Holiday Home Christmas - A Cased Christmas Card

When you come across a card that makes you just stop in your tracks and suck in your breath, do you try to re-create it? That's precisely what happened to me when I stumbled on a card by Carol King. I just had to drop everything and make my own version.

I found this card originally created by Pam Stoner of Florida and then cased by Carol King of Perth Australia on Carol's blog, King's on Paddington.  

Carol wrote an excellent tutorial on how to add all the details to this card, so, I won't go into any great dialogue here other than to say, this card is truly amazing.  I followed Carol's tutorial and came up with 35 cards of my own which I happily sent out to customers and friends for this Christmas. I've also shown other stampers how to re-create this beauty.  

Here's Pam Stoner's original card:
 

Original card created by Pam Stoner and posted on her blog Pam's Paper Playhouse

Here's Carol King of Kings on Paddington version:

Carol changed up her version of Pam's card and created a wonderful tutorial which you can find on her blog by clicking on the link above. 

Here's My Version of both cards, done my way:

Supplies:
Stamp Set:  Holiday Home with Coordinating Framelits, Lovely as a Tree and Gorgeous Grunge
Card Stock:  Real Red, Night of Navy and Whisper White 
Ink:   Night of Navy, Soft Sky, Marina Mist, Always Artichoke, Whisper White, Real Red and Smokey Slate
Accessories:  Sponge Daubers, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Oval Framelits, Post it Note sheets for masking, White Embossing Powder, Dazzling Details, Big Shot, Stampin' Up! Trimmer, Dimensionals and adhesive. 

Here's Some Variations of My Version:

I love all the dimension in these cards.  The trees looked like they were were real!

If you received one of my card's these cards from me this Christmas I'd love to hear from you.  Leave me a comment after this post.

Merry Christmas and Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens

Some Christmas Cards from My Friends.............

This post should have been done in December but I didn't have my camera when these arrived.  Even though it's now January I wanted to share these two very special Christmas cards from my friend Betty Lee and my very special sister Heather.  I know you'll be happy I did. 

 Here is the card and envelope from Betty Lee........isn't it gorgeous!  The set is called Scenic Season (115354).  A beautiful rhinestone glistens on top of the first tree and the star and the Season's Greeting sentiment are in Gold Embossing Powder. 
Betty Lee has layered Brushed Gold and Handsom Hunter Cardstock on Whisper White and has stamped her beautiful crisp images with Handsome Hunter Ink. 

Along with stamping the envelope Betty Lee has embossed the middle tree in gold on the inside of the card cover and added the sentiment May the peace and Joy of the season be with you throughout the new year, which is also from this set in Handsome Hunter on the base card.  As if all this wasn't good enough, imagine my delight when I flipped the card over and on the back read the following:
Paper and Embossing Powder..... $18.65
Stamp Set and Ink ........$32.93
Making Christmas cards for my friends.........Priceless!  

Thanks so much for making my day Betty Lee.............this card was fantastic!



My next Christmas card I want to share with you came from my very special sister Heather, who I adore........can you tell!  Heather loves card making and is honing her talents and stretching her skills.  I know this card was made with pure love as it just glistened on the shelf..   She's used one of my all time favourite stamp sets "Loads of Love", to set the scene.  It wasn't hard to envision her and Ken in the front seat of the truck, after a fun day in the snow picking their tree.   Thanks Heather........... loved this card and you're the best!

My last little post is a small treat pouch I made for friends in Palm Springs when we were entertaining.

The treat pouch was made with the Holiday Lounge DSP.  I embossed strips of Taken With Teal card stock for the front and layered a Sahara Sand scallop punch with Taken With Teal and Whisper White Circle Punches.  Mu little snowman's face was all a glitter with Dazzling Diamonds.  When you open the pouch it holds one Ghiradelli square.  What would Christmas be without Chocolate Treats!!!  Hope you enjoy.

Mileage Log Booklet

Diane Gibbs an Artisan Award Winner with Stampin Up and and one of the Crew Girls from the US for UStamp with Dawn and Friends, provided us with a sample of a cute little mileage log she designed.

Following her lead, I purchased a plain book from the Dollar Store and gussied it all up with the Loads of Love "truck" and trees from the "Lovely as a Tree" stamp sets. I decided to layer my truck and used designer cardstock and big eyelets for the tires. I sponged the sky with Bashful Blue and stamped the trees in Old Olive and Always Artichoke.

Here's a closeup of the truck wheels. I used the cropadile to attach these.

Because I forget everthing if I don't write it down right away I decided to make a template on Excel for inside the book to make it easy to record my travel details. Although I haven't done it for this sample, I'm thinking it would also handy to add tabs for the months and an envelope for each month to hold receipts plus some extra pages for Hostess Notes.

This would make a nice gift for the start of the new year. Possibilities are endless........... don't drive, make it into a place to record your exercise and walking routines......... hmmmmmmm, I'm sure someone does that! LOL.

Let me know if you like it.