Merry Christmas!

Waking up this morning with teenagers who suppress their inner delight on Christmas morning.  I used to think it would take all the fun out of the day, but the older they get the more joy at the real meaning of Christmas we find as a family.  I hope this morning finds you all waking with delight as we remember and hope in that first Christmas joy- Christ and His coming to this Earth as a small child to save us all.

Truly a Joyeux Noel for everyone!

More Variations on Christmas Cards

A few more Christmas cards of similar design.  This time I combined my Papertrey Ink Rustic Wreath stamp set and my Papertrey Ink Rustic Wreath die to create the card.  The poinsettia was once again cut and embossed with my Spellbinders Layered Poinsettia die.  The red cardstock was then spritzed with watered down white acrylic paint using an old toothbrush.  A little Good Earth elements from Art Glitter in the center and a couple of stamped and cut Heartfelt Creations Holly Berry leaves finish the card off nicely.

Papertrey Ink sentiments are so cute, don't you think?  So glad to be able to share these cards with you this Christmas season.

Christmas Cards- 2014

Back in the summer, on vacation I began making the pieces to my Christmas cards.  On this eve of Thanksgiving as the Christmas season officially begins, I thought to share a sneak peak at some of the preparations made months ago.  I ultimately made 50 of these cards as well as a few straggling others to send out in the coming weeks.

One of the first elements was this window created for a sentiment.  The patterned paper came from Hobby Lobby and has words in another language written on them.  This is good because I might have actually placed these pieces upside down.  No one will notice ;)

I cut the window with an exacto knife in an "X" shape.  Then, I curled each of the edges back to reveal the window...

Next was some holly swirls for accent.  I stamped with green ink and die cut using my Heartfelt Creations Holly Berry stamps and matching dies.  After cutting all pieces out, I shaped the leaves by pressing in with a stylus at the center of each leaf.

Ladies and gentleman, I shaped two different swirls and three different leaf clusters for each card.  That is a total of 250 shaped die cuts for this card set.  Fun times.  Well worth it!

I'll wait to reveal this final creation for Christmas day, however I do have some other Christmas cards to share with you soon.

I wish you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving feast tomorrow.