102 Christmas Cards

These were all fun. This one is the Unity Stamps that I got last week on a sale. It is heat embossed. Another Unity

Same set, I colored them in with Smooch inks.

Close to My Heart Deer. I actually did 5 variations of this one.

Some quick little cards

A few more simple cards with no pattern paper, just stamps and bling.

89 and counting

It was extremely quiet in the office today. The phone only rang 3 times all day and one of those was after 5. But it gave me time to play next door (to the office). Did 3 Christmas cards today. I forgot I had these little Christmas embossing emvelopes, also got to use my 2" scalloped punch. I think they went well together. I inked the top with white daisy ink, and the sentiment is a new CTMH set. Same idea but with the sentiment on the inside.

I really should have gone ahead and done one more to make it 90, but not quite enough time to do so.

Monday

I got a new 2" punch at a sale this week and wanted to try it out. The little girl is a dollar stamp from Michael's, sentiment is CTMH. I'm not real good at coloring in stamps but gave it a try with this one. I loved this stamp set in the store but didn't realize that it would be a challenge. If you stamp the snowman in black it would make his scarf all black. So I masked the scarf and stamped the snowman, then masked the snowman and stamped the scarf with versamark and heat embossed. The red embossing powder is very tempramental though and if you get it too warm it looses it's gloss, so it took a few tries to ge tit right. I think I might end up cutting the stamp apart for further use.

Cactus Eva

I bought this catctus last year in full bloom, brought it home and immediately all the blossoms shriveled up and fell off. I was so dissappointed. I put it outside this summer and pretty well ignored it except to give it water with the rest of the pots on my deck. I brought it in a couple weeks ago for fear of it being touched by frost and it had a few buds on it. I really expected them to die, but it didn't! However, it used to be lavender. There is a shoot coming out of the top that looks like it is going to be white so I'm thinking that somehow the germination that made it lavender didn't work. But that's okay, because I'm thrilled just to have it bloom.

What I've been up to this week

It's been a busy and quick week, I love it! The quick part at least. Had some volunteer opportunities with CERT... no emergencies, just preparations and education for the Auburn/Kent valley projected flooding. Also been working on some techniques and cards for 2Peas StampToberfest challenges.

This one is with the first Stamps of Life set and a little cheapy stamp (the flower). I've been wanting to try the crayon shading technique but since it's been a LONG time since I've had kiddo's in my house, I had to buy some. I really liked the effect. I also did masking with the flowers which I have never been able to do successfully. Next time I will do the ink distressing only on the flowers, I think it would have looked better. Stamps of Life again with CTMH papers and my new circle punches.

The next three are called "scraplings" and are intended to use up your scraps. They are 2.5" x 4.25". I don't really do Halloween but did this for the challenge.

This stamp is part of the new Unity Stamp set. Love the sentiment but not real happy with the way the sock doll stamps out. I did this one on white and cut it out to mount since it didn't show up real well on the inked background.

Close to My Heart stamps. Love the little deer and she just cries out to be heat embossed.

Today I am going to have lunch with Becky Delacruz (My neice) at Olive Garden. Dave doesn't like OG so I'm taking advantage of his NOT being there... sorry Dave. It will be nice to spend some time with Becky.

73 Christmas Cards

I'm having fun with my cards. I'm doing 4 or 5 variations of each design and they are going so fast. Joy is CTMH and the words are various stamps. I love these and think I might do some more. Stamps are Fancy Pants Designs stamped in white daisy ink and embossed with white embossing powder.

It's a Deer Christmas

Stamp is CTMH, heat embossed with copper. Background for stamped image is ink distressed. PP cuddlebugged with snowflakes.

60 Christmas Cards

So, it's Oct and I am over half way with my cards. In June I did a bunch of production line cards... all pretty much the same. I'll use those for the community. I've been playing with other designs to give to family and friends. I did four variations of this one tonight. The flourish is heat embossed with clear embossing powder, and the background is sponged on distress inks. It is actually pink and lavender but doesn't show here. One two of the others I used a water/perfect pearls spray and it has a pretty sheen. This one is done directly on the card unlike most that I do on a smaller piece of card stock and mount on the card for using 3 dimensional embellishments. I like this one just the way it is though. Most of my cards this year are simpler with very little patterned paper and more inking for backgrounds.

Relaxing

It's been a quiet day today. I finished my atc cards for a swap but can't post them until they reach their destination. Then made this little card. Misc flower stamps, target ribbon, distress ink and cuddlebug embossed background.