Playing Catch-up with Christmas Cards...

I've missed four months of the last ten on my challenge to make five Christmas cards a month... my bad!! So, October was catch-up month! Here's twenty... :)

Starting with mid-month when Ann Ullery stayed the night after her cruise and we did these. A Rubber Cafe stamp set colored with Prismacolors. Following a technique I learned at the first Junkie Fest, we made a faux fence. The flame and the wax drip have Glossy Accents and stickles are on the berries for dimension.

Since I have so much Christmas patterned paper, I watched a couple Kristie Marcotte videos (the 6"x 6" queen of cardmaking) to see if I could use up paper...

  

I also caught a Kristina Warner video where she gold embossed the background paper. So, I did that on the red piece. The Noel is from a 12"x 12" pad with extra pieces. Gold glitter paper and bling from my stash...

More like the above...

I used the same layout I used when crafting with my mentor, Barb, at the beginning of October at her home in California. It worked perfect for the extra pieces from another 12"x 12" pad.

I've been cleaning up files on my computer all week and came across a card I made in a Craftsy class back in 2017. I decided to CASE it with Christmas papers. Not bad!

And these two? Just corners of a 12" x 12" pad using a stitched die and Taylored Expressions sentiment strips...

But, the bad part of all these is that with ALL the paper I used, it barely made a dent... ugh! BUT, twenty more Christmas cards for my stash. :)

A week of Autumn Cards...

 Over the past week, I've been rather successful in my Studio and I wanted to share...

 Last week, Ann Ullery stopped by for a "crafty" day before she took a cruise out of Newark up to the Fall Foliage of New England... and beyond. This stamp is from Simon Says Stamp called "Sketched Flowers". We heat embossed with Rose Gold embossing powder and then colored with Zigs. The die-cut is triple layered with the top layer out of gold cardstock. There were two of these but one has already gone postal...

 This card was actually made when visiting my friend and mentor, Barb, while visiting my hubby who's now working in California... wait, what?! Yup, California! The stamp set was from Stampin' Up and I learned a new technique that makes this look so elegant. I made two. On my return, I wanted to add a sentiment. I was soooooo nervous about adding it right on the paper because the paper is textured. I was afraid I wouldn't get a good impression. And if I ruined it, then what? Anyway, lots of practice on other textured paper and my trusty MISTI, it was a SCORE!!! I absolutely love how perfect this is! Barb, you're da best!!

Before heading to California, I had die-cut several leaves from the Tim Holtz "Fall Foliage" set from some paper I had colored with Distress Oxides. They were monopolizing my table. Following a very well written tutorial from Annie Frazer, I made the background paper using the "Gesso Resist" technique. What a fabulous, fabulous result! Thank you Annie! AND, home to some of those leaves all over my desk. The sentiment is from a Laurel Burch set, the bling is Gina Marie Designs and the twine from my stash. I made two and like above, one is already postal...

 Still a lot of leaves on the table so, I CASEd this from something I saw on Pinterest. Sentiment is Gina K Designs, bling Gina Marie Designs, background paper from a 6" x 6" pad and twine from my stash. I made two and like above, one is already postal...

 This set is Stampin' Up's "Sheltering Tree". It's been ages since I used it and I was determined to do something different from what I did last time. At first, because there are sooo many different layers of stamping, it was kicking my butt. You know the game, ink in the wrong places, lopsided stamping, things not lining up... but, I kept with it and the result? Fantastic!! I made three... and now ALL the rest of these cards need to make their way to the post office. After all, the fall is fast receding.

I made these a top folding card which is a rarity for me, so added an inside piece. Well, TWO inside pieces. That teeny, tiny brown? It's the same paper I used on top...

So, HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!