Welcome to the October Tour de Freak tour which officially starts October 20th! We are so excited that you have joined us today on our fifth Blog Tour. This month we are featuring Christmas Cards!
Our tour is nice and short and features some of your favorite Control Freaks Stampers. I'm stop #9, but you may have come here by way of Erin's Blog. If so, welcome! At the end of my post you will be directed to the next stop so make sure to keep on reading and don’t forget to click through on to Shona Watson's blog.
Sit back, relax and enjoy the tour!
I'm starting off with Stampin' Up!'s newest product...My Digital Studio! I used elements from the Christmas Jingle Designer Kit, Old Saint Nick Stamp set (not in our main catalog) and Alpine Ribbon. The first image is the digital image and the second is a photo of my printed card.
Here's another one that I did in Real Red. Then I wondered what it would look like with the colors reversed.
Here they are printed out.
I printed all three My Digital Studio cards on my own printer which does print border to border. If you do want to print from your own computer, beware of the following:
1) The Real Red card took a LOT of my ink cartridge.
2) The printed color does not match Stampin' Up! Real Red.
3) If you want to do "hybrd" papercrafting (printing and adding "real-live" embellishment), the colors are not guaranteed to match.
Now onto my handstamped cards...
One of my favorite new stamp sets is Autumn Days. I love all of the different "nature" style stamps...great variety. I was really drawn to the pinecone image. So that is what I used for my last two cards.
I made one quick and easy, for mass producing your holiday cards. The other card is for that very special person in your life!
Aren't they beautiful? I so happy with the way they turned out.
Here's the quick and easy card which was inspired by a Halloween card I received from Penny at Founder's Circle.
Supplies: Autumn Days, Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Sets, Very Vanilla cardstock, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip Markers, Old Olive 1-1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals.
Here is my "step-it-up" card...
Tips for the "step-it-up" card:
1) Use sponge daubers (vs. Markers) to ink up your stamp. This is quicker and less stress on your markers, especially when you're doing several repeat images.
2) I used a Versamarker to add versamark ink to select places on the pinecones. Then embossed those areas with Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder (hard to see in the picture).
3) The PEACE is from a verse that comes with the "Gifts of Christmas" stamp set. Use a marker to ink up the word you want. You get more use out of your stamps this way.
Supplies: Autumn Days, Gifts of Christmas (for peace), Very Vanilla & Chocolate Chip cardstock, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip Ink Pads & Sponge Daubers, Chocolate Chip 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Chocolate Chip 1-1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Gold Cording, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, Word Window Punch, 1/16" punch, Versamarker, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Stampin' Dimensionals.
I hope you enjoyed this stop on the Tour De Freaks Tour. Be sure to visit the next stop with Shona. We look forward to seeing you again on December 20th for our next Tour de Freaks Blog Tour!
Enjoy~Dawn O
CLICK HERE FOR THE NEXT STOP ON THE BLOG TOUR!