I know, I know- it’s still summer (although here in SW Florida the kids have been back at school for 2 weeks).  Nevertheless, when you teach card classes and sell craft supplies you have to stay ahead of the seasons… no-one will be coming to a Christmas card class in mid-December!  As a result, I’ve  started “playing” with some of my holiday stamps, and ordering others so I can offer some ideas to my students.  Honestly, some of the papers by Stampin’ Up! in the new holiday catalog are so beautiful, they hardly need embellishment to make a great card. Here are a couple of examples of that:

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I paired the Brightly Gleaming designer paper with copper foil sheets (the foil on the right was textured with our Subtle embossing folder,and the ribbon is a gorgeous two-toned satin. The sentiment for the card on the left was stamped with Delicata Copper ink.  Both cards came together really quickly, and the photos really don’t do them justice!

For my next card, I was wanting a “tropical Christmas” feel.  I think I achieved that, using the Seaside Notions stamp set, and some more Brightly Gleaming paper, copper foil,  delicious Pretty Peacock cardstock and ink, and Delicata Copper ink.

As you can see, I stamped the images on Pretty Peacock, textured that layer with the Subtle embossing folder, then cut it with a Stitched Rectangles die.  I layered it with a piece of copper foil over a piece of designer paper, using dimensional foam to pop it up a bit.  Paper-saving tip: I cut out the center of the designer paper with a slightly smaller rectangle, and will use that on another card!  I then stamped the sentiment in Pretty Peacock, added some dots in copper, and matted that with copper foil, once again popping it up with dimensionals.  It’s really pretty, and I thought it had a tropical flair.  Here is the inside:

Now I’m waiting for another stamp set delivery.  Wait till you see the 3D snowglobe!  Items from the new catalog go on sale Sept. 4th.  If you are in the US, I would be honored to have you order through my store (click View My Site on this page).  The catalog will be online 9/4, but I can get you a paper catalog if you want to contact me at rougeuxm@gmail.com

Thanks for stopping by, and happy stamping!

Michelle