Keeping Christmas {Joy}

 

I can't believe it's already the 25th of October! Welcome to this month's installment of the Keeping Christmas Blog Hop! Christmas is two months away, can you believe it? I can't! I'm getting super excited, though! I love getting the house all decorated for Christmas with all of the bright, festive colors and yummy smells! 

I was a guest this week on the Papertrey Ink "Live around 5" and I showed how to make these two cards! I was asked if they would be on my blog, so I decided to just share them here for my Keeping Christmas project for the month! Also, I have the other project I made as well, which is NOT Christmas, but I promised to share it here, so it is at the bottom of today's post! Also, don't forget to hop to the other designers' blogs to see what festive inspiration they have for us today!

 Claire Broadwater

 Lori Tecler

 Nance Salkeld 

 Nina Forsyth

 Marybeth Lopez

 Nancy Penir

 Carol Hintermeier 

So....the card I made DURING the Live at 5 is the one on the left and my sample that I had previously made and shared at the end is on the right. I mentioned that I liked the one with the pink on pink background better, but now I think I like the one with the black better! LOL! 

I'll start with the one I made live and then I'll share the differences between the two as I go along! To begin both cards, I die cut the Border Basics: Rectangle Die out of white cardstock and Pure Poppy cardstock. I used the Border Bling: Joy Frame Die to add the extra detail to the red frame.

I stamped the Holiday Spirit  background onto Pale Peony cardstock using Pale Peony ink. I layered the frame over the top using a tape runner. Once that was done, I added the evergreen boughs which are from the Tree Essentials stamp set. I die cut them from Olive Twist cardstock and then stamped the images using Pinefeather ink. I think they look very realistic stamped like this! I love how they turned out!

I placed them in the two corners using foam squares for dimension. Once they were in place, I added the stamped ornaments from the fabulous Ornament Greetings stamp set which are stamped in Pale Peony, Pure Poppy, and Scarlet Jewel ink.

I couldn't resist adding some extra holiday charm with the holly berries and leaves from the Corner It: Holly stamp set. They add just the right touch, don't you think! I stamped the leaves in Spring Moss with some added shading using a finger dauber and Simply Chartreuse ink. The veins are stamped using Ripe Avocado ink for even more contrast.

The "JOY" word is die cut twice from white cardstock and once from gold paper. I glued them together using liquid glue with a precision tip. I really wanted to create the illusion of the word floating above the foliage and frame. This was achieved by only inking up the portion of the word that touch the greenery. I showed on the Live how sturdy this is, even though it seems like it wouldn't be!

This is the card I made to show as my sample and it has an extra holly leaf at the top as well as the background being stamped in black rather than Pale Peony ink.

I thought that perhaps the black might be too visually distracting, but I think I like the contrast that it adds. How about you? Which one do you like more?

This one has white paint splatter as well, which gives the design some snowy detail. 

Of course some glitter and sequins finish off both designs!

This was the fall project that I shared on the Live. I love using non-traditional colors for pumpkins for something a little bit unexpected.  I used the Tent Style Packaging Die paired with the Hello Pumpkin stamp set to create this fun little gift presentation. 

I used velcro dots to secure the package for ease. I love using dots like this to secure packages like this!

I also created a more traditional one using traditional fall colors. This one has a sprinkling of glitter as well. I had a lot of fun doing the Live, even though I was nervous! ha ha! Thanks for fluttering by!