Need Some Creative Christmas Ideas?

I've been in such a creative and Christmas mood lately. I wanted to share with you a few items I've made. I used Close To My Heart's new Festive Frills stamp set to create the trees. So did you notice the tree trunks? They're made using the tail from the larger bird in the stamp set. How cool is that? To create this and the following card I made a triangle stencil to mask the area I didn't want stamped, leaving a triangle hole to stamp in. The trees on the top card do have pop dots on the foreground trees to give it dimension.

I stamped this tree in Close To My Heart's White Daisy ink and then went back over it with a silver gel pen and added the sparkle at the top. I really think it's got a classy and polished look to it.

Few Creative Outbursts

Here are two of the items I've created recently. The box is a gift box that I stamped on white cardstock using the CTMH "No Peeking" and the new CTMH "Frosty Borders" stamp set in Cranberry. This was really easy to do. Here's a link to the directions

The card is one I made for Nick's sister. She sent Kallie an Alligator costume and book about alligators. So I made this card as a thank you. On the inside I stamped "A bit of thanks". The stamp set used is CTMH's "Life's a Jungle" It was the July stamp of the month. I thought it was cute to cut a bite out of the card.

Season of Gratitude Tutorial #1

This is my first card tutorial on line. I made another very similar to it for Nick's mom (posted below this project). I loved it so much I made this card for my Aunt Dora as a thank you. I hope you find this easy to follow. Please leave me a comment if you have any thoughts about it or if you attempt it. All products excluding the stickles are Close To My Heart (CTMH). If you would like to order anything you see here please contact me and I'll be happy to get them to you.

Materials Needed:

3 x 4 white cardstock

3.5 x 5 Vineyard Berry Cardstock

8 x 5.5 CTMH Creme Brulee Card stock (card base)

CTMH Black Ink stamp pad

CTMH Autumn Terracotta Ink stamp pad

CTMH Tulip Ink stamp pad

CTMH Chococlate Ink stamp pad

CTMH Playful Flourishes Stamp Set

CTMH Give Thanks Stamp Set

2.5" x 2.5" clear block

2" x 3" clear block

Blending pen

Bone folder

Crystal Stickles made by Banger

3 CTMH Autumn Terracotta Bitty Brads

CTMH sponge tool

sponge

Eyelet Setter

Scrap paper

Step 1. Stamped pumpkin from the Give Thanks stamp set in CTMH Black ink. Make sure you leave room for the Season of Gratitude sentiment at the top of the card.

Step 2. Stamped the bottom left of the card using the U shaped flourish. I only inked part of the stamp. This will allow me to line up the other U shape flourish in the next step to complete the effect I want.

Step 3. I used the matching flourish and inked it in black so that it would line up with my image, thus making a complete U underneath the pumpkin.

Step 4. I used the small squiggly from the playful flourish set, inked it in black and lined it up on my stamped flourishes and stamped.

Step 5. I inked in black just the "A season of" from the Give Thanks stamp set. I wiped off any additional ink with a wet wipe. Then I stamped it on the card making sure to leave room for the word Gratitude.

Step 6. Oops! I forgot to clean my stamp properly. Therefore you can see a second generation stamp of the words A Season of when I stamped the word Gratitude. Make sure to clean your stamps each time. I'll attempt to fix it later. I did stamp the word Gratitude in black ink.

Step 7. Using Autumn Terracotta ink and the blending pen I colored in the pumpkin. To use the blending pen you'll need to squeeze the closed ink pad, then open it and using a damp blending pen use the ink that transferred to the lid tray. It helps to start painting your color from the edges and work your way in. This will give you a softer overall color creating a watercolor appearence.

Step 8. Using Chocolate ink and the blending pen I colored in the stem of the pumpkin.

Step 9. Using a piece of a dollar store sponge, I sponged around the top of the card with Tulip Ink.

Step 10. Using the Autumn Terracotta ink I sponged around the bottom edges on the card.

Step 11. I used the blending pen and the Autumn Terracotta ink and highlighted the words and the flourishes. Step 12. I used the Autumn Terracotta ink and a flourish stamp and did second and third generation stamping around the edges. Second generation stamping is when you load your stamp with ink, then you first stamp on a scratch piece of paper, and second on your project. Third generation is stamping twice on your scratch sheet and thirdly on your project.

Step 13. I did 3rd generation stamping all around the card with another flourish using black ink.

Step 14. I went over the flourishes and each of the curls in the words with the stickles.

Step 15. I adhered the card front to a vineyard berry textured card stock and set in three Autumn Terracotta Bitty Brads on the left hand side of the card. Step 16. I folded my Creme Bulee cardstock and then using the sponge tool and the Autumn Terracotta ink I sponged around the edges. Next I adhered the card front.

Finished Card and another version using all of the same supplies.