Christmas Pines for After Christmas Thank You Notes

How was your Christmas Day? Did you overeat? Oversleep? Overdrink? Overplay? Or did you just enjoy the joys of the day with moderation? My day was very quiet, because none of my kids or grandkids could be here with us (insert very sad face here) and because my husband had to work both Christmas Eve and Boxing Day (today) we couldn't get away to visit any of them either! But quiet does have it's bonuses. I've had such a busy run up until Christmas that it's nice to just enjoy the extra rest and sleep without the hassle of cooking a big meal and waking up early early to excited little ones (although I'd exchange it in a minute if I could!)

Did you get what you wanted for Christmas? Do you participate in the ritual of sending Thank You notes to people who have sent you gifts from out of town? My mother always insisted that we sit down after Christmas to write a thank you note to Grandma and Aunt Mabel and whoever else had sent us a gift and I think it is a charming way of acknowledging their effort in going to the trouble of selecting, wrapping and sending you a gift. I continued that tradition with my own girls and we always kept a list as we unwrapped gifts, so we remembered who sent what to whom! Very handy when it came time for Thank You notes.

I think having a cute card to write in makes it much more fun and easier than just scribbling on a piece of paper. These cards were actually customer thank yous, but would work perfectly as gift thank yous as well.

• I used two different stamp sets for this card, both from the Annual Catalogue. One is Christmas Pines, a set from last year's Holiday Catalogue, carried over into this year's Annual Catalogue. The other is Thankful Thoughts, a set of thank you sentiments that comes in handy.
• The Designer Series Paper is Dashing Along, which has some really subtle yet elegant designs just made for Christmas themed cards.
• The cards you see here are notecard sized - 3 1/2" x 5" - which is a quick size to make and fill up with images and sentiments.
• The embellishments are either Cherry Cobbler Braided Linen Trim - a leftover from my November Paper Pumpkin Kit, or Rhinestone Basic Jewels coloured with the Dark Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends.
• The card base is Thick Whisper White cardstock.

During this week of Boxing Day sales, let me remind you that the retiring products from the Holiday Catalogue only have a week to go until they are gone for good, and some of them are available at substantial savings. Let me know quickly if you want to place an order with me, or go to my On-Line Store and place an order yourself.

I am working on something new from the Occasions Catalogue to share with you on Friday! Stay tuned!!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.

Product List

Christmas Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set [142049] $44.00	Thankful Thoughts Wood-Mount Stamp Set [141519] $37.00	Thankful Thoughts Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141522] $26.00	Dashing Along Designer Series Paper [149903] $15.00	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock [140272] $10.50
Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730] $13.25	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad [147083] $10.25	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad [147115] $10.25	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad [147089] $10.25	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [147090] $10.25
Rhinestone Basic Jewels [144220] $6.75	3/16" (1 Cm) Braided Linen Trim [147808] $9.50	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $5.50	SNAIL Permanent Adhesive [104332] $9.50

Tis the Season for Apron of Love

If my posts seem a little heavy on the Christmas themes over the last few days, it's because I'm prepping for my Christmas Buffet class coming up this Saturday and to do that, I need to get into the mood, which is a little hard in 40 degree weather (104 degrees F for my American readers). I always try to get my customers in the mood, too, because you have to feel Christmassy to make proper Christmas cards, right?? So I play holiday music and have some Yuletide baking handy for treats! That's why today's sample is so appropriate. Even if you do very little baking the rest of the year, almost everyone does at least some token baking around Christmas. That's why I love this card: the colours, the apron the gingerbread cookie, the baking utensils, the wood grain! It all evokes the Christmas spirit in a subliminal way!

You can see the details better here:

• Love the Real Red, Wood Grain, Call Me Clover and Early Espresso together with a hint of Silver and Whisper White.
• Apron of Love, Cookie Cutter Christmas and Christmas Pines stamp sets - Unite!!
• Under the Mistletoe Designer Series Paper has a diverse series of prints and colours to use.
• One thing I like about the Apron Builder Framelits is that you can cut out a bunch of tools with just one die.
• The layout was fun to create with the Stitched Shapes framelits and the Layering Squares Framelits.
• Use the Stampin' Pierce Mat when stamping the gingerbread man for full coverage. So nice to be able to use a punch to punch him out quickly and easily!

