Flourish of Ornaments

With Christmas quickly approaching, my stamping friends are looking for some ideas for making cards. This is one of the cards that I put together yesterday, inspired by a gorgeous Heather Prince's card on Split Coast Stampers website.

When I recently attended the European Stampin' Up Convention at nearby Addington Palace, I saw that lots of the ladies used the new ornament punch on their swap cards. Being the complete stamping addict that I am, of course I ordered the Ornament Punch with the matching Delightful Decorations stamp set in the current SU promotion, Bundle Up for Christmas. That meant I also received a free spool of Christmas ribbon, and I picked the wide Striped Grosgrain Ribbon in Riding Hood Red. I wish this ribbon was available all year 'round because it creates quite a dramatic statement!

You can see that I tried the card with four different ribbon combinations. The wide striped grosgrain is my absolute favorite, and the little peppermint swirl brad really plays well with the ribbon.

How to make the card: Begin by using River Rock ink to stamp a script background onto natural ivory cardstock (cut to 3.75 x 5 inches). Then over-stamp portions of the SU Baroque Motif stamp using Cherry Cobbler ink onto the bottom and left-hand edges of the card. Antique all edges of the card using your favorite distressing inks.

Punch out an ornament from designer cardstock and dangle the ornament from the top of the card using a thin decorative cord. Then adhere this layer onto the same designer cardstock (cut to 4 x 5.25 inches) that you used to make the ornament.

Finally, adhere these layers to the folded card (size 4.25 x 5.5 inches) in natural ivory, and glue on a ribbon.

Christmas Card Class

It might be quite ambitious, but we are planning on making four very different Christmas cards at this Wednesday's card-making class at my home.

Recipe for the Snow Dasher card above:

1. Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue
2. Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Whisper White
3. Designer Paper: BoBunny's Midnight Frost Crystals
4. Stamp Sets: SU Dasher, SU Tiny Tags, and stars from SU Wondrous Gift
5. Sponge Technique: Create 'mountains' in the background behind Dasher the reindeer by tearing paper to create a mask, and then sponge Marina Mist and Bashful Blue inks to make mountain peaks. The mountain range is a bit hard to see in the photo. Dazzling Diamonds are added in the foreground to create sparkling snow.
6. Other: Jewelry Tag Punch for the little 'merry' tags

Recipe for the Snow Bird card above:

1. Ink: Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy
2. Markers: Rose Red, Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue
3. Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Rose Red, Whisper White, Naturals Ivory
4. Stamp Sets: SU So Many Scallops (sentiment stamp), SU Vintage Vogue (on the body of the bird), large snowflake stamp
5. Techniques: A circular window was cut out of the card by using a circular die. Interlocking circular dies were then used to create the sliver of a circular trim, which is adhered with a 2-way glue pen. Markers were used to color the sentiment stamp, which is then stamped on the inside of the card and peers through the circular window.
6. Other Tools: SU Bird Punch, Circular Dies, Die Cutting Machine

The Snow Pine Cone card above is simple to make, but so elegant in its results! 

1. Ink: Soft Suede
2. Markers: Garden Green, Chocolate Chip
3. Cardstock: Ivory, Wild Wasabi, Rose Red
4. Stamp Sets: Pinecone is from SU Autumn Days; Merry Christmas is from SU Season of Joy 
5. Techniques: Use a snowflake embossing folder on the ivory cardstock. Create a circular window by using a die; I've opted for something slightly more fancy by using one of Nellie's Multi Frame dies. I then used two interlocking circular dies to cut a trim from Wild Wasabi card to fit behind the fancy circular window. The pine cone stamp is colored with markers and then stamped on the inside of the card, so that it peeks through the window. Add glitter around the pine cone to create sparkling snow.
6. Other Tools: Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Snowflake Embossing Folder, Nellie's Frames, Die Cutting Machine

The Snow Flowers card above was described in one of my earlier blog posts.