Friday, September 30, 2016

Stamp Off Fav Star of Light

Hey Friends.  It's been a busy week, but I'm happy to
report back for our Stamp Off Challenge 
with my wonderful and talented friends Buffy and Susan.
This week, our challenge is to pick our favorite item or set
from the 2016 Holiday Catalog.  I admit, I have a number
of favorite items.  I may have to close my eyes and
pick a card from among several, in order to 
fulfill this challenge!
In the final analysis,
I will have to go with the Star of Light set with bundled
Starlight Thinlits Dies on page 9.  I tend to prefer "serious"
Christmas cards to cute cards.  This set has so many wonderful
holiday sentiments, that that influenced me a great deal.
Then, there is the fact that you can do SO MUCH, with the
Thinlit Dies.  They can be layered, used to make a shaker card,
3-d stars or for a variety of techniques.  
In the sample above, I embossed a star in white, and then simply
sponged around it to create greater contrast.
I added a strip of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper
(page 175) and then layered 5/8" Burlap Ribbon (p178) over top,
so that the sparkle sort of peaks through.  I added a couple
of White Perfect Accents (p 177), to pull in a little more white.
Admittedly, I like a number of the bundles from this
Holiday catalog, but this set is the one that I would use for
my personal Christmas cards.  The Holiday Catalog shows
a host of samples, so you are primed for using this bundle!
Now please click on over to Buffy and Susan's blogs,
so that you can enjoy their Holiday Catalog picks!

Monday, September 26, 2016

Fresh Fruit Birthday

The Fresh Fruit set on page 149 is a beautiful set.
Whether you like fruit, or flowers, this photopolymer set
allows you to make beautiful two-step stamped backgrounds
and focal images.  It doesn't require a bunch of embellishments
or fancy cutting.  Just back to basics stamping, with the
addition of one of the lovely sentiments included
with this set.