You can order from the Annual Catalogue in August, buying all those things on your wish list ( and there are so many, I know) and assuage your guilt at spending money on yourself (yes, I know you!) by reminding yourself that you are earning a bonus coupon with every $60 you spend per order that you can spend in September on Holiday Catalogue items!! There now, doesn't that make you feel better??!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.

Product List

Apron Of Love Photopolymer Stamp Set [145835] $27.00	Cookie Cutter Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set [142043] $27.00	Christmas Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set [142049] $44.00	Under The Mistletoe Designer Series Paper [146921] $15.00	Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack [144177] $15.00
Silver Foil Sheets [132178] $5.50	Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [119686] $11.50	Real Red 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [102482] $11.50	Call Me Clover 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146969] $11.50	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730] $13.25
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [147114] $10.25	Apron Builder Framelits Dies [145661] $39.00	Cookie Cutter Builder Punch [140396] $24.00	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies [145372] $41.00	Layering Squares Framelits Dies [141708] $48.00
Big Shot [143263] $150.00	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $5.25	SNAIL Permanent Adhesive [104332] $9.00	Glue Dots [103683] $7.00	Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [144108] $5.50

Free Shipping Today Only & Danish Nisse Punch Art for Color Throwdown

Looking for some challenges to spur me on yesterday, I found a new colour challenge at the Color Throwdown challenge blog:

Black, red and gray immediately made me think of the Danish nisse - Christmas gnomes, so prevalent in Scandinavian holiday decor:

So, I began to formulate how I could create one using punch art! Here's how it turned out:

• The card is not layered, as the single card base really adds to the cleanness of the Scandinavian look. I just added some ink splotches along with some embossed splotches using White Stampin' Emboss Power and the stamp from Timeless Textures.
• The sentiment is from the Christmas Pines stamp set. I really liked the font from this set for this challenge.
• The foliage is from the Pretty Pines Thinlits, die cut from Whisper White, Smoky Slate and Basic Black cardstock, and bow die cut from Real Red cardstock. I also used the Martha Stewart leaf punch.
• The little nisse himself is created from the following punches and put together with Glue Dots: the Fox Builder punch for the body with the haunches trimmed off; the Holly Berry Builder punch for the bow at his neck; the 3/4" circle punch for the head; the Bow Builder* punch for the hat and stripe on the body; the 1/2" circle punch for the pompom on his hat. 
• *I punched out the long loop piece of the bow and cut it in two, one end slightly longer than the other. The longer end, I curved using the 3/4" punch. I punched a 1/2" pompom from Whisper White cardstock and glued it on the end of the hat where the square tab from the bow is at.

Stampin' Up! has pulled another surprise promotion on us! Today you have another Free Shipping Day from 12:00 am to 11:59 pm Mountain Time (11:00 pm Sunday - 10:59 pm Monday Pacific Time) This is good for any kind of orders, so you can contact me with your order no later than 7 pm tonight and I'll submit it OR you can submit it yourself on line by going to my On-Line Store and shopping for yourself. Please use the Host Code: K3U2S7BC if your order is under $200. If it is $200 or over you will earn your own Stampin' Rewards, and so you won't want to forfeit those by using the Host Code. There is no minimum order, so you won't be penalized by the flat rate shipping charge if you want to place an order under $100.

Remember you only have a few hours to respond! Let those who may be buying for you for Christmas know as well and give them my contact info.

Have a great Monday!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.

Product List

Christmas Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set [142049] $43.00	Timeless Textures Wood-Mount Stamp Set [140514] $36.00	Timeless Textures Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140517] $27.00	Basic Gray 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121044] $10.00	Real Red 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [102482] $10.00
Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121045] $10.00	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730] $11.25	Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [131202] $10.00	Versamark Pad [102283] $11.25	Embossing Buddy [103083] $8.00
White Stampin' Emboss Powder [109132] $6.75	Heat Tool [129053] $40.00	Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies [141851] $34.00	Big Shot [143263] $136.00	Fox Builder Punch [141470] $23.50
Bow Builder Punch [137414] $23.50	3/4" Circle Punch [119873] $17.00	1/2" Circle Punch [119869] $8.00	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $5.25	Glue Dots [103683] $7.00