Let It Snow

Today's card is featured over at Stylin' Stampin' Inkspiration and features my favorite bundle from the Holiday Catalog. Turn to page 40 and you'll spy this great bundle including Sparkly Seasons and Seasonal framelits!

I had to buy this bundle! I made this card for our demo swap. I wanted to play with the snowglobe image. I stamped the snowman but he seemed a little plain. So I grabbed some markers and colored his hat and scarf.  Better but not done. Finally it dawned on me to add some snow. It's subtle, but I love the falling snow inside the snowglobe. Very festive!

• Stamps: Sparkly Seasons
• Inks: Lost Lagoon; Memento Black; Tangelo Twist; Cucumber Crush; Blackberry Bliss; Craft White
• Cardstock: Lost Lagoon; Smoky Slate; Soft Sky
• Accessories: Seasons of Cheer Washi Tape; Everyday Chic Washi Tape; Snowflake Sequins
• Tools: Decorative Dots Embossing Folder

Nutcracker Ornament

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to feature one of the great products from the new Holiday Catalog. Demonstrators were able to preorder from the catalog starting on August 4th. I jumped at the chance to get some new products.

I snapped up the bundle including the Sparkly Seasons stamp set and Seasonal Frame Thinlits. I couldn't wait to get my hands on this stamp set. You'll be seeing a few cards made from this set in the next few months. I had a lot of coloring my nutcracker ornament. I stuck with the traditional red and green color palette, but the varying shades really make this card pop!

• Stamps: Sparkly Seasons
• Inks: Cherry Cobbler; Real Red; Mossy Meadow; Old Olive
• Cardstock: Merry Moments DSP; Old Olive; Whisper White
• Accessories: Seasons of Cheer Washi Tape
• Tools: Seasonal Frame Thinlits

Christmas in July

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. It's July and you know what that means: Christmas! Well, okay it's 6 month away, but let's celebrate anyway! I'm so excited that the Festival of Trees stamp set and punch were carried over from the Holiday 2014 catalog. I can't wait to use it for more Christmas cards.

I decided to go with my faovirte Christmas color combo: Cherry Cobbler and Garden Green. Can't go wrong with the classic color scheme. I tore some Garden Green paper to create my ground, added a few trees and some gold ribbon. The card looked to plain, so I embossed the white piece with the Lucky Stars Embossing folder. Perfect! Add a sentiment and the card is complete.

• Stamps: Festival of Trees
• Inks: Cherry Cobbler; Garden Green
• Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler; Garden Green; Whisper White
• Accessories: Candy Dots; Gold 1/8" Ribbon
• Tools: Tree Punch; Lucky Stars Embossing Folder; Hexagon Punch (banner ends)

Candlelight Christmas

For my other Christmas card set, I pulled the leftovers DSP and stickers from the Candlelight Christmas collection (retired). I hoard pretty paper. It's what I do, but I'm really trying to change that.  I've made it my mission to use, sell, give away, or trash my old retired DSP.  I added in the Christmas Cheer and Christmas Bliss stamp sets for sentiments. I'm loving how these turned out.  I sold a few at the craft fair last weekend, but still have a majority left to send to friends and family. Because I finished this DSP pack, I can move on to more current paper. Yippee!

Nontraditional Christmas Cards

Two friends and I are selling at a craft fair this weekend.  I wanted to make some Christmas cards to hopefully sell.  After digging through my stash, I came across the Merry and Bright collection.  I decided to not include any blues into my December Daily album, which meant that this collection would just languish in my drawer.  I decided to make my craft fair cards out of it.  I ended up making 12 different cards.  Most have a small Christmas sentiment on the inside.  I played a lot with layering (something I rarely do), but really like the results.

October Card Swap

For October's swap, we were to make a tag and an embellishment.  I decided that I just couldn't do two Christmas items, so I made a birthday tag and a Christmas embellishment.

Card #1

I wanted to have a good layered tag with some of that great Moonlight DSP.

• Stamps: Perfect Penants
• Inks: Blackberry Bliss
• Cardstock: Moonlight DSP
• Accessories: Gold Metallic Buttons; Gray Twine; Purple Ribbon (not SU)
• Tools: Scallop Tag Topper Punch

Card #2

This simple star is not really a star at all.  Its five Christmas trees arranged in a star.

• Stamps: 25 Days
• Inks: Cherry Cobbler
• Cardstock: Whisper White; Trim the Tree DSP
• Accessories: Silver Glitter
• Tools: 1 3/8" Circle Punch; Christmas Tree Punch

Holiday Catalog Swap Cards

My local demo group did a card swap featuring holiday catalog products.  And my goodness!  What a beautiful bunch of cards I received back.  Let's take a look at them...

Angela McCormack

Pam Wu

Rosemary Bryson

Stacey Lane @ A Work of Carte

Jennifer Blomquist @ Northwest Stamper

Cindy Espino @ Cynbad Living

Sara Grafton @ 1200 Some Miles

Jill Cantorna

Kathy Thisted

Unite and Excite Swaps: The Rest of the Pretties

We had a great swap time at the Livermore Unite and Excite event on Sunday.  Here are the rest of the great swap cards I received:

Sara Grafton @ 1200 Some Miles

Vinnie Cespedes

Margery Chen

Alicia Valdez

Janet Smith

Deidre Wong

Denise Zachariah

Sarah Camarillo

Patti Mizutani

Paula Frieders

Maria Esther Fennelly @ Maria's Creative Place

Jeannie Barron

Raberta Gannon @ Inkabella Crafts

Carrie Vermazen @ Crafty Carrie

Cary Farruggia @ Cary's On Your Case

Colleen Becker

Sharon Tong-Robinson

Unite and Excite Swaps: Christmas

We had a great swap time at the Livermore Unite and Excite event on Sunday.  Here are some of the great Christmas themed swap cards I received:

Cindee Wilkinson @ Just Sponge It

Gina Cardera

Kim Peck

Hermelinda Wirth

Stephanie Bates

Liz Roberts

Remy Muegge

Annette Wen @ Stampin' with Annette

Lorraine Toll @ Lorraine's Stampin' Corner

Angela Bodas @ Midnight Crafting

Becky Tuttle

Julie Douglas @ Stamp Your Dream

Kim @ A La Card Creations

Maria Alcantara

Maggie Mata @ Maggie Made Cards

Rosemarrie Gonzalez

Susan Santello

Festival of Trees Tag Card

For this month's demo swap, we each picked a stamp set from the holiday catalog.  I immediately knew that I wanted Festival of Trees.  It's simple, yet stunning.  I can see so many possibilities...

I found a similarly designed card on Pinterest and ran with it.  This card has so many layers, and yet it seems very clean and simple to me.  I love the traditional colors and little touches (glimmer star, stars embossing).

• Stamps: Festival of Trees
• Inks: Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler
• Cardstock: Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Early Espresso, Trim the Tree DSP, Silver Glimmer Paper
• Accessories: Frosted Sequins, Green ribbon (non-SU)
• Tools: Scallop Tag Punch, Stars Embossing Folder, Tree Punch