Continuing in a Christmas theme...

I've sort of been on a roll with the Christmas cards of late.  I don't know whether it is the new Holiday Mini coming out or just realizing that time passes much more quickly for me than it used to and I had better get my Christmas cards made sooner than later!  Regardless, I have certainly been in a December state-of-mind and today's post reflects that.  I was playing with the pretty new Christmas set from the Idea Book & Catalogue called Contempo Christmas.  Here is what I came up with:

All three cards use the Contempo set as well as the Jolly Holliday DSP.  Here are some close-ups of each one:

Simple and traditional

The inside sentiment is from one of the Level 3 Hostess sets in the catalogue called Occasional Quotes.

For this one I coloured the stamp using my Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive markers.  I added a small square fire rhinestone brad in place of the star for a little bling.  The ribbon is the new Cherry Cobbler seam binding from the Holiday Mini.

This is the inside view.  The sentiment is also from the Contempo Christmas set.

This card is really clean and simple.  The only embellishment is the rhinestone brad.  I like this because it is very contemporary looking...a real contrast to some of the vintage stuff I've been doing lately.  This goes to show you can do some really great things with just ink, stamps and paper!

This is the inside view.  The sentiment is from Occasional Quotes, a level 3 hostess set in the catalogue.

This card is pretty much the opposite of the previous one!  This was anything BUT simple!  I started out with the Jolly Holiday DSP layered on a Cherry Cobbler card base.  The funky looking strip in the middle uses a the Bargello technique.  It basically involves cutting striped paper into little tiny strips and then adhering them to a cardstock base while offsetting the stripes.  It isn't hard to do but IS time consuming.  Cutting up all those 1/8" strips took a while, as did gluing them all down.  However the effort was, in my opinion, worth it!  I love the effect created with this technique.  I embellished it with more of the Cherry Cobbler seam binding as well as a couple of ornament punches.  The patterned one is from the Contempo Christmas set.  The sentiment is also from that set and it was punched out using the decorative label punch which is also in the new Holiday Mini.  A couple of little rhinestones for some bling and viola...a funkadelic Christmas card!

I hope you've enjoyed this little taste of Christmas!  I know today's post was long!  I did that on purpose because I won't be posting again until next weekend.  I am taking my son up to visit my parents at their place in Magnetawan.  I won't have internet access there, so won't be able to post anything while I'm gone.  The good news is that I am bringing some projects with me so I'll have LOTS to show you when I get back!

Have a great week!