Another Stationery Gift

This is a note-card set I created for my niece. Here you see it open. And the next picture shows it closed up.

It is decorated with an embossed band created with an Edgeability Spellbinder's die.  The container is based on a Splitcoaststampers tutorial shown here.

This container is filled with notecards like the above.  It is a freebie digi-stamp, but I can't remember where I found it.  It was colored with pastel chalks.  To keep the colors clean I used an extra printout of the digi-stamp and cut a stencil from it.

Purchased Focals for Christmas Cards

Today's cards use punch-out purchased focals with additional supplies.  This first one uses dimensional paint that serves as snow.  This next one uses chalk to add dimension - though it's not easily seen in the photo:

Dazzles make Nice and Quick Cards

This card was made for a friend who lives in Hawaii.  The "Tropical Christmas" Dazzles formed the base for a very appropriate card for her.  I paper-pieced  portions of the sticker with green mylar, red mylar, and a snake-skin paper that worked great for the tree trunk.  Putting it all on a scrap of sand-colored paper gave the right touch for a Tropical Christmas. 

Here are a couple more cards made with Dazzles.  These ones use printed tissue paper glued to the card backgrounds. 

For these last two cards, I used "Stitched Dazzles" which were not stitched.  I decorated them with Stickles and a Dazzle Angel.

Stamp Maker Sentiments

 Today, for a change, I'm showing the INSIDE of a couple of Christmas cards instead of the OUTSIDES!  They show stamped sentiments made with my Stampmaker.  This first one is cut and embossed with one of my Nestabilities from Spellbinders.

This is one of the nice things about being able to make my own stamps -- being able to have sentiments I want for the INSIDE of my cards.  Here is another one:

To see other things I've made with the stamp maker, check out this post or this one.

Cards with Scraps and Purchased Focals

 I had a bunch of these punch out focals for cards that I wanted to use up.  I put them together with scraps of other papers to create these quick cards.  The first one uses a scrap of red at the bottom with a strip of green on it.  A scrap of ribbon with a cut-out sentiment finishes the bottom of the card.  At the top, the embossed white piece was another scrap.  It is finished with red Stickles.

For this one, I found a scrap of golden brown card stock.  I embossed it with a pine-cone feel.  The leaves and berries are covered with Stickles adding a bit of glitter to the card.

Quick Christmas Cards with Embossing

Okay, technically Christmas is over, but I'm going with the 12 days of Christmas idea and continuing to show some of the Christmas cards I made this year.  These ones feature purchased "punch out" focals from Hot Off the Press.  In most cases they are placed against embossed backgrounds.  In this particular case, Jewel Dazzles are added as Christmas tree decorations.

 Though it's rather difficult to see in this picture, here the word "JOY" is covered with Stickles, adding a nice glitter.  A metallic gold pen outlines the green and the embossed white.

 This one is pretty straight forward.  The embossed background is matted on turquoise. Stickles cover various of the decorations on the tree making them sparkle.  There's a ribbon bow.  It is finished off with a purchased transparency sentiment.  This next one also uses a purchased transparency sentiment:

 A green elastic cord serves as string for the lights in this bright card.

 The heart this angel carries was orange originally which looked terrible with the rest -- so I colored over the orange with gel pens, making it a deeper reddish color.

 This focal was one large piece which I cut apart to fit on the card, cutting a few of the candies loose to float on the upper left side.

For this last card, the embossed background was inked around the edges with a purple ink to help pull in the purple on the card focal.  The circle is outlined in glittery Stickles, adding a nice finishing touch.

Another Gift of Stationery

Here's another stationery set I made for a Christmas gift.  It is similar to the one I showed here. This one, however, I made using panels of a very stiff cardboard that I covered with another paper and then glued them to the card stock base.  I was much happier with this one because it didn't feel so flimsy.  This one is filled with A2 cards, mini gift cards, and tags.  I also found a little pen that I stuck in the front right corner pocket with the tags.

