Very Simply Susan

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with lots of warmth & cheer!  Today’s card is shamelessly cased from a card Paula Dobson did for Global Design Project #GDP067. You can see her card HERE!  It really is a lovely card and it made great use of the tree from Santa’s List.

I had a great holiday and was lucky enough to get some lovely gifts!  So, now I must have some thank you cards to send out for all this unexpected largess!  Paula’s card was just the inspiration I needed to come up with a simple, easy to make thank you card that is perfect for a holiday gift thank you!  It uses “Warmth & Cheer” DSP, which has been a favorite.  You have a holiday look without being too over the top Christmas!

With the Warmth & Cheer DSP stack, you have several plaids to choose from and I will probably use several of them to complete the thank you cards.  My first pick is the plaid shown here.  I love green and black as a combination and this is by far my favorite plaid in the stack! So this is my feature card for today.

Now all I have to do is come up with another design so I can enter this week’s Global Design Project! If you haven’t joined in on the fun, you should. This is a great challenge and the current one is a “tree” theme.  Because of the holidays, the challenge runs through Monday, January 2nd!  So, you have plenty of time to come up with something for this fun theme! There are some fabulous ideas.  Please take a look HERE! 

Recipe

Papers: Warmth & Cheer DSP Stack, Garden Green, Crumb Cake, Black, Cherry Cobbler
Stamps: Santa’s List, One Big Meaning,
Embellishments: Garden Green and Gold Backer’s Twine

A very cool thing happening this year is that Christmas and Hanukkah are happening at the same time.  Tonight,  people will be lighting Menorahs as Hanukkah begins and others will be heading to Christmas Eve candlelight services.  It is kind of nice to know that many people all over the world will be celebrating miracles all at the same time.

I wanted to create a Hanukkah card that would symbolize light.  I used a few old and a few new things to create it.  The Fancy Frost Paper, sequins and ribbon are all from the holiday Occasions catalog. (And on clearance! You can still buy HERE!) The silver glitter paper and the stamp are retired.  The Stitched Oval framelits are a sneak preview from next year’s catalog.  They all combined to make a Hanukkah card I was happy with.

The Fancy Frost paper is lightly colored with Soft Sky to give it a blue hue and bring out the detail.  I also inked Wink of Stella all over the Fancy Frost paper to make it sparkle. You have to suspend your disbelief and know this technique worked really well to give the paper a sheen. I loved how it turned out, but I hate how it photographed!  The silver ribbon and glimmer paper all added to the shine.

The stamp is a few years old and I have hung on to it because I just love it.  I stamped and colored in with Dapper Denim then finished off with Wink of Stella on the flames.  Again, you just have to believe me,  it looks great!  The final touch were the Fancy Frost sequins.

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas to everyone!

Recipe

Merry Mice is a stamp set I got at the year end clearance. ( You can too click HERE!) I had had my eye on it for a while and the price was too good to pass up.  This is not the usually type of stamp set I buy.  But the mice in this set are just too darn cute!  I have used it to make tags, etc.  But I wanted to do a card.

What is so great about these stamps is they are all outline drawings and you can color!  Being able to color in images gives you a lot more control as well as a chance to do some interesting things like add Wink of Stella to the ornament and star.  You can’t see the glitter in this photo, but it is there and adds some interest.

Having such great choices in DSP comes in handy.  I used the Presents & Pinecones DSP and it worked perfectly with what I wanted to achieve.  There was no room for ribbon, but the strip of Cherry Cobbler DSP does the trick and the design in the paper is echoed by the design in the stamp I used under the sentiment! This easy coordination is what I love about Stampin’ Up!

Well, the holidays are near and this will be my last Christmas Card posting. (Sniff, sniff). I wish I had another month to work on more projects. It is hard to believe I have been working on Holiday projects since August.  There is just never enough time…..

Next week I will start on projects that will be available in the new Occasions catalog starting January 4th.  That is another thing I love about Stampin’ Up!  So many good things keep coming! Not only is a new Occasions catalog on the way, so are FREE STAMPS!  Yes, Sell-A-Bration starts the same day as the catalog launch!  You should have gotten your catalog in the mail.  Take some time for yourself during the holidays and take a look at this beautiful edition and all the wonderful things coming for Spring!

Recipe

Papers: Cherry Cobbler, Emerald Envy, Presents & Pinecones DSP, watercolor paper
Stamps: Merry Mice, Christmas Pines
Embellishments: Cherry Cobbler Baker’s Twine