Christmas Countdown #6 - Yuletide Christmas

I've been really excited about this post for a while now because I get to show two things that I am totally in love with. The first is this awesome gift card holder. I would go through the step by step but it's already been done in this lovely tutorial I stumbled across.
http://destampincorner.blogspot.com/2009/09/top-note-gift-card-holder-tutorial.html

You may notice that I used a different stamps set to decorate.

I used:

* Yuletide Christmas stamp set

* Real Red, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla card stock

* Chocolate Chip ink, Chocolate Chip, Real Red and Old Olive markers

* Top Note Bigz Die

* Wide oval punch, scallop oval punch, antique brass jumbo eyelet, Chocolate Chip 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, stamping sponges

And the next thing I LOVE is this fun technique I found at splitcoaststampers called Retiform. I don't know what that word means, but if you'd like to see a tutorial, click here:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/retiform_grid_technique/

As you can see, I followed the tutorial pretty closely (I never used the second color) for the card on the left and then for the other card and the bookmark I just went nuts. It was soooo fun!

I used:

*Yuletide Christmas, Snow Swirled and Many Merry Messages (to add variety to the images) stamp sets

* Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Real Red card stock and Christmas Cocoa d.s.p

* Soft Suede ink, soft suede, Real Red and Old Olive Markers

* Real Red 5/8" Grosgrain, Linen Thread, Soft Suede 1/2" polka dot Grosgrain Ribbon

* Wide oval punch, scallop oval punch, Jumbo eyelets, stamping sponges

Isn't it fantastic? After I made this card I got to thinking, "hmmm, this is totally flat. I bet it would make a lovely bookmark," so...

Ta Da! Bookmark. Too bad I don't have any time to read anymore because I'm always stamping. Someday I'll use this bookmark. I know it!

These next two cards are pretty fun to make. I measured a piece of very vanilla, stamped the stocking/nutcracker on it, colored it in using blender pens and chalk (Stampin' Pastels) and then wadded it up as much as possible. Once it was sufficiently beat up I chalked the edges with some brown and then slapped the card together. I tried making two versions of the same idea so you can see how versatile this idea is, but as it turns out, I sort of hate one of these, but I'm not telling which one.

I used:

* Yuletide Christmas

* Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Very Vanilla card stock, Christmas Cocoa d.s.p.

* Chocolate Chip ink

* Blender pen, Stampin' Pastels, Real Red 5/8" Grosgrain ribbon, brads

And here is the 5 minute card that I made with this set. So quick and easy! No coloring, cutting, sponging, measuring...etc. Just stamp it, punch it and stick it together. (Ok, I did use markers on the greeting and I inked around the edges of the Vanilla and Olive card stock rectangles, but still, super easy.) Josh hates it, but I think the Nutcrackers are charming. I can just imagine them on the back of my Mother's piano staring out at all the gifts under the tree.

I used:

* Yuletide Christmas stamp set

* Real Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla card stock

* Chocolate Chip ink

* Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, and Real Red markers

* Wide oval punch, scallop oval punch, Sleigh Bells ribbon

Snow Swirled Continued...

After making all the navy and silver cards for the last post I just had to use this set in a different way. By the way, if you check my "Dasher" post you might notice that I used the snow flake and greeting images from Snow Swirled on almost all of them. Snow Swirled is one of those stamp sets you can just use over and over and over and never get sick of. Trust me, I would be sick of it by now.

For this first card I used the embossing resist technique with iridescent ice embossing powder and Not Quite Navy ink on a sponge. Its a fun technique to try but it does take a couple tries to get it just right. Here's a great tutorial if you'd like more info:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/embossing_resist/


I used:
*Snow Swirled stamp set
*Not Quite Navy, Kraft and Whisper White card stock
*Not Quite Navy ink
*Top Note Bigz Die
*Kraft taffeta ribbon, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, stamping sponges

For this next adorable card I used chalk. Yep, no ink at all...Well, except Versamark. For a tutorial on this technique, check this out:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/poppin_pastels/
I used:
*Snow Swirled stamp set
*Real Red, Garden Green and Whisper White card Stock
*White satin ribbon, Versamark ink, corner rounder punch, Stampin' Pastels and sponge daubers

