"Tis the Season....

We had a great family weekend, despite all our kiddos having coughs & sniffles, we really did have a great weekend. I even had some time to stamp with my girls yesterday so I will be able to show you some cards this week :) yeah. I'm hoping to get my Christmas cards DONE this week so I can mail out that first week in December. With the business of the month, I like to get those outta the way first. PLUS... then people can enjoy them a bit longer :)

After holding out on this past mini catalog from Stampin' Up!.... I caved! I had my eye on Seasons of Joy & Snow Burst but fought the URGE! Well of course a customer ordered BOTH of these sets (thank-you Debbie! LOL) and once there were in my hands I NEEEEEEEEDED them. Crazy, crazy, crazy. Well, those yummy sets arrived on Friday & I got to play with them. What a fun set. I saw a challenge about using browns for Christmas... very interesting. I thought I'd add in Bravo Burgundy as it has a browny-feel to it as well. Here's the recipe to start:

Stamps - Seasons of Joy
Paper - Whisper White, Bravo Burgundy, Brushed Gold, Chocolate Chip
Ink - Vanilla Craft, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa
Other - Wine Organdy Ribbon, Stampin' Dimentionals, Photo Corner Punch
I really took my time with this card (you wouldn't want to make 50 of them!). I started by stamping my white strip with Bravo Burgundy & the flower. Then I thought it would look cool if I could POP the PETALS. So I restamped on another sheet of paper and cut out allllll those petals :) I took a sponge and used Creamy Caramel & Close to Cocoa to *age* the whisper white cardstock and placed that on my stamped Chocolate Chip card base. I love the craft vanilla pad. It's so warm. The corner photo punch was another new item in my box of goodies this week. HOW EASY is that handy punch -- love it! I finished it off with a side bow. I'm happy with how it turned out. One of those cards that I didn't really have in my head... just played & this is what evolved.
We put the Christmas tree up last night (hubby is gone for Christmas so we wanted to get some festivities in while he was home... *sniff, sniff*) -- did you know there's only 4 shopping weekends left until Christmas. I love Christmas!!!
have a happy day!
.j.