Keeping Christmas with Tidings of Joy

January is always about making little commitments and changes to keep improving one's self. This year, I've decided to join in with a super talented group of crafters for a monthly Keeping Christmas Inspiration Hop! We will be sharing Christmas creations on the 25th of each month, and let me tell you... I already feel GREAT about having some of my Christmas cards done for 2018. Feels like I've got life pretty much figured out right about now! LOL Anyhow, if you've already been hopping along, you should have arrived from Claire's blog. If you're just popping in, read on for all the details!

One of the things I was most excited about was getting a chance to use some of the fabulous products I got on clearance at the end of the season. I love clearance sales and picked up quite a few new goodies at about 70% off this year.  Usually I throw them in the Christmas bin and don't see them until the next Christmas... AFTER I've forgotten about them and already bought all new stuff. So I made it my mission to break into some of those new goodies right away!

I have two very similar cards to share today, which is how I like to create my Christmas cards. Mass production bores me, and this keeps things streamlined, but with just enough variety to keep it enjoyable.

I started with some paper from the A Perfect Christmas collection by Echo Park.  I chose two patterns I liked together, then cut 4 x 5.25" bases and 1.5 x 5.25" strips. Next I knew I wanted to use some chipboard pine branches I picked up, so I sprayed them with green sprays, let them dry and then added a bit of snow paste and then some glitter paste for a snowy, sparkly effect.  While this was drying, I cut two Classy Label Die cuts from white cardstock and stamped the frame and sentiments from Unto Us in Mossy Meadow and Cherry Cobbler, using my MISTI to line things up.

For both cards I chose some ribbon to tie across in a bow, then layered the labels over it and the pine branches underneath, adding some paper flowers for embellishment.  For the horizontal card, I also chose to add two tiny bells from Tim Holtz's collection.

Okay, now it's time to hop along and check out all the other fabulous posts on the hop. There's sure to be a lot of inspiration and ideas to get your creative juices flowing!  The hop is hosted on the fabulous Kelly Lunceford's blog, so head over there to start from the beginning. Or continue on to visit Kim Heggins if you've already been hopping along!

Kelly Lunceford

Anita Madden
Broni Holcombe
Claire Broadwater
Julee Tilman --- That's me!
Kim Heggins
Lori Tecler
Nance Salkeld
Nina Forsyth
Vicki Finger

Enabler's List

Stamps: Unto Us (Verve Stamps)

Paper: A Perfect Christmas (Echo Park), Mossy Meadow, basicblack (SU!), white (Neenah)

Ink: mossy meadow, cherry cobbler (SU!), color bloom sprays (Prima)

Accessories: Classy Label Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), ribbon, pine branch chipboard (Southern Ridge Trading Co.), flowers (Prima), tiny bells (Tim Holtz), Snow Paste (Recollections), Glitter paste (BoBunny)

Pop Up Thanks

Hi friends! It's another Monday and miraculously all my people were well enough to go to school/work and I've got the house to myself.  I'm still fighting some bronchial issues, but I'm on my second cup of coffee and have some clarinet concertos queued up on Spotify to help ease me back into work mode.

Last Friday when Trevor was home, I set him up with some acrylic paint and color wheel practice exercises as an excuse to be able to hang out in my stamp room. That meant I got a chance to make this little caffeinated creation with some bits and scraps on my desk for another Falliday Fest challenge.  And he had a lot of fun learning about secondary colors... and that acrylic paint doesn't like water the way watercolor paints do!

As you might have guessed from my cards lately, I'm head over heels for the Amber Moon collection by Prima.  So I've got a lot of bits and pieces of it on my desk. Since the Falliday Fest challenge was to use up bits and pieces, I decided to pair my paper scraps with some of the stamped colored and cut images I already had finished that hadn't made it onto a project yet.

The first little bit that was already made was my favorite wreath stamp from the Autumn Blessings stamp set, cut with the coordinating die from the Autumn Thanks die set. I had layered another wreath cut from chipboard behind it for some heft, then popped them up on a circle die cut stamped with the thanks a latte sentiment from Autumn Leaves. Everything had been colored with copics previously and the wreath had been coated with morning dew Nuvo drops and sprinkled with glitter.  I had also splattered with some distress stain.

I tucked some Autumn Leaves leaves behind the wreath that I had previously stamped and die cut, then added a few little nuvo drops to the wreath alternating yellow and orange.

The cup image was another bit that had been previously colored and cut with the coordinating die from the Happiness in a Cup die set. My only new stamping was the steam stamped in mocha ink on the sponged scrap from an Amber Moon journaling card.  I wrapped some vintage lace trim around the piece, then layered another Amber Moon scrap, then the wreath/leaf image and finally popped up the colored coffee cup below the steam.

I knew I wanted to make another pop up gift card holder. I created it the same as the last one I shared, but this time I used the Classy Label Die to cut the opening instead of the word window punch, and then cut a little slit on each side from the die cut opening to about 3/8" from either side.  On the inside of the card, I used a left over strip of paper from the 6 x 6 pad. The center block of the paper actually has a heart that says Autumn is love, but it wasn't the sentiment I wanted, so I covered it with a heart shaped ephemera piece from the ephemera pack, then placed a coffee cup sticker from the Amber Moon planner goodie pack in the center of the heart. I bought this pack entirely because of these little coffee cup stickers! Seriously cute! I finished off with a seasonal chitchat sticker with the sentiment today I am grateful that I fishtailed on either end. Now it's all ready for a quick note of gratitude with a gift card to a local coffee drive-thru tucked in.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful start to your week.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Autumn Leaves, Autumn Blessings (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Amber Moon 4 x 6 and 2 x 3 journaling cards and 6 x 6 pad (Prima), neutral cardstock
Ink: coffee archival, vintage photo distress stain, brushed corduroy distress (Ranger), warm sunshine, crimson, espresso, mocha (Altenew), copic markers
Accessories: Autumn Thanks Die Set, Autumn Leaves Die Set, Happiness in a Cup Die Set, Classy Label Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Seasonal chitchat stickers (Tim Holtz), morning dew, ripened pumpkin and dandelion yellow Nuvo drops (Tonic), vintage lace, Amber Moon Planner Goodie Pack, Amber Moon ephemera pack (Prima)

Other Links
Color Wheel printables
FF17bejoyce Falliday Fest Challenge
Pop Up gift card tutorial