Errr, Merry Christmas. . .

Yes, too much time has passed since I have posted anything. Rather than give excuses (we've heard them all) I thought I'd just post my Christmas card for 2008 and share a couple of other Christmas cards that are special to me.

My first share is from my darling 5 y/o son. He proudly made it himself while I was out shopping (and DADDY supervised!!) Yes, I was shocked! Daddy usually steers away from my craft room so to have him supervise Troy was quite the surprise. Yes, they used my Tonic guillotine cutter and my ATG gun!! Yikes! That is some serious crafting, hehe! It is probably difficult to see, but he stamped the Santa and tree from Crayon Christmas (SU) and scribbled colored them in. This lavendar layer is actually adhered to a white base, hence the ATG need. I do believe that my DH suggested they go buy me a card but Troy wanted to make one. That is how David got sucked into "supervising".


This is the card that ended up going out to friends and family. My first version was stamped onto acetate, colored on the back with COPICs, vintaged the Very Vanilla layer under the acetate and distressed the edges, used brads to adhere the acetate to the top two layers. This photo is actually the second version. I stamped onto Very Vanilla, aged and distressed, added brads, mounted on burgundy. The background stamp is SU's Antique Background using Galaxy Gold Brilliance ink. About a 1/3 of my Christmas cards looked like this one. The final version just omitted the brads. I didn't want to add more to postage because of the thickness. I was reminded by Lisa Somerville that simplier is usually better (or something along those lines). Thanks Lisa! :D Oh, you really can't see in this scan that I colored the windows with So Saffron. It was the only coloring I did, sponging not included.


Stamps: The Forest Chapel (CHF), Antique Backgrounds (SU), Season's Greetings (SU), Ink: Basic Brown, Basic Black, Glaxy Gold (Brilliance); So Saffron Marker (windows), Antique Linen & Brushed Corduroy (Distress Ink); Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip; Bravo Burgundy; Accessories: brads, Cut-N-Dry (Ranger), Distress tool (SU).

The next card is the O-N-L-Y card that my DH has ever said "Let's keep this!" Yes, after stamping for eight years those were the first words out of his mouth when he opened his card from me this year. Here's why:
I got this stamp, Miss Crystal, from RubberNecker.com. I used one of Tim Holtz' 12 Days of Christmas 2008 ( Day 2) for her dress and paper pieced the dress. I used stickles for the white rim of her hat, the stars she's holding and the "string" so it all sparkles. I used the snowflake CB folder for the white layer. I used the scallop punch from SU for the opening base layer (Elegant Eggplant.) I also scalloped a white layer inside the card and offset it so when it is closed you can see the white peeking out. It really helped add to the card without adding any more embellishments. Oh, this card was inspired by Linda Duke. I used some CB snowflake dies for the last embellishments. Whew! So what do you think of Miss Crystal??

Stamps: Miss Crystal (RubberNecker); Ink: Tuxedo Black (Momento), COPIC: Skin White (E00), SU Markers: Real Red, Close to Cocoa; Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White; Accessories: CB snowflake embossing folder and snowflake dies, Tim Holtz Day 2 Technique; Stickles, Paper Snips (SU).