Christmassy cards

I've finished writing and enveloping all my Christmas cards now... started making them months ago, and with one final push this week, I've done them all :)

Here are just a few of my creations which I've entered into the St Luke's Charity Challenge. I'll be having a look through my pile of cards and sending some away to help raise money for this brilliant cause.

I've been getting into embossing powders in a big way, but still a little bemused about which papers/inks work best... I seem to have one particular ink pad (colour best described as "snot green") which stays wet for hours. The others seem much drier, even though they were bought at the same time and are the same company! I have invested in an embossing ink pad though which is more like glue... and that is how I made this one below:

 Tim Holtz embossing folder

Embossing ink pad splodged across most of the page and covered with Tinsel Snowflake papermania embossing powder - I scraped across the page a bit with the palm of my hand to dislodge some of the powder and make sure the embossing was very textured rather than smooth.

Snowflakes stamped on the red shape (sizzix tickets die) in red for detail

Noel stamp and edges embossed in white.

 I like this one for the simplicity of it... a couple of pieces of stash paper cut into rectangles, with a sizzix die cut out, edged with a silver pen and stamped christmas images finished with some silver detail and purple gems. This one is for my sister who loves purple things.

The light hasn't done justice to the glitter in this card.
Dotty embossing folder (LOVE this one!) on a sizzix ticket die.
Snowflakes stamp and tinsel snowflake embossing powder, also tinsel snowflake along the bottom.
Noel stamp embossed with papermania black sparkle powder.
Finished with some framing and a shop bought robin. The robin has some lovely sparkle too - can you tell I'm a glitter lover?!

And finally... nestabilities long deckled rectangles die with the dotty embossing folder, edged in a grey/blue chalk fluid ink.

Some snowflake paper from the stash, with Anita's clear gloss dotted on (love that stuff).

A Merry Christmas sentiment (actually cut from a piece of paper stash) and a reindeer die cut.

I've really enjoyed making these... I've done about 30 different cards in total, and it's been a lot of fun... but I am looking forward to making cards which aren't for Christmas again! Trouble is, I have such a huge stash of cards for birthdays, thank yous etc, I need to send more!