Next up...Glitter! (This one's for you Baby!) I was at a craft store the other day and saw the prettiest wreath made of turquoise and brown glittery jingle bells (sorry there's no picture) and I thought, hmmm, I bet that would make a cute card. So here it is. What the picture doesn't show well is that there is glitter on the tree as well.
I used:
*Snow Swirled stamp set
*Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White card stock
*Tempting Turquoise and Versamark ink
*Top Note Bigz die, Tempting Turquoise 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Tombo liquid glue and Dazzling Diamonds glitter

And last up is a card copied from page 4 of the Holiday Mini catalog except with different stamp set. It measures 6 1/2" x 3 1/4" and fits in a long open end envelope. Its a fun size, especially if you're going to put money inside!
I used:
*Snow Swirled stamp set
*Real Red and Whisper White card stock
*Real Red, Old Olive, and Chocolate Chip ink
*1 1/4"circle punch, rhinestone brads, Old Olive 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

#7 - Snow Swirled

So I was chatting with a friend the other night about how great navy and silver would look together in a card (thanks Michelle) and decided I better try one. Just one. Well, it looked so great I figured I'd try one more and pretty soon it was 2am and I was getting out of bed to make just one more thing. My mother would say these look a little Jewish and actually, the do say "Season's Greetings" so...Happy Hanukkah!

For this entire post I used:

* Snow Swirled stamp set

*Night of Navy and Whisper white card stock

*Night of Navy ink

*Platinum Shimmer Paint

*Silver elastic cord

*Round metal edge tags

Tip: After inking the tree stamp in Night of Navy ink, I used a sponge dauber in Platinum shimmer paint to highlight the little flower bursts. I did this right on top of the navy ink already on the stamp. No need to use markers or anything. Its a really cool effect but without any of the fuss.

Tip: To make the silver background paper that is matting the tree I just pounced platinum shimmer paint around the edges of some white card stock with the sponge dauber and let it dry for a minute or two.

And here is a box I made. Cute right?

There is a great tutorial here http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/3x3notecardbox/

I just didn't use any of the patterned paper because I made my own!

Tip: I first cut the card stock to size, then stamped it with Platinum, waited a few minutes and then stamped over the top with Night of Navy.

Tip: To make the tag on the top, I punched the snowflake out using a 1 3/4" circle punch and then glued it into the tag. It fits perfectly!

And here's the inside...

I filled it with three 3x3 note cards with envelopes as well as three large metal edge tags with snowflakes on one side and "To: From:" on the other. The tags would actually make pretty great ornaments too. But I thought tied on a gift they'd be oh-so-pretty.

And finally, there are two more cards with the same theme. These are 4 1/4" square so they still fit in regular envelopes. Have I mentioned I really like that size?
To make the stamped white piece of paper (card on the right) I just layered platinum and navy snowflakes the same was as I did on the box. For the navy background paper (card on left) I did the same thing but its a little hard to see the navy on navy. Still pretty though.

Which do you like better?

#8 - Tree Trimmings

Here they are, all the cards I made with the Tree Trimmings stamp set. I had originally not even planned on buying this set but then threw it in at the last minute because its only cost $14.95. Now that I've used it I LOVE it! Its so fun and pretty and makes whatever type of card I'm in the mood for.

For this card I used:

*Tree Trimmings and Berry Christmas stamp sets

*Garden Green, Real Red, Very Vanilla and Chocolate Chip

*Merry Moments designer series paper, Real Red 5/8" grosgrain ribbon

tip - to get the string and the ornament and the greeting to line up where you want them, use the Stamp-a-ma-jig. I just bought it and it has really added a lot to my stamping.

I got inspiration for this card at www.forloveofpaper.com

I used:

*Tree Trimmings and Snow Swirled stamp sets

*Soft Suede, Real Red and Whisper White

*Christmas Cocoa specialty designer series paper, Ticket corner punch

This is my favorite! Growing up I was taught that Christmas colors are red and green. Period. So I felt a little guilty using pink but it looked so much like a peppermint that I couldn't resist. Sorry Mom.

I used:

*Tree Trimmings and Many Merry Messages stamp sets

*Pretty in Pink, Real Red and Whisper White

*Real Red 3/4" Polk dot ribbon, Rhinestone brads

Tip - This card is 4 1/4" x 4 1/4". Which means it is just smaller than a regular A2 card and still fits in a regular envelope. I LOVE this size card! Whenever I make square cards they're almost always this size.

