tell from the photo but the angel image was stamped in Elegant Eggplant on Whisper White card stock and is under a piece of vellum, giving it a soft appearance.  I then stamped the sentiment with Eggplant on White Vellum (pg 160, $6.50).  It's important to let the ink completely dry before moving on to the next step (unlike card stock, ink does not dry instantly on vellum).  The vellum was attached to the white CS using brads.

Stamps: Rejoicing with You
Ink: Elegant Eggplant
Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, White Vellum
Tools & Accessories: Brads, dimensionals

Quick and Simple Christmas

     Hello!  You'd think the first thing I'd order from the new SU! catalog would be a new stamp set, right?  Nope!  After seeing so many wonderful cards on SCS using Christmas Lodge I decided to order it and try a few cards of my own.
     Here's my first creation: a quick and simple card that can be easily mass produced.  The "snow" was created by coloring the card stock with a white gel pen.

Stamps: Christmas Lodge, Woodgrain
Ink: Soft Suede, white gel pen
Paper: Crumb Cake
Tools & Accessories: Corner rounder punch, dimensionals

A Trio of Bingo Bits

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by Mary Brown's card Jolly Bingo Bits (here) on her blog Stamper Camper's Corner.  If you haven't checked out Mary's blog I highly recommend it - she's so talented and has an incredible collection of beautiful cards!
     I instantly loved Mary's layout but wanted to change the theme and colors to reflect the Christmas season.  To create the scalloped border I punched circles using the 3/4" and then adhered them to the back of the DSP.  to make this card a quick and simple card, stamp the Bingo Bits images directly on the white CS rather than cutting them out like I did (if you're a follower of this blog you'll know that I don't mind cutting out images).

Stamps: Jolly Bingo Bits, Christmas Greetings
Ink: Old Olive, Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler
Paper: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Old Olive DSP
Tools & Accessories: 3/4" circle punch, quilted ribbon, Stampin' dimensionals

Rustic Christmas Greetings

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by Debra Currier's Monochromatic Christmas card (here) on her blog ARTfelt Impressions.  If you haven't had a chance to check out Debra's blog I highly recommend it - she's so talented!
     I'm not sure if it's the Crumb Cake CS or the linen thread but something about this card just says "rustic".  Can't you just see this sitting on a fireplace mantel in a log cabin? 
     Anyhoo, I loved Debra's layout and decided the only thing I was going to change was the color so I substituted Cherry Cobbler for Always Artichoke.  This card was quick and simple to make and would be easy to make in large quantities.

Stamps: Four the Holidays, Tags 'til Christmas
Paper: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Tools & Accessories: Corner rounder punch, ornament punch, paper piercing tool, linen thread, pearls, Stampin' dimensionals

A Sparkly Twist on Lights

     Hello!  Today's card is a case of myself, with a sparkly twist!  I used the same layout, colors and stamp set that I used on the Faux Silk card but instead of stamping on a coffee filter I used glossy white CS.  I then inked the CS with VersaMark ink, sprinkled with Iridescent Ice embossing powder and then used the heat tool to set the powder.  The result is an incredibly sparkly card that any recipient is sure to love!

Stamps: Jolly Bingo Bits, Christmas Greetings
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight
Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler
Tools & Accessories: Paper piercing tool, Stampin' dimensionals

Jolly Bingo Bits Holiday

     Hello!  Today's card is my second take on dancerriley's card on SCS (here).  I loved her layout but wanted to change the theme from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  My new favorite stamp set, Jolly Bingo Bits, was perfect for this card.
     I think the Old Olive and Soft Suede colors blend a little bit on the first panel.  When I make this card again I'll use the Christmas tree image rather than the wreath and the poinsettia image rather than the candy cane.  Hopefully, this will provide a bit more contrast.

Stamps: Jolly Bingo Bits
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Old Olive
Paper: Whisper White, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler
Tools & Accessories: Soft Suede taffeta ribbon, square punch, paper piercing tool, Stampin' dimensionals

Faux Silk Lights

     Hello!  Today's card is another faux silk card - it's my new favorite technique.
     I know the photo isn't the best but under the main image I used the paper piercing tool and stamped the "Merry Christmas" sentiment from the Christmas Greetings stamp set in Cherry Cobbler.  When I demonstrated this card with the ladies from my stamping club they decided that stamping the sentiment in black StazOn ink looks much better - and I agree!

     If you're not familiar with the Faux Silk technique it couldn't be easier!  Check out Lyssa Griffin Zwolanek's photo tutorial on her blog here.  This technique gives your card such a unique look and feel; once you try it you'll be hooked!

Stamps:  Jolly Bingo Bits, Christmas Greetings
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight
Tools & Accessories:  Paper piercing tool, Stampin' dimensionals