christmas card set packaging

You may have seen my neighbor gift packaging on IG. This weekend I needed to quickly package a card set for a hostess gift.

Recycled stamp packaging (which I know you've plenty of!), a branch from the yard and some twine. Oh and a sweet die cut to brighten things up.

Fun thing about the cellophane packaging is you can display your favorite creation as part of the whole package. Like this hint-of-a-rudolph card...

I stitched up the sides of the cellophane. Flipped the top edge over and secured it with a strip of washi. Then tied the twine around, catching the branch and die cut in the bow. Voila!

May you be enjoying the pre-Christmas rush. And may Santa be good to you!

Joining the fun at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Stitch it.

CUTporations december - reminder

image source: weihnachtstrend

Popping in with a reminder about the December die cutting CUTplorations challenge over at STAMPlorations. I've another project for you today. See a resemblance to that cute little tree above?

Sizzix Christmas Words embossing folder, Merry Christmas phrase die, Gone Postal

Some dry embossing. Two die cuts, one watercolored with Gansai Tambi offset layered over one from silver mirror CS. A heat embossed secondary sentiment on a watercolored snippet. And a messy nest of silver thread.

Have you joined us yet? Check out more inspiration from the DT and the CUTplorations December gallery here. Look forward to seeing you there. Thanks for coming by my blog today.

christmas card set - flora and fauna revisited

HO HO HELLO! It's quiet on the blog what with Christmas just around the corner. I've been doing really well getting things checked off my TO DO list this year and that makes me really happy! It also made me really happy when my neighbor who received the neighbor gift set of cards I'd created with Flora and Fauna products asked me if I could make her five more cards to send out. Well, sure I can! So I did. Some repeats and a couple new designs. Here they are, again using Altenew ink cubes

Here's the first, with my favorite stamping design - sentiment masked in the middle and random stamping around the masked area - a totally cool one-layer card.

Graphic Flower, Holiday Terrarium,, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

Numero dos. With only one doe under the twinkling lights.

Happy Place Woodland, Winter Woodland, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

Numero tres. With some subtle gold dots up top and a rock-and-roll inked poinsettia that I then heat embossed clear for a bit of interest.

 Holiday Terrarium, Graphic Flower, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

Number four again, cuz this design is just so magical and therefore worthy of the perfect sentiment, even if it is in English!

 Happy Place Woodland, Winter Woodland,  Woodland Animals die

Here's the last, inspired by a card on the Flora and Fauna blog.

Holiday Terrarium, Texture Three, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

Are you enjoying the season yet or still stressed out? I wish you and yours a beautiful and peaceful season. Thanks for taking the time to visit today!

I'm headed over to these challenges:
CAS of Friday - Christmas

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - #364 

The Merry Christmas Challenge - #47 AG 
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Christmas
 HLS CAS Challenge - Christmas

STAMPlorations inspiration #156

Getting everything on your TO DO list done? I'm trying! We had snow on Sunday and it was such a wonderful surprise!

Welcome to another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team . This month it's anything goes for the DT gals and I've got a card for you. My Spotlight project over at the STAMP blog this evening will show you how I made it. I was inspired by Birgit's technique.

Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die, Feathery stamp and die,  Layered Holly stamp 

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the STAMP store by leaving comments on the December inspiration posts. Check out today's post here. As well as the sale going on in the shop. 30% off most items - check it out. Happy Holiday prepping :)

coffee lovers winter blog hop

Made a coffee card while I was in my "inspired by Pinkfresh" mode last month.

STAMPlorations Coffee Cup Row and Christmas Cookies and Cheer.

I'm joining the fun at the Coffee Lovers Winter blog hop.

And:
CAS on Friday - Christmas
Penny Black and More - December CAS
Happy Little Stampers - December Christmas

STAMPlorations inspiration #155

Welcome back! Time for another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team . This month it's anything goes for the DT gals and I've chosen to make a couple tags. Ready?

ATC Tag Builder die, Layered Holly stamp 

ATC Tag Builder die, Gift Builder #1 die

Decided to make tags from patterned paper for a change. Gussied them up with some gold and silver embossing. And with 3D die cuts (love that technique).

Got my inspiration at:
Ellen Hutson 12 Tags of Christmas with a feminine twist - 3D Die Cuts (Jennifer's tree tag)
Ellen Hutson 12 Tags of Christmas with a feminine twist - Silver and Gold (Julia's gold holly)

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the STAMP store by leaving comments on the December inspiration posts. Check out today's post here. As well as the sale going on in the shop. 30% off most items - check it out. Glad you stopped by :)

CUTplorations december

image source: weihnachtstrend

Have you seen the December CUTplorations challenge at STAMPlorations. I love it. I get a retro vibe from it somehow even though it's not a shiny silver or pink tree ;)

Had to pick up on the tree itself by stamping Joyeux Noel die with a pine bough stamp and heat embossing it green. Then I gussied up a die cut Trendy Trees cut from silver mirror CS like I'd seen Lisa S. do recently. A strip of washi along the bottom finished off my CAS design.

Hope you'll find time to join us for some die cutting fun this month over at the CUTplorations challenge. Maybe you still need a couple last minute Christmas cards?!? Just make a project based on our inspiration using at least one die cut. Be sure to use at least one STAMPlorations product too and hook up to the gallery. Your project might be chosen as a winner. You can see how the CUTplorations DT was inspired by this month's photo here.

