Oh, what fun it is to play...

...with my stamps on Christmas Day!
Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope your day has been filled with loved ones, good food and good company.

Christmas in the Girsa household is a day I look forward to all year.  We are as low-key as it gets.  Our 3 year-old is  still working on unwrapping his presents...and it is nearly 6 pm!  He just has to play  with every single thing he opens and there is NO rushing him!  We've been asking him all afternoon if he'd like to open some more presents and we keep getting a polite "no thank you" in reply.  We will be unwrapping presents on New Years at this rate!  None the less, we have had a quiet day at home, no one has gotten out of their jammies and it has been absolute heaven!  No place to go, no one expecting us, just a calm, relaxing day at home.  Ahhhh....

And then there's the stamping...

Today was the first time in months that I have been able to just sit and play and boy, did I have fun!  While my son and husband played air hockey (one of many gifts Santa brought) behind me, I played with some of my neglected and unloved stamps.  I completed a few projects but I have to save some for later.  Here is my favourite of the bunch...

Card using faux mother-of-pearl technique

Close-up of new trinket keys from the Occasions mini...oooh I love 'em!

Close up of mother-of-pearl background and my fudged embossing that I actually kinda like!

Inside of card with sentiment from the Notably Ornate set.

Close up of inside sentiment

Ok, so remember how I mentioned my stampin' buddy Christine came over to play last week?  Well she showed me this cool technique that apparently is "everywhere" but I somehow missed.  It is called Faux-mother-of-pearl.  It looks so cool IRL, the photos just don't do it justice.  Here is how to create it:
Start with glossy white cardstock.  Using a bunched-up piece of plastic wrap (the kind you wrap your leftover turkey in) dab white frost shimmer paint randomly all over the cardstock.  Let the paint dry COMPLETELY and then sponge your choice of classic ink all over.  You can also use a brayer, but mine is currently dirty, so I used a sponge!  For this card the ink colours I used were Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink and Perfect Plum (in that order).  I love the soft, aged look that results. 

For this card I did a 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"  mother-of-pearl panel and then stamped the flourish image from a new set available FREE during Sale-a-bration called "Bliss".  I have to say that I am in L-O-V-E with this set!  Anyhow I digress...I stamped the flourish in Versamark and then embossed it with silver EP.  I forgot to use my embossing buddy (REALLY important because the shimmer paint is quite tacky and the EP sticks to it!!).  I tried to brush off as much as I could and then went ahead and heated it.  The result was a less-than-perfect image I actually quite like.  I think it works quite well with the background.  I mounted that on a brushed silver cardstock mat.  To put the card together I used Concord Crush cardstock and the DSP that comes in the Level One hostess pack.  The little flourishes on the Concord Crush at the bottom are from the Tiny Tags set and are stamped using White Frost shimmer paint again.  I like the way they tie in with the focal image.  My favourite thing about this card are the embellishments.  I love the shimmer brad (from the subtles set, available in the current and the up-coming Occasions Mini), the Basic Gray satin ribbon (retired from last summer's mini) and most of all, the trinket key (also available January 4th in the Occasions Mini.).  The keys are beautiful and so detailed...a truly lovely addition to any project.
As most of you know, I like to make the insides of my cards as pretty as the outside, so I stamped the same flourish vertically in concord crush that I had stamped off once.  The sentiment is from the Notably Ornate set and is stamped in full-strength concord crush, punched out with the modern label punch and then layered on a wide oval and a decorative label.  To add a bit of sparkle to the inside I added a couple of basic rhinestone gems. 
Not exactly a quick and easy card, but one I would love to give (and receive!).

Tomorrow we are heading to my parents' place up north for a couple of days, celebrating a belated Christmas with family.    No boxing day sales for me this year!