Christmas cards

Yesterday I went to JoAnn's and bought one neat piece of sparkle cardstock with a Christmas pattern to make a few Christmas cards. After all, it has been several weeks (or longer) since I last made a Christmas card, so I really needed to make myself work on those (luckily, I don't need to make two cards a week, but I am trying to loosely stick with Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge). The paper I bought had some colors I wouldn't normally use for Christmas cards, and the pattern was a bit non-traditional for me. That was kinda the point, though. This morning I checked the OCC Challenge before I went to the gym, and realized that this week's sketch would be perfect to use with the funky Christmas paper.



The sparkle cardstock was "Sparkle Gifts Galore" by Cloud 9 Design. I used CTMH cardstocks in Ponderosa Pine, Buttercup, Cranberry, and Kiwi (retired). Stamp sets used were Shining Star, Spot On Backgrounds, and Christmas Scripts. Inks used were Cranberry, Ponderosa Pine, and Bamboo (to distress the sentiment mat). I made a second version of this card, with the only difference being the star was stamped in Kiwi ink on Kiwi cardstock. I learned a new technique yesterday that is a real time saver. To emboss in any color, first ink your stamp with Versamark, then ink it with the color of your choice and stamp the image. Use clear embossing powder and your heat gun to emboss. Voila, perfectly matched heat embossing. And to think, all this time I've been stamping in color, letting it dry, then stamping with Versamark over top of the original image. Just think of all the time I've wasted!!!!