Aaaaand, the Tags are Finished!

I think I'm all done with "Christmas" this year.  :o)  The cards are finished and in the mail.  The tags are completed.  Life is happy.  It's time to get in the studio and begin making some "sunny" cards to brighten up this grey day. ;o)

I made ten of each.  That should be more than enough.  ;o)

I tried to make sure each design had something "special".  The top of the ornament is has been "Smooched" in silver.

 The "Snow" sparkles with millions of "diamonds".

The ornaments on the tree have been "blinged". 

These were just too much fun to make!  Heck, who doesn't enjoy playing with 1.25" grosgrain?  I LOVE that ribbon! :o)

And, here they are in the their temporary home.

These just make me smile. :o)

--Rach

Gift Tags

As I was wrapping gifts the other day, I realized I had no gift tags.  Wait a minute, what?!? I had no gift tags??  How is that even possible?

Obviously that had to be remedied, and I went at once to the studio.  (Okay, maybe not "at once", what with having a Bitty and a Beanie around, but I did eventually get in there...)

I have once more pulled out "Big On Christmas" (I can't seem to get enough of it this year, not to mention it's SO stinkin' easy to work with!) and gone to town.  :o)

I was trying to decide whether to go with the Old Olive or Riding Hood Red on these two.  Riding Hood Red it is. :o)

I'm not finished yet, but getting there.  I'll post them all when they are completed.  :o)

These have used:

Stamp Set: Big on Christmas
Inks: Black Staz-On, Copics in Olive and Cardinal (I have no idea the color number, sorry), Peach Parfait, Basic Black
Paper: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler (OMG I LOVE Cherry Cobbler!)
Accessories: Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds

I'm getting there, I'm getting there.  :o)

--Rach

And Another Stack is Finished

 Between making lentil soup, three batches of fondant (not the kind that goes on cake, the candy kind), and two loaves of bread, and between teaching and cleaning, I managed to find some time for ME. ;o)

I hit the studio at nap time (both girlies are sick so there is definitely a need for naps) and managed to knock out the snowmen.  Yay!

I tweaked the original just a bit.

Can you see the difference?

I popped the snowman up on dimensionals.  As I was painstakingly coloring and glittering each one (have I mentioned my studio is now coated in Dazzling Diamonds? You're shocked, I'm sure...) it came to me that these guys needed to be lifted off the embossing just a bit.  I'm thrilled with the results. :o)

I use a heavier weight paper when embossing using white.  I LOVE the SU! Whisper White paper for stamping on, but it's rather thin when it comes to embossing. I picked up some heavier stuff from PTI and I've been very pleased with it.

Of the designs I came up with this year, this one is Brien's favorite.  I think the non-traditional colors combined with the striking contrast of the Cherry Cobbler with Basic Black really does it for him.  He's typically a traditional kind of guy, but hey, this is one fun card! :o)

--Rach

One Stack Down...

...4 more to go.  I tackled the most time consuming card yesterday afternoon.  It took me nigh on four hours to do all the coloring and cutting required.  Oh my.  What was I thinking?!?

 It is a pretty good looking card, though.  I guess that's what I was thinking. ;o)

--Rach

Playing with My New Goodies

Okay, so I fibbed.  I had no idea I would have a couple of minutes to play around in the studio before we left Friday.  Heck, who can resist the lure of new goodies?  A better person than I, that's for sure.

Getting out the "Holly Jolly" paper and the copics, I made the card above.  I can't believe how intense the Cherry Cobbler looks in that light.  That does it, I MUST get my bounce flash fixed...

I love the intensity of the copics in that image, as opposed to the one a few posts ago.

And, here, I don't think you can see it,  but I played with the VersaMark Dazzle.  IRL, it gives the tiny snowflakes a hint of shimmer and makes them a bit more visible than with VersaMark alone.

Again, I tried to capture the shimmer.  "Tried" being the optimum word, of course...

These are pretty much facsimiles of cards I've already created so you can find recipe details below.  :o)

--Rach

Big On Variations

As I mentioned, I wanted to use my "Big on Christmas" stamp set this year, and did so yesterday with the snowman.  I also decided to pull out the "Noel" stamp and work with it.

My plan is to use my "Holly Jolly" paper when it arrives, so I needed to use a stand-in until then.  I dug into my retired DSPs and used "Dashing".  I LOVED this paper when it was out and enjoyed using it the other night.  I may make a few cards with this paper and color combo, as well as the "Holly Jolly".  In fact, Brien said, "But I like this one!" 

I know the image is stamped crooked, and the coloring is crappy, but remember, this is a mock-up.  I'll do a much better job on my actual cards.

And, since these were mock-ups, I decided to show you another I created when trying to decide which color card base to use:

B said the red was a bit too intense and I agree, although, it's a pretty lovely card as well.  Someone will receive this card. ;o)  Additionally, I'll have to do a couple mock-ups with the "Holly Jolly" and the Cherry Cobbler to decide for certain if I'll use the red or green base.

This card uses:
Stamp Set: "Big on Christmas"
Papers: Real Red, Old Olive, Dashing DSP (retired)
Inks: Black Staz-On, Old Olive, Real Red
Accessories: dimensionals

One more improvement to this card will be to color the top of the ornament.  I've got to purchase a gold metallic ink pen...:sigh:

I played around again last night and should have  card for you for tomorrow as well. :o)

--Rach

Something a Little Non-Tradtional

Alas, my plans to get in the studio last night were thwarted by creating two gifts for the grandparents in our lives.  I'll just have to do it tonight instead. :o)

This is another of the cards I created Monday evening.  I adore Cherry Cobbler, it is so rich and almost decadent feeling.  I knew I wanted to make a card using "Big on Christmas", and I knew I wanted to use Cherry Cobbler.  I decided to pair it with Basic Black, and it all came together. :o)

I love that this one isn't a "traditional" card, and yet, is so visually appealing. I'm not sure if you can see it (maybe enlarge the photo?), but I added Dazzling Diamonds to the S, N, and W. I'm playing around with the idea of cutting out the hat and carrot and making them three dimensional, but I'm not sure if I'm up to all that work on 15+ cards...We'll see how the time works out.

This card uses:

Stamp Set: "Big on Christmas"
Papers: Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Inks: Black Staz-On, and Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green markers
Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds, Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder

Now, if only it would snow here...it was almost 70 this morning.  :sigh:

--Rach