Embossed Christmas and Birthday Cards

 

I am in love with the Gina K Designs Holiday Tapestry stamp set.  It works equally well for Christmas as for Birthdays or other occasions.  I made 2 Birthday cards using the set along with the Gina K Designs wreath builder template and one of the cards used some of the stamps from the original Wreath Builder stamp set.  I used the analagous colors of blue and green card stock (specifically Blue Denim and Fresh Asparagus Gina K Designs card stock) for the birthday cards.

For the Christmas cards I made 12.  3 are red and gold while 9 are blue and silver.  They are specifically made with the Gina K Designs Holiday Tapestry stamp set, Blue Denim Gina K card stock, Red Velvet Gina K card stock and Stampendous detail gold embossing powder plus Hero Arts silver embossing powder.  I had an unknown brand of silver and gold glitter papers for the background card stock and the black frame is also from an unknown brand.

As always, these are A2 sized cards (4 1/4 inches by 5 1/2 inches).

I do believe that the Holiday Tapestry stamp set with be my all time favorite set!

Vintage Image Candles

    I took some candles from the dollar store that were peppermint scented (they truly smell like candy canes) and tried a new technique I read about to make my own stickers using vintage images (because they are so cute.)  I have several images I used, but this is my favorite.  The images and technique all come from The Graphics Fairy website.
     These are going to make nice gifts for those people that just need a nice little gift to let them know I am thinking of them this holiday.  All ladies like candles right?

Cute little Poinsettia Christmas Mini Tote Bag

     I just created this cute little tote bag made of card stock using a free design from Bird's Cards and my Silhouette Cameo. 

      I resized it to fit 2 entire bags on a 12x12 sheet of card stock.  After assembling the green tote using 1/8 inch double sided adhesive, I saw how gosh darned cute it was and had to decorate it for Christmas. 
     I used a Poinsettia cutting file that I thought I got from Bird's Cards but can't find anymore (maybe she no longer is offering it-I noticed many files that I previously downloaded are no longer available) and my Silhouette to cut out two Poinsettias on one sheet of 8.5 x 11 card stock, then cut out some leaves to go behind it.  No leaves were included in the Poinsettia file.
     I then cut out paper to decorate the front, back and sides of the tote using scraps from an old paper pack purchased 3-4 years ago from JoAnn's.
     I lifted the leaves of the poinsettia flower a little to make it more three dimensional, then assembled everything using a brad to keep them in place.  I used a large glue dot to attach the poinsettia to the tote, then added a glittery self adhesive dot (from the Dollar Tree) to the brad in the center of the Poinsettia. 
     I then used Wink of Stella on the Poinsettia flower leaves-note to self: next time do it BEFORE assembly!
     It's about 4.5 inches high by 3.5 inches wide which is perfect for some miniature candies or small gifts.
     I want to make several more and if they turn out just as cute I will include those images below.  The music note background paper paired with the poinsettia is so cute but because I am out of those scraps I will be playing with other papers.

My Top Ten Favorite Cards of 2015

     Here are my favorite 2015 cards from previous posts.  They are in order of my top favorite to my least favorite-yet still a favorite.  You can compare them to my Favorite cards from 2012.  I didn't list my favorites for years 2013 and 2014.  I definitely see a difference in my abilities from 2012 and it's a good difference.  I hope to improve as much over the next few years.

1.  Thank You Card

2  All Occasion Card (It's white but looks light blue in this photo.)

3.     Graduation Card

   4.  Belated Birthday Card

5.  All Occasion Card

6.  Christmas Card

7.  Inspirational Card

8.  Birthday Card

9.  Child's Birthday Card

Stampafaire 2015 Unconventional Materials

     For the  Papertrey Ink Stamp-a-faire 2015 Unconventional Materials challenge I went to the hardware store for supplies as instructed.  I purchased key bands for .97, twine for .87 and an electrical wall plate for .97. We were on a very restricted budget!  (Thank goodness).   I envisioned making a window with the wall plate but it took up most of the card so I couldn't use it.  I also brought home a few paint chip samples.

Rubbernecker Tangled Kitty stamp set,  Hero Arts Merriest Christmas Wishes stamp set (retired)

I Have a New Baby! Her name is MISTI.

     I ordered this beautiful girl in early January and she just arrived a few days ago.  She was on back-order.  Her name is MISTI.  (Most Incredible Stamp Tool Invented).  I didn't name her.  The genius lady that developed her did and the name fits.  

MISTI

     I am not a good stamper.  I don't line my stamps up well and I don't get good images.  Being able to stamp an image twice helps.  I have used the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig stamp positioner and the Fiskars stamp press and have failed at both.  Somehow I manage to wiggle things a little bit at the last minute.  Oh how disappointing.  I also have difficulty seeing images extremely clearly in order to stamp directly over an image a second time free hand.  I wear bi-focals and I think I need a new prescription.  Maybe if I just wear those drug store reader glasses with magnifying lenses it would help?
     The MISTI should help me in several categories.  Number one-I am having extreme difficulty getting my clear stamps to leave clear images.  They are so splotchy.  I have been buying better quality inks and better quality clear stamps and I heard that you can use an emery board on the cheaper clear stamps to remove the glossy coating that resists ink.  How do the stamping Diva type ladies I follow on YouTube make stamping look so effortless?  I figure I will have to double stamp most of my images to make the ink look solid and this stamp positioner keeps your project in place so it DOES NOT MOVE in between the first and second stamping.
     Second-it is suppose to help you line up your die cuts before stamping so you stamp directly in the middle of them.  I tried it today and failed.  Oh well, at least I was able to double stamp these Christmas tags to get better images.  I even tried three different brands and thicknesses of card stock today to see if that made a difference in the way the inks stamped and there was absolutely no difference.

Hampton Arts Hot Fudge Studio Clear Stamp and die set #SC0668

Copics Day 10 - Create Embellishments

     For my Online Card Classes Copics for Card Makers class today I used my Copic markers to create gemstones the colors I wanted for my Christmas card.

Hero Arts Many Branches Tree
Hero Arts Merriest Christmas Wishes greeting

     I have gems that are purple, orange, clear, lime green and a few other colors.  No dark blue or red though.  I EASILY colored the clear gemstones the colors I wanted.  Whoa - never again will I buy colored gemstones.  Now I can easily get a perfect match.  I also tried coloring adhesive pearl gems but wasn't happy with the results.  At least I know for future reference.

Case(E) this Sketch cards.

     I found a website that gives beautiful sketches for clean and simple cards.  I find clean and simple cards to look closest to high quality store bought cards and because this is what I am striving for in the cards I sent to Operation Write Home, I thought I would try a few of their sketches.  I did not participate in their challenges because these were older sketches.

I used Autumn Leaves-Elegant Flourishes and Fiskars Holiday Frolic (for the snowflakes) plus some blue gems.  I framed the design with blue card stock.