Holiday Swap '14

Hi All,

Earlier this month, I got together with the girls and we had our 2nd Annual Holiday Card Swap. Each designed their own card and brought all of the supplies for the rest of us.  I am always amazed at everyone's creativity...and it's so much fun to sit down and actually make cards I haven't designed :)

Below are the cards that my uber talented girls came up with:

This card was a partnership between Gina and Lana.  Gina designed and Lana cut.  {I sure wish I had cutting help each month ;}  I had always wanted to try one of these trees, so I was super excited to see that we were going to be doing one together.  It is surprisingly easy and is just 1/2 of a scalloped circle folded to create the different branches.  Here's a quick tutorial if you'd like to try it out: Folded Tree Techinique.  I also *love* the Lucky Stars Embossing folder used for the background.  Most of these products are in the Holiday Mini and are only available till January 5th.

Trim the Tree DSP Stack: 135824  $6.95

Lucky Stars Textured Embossing Folder: 135817  $7.95

Paper: Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White Cardstock; Trim the Tree DSP Stack

Accessories: Lucky Stars Embossing Folder, Large Scalloped Circle Die, Cherry Cobbler 1" Sheer Linen Ribbon, Old Olive Baker's Twine and 1/8" Mini Brads.

This card was another partnership between Gina and Lana.  Gina designed this beauty of a card.  The first thing I noticed were the beautiful blue hues.  They are just gorgeous.  She used a Masking technique to create  the moon.  This was also something that I hadn't really done before.  I found a great tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers if you'd like to give it a try: Masking Technique.  This focal image is mounted on the Northern Flurry Embossed background, but you could also cut this circle out and place the focal image on the inside of the card so it shows through the front.  Either way, it makes a beautiful card!  

Lovely as a Tree: 127793 Clear $19.95 / 128655 Wood $27.95

Northern Flurry Embossing Folder: 120902  $7.95

Stamp: Lovely as a Tree

Ink: Marina Mist and Not Quite Navy Classic Pads; Black StazOn

Accessories: Sponge, Post-It Notes, Northern Flurry Embossing Folder, Circle Nestabilites, 2-Way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

This is yet another card from Gina.  She is a fellow SU! Demonstrator and made these as card fronts for a swap.  She made more than she needed, so she brought them for us.  I believe, all in all, she made 25 of these.  That's a ton of work and many kudos to her!  All we had to do was pick one out and mount it on some cardstock.  All of these products can be found in the Holiday Mini and are only available till January 5th.  White Christmas is a super popular stamp set and these Snowflake Frosted Sequins were a Must-Have for my collection.

All is Calm DSP: 135823  $12.95

Frosted Sequins: 135835  $4.95

White Christmas: 135767  $15.95

Paper & Ink: Lost Lagoon Cardstock & Classic Pad
Accessories: Apothecary Accents Framelits, 2-Way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Red & Yellow Markers, Sponge

This cute little card was designed by Mary Beth.  She created a central focal image by embossing the top 1/3 edge of the cardstock and turning to emboss the other 1/3 of the edge of the cardstock.  Such a simple technique with a lot of punch. I adore snowflakes and snowmen, so this card was right up my alley.    

My final card was designed by Linda.  She took this simple tree die cut and blinged it up to create an Easel Card.  Another technique I had not done before.  The card can be mailed flat, but when opened, the gifts at the bottom are 3 Dimensional and act as a base for the tree fold.  She also shared another trick with us.  The punch under the sentiment was cut out twice in two colors: white and green.  Since these are both the same size, she cut the green one in half and adhered each half to the edge of the white sentiment.  This gives the affect of a layer.  So Clever!

We had such a great time and we all came away with such great ideas.  It's so fun to share and I'm so thankful to have these ladies to share with.  Can't wait to create again in 2015! Hopefully you are inspired to try something new as well!