Happy New Year 2012!

The start of a New Year is here and that means trying new things. It is for this reason that my New Year's card this year have a different look ... not easy for me!

The first card reflects the sticker's black background by extending it with a black textured strip of Canson paper.  My past New Year's cards have often used the representations of champagne bottles as the theme and this image carries on the tradition with a celebratory sticker from Recollections. The feel is retro, down to the glittered multi colored stars.

The second card is my version of the annual countdown. The background paper is actually a Christmas paper from My Mind's Eye.  The 3D glittered stickers of the countdown and clock with text are from Recollections and compliment the paper perfectly.

Happy New Year to all and here's to a great 2012!

Thank You card.

Some times a patterned paper is so powerful that it seems a shame to try and change it ... so make it your design inspiration!  I did this with a ColorBok paper from an old pad I found on clearance at WalMart.

The background looked not only masculine but somewhat retro as well ... so I expanded on the look by simply enphasizing the concept. The band and the larger squares are cut from matching solid papers and layered in a scatterned pattern to offset the structured background pattern. The text is a stamp from "Hero Arts" stamped in a blue ink to match the darker blue paper.

Another non-traditional Christmas card!

This time I wanted not only the color but the image to be non-traditional: so I chose blue and a heart!

The heart wreath was made using a McGill pine branch hand punch and two different shades of blue paper (in this case I cheated and used QuicKutz adhesive papers).  I added some turquoise colored faux gems (Stampendous Dot Sparklers) and an ivory satin bow (Anna Griffin) to complete the wreath. The text is a glittered rub-on from K&Company/E.K. Success.  The wreath is set on an ivory piece of paer, mounted on a ligt blue paper and then on an ivory card.

Merry Christmas!

Personal Christmas card.

This year I've made over a hundred Christmas card but none looked quite as good as the one I made for my own use. The card is a simple combination of several stickers that create an elegant look.

I started with a 5" x 5" white card; which I framed with thin antique gold line sticker from "Mrs. Grossman's Design Line" 1/2" from the edges. Using glitter markers from "Martha Stewart/E.K. Success" I embellishes a 3D sticker from "Anna Griffin" before adding the 3D sticker to the card. To finish the look I added some yellow, orange and red mini "Hero Arts" rhinestones over the printed berries in the holly.



Recycled gift tags.

One of my favorite way to make make Christmas cards is to recycle old gift tag. Here are three quick and easy cards I made using recycled gift tags. 

The first two card use 3D glittered gift tags from Punch Studios (which I found at an outlet store for $5.00 for a box of twelve after the season).  For the first card I took off the rectangular backpiece of the tag and then combined the tag with a text sticker from "BoBunny" and a 3D glittered poinsietta sticker from "K&Company/E.K. Success" on a piece of  "K&Company/E.K. Success" paper in combination with a red background and a simple white card.

For the second card I mounted the gift tag on a piece og gold paper and then mounted the panel on a simple white card. I edged both the gift tag and the gold paper woth gold line stickers from "Stampendous", added gold corner stickers (also from "Stampendous") and finishe eveyrthing off with the additions of various shapes and colors of faux gems  from "Stampendous Dot Sparklers".

The third card was made for a friend who likes purple! I found a pack of gift tags for a dollar of a purple and silver tree on a white background surrounded by a purple background. I mounted the gift tag on a white card and edged both the white panel and the purple panels of the tag with silver line metalic paper sticker from "Mrs. Grossman's Design Line". I added a rhinestone star from "Darice" to the top of the tree and various sizes of  purple rhinestones (also from "Darice") as ornaments.  The final touch was a silver rub-on text from "Martha Stewart/E.K. Success".