Dasher

 I love the Dasher single stamp, don't you?  For this card, I tried something a little different, called the Stained Glass technique.  Once I start doing tutorials, I'll photo this one.  It is very simple... You start with saving your scraps of rubber from stamps that you purchase.  Cut them into small shapes and put them onto a block.  I had my hubby make me a few, but you could use an acrylic block, or recycle something firm (like an old book?) to stick those scraps onto.  They have to be pretty close to each other, so you don't have big gaps.  Stamp your image first (Dasher here) then ink your scraps background stamp with Versa Mark ink.  Stamp over the image, sprinkle with Clear Embossing Powder, and heat emboss.  SCRUB your image with a sponge with dark ink (Early Espresso used here).  Wipe with tissue, and you have this! 

This card is great for mass producing.  The bottom red panel can be DSP, or in this case I added a little texture by running it through the Big Shot with Textured Embossing Plate.  The above card also has been run through a Textured Embossing Plate.  a strip of ribbon, accented with a brad, and you have a simple, elegant card!

This is also great if you are just starting with stamping, and don't have a ton of supplies.  One stamp, one ink color, and 3 card stocks... (and a pack of brads) Very budget friendly!

Christmas Collage

These 2 cards both use the Christmas Collage background stamp.  That's one big stamp!  To get the different colors on one stamp, I first brayered ink onto the stamp, then took a sponge dauber inked with a darker color ink and sponged some areas before stamping onto the panel.  I find it easier to lay the card front onto the stamp; it is easier to line up than laying your big stamp onto the paper...

Silver Serene Snowflakes

Who doesn't love Silver Snowflakes?  This was another card from last  year's class, and was one of my favorites!
Do you know how to make a paper frame?  I will have to show you how, but I don't have pictures of one just yet...but it is a great way to add layers, without using too much paper (it keeps your card from getting too heavy, but does add a little time)
This card base is Night of Navy, and so is the Satin Ribbon.  The white is our gorgeous Shimmer White cardstock, and has a beautiful subtle sparkle to it.  Well worth the money, but also worth conserving!
To make the snowflake background, I used our Shimmer Paints (Platinum).  I sponged the paint onto the stamps then stamped the background, leaving the bottom right corner blank for the greeting.  The inside panel with the layered snowflake was where the frame idea comes in.  I first stamped the largest snowflake (Serene Snowflakes stamp set) onto a square of Shimmer White cs.  I then punched out the center of the snowflake with the 1 1/4" square punch.  For the Night of Navy layers, I punched a 1 3/8" square.  This gives you enough to cover the hole in the shimmer white layer...
Simple and elegant, this would be beautiful in deep purple (like Concord Crush), black or gray...

Season's Greetings

This card looks so simple!  But it took a while to make...
Start by stamping Season's Greeting on the Certainly Celery panel.  Then, draw your lines using a ruler and your Old Olive Stampin' Write marker.  Run that panel through the Big Shot, with the squares Embossing Plate.
To make the actual ornaments, stamp a snowflake onto a Real Red scrap of cardstock, punch with the 1" Circle Punch.  The Merry Christmas is stamped onto Certainly Celery with Old Olive, then punched with the 3/4" Circle Punch.  The dec.25 is stamped with Real Red, punched with the Small Oval punch, hole punched and then a little Baker's Twine goes up and is taped onto the back of the Celery panel.  The other oval I believe is stamped onto Always Artichoke.
The joy piece was stamped with Baja Breeze ink, then punched with the Ornament Punch.  After that, I pressed it into a Versa Mark pad...then sprinkled Irridescent Ice Embossing Powder all over it, then heated with the Embossing Tool.  The sparkle doesn't show up well, but in real life, it added a nice touch of glitz!
All of this gets layered onto an Old Olive card base.  This was one of the cards I offered last year during a Christmas Card class.  I got the idea from Stampin' Success, a magazine that all Stampin' Up! demonstrators receive each month.  It is usually filled with project ideas, and I often start by using an idea that I see....but this time I pretty much copied the card directly.

Elf Shoes!

I love to be funny and mean at the same time to all of my brothers and brothers-in-law, don't you?  So this is the card that I sent them last year!  If you take the Top Note die, and cut it into 4 sections, you can get 2 pair of shoes from each Top Note.  After cutting, you then need the curves along the top.  To make this as easy as possible, I used the Large Oval Punch, the long side to cut near the toe, and the smaller curve for the heel.  I don't have a note as to where I found this, but it is not my original design.  The stamp, even the NAUGHTY deserve something NICE was colored with Garden Green and Real Red markers.  The glittery socks are simply strips of DSP!  Glitter was already on them!  So fun!

Santa Card

This card was just plain fun to make!  It is pretty simple, with the texture folders adding the extra finishing touches.  Those buttons are PAPER!  I made them using the buttons embossing sizzlet.  It makes 6 buttons at once, and that makes it go fast... This is one of the largest buttons, so if you use one of the smaller buttons, you can use 3.  The buckle is my favorite part, punched out of our new Glimmer Paper.  First, punch a 1" square, then line it up and punch with the Curly Label punch.  To make that straight piece (called the prong), just cut a little strip from the left-over squares.  Easy and fun!

Christmas card picture...

I can't believe it has been 2 weeks since I've posted!  I was feeling like I was getting into a routine, but with Thanksgiving, traveling home (and not taking my computer with me), and visiting with family, I got out of rhythm.  We'll see if I can keep up with Christmas projects these next few weeks.

I am sending out all of the different cards I had posted, and have others to post as well, but I ususally try to put a photo in the envelopes for those that don't see us often.  With the move, I didn't get us in to a photography studio for family pictures, and I'm sorry, but not too many people want the single shots of each of my 4's school pics, so this year I decided to do something a little different.
This summer, before the move, and while Jason was between projects at work, we took a 24 day trip out west, making it to California, and then back.  It was a great learning experience, and we saw a lot of great American landmarks!  So this year, I crammed just a few of our favorite pictures from the trip, with only a few of the sights we saw, onto a 4X6 photo.  I used My Digital Studio to resize and crop the photos, and then layered them up.  I'm sure I could have made it look nicer, but I wanted to get as many photos in as possible, so I gave up form for function.  I hope I don't have to trim them much, but I will have to fit them into my 4 1/2 X 5 3/4 envelopes!  Oh well....
My cards are done, addressed, the letter is written...all I have left is to pick up the pictures (once they come in) and then print out a mailing label for each person.  Since we move so much (this was address #10 for us this time!) I decided to print a label for each person getting a card, just in case anyone used pen in their address book. :)

Update:  If you receive a card from me, you may notice that it appears we went to DLANDS ational park....and Jake might be missing an elbow or hand...I am learning on MDS, and there is a "bleed are" where your project may be cropped a little for printing... well, my pictures came out fine, but Mikayla was right on the edge on the right side, so I had to trim the left side to fit it into the envelope.... but no matter!  I just hope Jake, already with a case of middle child syndrome, doesn't read anything into it. :)