Monday, February 25, 2019

Keeping Christmas February 2019 Blog Hop

Welcome to this month's edition of the Keeping Christmas Blog Hop.  It has been a zoo in my life for the last several weeks so I'm very happy that I got some projects finished for this hop!  When time is short, it's easiest to select some patterned paper to fit your theme and do a bit of die cutting for your elements and then just get going on your design.  My original plan was to do just a single card, but it was so easy to pull a few cards together, so I just cut a few more of each piece and made 6 cards in total with a few variations for you.


For several years now I've had this Close To My Heart Stamp Set and matching Designer Series Paper.  I actually have 4 -12 x 12 sheets of this particular paper.  I wanted to use something that had a Christmas Sweater kind of vibe and this was an easy choice.  There are a few embossing folders out there that have the sweater look too, but I don't have any of them yet, so for today, the cards are nice and easy.


I also wanted to show you a few ways to change things up so that each card is indeed unique,  For example, on these cards, I changed up the colors and the way the pattern of the background paper is oriented to give each card a different look.  I used cardstock in Pure Poppy, Aqua Mist and Smokey Shadow for the various elements.  I did not try heat embossing the sentiment on to Smokey Shadow Cardstock with one of the other colors but that's a possibility that I did not try here.



For this card, I put the background vertically for a different look than the traditional horizontal sweater.  It is a completely different look and those vertical lines are cool.  Who doesn't want to look tall and skinny!


I also played around with different embellishments like sequins but in the end, there weren't any sequins that I felt added to the card so I kept it simple by using the Black Gloss Nuvo Drops in the center of the flowers - all the different varieties.  In the first image, I hadn't yet added any embellishments so that you can see if adding them would be a win for you.  I personally like the payoff I got for a little bit of extra work that I did while catching up on some of my TV Shows that were recorded.  Here are all the stops along the hop:

Vicki Finger (You are Here)

Thanks so much for stopping by today and be sure to ask if you have any questions.  The thing I most enjoy about the Keeping Christmas Blog Hop is the fact that I am using things I already have to create a few cards at a time.  All of the cardstock I used today is from Papertrey Ink.

6 comments:

  1. So beautiful...love your sweet trio of Christmas card, just so festive!

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  2. Your cards are beautiful! I love that background paper, love to see the difference in the direction of the stripes!

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  3. Very nice! I like the stripey paper with the simple layered label shapes, and of course, your gold heat embossed sentiment!

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  4. I love the Christmas sweater look and the sweet sentiments! Am needing to start more Christmas cards and these are a great inspiration!

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  5. These are so cute, Vicki! I'm so glad you were able to get these made! They're wonderful! I hope things calm down for you! Big hugs!

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