Handmade Holidays Blog Hop event!

Welcome!

I'm thrilled to be a part of this huge Christmas blog hop event with lots of other designers today!  I'm the last blog on the hop list, so if you have been following along on the hop, you should have arrived here from Guiseppa Gubler's blog – a designer for Authentique Paper!

Here's all the details on this big blog hop event: 

Calling all crafters! We’ve gathered designers from some of our favorite manufacturers to show you ways to create something from the heart this holiday season. This 3 day Hop includes over 60 stops with inspiration brimming from every corner. Explore all of the thoughtful and beautiful handmade gifts you could create for the holidays, all in one place, during our second annual Handmade Holidays Blog Hop!

To sweeten the Hop, we’re offering a prize for you! For every comment you leave on the blogs in the Hop, you’ll be entered to win a prize pack from one of the participating manufacturer sponsors!  Here's the yummy prize up for grabs from The Twinery:

Visit The Twinery for a complete list of blogs and leave a comment on each by Nov 27, 2011 at 11:59 PM PST. Each day we will be sharing a brand new list of blogs with brand new projects for you to explore, be inspired by, and create from!

Now, onto my cards for today's hop.  I was busy and had lots of fun playing with some products from Fiskars and a sweet stamp set from Hampton Arts called Believe in Christmas.  I stamped a text background  stamp from the set on this die cut Christmas tree and then shaded around the die cut to 'shabby' it up a bit. Then, I embellished the tree with some Fiskars Snowflake paper punches, embellished with stickles and pearls.  A twine border in the colors of the card helped to 'tie' everything together - lol!  I used Flax, Cappucino, Maraschino, and Honeydew twice and wrapped it around the card, taping it behind the card front to hide the twine's edges.  The tag is a Fiskars paper punch too - isn't it a great size?

(additional stamp set used from Verve)

Next, I used the hand held ornament paper punch from Fiskars and embellished each ornament with a snowflake from the Hampton Art stamp set.  After shading around the edges with chalk ink, I embellished the snowflake with a copper nail head and then attached them to the card with pop dots, adhering the cappuccino twine 'string' to the ornament's back with a glue dot.  I added a Fiskars tag paper punch once again.

Next, is a CAS card that I made with one more ornament punch out.  I love this delicate branch image - I embellished it with some stickles for some sparkle.  The sentiment is also from the Believe in Christmas stamp set.

Here's another card using many of the same papers but this time I used a couple of Fiskars snowflake punches to embellish the large Fiskars tag punch.  This time I used Caribbean Twine to pull out the shades of blue from the patterned paper.  It actually matches a bit better in person than it seems to be showing up on my computer screen.

And, finally a card that shows several images from the Believe in Christmas stamp set.  After stamping the background, I used and impression plate to add a bit of texture and then swiped my Versamagic white ink pad directly across the paper to add some subtle white highlights.  The edges were shaded with a dark brown chalk ink too.  The border is a fabulous Fiskars punch - love this design and how easy Fiskars' punches are to line up and use!  Once again, I used cappuccino twine - it's one of my favorite colors for sure!  All stamp images are from the Believe stamp set, except the "Merry Christmas" sentiment.

Whew!  If you've made it this far - thank you!  I had lots of fun playing with some fun products from The Twinery, Fiskars, and Hampton Arts!  Happy Hopping and good luck to you - I hope you win a prize from one of the sponsored companies too!
Jessica