And visit the STAMPlorations shop for a holiday sale happening during December. 30% all items (excluding new release and retiring items). And don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code for 20% off in the sidebar if you miss the sale ;) Happy holiday crafting!

tags for 25 days of christmas - part 4

Well I went and missed the deadline, but here are four more tags to top my neighbor gift Christmas card sets. Inspired by Tracey M's 25 Days of Christmas Tags. So much inspiration in gallery to check out if you haven't yet.

For Day 21 with Uniko I was inspired by Bev's simple but oho red tag and Tracey's holly leaves.

WPlus9 Timeless Tags, MFT Hand Lettered Holiday

MFT Tag, STAMPlorations Layered Holly, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

For Day 22 with STAMPlorations maybe it's not surprising that I was inspired to make two tags - first inspired by Lynne's, then Tracey's.

 STAMPlorations Luggage Tag and Christmas Flower, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

(Used Gansai Tambi watercolors to color it, shading where the darker areas of the image are. Easy Peasy!!)

MFT Tag, Charlie und Paulchen Kleiner Weihnachtsgruss, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

I'm taking this last one over to Addicted to Stamps and More - notice the deer peeking in at the right side of the photo? Once again, thanks for the wonderful inspiration from Tracey and all her guests!

christmas card set - tim holtz

I believe today's is the last card set made for this year's neighbor gifts! Unless I get more ideas I have to try out ;) Using Tim Holtz today (Christmas Memories and Mini Holidays #2) and an old technique.

I revisited the brayering on glossy cardstock technique. Although I used photo paper and it ain't glossy cardstock. Watch for the cracks that happen when the heat embossing tool heats the coating too much and it suddenly sounds like you're making popcorn. Not to mention the not-yet-melted embossing powder that then flies off the panel you're holding in your hand ...

Note to self: Invest in glossy cardstock. Or don't heat emboss with this technique. BUT HEAT EMBOSSING  AND THEN BRAYERING OVER IT WAS THE WHOLE IDEA. If it looks like I was shouting, I was. It was an interesting crafting session, let me tell you. I have a neighbor who's all about blue so I really wanted to do this set for her. Oh well, I'm callin' it the vintage look...

Thanks for looking! If you've stuck with me through all this you're a real trooper. So now it's on to the other TO DO list items. What's next on your list? Mine's cookie baking.

I'm joining these challenges:
SSS Wednesday - Anything Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - AG with optional doily

spotlight on pretty feathers

I'm over at STAMPlorations with a spotlight project for this card. Check it out here.

simon says joy to the world

"We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming"... again.

A teensy break from Christmas card sets today, though there's one more coming...

Have to share three cards I made with the delightful Joy to the World set from Simon Says Stamp special Cyber Week release. You can check out Kelly's Michaelangelo version here. I had to keep it a bit more CAS, ya know?

So without further ado, here's the first. The stamp set reminded me of those Precious Moments statues that were around when I was younger. Very pastel. Remember? So I tried to capture that feeling with some gold embossing and pastel watercoloring.

Next I concentrated on Jesus in the manger. And what better way to concentrate than to spotlight? So after some masking and stamping, I colored the die cut circle with Copics and gave the sky a good coat of Wink of Stella for sparkle. Popped it back into the B/W scene and voila!

Now for a bonus card! To tell you the truth, the first stamp from the set which caught my eye... ready for it... was the little sheep! So I channeled my inner Ksenija and this happened. Well, and thanks to Altenew Bold Alphabet die too. The heart is SSS Large Holiday Shapes.

I'm taking these cards to:
SSS flickr challenge - #85
SSS Wednesday challenge - Anything Goes

AAA Cards - Christmas

CU tomorrow with the last of my neighbor gifts. I heard that sigh of relief ;)

christmas card set - layered holly

Another card set I made for this year's neighbor gifts. Using Shirley's Layered Holly again. Love this set.

I revisited the "sentiment in the middle, masked and stamping all around it" technique! Not much variation. Changed up the sentiment. And stamped more leaves on some cards than others.

Thanks for looking! Tomorrow's the last set! I think.

I'm joining these challenges:
Winter Wonderland - Red and Green

AAA Cards - Christmas

HLS November CAS Challenge

STAMPlorations inspiration #154

Welcome back! Time for our last Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team for November where the team members feature stamps from one of our talented stamp designers.

Today we're using Shery's Shery Russ Designs stamps. Have you seen the sale in the shop? Til month end nearly all products are 40% off!

As you may recall, this month I'm inspired by a paper collection from Pinkfresh...

So that sweet little birdie perched on a pink teacup became this birdie atop a stack of coffee cups! Which I livened up with Copics. Can you say easy peasy?!?

 Christmas Cookies and Cheer, Fowl Play, Sketchy Coffee Cups

If you're looking for more inspiration ... I used the coffee cup set on this card too. Heads up... the next Coffee Lovers Blog Hop isn't far off ;)

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on the November inspiration posts. Check out today's post here. Glad you stopped by :)

I'm stopping at:
Cards and More - Things with Wings
SSS Wednesday - Food or Drink

christmas card set - cas with technique tuesday

More of the card sets I made for this year's neighbor gifts today. This one is for Americans!

Today's set was inspired by the stamp set. I don't think I'd ever used it before :( The result was a extreme CAS card set.

I used Technique Tuesday Twinkle On.

with silver gel pen on the light sockets

with WOS on the stars

with multiple ink colors on the tree

with puff paint on the hat

Thanks for looking!

I'm joining these challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - AG with the option of blue

Addicted to Stamps and More - Clean and Simple

HLS November CAS Challenge