Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Wishing all of my blog readers a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Today's card is our Christmas card for this year :).  I cranked out 100 of these over a few weeks, but I had so much fun putting them together.  I think the bow is my favorite detail of the card - they were made using a fork!  Here's a quick video tutorial that shows you how to make a fork bow - they come out perfect and so easy to do once you get the hang of it.  I think I'll ask my hubby to make me a fork like the one in the video :).

I used My Digital Studio to create the text on the inside of the card, then I stamped the Christmas tree from the Contempo Christmas set and added a little Dazzling Diamonds to the star at the top.  What do you think?

Stamp Sets	Contempo Christmas, Seasonal Sentiments
Ink	Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler
Paper	Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Jolly Holiday DSP
Accessories	Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Ornament Punch, Top Note Die, Dazzling Diamonds, Glue Pen, Stampin' Dimensionals, Old Olive 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon

Artistic Etchings Candle

 Front

Back

In today's post, I'm sharing with you our gift to our 13 neighbors!  We're new to our neighborhood, so I thought it would be a good way to "introduce" ourselves.  It's a flameless candle I found at Target that I used the candle-stamping technique on.  Here's a link to Dawn Griffith's tutorial - I like how she uses just a little bit of adhesive to place the stamped tissue paper exactly where she wants it!  That was very helpful in making these candles.  Once I heat set the tissue paper images, I also used the wax paper to smooth out the candle a little bit - worked great while the candle was still a little warm.

Also, don't be a secret stamper!  I added my personalized stamp to the back of the candle :).  I just love how this candle turned out - I think I'll make a few for myself!  What do you think?

Stamp Sets	Artistic Etchings, Butterfly "Hand Stamped By" Stamp
Ink	Cherry Cobbler
Paper	Tissue Paper
Accessories	Cherry Cobbler 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon, Heat Tool, Wax Paper

Bring On the Cake - Sneak Peek!

Today's card is a VERY belated birthday card for my cousin, Jayleen!  It also showcases one of the new stamp sets, "Bring On the Cake", from the new Occasions Mini catalog!  It's a set of 13 wonderful new birthday sentiments.  I can never have enough birthday stamps to choose from :).

The color scheme comes from the Color Coach - Basic Gray, Cajun Craze, and Baja Breeze (paired with Not Quite Navy).  I just cut strips of card stock in varying sizes and adhered them to the Not Quite Navy background.  Then I ran them through my Big Shot with the Square Lattice embossing folder and a shim created of 2 pieces of the cardboard backing to our DSP.  The extra shim gives the effect of inlaid embossing.

For the final touches, I added a couple of jumbo eyelets and I colored in the 'I' and the exclamation point to highlight a little bit of the stamp.  What do you think?

Stamp Sets	Bring On the Cake
Ink	Not Quite Navy, Daffodil Delight
Paper	Not Quite Navy, Basic Gray, Cajun Craze, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Accessories	Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Stampin' Dimensionals

Santa Gift Card Holder

Today's creation is a gift card holder using the tutorial over at Stamping 411!  Stop on over there and try this one out yourself - it's quick and easy to put together and you can make it your own like I did :).

I just love the winking Santa with the 'Do not open til Christmas' sentiment!  And with all the white space in Santa's beard, I decided to add the to:/from: stamp from the Jolly Old Saint Nick set.  On a side note, the gift card pictured is from Target and it's a scratch 'n' sniff gift card that smells like peppermints!  How cool is that?!?!

Well, I've got 8 more of these to make, so I'm off to make some more.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Stamp Sets	Tags til Christmas, Jolly Old Saint Nick
Ink	Cherry Cobbler, Blush Blossom, Pretty in Pink, Basic Black
Paper	Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Jolly Holiday DSP
Accessories	Two Tags Die, 1-3/4" Scallop Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, 1" Circle Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Sticky Strip, Paper Snips

Happy Birthday - Sneak Peek!

Today's card is a birthday card full of sneak peeks from the new Occasions Mini catalog that will be released January 4th!  I just received all my pre-order goodies yesterday :).  The flower piece of the card is a CASE from the Mini catalog - I just changed the card base and the sentiment.  What do you think?

Stamp Sets	Build a Blossom, Bring On the Cake
Ink	Blushing Bride, Old Olive, Early Espresso
Paper	Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Old Olive
Accessories	Blossom Petals Punch, Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, Sweet Stitches Fabric Designer Brads

You're In My Thoughts

A bit of a lag in between posts - I've been busy, busy creating the DiMatteo Christmas cards this year.  I finally finished making 100 of them last night and got them in the mail this morning :).  Once I've given them a few days to reach their destinations, I will post pictures of our card.

Today's card is a sympathy card for a high school classmate/friend of mine who just lost her brother.  Thinking of you and your family, Christin!

I completely forgot about this sentiment from the Word Play set - it's perfect for a sympathy card.  This was a quick and easy card to put together - if you look very closely, I added texture to the card using the Elements of Style stamp set and clear embossing powder, then a quick spritz of Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz.  The photo doesn't do it justice - it's beautiful in real life.  For the sentiment, I stamped it in Pacific Point and then used my blender pen to remove the ink from the heart so I could color it in with my Rose Red marker.  What do you think?

Stamp Sets	Elements of Style, Word Play
Ink	Pacific Point, Rose Red, Versamark
Paper	Whisper White
Accessories	Whisper White 5/8" Satin Ribbon, Clear Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy, Glue Dots, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz