Holiday Thank You Cards

I've had so much fun papercrafting around the holidays.  Even more fun was playing with the stamps and paper I picked up at Michaels for the after-holiday sales!!  I ended up with nearly a whole box of stamps - wood block and acrylic that are Christmas themed - probably less than $15.  The 12x12 pads of paper were awesome as well - as low as $3.50.  There was also some Recollections 8.5x11 pads for .99.  What a haul!  Most of the thank you cards I made were A-2 size.

Also, have been playing a lot with stamping and scanning the sheets into the SIL to prescisely cut out the stamped images.  Time consuming, but the effect is great!  It also makes for some amazing offsets.   Who needs a die cutter?!?!  (Ok, in all seriousness I still would like a die cutter, but cannot remotely justify the expense when the SIL can do the same thing).

Here are the cards:

Thank You, Trees and Snowflakes.  There are parts of this I love, but only parts...  I wish the card base didn't have dots - but that is all I had left in that base color.  A-2. Card base is from an inexpensive A-2 value pack from Michaels that I purchased in summer of 2014.  The white cover is a repeating snowflake acrylic stamp from the November 2014 Paper Pumpkin.  The light snowflakes are stamped in Sky Blue (ColorBox PaintBox Pastel Set), then the darker stamps are a mix of Lost Lagoon (StampinUp) and Midnight (ColorBox Petal Point, Aurora set).  The white cover was then cut to size and embossed with a Darice Dots folder. The "Thank You" is an acrylic stamp I've had for some time (maybe Hampton?) cut out on the SIL. The circles are simply cut with an EK Tools circle cutter.  The bottom tree stamps are done in Grey Flannel (Momento) repeating.  The stamps came in a small holiday DIY-wrapping paper kit from Michaels.  The washi tape along the bottom is from the November 2014 Paper Pumpkin, and the little dots in the snowflake center are just pearls from a Recollections set.  The white and teal paper are Recollections and the large blue circle is actually cut out of an extra card from the A-2 value pack to match the underlying card base. All corners rounded with the obverse envelope punch board set. 

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Thank You! Snowflakes.  I really hate that I got lazy on the Thank You! offsets!  A-2. Card base is from an inexpensive A-2 value pack from Michaels that I purchased in summer of 2014.  The white cover is the same as the Thank You, Trees and Snowflakes.  The white cover was then cut to size and embossed with a Sizzix Ampersand folder. The "Thank You!" is a block stamp from Michaels (possibly Hampton brand?) in the Lost Lagoon ink.  It was precisely cut out on the SIL - great lines on that one.  The offsets are hand-cut (poorly!).  The first offset (dark blue) is cut from a scrap from the A-2 value pack to match the underlying card base. The second offset is a red shimmer scrap from a cardstock set. The twine is from the 2014 November Paper Pumpkin set.  All corners rounded with the obverse envelope punch board set.

Thank You, Penguin & Trees.  This is one of my favorites!  It is A-2. Card base is from another inexpensive A-2 value pack from Michaels that I purchased in the fall of 2014.  The white cover is a much like the above cards, but a repeating pattern only in the Sky Blue (ColorBox PaintBox Pastel Set). The white cover was then cut to size and embossed with Sizzix folder from the Sending Christmas Love Set (it's ADORABLE!). The "Thank You" is the same as the Thank You, Trees and Snowflakes card.  It is stamped in Fireberry (ColorBox Dye).  The white paper and ivory are both Recollections stock. The pink accent is washi tape, and there are small pearls on the blue snowflake centers. All corners rounded with the obverse envelope punch board set. 

Thank You! Ornament.  Another A-2 that I think turned out just great.  The card base is white stock.  The kraft paper cover was cut to size and embossed with Diamond Plate (Darice folder).  The Thank You! stamp is an acrylic one from my stock pile - in the same sheet as the above card.  It is stamped in Fireberry, and cut on the SIL.  The ornament is a file from SIL that was a freebie during a christmas giveaway a year ago that I deconstructed.  The red star cardstock is from a Recollections 12x12 christmas pad on sale this past season.  The offset was cut on the SIL from a gold shimmer paper.  The stripe is washi tape with a light green dot pattern.   

