Christmas Season with Leaves of Holly

Welcome to another week, my friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Mike & I were pet sitting for one of our sons, and it’s always fun to hang out with their critters. It’s a welcome change from our grumpy old dog (who is actually very sweet, but not to other dogs) and “I’ll be friendly if I feel like it, but don’t hold your breath” cats.

After Mike mowed for my mom today, we went shopping to stock up on a few necessities for winter. It’s not like we’ve ever gotten snowed in for more than a day or two at a time, but it’s nice to know that if we do have a rare snowstorm that leaves more than three inches of snow, we’re ready! In the 40 years we’ve been married, I can only remember three times we’ve had more than two feet of snow.

For the past few years, some of my friends and I have been swapping cards. It’s a six month commitment, and each month we send cards to the other members of the swap. The group changes each rotation; sometimes people have to drop out for a rotation or two, then come back when life calms down. My friend Sandy has been in every rotation so far, and her cards are always so elegant. She’s awesome.

There are four of us this time – which is perfect, because we can do extra special things without getting overwhelmed. Here are the cards from the other three this month (I can’t find mine).

I love all three of these. Nadine’s Faux Torn Layers with the Forever Fern Stamp Set is so fun. Margo added little metallic die-cuts with her fall card (and I LOVE the painted label over the pumpkin from the Hello Harvest Stamp Set), and Sandy’s soft, multicolored leaf from Soft Seedlings is so gorgeous. I need to up my game, because these three are so amazing!

Nadine’s was the first card I received this month, and I had to CASE it.

I tore a Post-It note in half lengthwise to mask the left side of a 3-3/4″ x 5″ piece of Very Vanilla Cardstock since I don’t have any of our Masking Paper yet. I have 5″ long Post-It’s, so they’re perfect for card masks! Next, I lightly sponged Sahara Sand Classic Ink along the right side of the card stock. Leaving the mask in place, I stamped pinecones from the Christmas Season Stamp Set (in the Annual Catalog) in Crumb Cake and Soft Suede Classic Ink, pine branches in Shaded Spruce, and dots in Merry Merlot Ink. Using the Leaves of Holly Stamp Set, I stamped the berries in Real Red Classic Ink.

I stamped the sentiment from the Leaves of Holly Stamp Set in Real Red on Very Vanilla Cardstock, then die-cut with the Tailor Made Tags Dies. The ribbon on the tag is probably retired, because I keep forgetting to pull out retired ribbon from my ribbon box, but we’ll say it’s the Gold Shimmer Ribbon from the July-December Mini Catalog.

I added some of the White Pearlized Enamel Effects Basics to the berries for a little dimension. I love this product, and if it retires in January, you’re still going to see me use it a lot. (So buy it now while you can, just in case!)

Thanks, Nadine, for the inspiration! And thank you for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Have a lovely day!

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