Merry CHRISTmas!

We rejoice in the privilege of proclaiming once again the good news, "the Saviour has been born!" He is "God with us!" I hope you know him - really know him. Not just the historic facts about Jesus, but that you know him as your Saviour and Lord of your life. That makes Christmas greater than all the other things that make Christmas fun.

May you all have a Blessed Christmas as we celebrate the reason for the season!

Merry Christmas!

Blessings,
Happy Stamper
Dorie Ellen

Lastly...The Christmas Tags

I'm sorry it took me so long to get the rest of my cards and these tags posted. As you know Christmas time is busy enough, but I've also had 12 appointments in 17 days, plus I've been sick now for the past week with my asthma. It's been hard sitting at my computer without coughing. However, I finally got to it so I guess it's better late than never!

As I work I often cut out a shape or make something to put on a card that I don't end up using. I put all those shapes and items into a large envelope and hold onto them for future use. This time, they came in handy as I used them to make my Christmas tags. As you can see I don't like to waste anything! It feels good putting them to good use too, and not having them sit in the envelope until next year.

The Last Card - A Gift Card Holder

My daughter bought a friend a gift card for Christmas, so I made this gift card holder for her to go with her gift. The pp is from a Wal-Mart pad of Christmas pp and the reindeer was from the dollar store. It is raised up on 3D foam squares and holds the flap in place when closed.

5 More Christmas Cards

This time I used the SU snowflake stamp embossed in white on the red. I added a rhinestone and sentiment and done!
Again, I made some poinsettias using my McGill flower punch and hand embossing. The bg stamp is by Heidi Grace. The white paper is handmade Japanese paper and actually has a bit of a shine to it irl.
This stamp is by Recollections and was embossed with the Agean silver EB powder. I love the glittery look of this powder. It has nice texture to it too. Holly is by Heidi Grace, and it as well as the sentiment are stamped using regular silver EB powder.
I embossed the snowglobe (Studio G) in silver, then inked some colour on it. The glass part of the globe was covered in Diamond Glaze and has a raised smooth glassy texture to it, although it doesn't show up well in the pic.
This card was made using my Love as a Tree stamp by SU. I used the same green all the way around but stamped it off a couple of times before re-inking as I worked my way around the card. I masked the centre to make sure I left room for the sentiment. I added some red stickles to finish it off.

Nearing the End of My Christmas Cards

To make this card I sponged the snowman with ink through a stencil, then embossed it with clear EB powder. I also sponged a bit of blue ink under the diamond stickles for the snow.
Embossing, a couple of punches, and some dollar store images were used here. Images were coloured using a blender pen and some ink.
My spellbinders scalloped circles and SU EB folder were used to make this wreath and the one below. Finished them off with some straight embossing around the outer edge. I love the shiny papers for cards like these.

My McGill flower punch was used to make the poinsettias, and the leaves were cut out by hand. I also hand embossed the veins on the petals and leaves. My MS scroll border punch set finished off this simple card.

Shiny Silver Poinsettias x Two

I've had so much fun using this poinsettia stamp from Northwoods Rubber Stamps this year. This time I stamped it on shiny ivory cs (Bazzill) with Versamark, and then embossed it with Aegean Silver EB powder. I love the glittery embossing powders. I will definitely be buying more of them in the future! I layered it on shiny silver and red cardstock, also by Bazzill. I used my Martha Stewart scroll border punch set for the bottom card just for something different. The ivory square looked a little plain to me, so I embossed a square around the outer edge to break up the blank space a little bit.

EverGREEN or EverGOLD?

I'm getting near the end of my Christmas cards I think. Not too many more to make, and I've already started making some tags which I will have to post soon.

For this card I used my Lovely as a Tree stamp from SU and used Versamark ink with Sticky Stuff, then heated it up and poured on the gold glitter. I inked the edges and then matted it with some shiny gold mirror cs to match. I embossed the snowflake with gold eb powder about 3 or 4 times to give it a nice gold metal appearance. Simple and sweet!

