Beautiful Christmas Card

I got my first handmade Christmas card in the mail a few days ago and it was made by my talented Sister-in-Law. I was so "Wowed" by this card that I just have to share it with all of you! I can tell that she put a lot of work into this card, and I'm so impressed. It appears that she used a masking technique to sponge ink into a circle ornament shape. She embossed gold swirls on the ornament stamped some flowers, and added some glue dots with glitter for some eye-popping sparkle. It looks like she used a scallop circle punch and some gold cord to create the top of the ornament....so creative! Some clear rhinestone brads add even more sparkle to make a dazzling card. Thanks so much Sarah!

December Scrapbooking: Christmas & Winter

This month's themes for my monthly scrapbooking class are Christmas and Winter. I'm still loving the Winter Post Stamp set so I couldn't help but use it here in my first layout.

Stamps: Winter Post, Best Friends Lower
Ink: Chocolate Chip

Papers: Holiday Treasures DS Paper, Ridinghood Red, Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon

Stamps: Lovely Letters, Season of Joy
Ink: Not Quite Navy
Papers: Holiday Treasures DS Paper, Ski Slope DS Paper, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Clear Stardust Gel Pen
Note: Some sparkles were added on the swirls stamped on the left and right sides of the layout with the stardust pen

Stamps: Best Friends Alphabet Upper and Lower, The Snowflake Spot
Inks: Close to Cocoa, Tangerine Tango
Papers: Frosty Day DS Paper, Kraft, Close to Cocoa, Bashful Blue,
Accessories: Tangerine Tango Striped ribbon, Brass Brads

December Technique Class: Aquapainter Techniques

This month my technique class projects focus on use of the Aquapainter and so we did some watercoloring for this first project with the help of some watercolor crayons. I guess I've got Christmas on the brain because all three cards are for Christmas. I think this year I've designed more unique Christmas cards than ever! These might be the last of the season.

Stamps: Baby Jesus is Born
Inks: Stazon Black, Not Quite Navy
Papers: Holiday Treasures DS Paper, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Watercolor Paper
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, watercolor crayons, aquapainter

For this project we used the Aquapainter to we some mulberry paper before pulling it appart to get the fuzzy edges.

Stamps: Winter Post, Warm Words
Inks: Ridinghood Red, Baja Breeze
Papers: Ski Slope DS Paper, White Mulberry Paper, Ridinghood Red, White
Accessories: Clear Stardust Glitter pen, aquapainter (to wet paper and tear)
Note: I couldn't resist adding some sparkle to this one on the patterned paper and the snowflake stamped image
This last card used the Painted Pearls technique, I have several cards using this technique on my blog already, though I haven't used it in a while. I added some sparkle to the skaters by applying pearlex with an Aquapainter filled with Future Floor Wax.

Stamps: Winter Post, Sincere Salutations
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Papers: Holiday Treasures DS Paper, Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Naturals Ivory
Accessories: Felt Stitched Ribbon, Pearlex (Russet, Gold), aquapainter, floorwax
Note: Sparkle in the pearlex can be seen in picture below

Christmas Stack Cards

A couple of nights ago I hosted a Christmas Card Stamp-A-Stack and these are the cards that we made. I think this first one is my favorite because of the colors and its simplicity. Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Winter Post, Warm Words
Inks: Ridinghood Red, Baja Breeze, Basic Black
Papers: Ridinghood Red, Baja Breeze, Naturals White, Ski Slope DS Paper
Accessories: Ridinghood Red Taffeta Ribbon

Stamps: Punch Pals
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango, Bashful Blue
Papers: Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Frosty Day DS Paper
Accessories: Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Silver Brad

Stamps: Season of Joy
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Versamark
Papers: Kraft, Naturals Ivory, Ski Slope DS Paper
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Clear Stardust Glitter Pen

Note: The stardust pen added some sparkle to this card, which was hard to capture in a photograph. You can see it a little bit in the picture below.

Another Mosaic Card

Here is another Cut Mosaic Card that I made recently. I used Shimmery White paper for this and added highlights with the Clear Stardust Gelly Roll Pen, though it's hard to see that in the photo.

Stamps: Season of Joy, Sincere Salutations
Inks: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss
Papers: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Shimmery White
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Horizontal Slot Punch (ribbon slot on side of card), Clear Stardust Gelly Roll Gel Pen