Very Merry Christmas, Indeed!

Here's the last of my cards from the big release party last night. What fun! Could you believe all the fabulous cards the design team put out during the party. My mouth was hanging open at some of them because they were so amazing! I hope you enjoyed the party as much as I did and I hope you'll enjoy these last few cards I made.There will be a few more later this month for some blog hops, so stay tuned!

I am a huge fan of the holidays, especially Christmas. When I was a little girl my very German grandmother dearly loved Christmas, especially decorating her tree with all of those old-fashioned glass ornaments made in Germany. My mother is a close second to her in Christmas decorating, baking, etc. so I think I know where my love of the holidays came from!

This new set by Theresa Momber, called A Very Merry Christmas, is perfect for someone like me who never gets tired of making Christmas-themed cards and gift items. I have a ton of Christmas/holiday stamps but this set goes to the top of my list of favorites. I have three cards to share that I made with this set and I have ideas for several more! I love it when a stamp set inspires so many card ideas!
This Bell Card is the first one I made with this set. I used the jingle bells and the holly swag stamps. I stamped the holly first, then masked it and stamped the jingle bells, and then colored them with Copics. I added a little bit of shimmer to the bells with the gold Spica pen. I stamped the greeting with versamark and then embossed it with gold embossing powder to make it coordinate with the gold paper I used. (I really need to get the gold Colorbox ink pad that was part of the great Gina K Designs September release. I don't have a gold pad so I have to emboss if I want anything done in gold.) I cut the greeting out with a nestabilities rectangle and did a scalloped rectangle in gold behind it. Then I used my slot punch so I could thread the ribbon through it and gave it a curling twist to go with the ribbon on the bells.

Here is the rest of the detailed information about the card.
Paper:
Base card is Pure Luxury Cranberry Tart
Gold is Pure Luxury Good as Gold
Green is Pure Luxury All Spruced Up
Ivory is Pure Luxury Ivory

Ribbon is from the new Gina K Designs Holiday Assortment (it also comes as part of the latest Stamp TV Kit)

My second card was made with the fireplace scene from this set. It looks so warm and cozy I just want to pull up a chair and enjoy the crackling fire! I stamped the image with Memento Rich Cocoa and then colored it with Koh-i-noor pencils and OMS. I decided to use the colored pencils on this instead of markers to give it a softer look. After I colored the image I sponged some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen around the image to soften it even more. If you like to color, you will love working with this stamp. There are lots of details and so many ways you could color it.

Here's the recipe for this one:
Paper:
Red: Pure Luxury Rocket Red
Brown: Pure Luxury Chocolate Kiss
Ivory Pure Luxury Ivory

Ink:
Image and sentiment stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa
Sentiment is edged with Vivid Dye Ink Brick Red

Ribbon and Brads: The ribbon is from the Gina K Designs Holiday Assortment (also available in the Stamp TV Kit); the brads are from the Stamp TV Kit

Nestabilities: Labels Two and Double-ended tags

And, finally, the Holly Card. This one features the holly swag from the set as its focal image. The base cardstock is Pure Luxury Cranberry Tart and the white layer is Pure Luxury base weight in Pure White, which is fabulous for embossing like I did here. I used the Cuttlebug 'Joy & Cheer' embossing folder but only embossed part way down the card so I could stamp that lovely sentiment below the focal image. I used the nestabilities scalloped and plain ovals to cut out the cranberry and white ovals. I also embossed the white oval and then used silver rub-on paste around the rim for a bit of added elegance. I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored it with Copic markers. There is a tiny bit of Spica red on the berries to add some bling and the stars are colored with the silver Spica pen. To create the sentiment with the two words in silver I inked all of the other words with Memento Rhubarb Stalk and then did the other two words with Versamark. After I stamped it I very carefully poured silver embossing powder on those two words and heated them. I like how it turned out but would like some finer embossing powder if I were going to do it again. (Note to self -- look for fine silver embossing powder!) Once again, the ribbon is from the Gina K Holiday Assortment. The final touch on the card is the three self-adhesive rhinestones at the bottom, which are available from Gina K Designs.

Whew! That was a lot of ground to cover! I hope you enjoyed seeing these three cards as much as I enjoyed making them!