Vintage Christmas Music Card

Have you ever made a mistake, and then discovered something you actually liked better while trying to fix it? Well, that's what happened when I made this card! I embossed the top layer with my SU folder, only to discover I had embossed the wrong side. It was a problem because I had already torn the edge on the angle that I needed so I couldn't turn it around. So...what to do? I didn't really like the debossed look, so I added a couple of shims, and ran the cs through again to see if I could get rid of the embossing. It didn't disappear when it flattened it out, but instead left a nice vintage look with just the right amount of texture on my cs. I actually thought the appearance fit this card better than the raised embossing would have.

I found free sheet music on the web and copied it, then resized it to fit my card. Then I inked the edges to distress it a little bit. I also embossed the corner of the tag with gold eb powder. I finished it off with a Heidi Grace sentiment, my Martha Stewart leaf punch and an old button. TFL

Ovals and Poinsettias

I used a total of 3 layers and cut ovals in two of them for this Christmas card. Sentiment is stamped on the bottom layer, and the top layer is embossed with my SU folder. Each layer got smaller in size but the oval I cut got bigger. I added a little bit of gold glitter to the star/cross.

Holly and the Ivy

This is as simple as it gets...just ink, glue pen, and a little bit of glitter! This stamp is from Recollections, sentiment stamp is Inkadinkado.

4 More Poinsettia Cards

I'm really into poinsettias for some reason this year. I've been having lots of fun embossing them as well as cutting them out as I've done here (stamp - Whispers), this time in gold. For the final touch I added a little pewter stickles for the centres. I used my MS scroll punch for the rectangle, and the bg is from Terri Conrad Designs (Winter Wonderland collection). I just bought lots more of this green cs by Bazzill as it is my favourite colour to match with red for Christmas cards. It is such a neutral green it seems to match with everything.
This is my Northwoods poinsettia stamp and I used red ink with clear EB powder to wash it out a little bit. I layered it on the deep red cs to help bring your eye into the centre.
I'm nearing the end of my favourite Christmas (holly) pp from Provo craft that I bought a couple of years ago. I sure am glad I bought so much when I did! Again I have used my MS scroll punch set (it's new so I'm still having fun with it!), and the flower is Prima. CS is Bazzill and the stamp is Studio G.
The picture doesn't show it well, but I've stamped the flourishes and embossed them with gold on shiny ivory cs. The bg layer is shiny gold cs, also from Bazzill. The flourishes and holly stamps are Heidi Grace, and the sentiment is Studio G. The red is from a scrap that I had.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

How lovely are your branches...! Sorry, but this card puts a song in my head! I resized some free Christmas music I found on the web, and printed it off in sepia to make my own pp. The tree (Lovely as a Tree - SU) is embossed with bronze EB powder, and bronze glitter was added to spice it up a bit. I just added a Prima flower and a couple of distressed layers to finish it off. The bottom layer isn't very noticeable, but is actually handmade Japanese paper my fil gave me. He used to do calligraphy and had a huge pile of handmade papers leftover that he passed on to me.

Glossy Holly

I learned this technique at a SU class. The holly and sentiment are stamped with white EB powder on glossy cs (same as below), and then I sponged green ink all over it. The EB folder is also SU and the poinsettia is Prima. Plaid pp is from a pad of Christmas paper that I bought at Wal-Mart.

Thinking of You/Get Well

A friend at church is recovering from heart surgery so this card is on it's way to her. On the inside it says, "Wishing you a speedy recovery." Those CB embossing folders sure come in handy for this kind of card. The sentiment is embossed with clear embossing powder.

Pink & Grey Poinsettia

I am really enjoying all that I can do with this new poinsettia stamp. This time I embossed it in white on glossy cs, and then sponged red ink over it. This is a pretty easy technique. I just added an embossed sentiment, a ribbon bow, and some glitter and I was done!

Bowling Birthday Card

My father just had his 82nd birthday and although he is starting to show his age a little bit, he still bowls in a 5-pin bowling league for seniors. Because an 82 year old has everything he needs, we decided for his birthday present to take him bowling. My kids enjoyed spending time with their Grandpa, and Grandpa had a chance to show off some of his bowling skills!

