Handmade Christmas Cards from Friends Near & Far

A gorgeous bevy of handmade Christmas cards sent by several fabulous friends, some I've never even met "in person", but they're still BFFs to me!!! I always like how Allison (Stampin'WhenICan) says PSFs (Pretend Stamping Friends) -- makes me laugh! These ladies are truly REAL friends in every sense of the word, as they've done so many kind things for me even though I've never met two of them -- really tugs at my heart strings! Who ever would have thought a little ole blog could bring so much joy into our lives -- I have my nearby sweet friend, Gwen, to thank for that every day!!! All these wonderful ladies are sooo very talented: clockwise from top: Ilene, Kelly, Jak, Gwen, Deva!!!

PTI December Blog Hop: Holiday Inspiration

Our dear friends from MN had us over for Christmas Eve dinner and I chose her gorgeous handmade placemats as my inspiration for Blog Hop. She was helping a friend who was in charge of a Holiday Bazaar, only to learn the placemats she purchased were made by the very friend she was there helping! They're not only gorgeous plaid, but reverse to solid red. Because I've always loved plaids, the Vintage Ornaments Addition's plaid stamp caught my eye. I just love this card's bright traditional holiday colors and I already have a jump on next year's card stash!

Paper: PTI Pure Poppy, Spring Moss & Gold CS

Stamps: PTI Vintage Ornaments, Vintage Ornaments Additions & Everyday Classics

Ink: PTI Spring Moss, Pure Poppy, Landscape

Embellishments: Gold Stickles; Stampendous Star Chain Holograph Gold Stickers

Vintage Ornaments by PTI: Blue/Gold

I regrettably didn't purchase Vintage Ornaments & Vintage Ornaments Additions from Papertry Ink (trying to be practical & buy only one versatile Christmas set & more year-round ones), but boy am I sorry! These are just the most fun to play/create with. Huge thanks to my sweet BBGF Gwen for loaning hers to me. This card was done in blue for someone special (her fav color) and I just LOVE how it turned out! I'd received the Star Chain Stickers as a gift and thought they'd be perfect for hanging my ornaments from & thus my decision to use gold as my accent -- totally classy in person! Don't you just love it when a special card turns out even better than you thought it would?! S-C-O-R-E!!! Of course we won't mention how late it might arrive; we'll just keep believing in Santa Claus (& the Postal Service?) and have hope! ;0) EDITED to add: Now I know this was received, I can finally post it -- Woo-Hoo!!!
Paper: Bazzill CS; Gold Metallic (Layer); PTI's Spring Rain & Gold (ornament) CS
Stamps: PTI's Vintage Ornaments & Vintage Ornaments Additions
Ink: PTI's Spring Rain & Enore Ultimate Metallic Gold (sm. ornament); Versamark & ColorBox Royal Blue (lg. ornament)
Embellishments: Gold Stickers (Michaels); Hero Arts Clear Gemstones (Copic Colored: B29); Stampendous Class A'Peel Stickers; DeNami Gold Embossing Powder
Tools: Embossing Gun

PTI, LPS & Spellbinders' Quick/Easy Christmas Card

Papertrey Ink's 2009 Holiday Tag Collection and Spellbinders' Labels 5 dies made quick/easy cards! The tags could easily be switched out on this basic card sketch too! My Labels 5 were out from making Gwen's birthday card/box, so I ended up using them again here. Took red/green precut/prefolded cards I'd had forever and added two 1/2" PTI Gold CS strips for my "package". Then cut/embossed my Labels 5 shapes from PTI's Ripe Avocado/Gold, stamped my tree label, and added gold & red Stickles. My sentiment from Little Paper Shop's Christmas Tags set finished it off quick & easy!

Spellbinders' Labels 5/K & Company Happy Birthday Gwen

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, I had to imitate Claire's adorable box creation for my sweet friend Gwen's birthday! Claire is such a creative genius that I had to carry her idea onto my card. She also has a fabulous Stamp Company, Waltzingmouse Stamps, so be sure to check it out -- you won't be disappointed!!! Her incredible samples are throughout her blog too!

I knew Gwen liked these DPs by K & Company, so felt I couldn't go wrong there. I love how both turned out! Best part of all was that both Gwen & my other BFF Ilene had time to "do lunch" yesterday and I got to tag along with Ilene & surprise Gwen! She picked a fabulous little restaurant in downtown Chandler (AZ) for lunch. We all had the same fabulous salad, 2 hours of chatter & laughter & a gorgeous sunny day in the mid-70's -- what more could BFFs ask for?!

Paper: K & Company's McKenna & Margo; SU CS

Stamps: PTI's Everyday Classics, Friends 'Til the End & Vintage Labels

Ink: Tsukineko's VersaColor: Rose Red

Embellishments: Hero Arts Gemstones
Tools: Spellbinders' Wizard Die Cutter & Labels 5 Dies

New Home Congrats

I was inspired by these talented ladies, Bonnie & Sharon, to grab my Spellbinders gold craft foil & Labels 5 die this morning. I cut & embossed my die and stamped Congrats in Staz-On ink on my label. I glue dotted the holly leaves & berries (cut from green & red foil & left over from a previous project) above my sentiment, punched a hole in each edge for my gold ribbon & tied it around a bottle of bubbly for a surprise toast when our friends arrive from the frozen Midwest. In hindsight, I'd have Copic colored the leaves to better match the bottle's color and layered a larger label behind my foil one. I realize my rushed effort is in no way comparable to Bonnie's or Sharon's gorgeous creations, but using what stamps/dies & little time I had, I still think they'll appreciate the thought behind it! Another friend joked that I'm "re-gifting" because these friends bought this bottle of bubbly last winter to share with us, but we never had a chance to enjoy it. So I think it was meant to be that we use it to toast them & share it together in their new home we helped them find.

Last Chance for These Digital Stamps

If you'd like to have these two FABULOUS digi stamps, rush over to Jak's blog to purchase them for a very reasonable price for BOTH professional images: Little Soldier by Jim Harker & Out There by Mo Manning. Your purchase goes directly to the Meningitis Search 4 a Vaccine Campaign in memory of Jak's precious little 16-mo.-old Great Nephew. They're only available until Sunday, December 12th, so please take a moment and do it now -- it literally takes about 5 minutes to complete your purchase & receive your images! You'll be so glad you did and to have these exceptional images to enjoy! How adorable is the little Sailor boy and his faithful friend on my 2nd card?! You can also see Little Soldier in red for Christmas on my previous post here -- he's adorable in any color. These are such professionally-drawn images that even though I'm a beginner with Copic coloring & shading, they allow me to create gorgeous cards!

PTI's 2009 Holiday Tag Collection: Mistletoe

A quick/easy little Christmas card using Papertrey Ink's 2009 Holiday Tag Collection's mistletoe tag stamped in Palette True Black on PTI's White CS and cut/embossed with a Spellbinders' circle die. Ranger's White Opal Liquid Pearls highlight the berries and the tag is backed with Bazzill's Emerald City Bling CS punched with Paper Shapers 2" Scalloped Circle. I used Copic YG67 to color the leaves and my (formerly white) ribbon, which matches the scalloped circle IRL, though not in my photo. My background is black suede paper run through the Wizard with my Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss embossing folder. That's it -- hope your Holiday cardmaking and giftmaking are going well for all of you!!!