Penguin Thank You!  This is a solid "meh".  I realized too late that the penguin on the shimmer paper clashed with the red star paper.  I obviously need an ottlight! A-2. Card base is a white star/kraft paper cardstock from the same Recollections 12x12 pad as the Ornament card, above (You'll note the first offset is the same red star as the ornament as well).  The penguin is a silly little wood block stamp that came in a 3-pack in the after christmas Michaels sale.  He's stamped in Wicked Black (ColorBox Dye that is starting to dry out only 3 months after I bought it!) and expertly cut from white stock on the SIL.  Mr. Penguin was randomly colored in by me (poorly) while watching TNG reruns, and sadly placed on a red shimmer paper that, in the evening, looked nice.  The next day when I took photos I realized it was crap :(  The "Thank You!" is the same as the prior card, in Fireberry.  I cut it out as a dialogue box on the SIL and then made two offsets (red stars and then a gold shimmer).  There is washi tape as an accent (small green dots) and I used an EK Tools punch on the right, cut a matching oval on the left and strung nylon twine from Walmart a few times around.  [I've since purchased an ottlight so my colors don't look like I was drunk when assembling]

Poinsettia Thanks!  Here is my lone 5x7 card for the thank-you season.  I needed to send the recipient something in the envelope that was bigger than an A-2.  This one was a bit of a stamping adventure.  The card base is a pre-fold red 5x7 cardstock (the interior is white). I stamped the card base with a snowflake wood block that came in a 3-stamp set from Michaels this past holiday season.  The snowflakes are done in Grey Flannel (Momento). The Thanks stamp is acrylic and from the same set as the above thank yous (yes, an entire sheet of thanks sentiments!).  It is stamped in Old Olive (StampinUp).  I used some scrap vinyl to cut out a frisket of sorts over the thanks then stamped the poinsettia (a StampinUp set retired this past holiday) over it in Raspberry Ripple.  Using a Stamp-a-ma-jig I positioned the green poinsettia leaves in Gumball Green.  I don't know what possessed me to use two different greens here (blame the lighting).  I used the SIL to cut out the stamped image perfectly!  I cut a circle out of white stock and used Circle Interlock Design emboss folder (Darice).  The little holly are just some leftover stickers.  In hindsight I would have used more background stamp and no holly.  There are parts of this I was pleased with - like the white circle, as I just LOVE that folder.  And the stamped image cut from the SIL was just perfect.  I adhered the stamp cut-out with a raised double-side adhesive so it stands out nicely.

Matching Ornaments. These were a fun afterthought using a scrap on which I was enthusiastically testing some new stamps. I found this acrylic sheet of holiday stamps in during the post-xmas sale at Michaels.  It had a nondescript tree design and a few sentiments.  It was some ridiculously low price like $1.50 so I grabbed it without much thought. When I got home and examined it a little more carefully, I realized it had 5 small, intricate ornaments.  I just bought some new Momento dew drops so for fun I started testing them all on a piece of white stock while watching TNG.  I was mesmerized by the patterns and pleased with how the stamps were coming out.  The cards here are A-2 postcard - the backsideof each has sentiment paper and some red washi tape that I forgot to photograph.  The card base is kraft paper.  The white cover for each are just separate cuts of the test sheet I made with the 5 different ornament stamps.  The ink colors are Wicked Black (ColorBox), Elderberry, Teal Zeal, Nautical Blue and Grey Flannel (Momento Dew Drops, Dye).  I embossed each with some folders that I cannot remember the brand or name.  The top is a repeating parquet-like pattern and the bottom a rounded diamond.  Both are a more subtle, small emboss that I really like. The stamp on the top is from the big "thank you" acrylic set that I've used for most of these cards.  It was stamped in Fireberry and cut on the SIL.  On the bottom card, the "so sweet of you" is from a StampinUp set that was a 2014 hostess edition.  It was stamped in that dang Wicked Black that is drying out already and the offset in a navy craft paper.  Both have a khaki/white bakers twine.