So of course I had to make a bowling themed card! I printed a free clip art bowling pin, cut it out and then used it to trace the image onto cs. I cut five pins out, added the red cs rings, and then popped them off the page using 3D foam squares. The ball is popped just a little higher than the pins for dimension. Inside I put a gift card (for free bowling with our family) that I just made up myself on the computer using my Printmaster program. TFL

Festive Christmas Cards

Can you tell I love making CAS cards? This one was so easy to make. I punched 5 star shaped flowers with my McGill flower punch and then embossed them to look like poinsettias. I added a couple of MS's punches, a strip of green cs on the inside layer, the sentiment and done!
Gold, ivory and green are one of my favourite colour combos for Christmas. I also love this poinsettia EB folder from SU when it's used with shiny cs like this ivory from Bazill. The gold on the sentiment circle was done using a gold leaf broad tip marker with a slit down the centre of the tip. I highlighted the star with my diamond glitter Jelly Roll pen and finished off the holly berries with red Stickles. TFL
I just love this Holly pp from Provo Craft. It is an old one that I've had for awhile and still had a little bit left. I stamped the Christmas flourish on the side with vintage photo dristress ink, and sponged the edges everywhere with it as well to give the card a little bit of a vintage look.
Silver and red together (especially with white, although this card doesn't have white) are another one of my favourite colour combinations for Christmas cards. The colours alone scream elegance. I stamped the poinsettia on the corner, embossed it with silver EB powder, and then cut it out around the edge. There is a layer of shiny silver cs on the inside for contrast. I stamped silver snowflakes on the present for a festive look and raised it up with 3D foam squares. I finished the poinsettia off with a little bit of silver and red glitter.
I didn't realize it until now, but this card has several different elements that represent Christmas. There are ornaments, snowflakes, a poinsettia and a Christmas tree covered in glitter! It's not very often that I am able to match pp from two different companies, but for this card I did. The snowflake pp is from Terri Conrad Designs' Winter Wonderland collection, and the ornament pp is from Scenic Route's Garland collection.

2 Different Poinsettia Cards

This card is my absolute favourite so far this year. I got the idea to make the poinsettia from my lss where I bought the stamp. I embossed the image on green, and then ivory cs using gold EB powder, cut each one out and layered them with 3D squares. I added a little gold and red glitter as well. The border is the MS scroll punch set. The ivory bg is embossed with the poinsettia and clear EB powder. It doesn't show up well in the picture but adds to the texture of the card.
I made this poinsettia the same way only using silver EB powder. I also embossed some scrolls with clear EB powder for this bg. It shows up a little better in this pic. Sentiment is embossed with silver EB powder.

I have several more cards coming, but still need to take pictures of them, so stay tuned or check back in over the next week or so. Thanks for visiting my blog. I appreciate all the comments. They are very encouraging!

4 Different Christmas Tree Cards

Here are some more Christmas cards, posted all at once to save time.SU Lovely as a Tree with sparkly EB powder. Sentiment is by Heidi Grace, and flower punch is McGill. Flowers are embossed to look more like poinsettias. CB swiss dots folder was also used for the background, and MS scroll border punch was used to highlight the image.
SU Patterned Pines embossed with sparkly silver EB powder. Sentiment is by Inkadinkado and is embossed with silver EB powder.
Same as above. Unfortunately silver on silver doesn't show up as well in a photo.
I used my versamark pen and sparkly silver EB powder to make the border. Studio G image is embossed with sparkly silver EB powder on Bazzill shiny green cs and then cut out and glued on.

6 Different Christmas Cards

I thought I'd just post a bunch of cards at once to save some time. For this card I made my own poinsettias by embossing star-shaped flowers I punched out (by McGill). Leaves are thanks to MS. PP is by Making Memories, FA LA LA set.
I used pp scraps for this one so I don't know what company they are from. The image is Lovely as a Tree by SU and is stamped in pale green ink and covered with white glitter.
I made the poinsettias using a flower die from CB. The silver border is shiny cs from Bazzill and adds some extra texture, but unfortunately that isn't so visible in a photo.
Dollar store image, Agean silver sparkly EB powder, and shiny cs from Bazzill and voila! A clean and simple Christmas card. The stocking rectangles are raised off the page with 3D foam squares.
JOY is covered with Diamon Glaze for some extra texture. Branches are covered with Agean silver sparkly EB powder. Sentiment is embossed with silver EB powder. The border is silver mirror cs for some extra glam.
To make this card I used a small stamp from my Lovely as a Tree SU set to stamp inside a masked oval. I added some glitter and that's it...easy as pie!