'Tis the Season's First Challenge!

Hi Everyone!  I'm excited that today is the first day of 'Tis the Season's Christmas card blog challenge, and that I am one of the designers!  We will be having a Christmas card challenge for you every two weeks.  Why am I excited about this challenge?  First I think it will be fun to make Christmas cards throughout the year instead of just around Christmas time, and second is that I plan to make four of the same or very similar cards when I make a design for the challenge.  That means by this time next year I'll have around 100 cards all ready to go for Christmas.  I'll only have to sign and address them. :)  I love to stamp, but I have to admit that it gets kind of boring making around 100 cards of the same design. :(  On top of that, even though I order and get my supplies early somehow the time always gets away from me, and I'm cramming to get them done in December so everyone gets their cards before Christmas!  

So far I'm off to a good start..I made four cards with my first design. :)  Now I need to find a place to store all of them for next Christmas.  It will be fun to go through all the cards next year remembering each one I made.  Check out what the other talented designers' cards look like by joining us HERE at 'Tis the Season.  You can start following us and showing us the great Christmas cards you have made too!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  O Holy Night & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Elegant Eggplant & Whisper White

Glimmer Paper:  Silver

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Elegant Eggplant

Embossing Folder:  Modern Mosaic

Punches:  Modern Label & Word Window

Ribbon:  3/8" Taffeta in Whisper White

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Holiday Catalog Blog Hop

Hi Everyone!  I'm excited about today's post since it is a BLOG HOP with a couple of Stampin' Up! groups the Red Hot Stampers and Inking With Frenchie.  Either you're starting here at my blog or you came over from Sara Lincoln's blog...Mrs. Lincoln's Inkin'.  Weren't her projects great!  At the bottom of my post I will link you to the next blog so don't forget to check it out!  In all of our blogs you will be seeing cards and projects made using different sets and supplies from the Holiday Catalog.  This is a great way to see how you can use the sets and accessories.  My post features the set O Holy Night.  I knew as soon as I saw it in the catalog that I wanted to use it for my Christmas cards.  Not because it stood out, but because of the words on the stamp. :)  I figured I'd come up with three different cards to give myself an idea of what I'd like to make.  I don't know if I'll use one of these or not, but at least I have some ideas now and so do you. :)  

This is a picture of the three cards and three ornaments I made.  Since I love the color Pool Party I decided to use it for all the cards and ornaments with a touch of Island Indigo in there too.

This is the first card I came up with and the simplest one to make...and I do like simple when I'm making around 90 cards!

For my second card I wanted to add a little more detail than I did to the first card and add a little more color - Island Indigo.  I also wanted a little twist to this card by incorporating a cross so it would tell a continuation of the story from Christmas to Easter.  

My third card takes the most work since I do some embossing and sponging using the emboss resist technique.  I guess you could just emboss on Pool Party card stock, but I wanted the look of the ink on it instead. 

I also wanted to make a few ornaments using this set.  I highlighted a few words here and there in Island Indigo so they would stand out.  I also used the silver glimmer paper to add a little sparkle.  Plus it was easier to cut out two of those so I didn't have to stamp and highlight four ornament pieces for each ornament. :)

Here's the next blog you need to hop over to...my fellow stamper and friend Christi at Christi's Creative Crew.  Just click HERE to check out what she made.

Thanks for looking and have a great day! 

Stamp Set:  O Holy Night

Card Stock:  Pool Party & Very Vanilla

Glimmer Paper:  Silver

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Pool Party & Island Indigo

Versa Mark

Ribbon:  1/2" Seam Binding in Pool Party

Embossing Folders:  Modern Mosaic,

Fancy Fan & Stripes

Stampin' Emboss Powder:  White

Punch:  Decorative Label

Candy Dots:  Subtles

Framelits:  Holiday Ornaments

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges