Saturday, January 7, 2012

Christmas Cards

With my (yet again) late start I decided to try mass producing cards this season and chose to use some stamps and holiday ribbon that have been laying around unused for several years. 


I started with several full sheets of white paper and stamped snowflakes all over them, up to 3 times before re-inking the stamp.  Stamped & embossed the script, then measured and cut around each script to size.  The ribbon is glued onto white paper (cut to the width of the ribbon) to help stabilize it and to help the white on the ribbon  POP.  Attaching the ribbon directly to the blue background subdued the white too much for me. 




Even then, I had to have some diversity...notice the shade of blue paper changes and the amount of embossing sparkle between these 2?  




Some of the early ones (before really getting into the production line of doing these) the embossing powder stuck to a few of the snowflake images too, giving even more variety to the batch.  I can't decide which I like better.  : )


Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Memento blue, Versamark & Fine Gold Embossing powder
Ribbon - JoAnns


When that ribbon ran out I grabbed another holiday roll.  These big spools take up space and it's nice to see them put to some good use (I have no idea what I was thinking when I bought them a few years ago)! : )  It was fun trying different papers behind this ribbon and seeing the effect the colors had.  I settled on using the same Kraft cardstock I used for the card base.  I thought it showed the browns & gold in the ribbon nicely.




I knew I didn't have enough of the stripe paper to make many and after trying several other patterns (but no likey) I remembered I had a holiday embossing folder that might just work!




Since I embossed thin designer paper, the pattern showed some white edges & mini tears.  I rubbed Gold Brilliance ink over the surface (direct to paper) giving it a gold antiquing & shimmer for the finished look of my background. 




Ahh, yet another version!  I really have a hard time making more than a few of any one design or color.  It helps that I don't have enough of any one color or paper to use up the ribbon, so some variation is needed. : )


Stamp: Stampin'Up
Ink: Versamark & Fine Gold Embossing powder; Brilliance Gold
Other: Holly Ribbons Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Ribbon-JoAnns, Spellbinders Labels 4


Wow, this was fun and I used up some ribbon!  I was able to make about 20 cards per roll of ribbon here, that took care of a big chunk of my Christmas card list!  


Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and has a Happy & Healthy New Year!

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