Christmas Farewell (by Clare)

Hello!  It's almost that time of year again!  Christmas!  I cannot believe how fast time is flying by, although having to sit without being able to do much makes time seem to drag by.  I am so sad to say that after having a fourth surgery on my left shoulder, one on my right elbow and right shoulder upcoming, I am stepping down from the design team for a while.  I haven't been able to keep up with all my talented and creative team mates!  I hope you enjoy these few last cards of mine.  I wish each and every one of you Merry Christmas, a blessed holiday, and a prosperous and healthy New Year!  I will miss you all!

This first card was made with two stamps.  The background is from the Winter Edges set, and the main image is from the Reindeer Landscape set.  I used a wood-look embossing folder on the blue base, and placed two rows of glue and blue chunky glitter across the bottom.  The background was stamped in dark blue on white cardstock, then cut in half to fit across the 6" width behind the main image.  The deer landscape was stamped on white and heat embossed in teal blue.  I used a sponge dauber and blue inks in three different shades on the top and bottom.  There is light blue sparkle sheer ribbon 1" wide tied around the top, with a small piece of teal 1/8" wide satin ribbon tied around the center and a plastic snowflake button glued over that. I adhered the main panel over all with dimensional squares.

The card just below was made using the ornament edges from the Christmas Edges stamp set, and a bauble stamp from the Pears and Baubles set.  The white card base background was stamped in dark green with the bauble edge stamp after cutting the card out with a large die. I cut a smaller green panel with a smaller die, then positioned a scalloped-edged die in the middle of the green card cutting it twice to create the desired effect.  A white oval was die cut and lifted off the green panel with dimensional dots.  The beautiful bauble was stamped and heat embossed in white on dark green cardstock, then touched up with a silver marker.  I hand cut this out then positioned it on the white oval with dimensionals.  A piece of 1/8" wide silver ribbon was tied around and rhinestones placed to enhance.  (the green is a dark forest green, not teal as this looks)  The final touch was a thin line of silver marker around the periphery.

The next card is a favorite of mine!  I love the color purple (for royalty) and this turned out so pretty combined with the plum and silver.  My camera shot didn't do it justice!  I made a card base from white cardstock, and covered the front completely with purple/lavender paper.  I heat embossed both the deer image and the trees, using purple and silver, respectively.  Purple and plum ink was daubed onto the top and bottom of the image, as well as on the horizon.  The trees were hand-cut, and positioned with dimensional dots, giving the view some depth.  Some iridescent silver ribbon 1/8" wide was glued around the outside edge of the image, and was very easy to do.  A super CAS card!  The stamp set I used is Reindeer Landscape.

I'm really fond of this next card, because I love Poinsettias, and Chocolate Baroque has really done a great job with these Zentangled ones.  The stark red and black on white is really striking!  I've used two stamp sets on this card - Christmas Edges, and Joyful Christmas.  The card base is white, with dry embossed dots across the top half of the front.  The Christmas Edges poinsettia stamp was used in black across the bottom, and I applied some tiny little shiny red stickers for the centers.  Red was daubed all around the outside edges of the card.  Red 3/8" grosgrain ribbon was glued across the center of the card, with red cording glued over that.  I stamped the larger flowers from the Joyful Christmas set two times, then cut them out and layered them for dimension.  Yellow rhinestones were glued to the centers.  I framed the sentiment with red cardstock after stamping in black, then glued on.  A very easy card to make!
  

This next card is an easel.  It's  4 1/2" wide by 11" total length, scored at the 2" and 4 1/2" marks.  It's folded in half, then the bottom 2" flap is folded up.  I cut a piece of coordinating card stock (red) to 4 1/2" wide and 4" top to bottom, then scored in half widthwise.  Unfolded, I die cut the top edge (inside) with a scalloped edge, the inside the bottom, used another scalloped edge die to make the design through which the white card base is seen.  I stamped the sentiment in black.  With this flap folded down, I glued a little plastic snowflake button in the center for the top front to catch on forming the "easel".  For the top front, I cut a piece of patterned coordinating paper to fit, leaving only 1 3/4" of the white card base showing at the bottom.  Using a scalloped die, I cut the same as on the front in the bottom white edge.  On the bottom right of the patterned paper, I stamped in black the tree grouping from the Winter Edges set.  I placed some red shiny sticker circles on the garlands on the trees.  At the top of the card in the score line, on the left about 1 " in from the left edge, I used a craft knife to cut  a 1/8" cut to thread the yarn through with a needle.  Before tying into a bow, I threaded a plastic tree onto the yarn to finalize the card.

This next card is another favorite of mine, and I love the icy feel of it.  I used an "all-over" punch to make the snowflakes in the white panel which was glued over the white card base, shaded with stamp paints in blue and lavender.  I stamped the three different snowflakes and embossed in silver, tinting the center or the edges with light blue ink and a dauber.  I cut them out by hand.  The snowflakes and trees are from the Reindeer Landscape set.  The trees were stamped on white with silver embossing, then shaded in with markers.  I stamped the sentiment "Winter Wonderland" from the set Bold Christmas Words on blue cardstock then embossed it in white.  I cut it out with a large banner die, and shaded the edges in blue stamp paint.  Before gluing everything down, except for the snowflakes which I adhered with dimensional dots, I tied a piece of 1" wide sheer blue ribbon around the bottom, and tied a bow, gluing a small blue snowflake brad in the center.

This last card is a wonderful image of a winter fairy.  She originally had a fall of roses in her hands, but since I was making her for Christmas, I changed it up with holly boughs.  She was so much fun to color!  Love those wings!  She comes from the new set, February Fairies.  For the top and bottom borders, I used the holly edge stamp from the newly released Christmas Edges. 

Again, I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, a Happy and Healthy New Year, and I've really enjoyed working with all the wonderful design team ladies!  Please continue to check back for their amazing work!  Here's to better health, healing and getting back into the swing of everything Chocolate!  Yum, yum! 

I'd like to thank Glenda and Adrian for being so generous, and their patience during my learning how to manage a blog entry, working with editing of photos, and computer glitches.  Lesley, I wish you continued healing, and pray that you will be back to "normal" very quickly!  Sue, thank you for drawing up some gorgeous "must-have" stamps!  You're amazing! 

Merry Christmas, with love!

Clare