Christmas for a Musician

Christmas. It’s the most wonderful time of the year! But when you’re a musician, it’s also the most busy time of the year. (The exception to this may be Easter.) Schools, churches, community groups all have Christmas programs, and most include music, of course.

This past weekend, I had lots of performances. There were rehearsals on Thursday and Friday, followed by performances on Friday, Saturday, and (two on) Sunday. And my weekend was fairly easy compared to others. The conductor for the Oratorio Society I accompany conducted two cantatas, set up for an event the local university held at his church, then headed a half hour south for another performance. After that, he had a rehearsal with his children’s choir. When the last Christmas performance is over, musicians take a deep breath and enjoy the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Because, of course, after the new year, it all starts over in preparation for Easter.

So that’s probably why I’m doing very, very, very simple cards lately. That’s all I have time for. But the good news is, it doesn’t take very long to create a beautiful card for someone. Like this one.

This may be the simplest and quickest card I’ve ever created. I layered a 2″ x 5-1/2″ strip of Petal Promenade Designer Series Paper (DSP) to a Whisper White card base. Then I stamped the sentiment from the Floral Frames Stamp Set in Fresh Fig on a piece of Whisper White Cardstock. After punching with the 2-1/4″ Circle Punch, I covered the back with adhesive, then adhered Gold Metallic Thread to the back of the circle. Using a few Stampin’ Dimensionals helped hold the thread in place and popped the sentiment up on my card.

This is a very simple design, but it can be very elegant as well. If you want to add a little shimmer and sparkle, simple use your Stamparatus to stamp the sentiment, then stamp again with Versamark Ink. Add a clear or metallic embossing powder to the image and heat set for instant WOW! For a little more shimmer, mix a bit of Dazzling Diamonds Stampin’ Glitter with Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder and use that to emboss over the sentiment. I love embossing because it adds a whole lot of gorgeous without a lot of extra work.

This design will work for so many things. You can use any DSP. Then add any image or sentiment to the Whisper White scrap and punch it out. If you don’t have the punch, you can stamp directly on the card front. And if you have a sentiment and image you like, simple stamp the image in a light ink, then stamp the sentiment in a darker ink over it. Easy! And it adds a lot of depth and gorgeousness to your card. (A little tip: Watch those rubber stamps. Sometimes they aren’t trimmed super close to the image, and if you’re not careful, you can get ink on the edges of the stamp that transfers to your cardstock. So just take a peek before you stamp and rub your finger along the edge of the stamp to remove any stray ink.)

I have a few weeks free before my final Christmas performance, so hopefully I can catch up on projects and posts. Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Have a lovely day!

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