Christmas is Upon Us!

Here are some of the Christmas cards I have made this year. I say some because I made about 8 different sorts but have sent most of them to friends and family. The design was cased from a google search but modified and morphed into what they are now.

Rating: Decent



Materials:
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Very Vanilla and Jolly Holiday DSP.
Inks: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip marker, Real Red marker (for Rudolph's nose), Versamark Champagne Frost.
Stamps: A mix of 'Season of Joy' and 'Sparkly and Bright'.
Other: Stampin' Up- Crystal Effects glue, oval punch, scallop oval punch, paper piercer and mat, dimensionals and stick on Rhinestones.
Non Stampin' Up - Embossing powders - Antique Gold and Silver Dollar, embossing buddy, Silver Christmas Tree brads, Heat tool, Fiskars decorative border punch, deep red ribbon (from Stampit Australia)

Tips and Hints:
1. To make lots of cards I broke it down into stages over a few nights- I made all the card bases first, then all the decorative border strips layered with DSP and ribbon, then the scallopped ovals with their sentiments, etc.
2. Use Versamark Champagne Frost to stamp a background on the card bases. It's amazing how much it lifts a card.
3. Also use Versamark over the Christmas tree for a bit of shine and to apply embossing powder to the star at the top.
4. The words 'Merry Christmas' and the star at the top of the Christmas tree are embossed in either gold or silver.
5. I used markers for Rudolph so I could have his body brown and his nose red. Cherry Cobbler wasn't bright enough so I used Real Red. I put a dot of Crystal Effects on his nose to make it shine, however on 90% of the Rudolph cards, the Crystal Effects is dull and almost opaque when dry. Maybe I received a duff batch.
6. Handle the ribbon as little as possible because it frays easily.
7. The rhinestones are used inside the card on the sentiment that says 'May your season be sparkly and bright'. The rhinestone sticks on top of the 'i' in 'bright'.

Stuff Ups:
The Crystal Effects - as I said above plus sometimes I put on too much and it spread.
Embossing - I forgot a few times to use an embossing buddy pillow so some of the embossing was a bit skewiff.
Stampamajig - I should have used this inside the card to get the sentiment straight and non-wobbly.