Christmas Cards 2012 - Part 1

September is normally too early for me to be making Christmas cards and these cards were made in August.!!  Back in June, I won one of the giveaways from our group meeting.  I don't think I ever mentioned here that I am a Stampin' Up Demonstrator hobbyist.  I occasionally attend group meetings and workshops to get new ideas and spend a day with a group of talented artists.

At our June meeting, my upline Patty Bennett told us to write down on a piece of paper our name and one item that we would like to get from the upcoming Holiday Catalog and she will draw one name.  She picked my name from the bucket and I selected the Ornaments Keepsake Bundle which consist of a nine-piece set of clear stamps called Ornament Keepsakes plus the coordinating eight-piece dies called Holiday Ornaments Framelit dies.  Woohoo, I was elated since I never win anything from raffles like that.

I didn't get my actual prize until early August since items from the Holiday Catalog were not available until August first.  And to show my appreciation, I tried to make some cards to share with our group right away.  I quickly realized that I am not so keen on the ornaments as my main focus for card making since I have been playing and creating with ornaments the last two Christmas seasons.  I struggled with the layout and design but I finally managed to create something I can live with.

This one is another center-step card.  The card base was embossed with an embossing folder and all the elements were heat embossed in white embossing powder.  This is the most elaborate of the three samples I made.  I was going for a non-holiday look using holiday stamps but ended up with a poinsettia looking focal point so it's a holiday card after all.

This is the side view, you'll see why it's called a center-step card.

This card is more traditional and I think I achieved the clean and simple look I was going for.  Again, all elements were heat embossed in white embossing powder.  I was too lazy to dig for a better sentiment.

Lastly, my favorite!  I will actually make more of these and send them out this Christmas.  I had this layout in mind and I was able to execute my vision pretty quickly.  When I finished the card, I thought it looked retro and named the photo file 'retro Christmas'  but when my niece saw it she said "Oh, this one is very modern."  You be the judge.

 All supplies used were from Stampin' Up.