Here are pictures of the A2 card assortment I included:

These are the mini cards:

And these are the tags I added:

Foil Papier Tole Christmas Cards

Today I'll show a few more of those quick Papier Tole cards - foiled papier tole this time.  Once again, they are from Hot Off the Press.  In addition to the dimensional papier tole (some of the layers are popped up on foam dots), this particular card also has some Dazzles stickers on it, all on an embossed green background.  Embossing with embossing folders and my Big Shot makes for a great card very quickly.  Here are a couple more foiled papier tole cards:

Quick Papier Tole Christmas Cards

This year I did not get all my Christmas cards made ahead like I like to do and I ran out and had to make more quickly. This is why I haven't posted for the last several days.  Today I'll try to make up for that with pictures of several cards I made recently Papier Tole from Paper Wishes.  Though they can be a bit expensive compared to other focals, they are quick and can be quite stunning.  Many of them, including the above, were then accented with Stickles.  Mounting on embossed backgrounds also adds a special touch, along with ribbon and outline sticker greetings.  Here are some more:

Just For You Focal

Today's card features a sentiment focal (and yes, this too was in the stationary set I showed last week).  The sentiment was stamped on a little square of pink card stock that had been sprayed with silver smooch spritz (leftover from a previous project). As you can see, this was matted several times and a ribbon with bow was added before attaching it to a black base cut with a Spellbinder's Nestability die and my Big Shot machine.  The whole was then attached to the card front which had been embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder and the Big Shot.

Cupcake Stamped Birthday Focal

Today's card is a birthday card using a little "Small Stamps" set from Hot Off the Press for the focal. It is stamped on some white/pink patterned paper and then matted on a turquoise piece of card stock that has been embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder.  I colored a few of the raised spots black for added interest.  Outline stickers form a frame and the whole thing is matted on a white circle cut with a "Love Story" Multi Punch.  Outline corner stickers and a black bow finish it off.

Die Cut Spirelli

Today's card, another from last week's stationary set, uses die cuts and spirelli for the focal.  I started with a motive from Spellbinder's Fleur de Lis Motifs and cut it from silver and pink, interspersing the colors.  I then colored the outer points silver.  Using a blue metallic thread, I wove a spirelli pattern from the various motifs - first skipping 3 points, then 2, then one.  A few dazzles jewels finish off the middle of the motif.  The "Thinking of You" was cut on my Silhouette from adhesive-backed vinyl and placed on a tag cut from Spellbinder's "Fancy Tags" set.

A Thank You Card in Silver and Pink/Purple

This is another one of the cards in the stationary set.  This one is pretty straight forward.  3 panels of patterned paper with silver foiling matted on silver paper and outlined with a black pen.  The sentiment is stamped with black StazOn on silver foil paper cut with a Spellbinder's Nestability die in my Big Shot - and matted on mats cut with larger dies. I used a black pen to outline these as well - partly because I couldn't emboss this particular foil paper since it is too fragile and tears.

Embossing, Die Cuts, & Stamp Pad Ink

Today's card is another one I put in that stationary set I showed last week.  It uses a couple of Spellbinder's dies - Fleur De Lis Motifs, and Fancy Tags.  I must say I enjoy both of them.  I use the Fancy Tags a LOT for both card making and scrapbooking.  Outline stickers and jewel stickers adorn them.  I embossed a strip for the top using a Sizzix embossing folder and my Big Shot.  I then took a silver stamp pad and lightly rubbed across the top.

Poor Execution but Fun Technique

This card, though not one of my best, shows a fun technique for creating a card focal.

I started with embossing the sentiment at the bottom of a card topper and stamping a picture of a cake in silver above it and adding a bit of color with pens.  I then gently rubbed a silver marker over the top of the embossing to make it "pop".  A silver ribbon creates a border between them and then the topper is matted on silver before being glued to the card front.  (Oh yes, I also rounded all corners.)

Now for the "fun technique".  I cut two small rectangles from card stock remnants in the proper size to cover the stamping and embossing. I used a corner rounder on them as well. These were attached over the stamping and embossing areas with painter's tape.  Then, I sprayed it all with Silver Lame' Smooch Spriz.  After it dried, I removed the small rectangles, showing the brighter areas left to draw attention to the focal.  (Of course the small rectangles were saved to use in other projects.  You can see one of them serving as a mat on the note pad cover I showed earlier this week.)  The card was finished with some outline stickers around the focal area.