This card was hard for me because it's not my normal style but I think it turned out ok anyway.

I used:

*Tree trimmings and Many Merry Messages stamp sets

*Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery and Whisper White

*Silver brads, Ticket Corner punch, and white satin 5/8" ribbon

This is a gift card holder. I got the idea from the October issue of Stampin' Success.

*The brown piece is cut to 4" x 7 7/8" and then scored at 2 3/8" and 5 1/8"
* White piece is 2 1/2" x 7 1/4" and scored at 2 1/2" and 5 1/4" ( or a little bigger) to be the belly band that slips onto the gift card holder.

* I added a strip of scalloped red to the white piece and then embellished with Real Red , Old Olive and Chocolate Chip.

And here's a picture of the inside. I stamped a quick 'To: From:" and a gift card. Actually, I didn't have a gift card so I put in my rarely used Hollywood Video card. You get the idea.

And finally, here's a picture of the actual stamp set. Did I mention it's only $14.95? Love it.

#9 - Delightful Decorations

The next set on the "Countdown to Christmas" is #9 - Delightful Decorations. Yay! Isn't it sooo exciting?

I pretty much copied this card right from this blog. It was sooooo much fun to make that I couldn't resist posting it. Easy, quick and super cute.

://www.kerinstamps.com/stampin_with_kerin/

I used:

*Delightful Decorations and Many Merry Messages

*Real Red, Chocolate Chip, and Whisper White

*Texturz Plates, Chocolate Chip 5/8" Grosgrain

I found inspiration for this one on this blog.

http://unfrogettablestamping.typepad.com/my_weblog/

I used:

*Delightful Decorations, Many Merry Messages

*Kraft, Real Red and Old Olive

*Real Red Polka Dot 3/4" ribbon

*Old Olive d.s.p.

And here is the inside. Pretty huh?

The pillow box is the perfect size to hold a tube of chapstick (Burt's Bees please!), folded up cash, candy, earplugs...anything really. Its adorable.

I used the pillow box die to cut this out of Ruby Red card stock then I rolled over it with Sparkle and Shine Jumbo wheel in Always Artichoke ink. I sealed it with sticky strip, but left the ends open (to put goodies in) and then added the belly band (also Artichoke) and the ribbon. I made sure to tie the cream colored 1/4" grosgrain pretty tight because that is all that is holding the box closed, then I added the little tag and tied it on with Linen Thread. Oh, and I stamped the ornament and the the little "Merry Christmas" on Very Vanilla card stock, to match the cream ribbon and I attached them with stampin dimensionals.

I saw this fantastic ornament idea here and I couldn't help myself.

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1504093?&cat=17831
I added some silver shimmer paint to a couple of the ornaments before punching them and assembling them. These ornaments would look great on a tree or look great tied onto a gift and they are for sure, fun to make. Even for kids,

Cannon LOVED picking the colors for his ornament and stamping it. I helped punch it out and glue it together but come on, how cute is that?

To make this, all you have to do is stamp and punch out 6 ornaments. Then you center and score them right down the middle, then fold and crease them with a bone folder. If you want to do any stamping, now is the time. Then you just start gluing white sides together until you have all 6 looking like an accordion. After that I used some small glue dots to secure my silver elastic cord in the middle, then glued the remaining flaps together. Done.

Keep checking back to find out what Stamp Set I'll be choosing for #8...

Circle Circus Birthday

The goal here was to make it look like it wasn't planned. I really like the card but I'm not sure if I succeeded in the look I was going for.
I used:

Circle Circus stamp set

Crushed Curry, Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry

Ever size circle punch from 1/2" to 1 3/4"

Rich Razzleberry Polka dot Grosgrain ribbon and Old Olive 5/8 ribbon

Silver brads, rhinestone brads, build-a-brads, and soft subtles brads (everything I could find)

More Dasher!

Just kidding! After finishing the last post I decided we needed just a little more Dasher in our lives...so here he is! I made this cute box using the instructions for an A2 box on splitcoast. Here is the link:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/a2cardbox/

And then I filled the box with matching cards and envelopes that all use shimmer paints, Chrismas Cocoa d.s.p., Dasher, Snow Swirled, and coordinating colors and ribbons. What a great gift right. Right?