lauralooloo: How to Make Creative Use of Your Stamps on Christmas Cards

It's November, which means the holiday crafting season is officially upon us. It's time to get cracking on those Christmas cards! One of my favorite things to do is take some everyday stamp sets, and give them a holiday twist. It gives a little new life to those stamp sets, and also allows you to use what you have, even if you don't have a ton of seasonal or Christmas crafting supplies. I hope you'll be inspired today to dig through your crafty stash, and see what you have that isn't holiday related, but just might be perfect on your holiday cards!

This first card does have a strong focus on a holiday stamp set - the gorgeous Poinsettia Burst from FSJ. But let's take a look at that background, shall we? For the background of this card, I pulled out the Life's Moments Stamp Set. Isn't this a fabulous set?

Life's Moments is a great everyday stamp set with sentiments for all types of occasions, and such pretty solid blocks with different leaves and plant shapes cut out from them. I love this set for all-occasion cards - but stamped repeatedly in red, this suddenly takes on a whole new look . . .for CHRISTMAS! The berry shape coordinates so nicely with the poinsettia, I just love it!

To give the background it's diffused faded look, I pulled out my Gel Press. Then, I stamped the image repeatedly across the Gel Press using Cranberry True Color Fusion Ink. I VERY gently placed a sheet of scrap paper over the surface, just to pull up part of the color, and then I pressed Buttercream cardstock onto the Gel Press and got this slightly uneven but faded look - precisely what I was hoping for! I splattered it with Gold Silk and then layered the rest of my card together.

Here's a TIP! Looking for more product in your stash that's perfect for the holidays? Check out your enamel dots, rhinestones, and sequins. But look beyond the red and green (although they're a great place to start!) . . .gold and silver are also absolutely gorgeous for holiday cards!

Next up, a cool winter card. I used a fairly seasonal set for the sentiment, called It's Cold Outside. And although I love the winter animals from that set, I wanted to give this card a different spin. So I pulled out this cozy coffee cup from Le Cafe. It's definitely not a winter stamp set, but could this be anymore perfect together!? The swirls on the sentiment even echo the steam from the cup. Perfection. I love this together.

I had a little more Gel Press fun on this card too. For the background, first I brayered out some Cool Pool Re-Inker onto the Gel Press, and pulled a quick print. Then I stamped the Flannel Life background stamp onto the print. (Oh, would that be another non-Christmas stamp that is amazingly perfect for winter? Why YES!) I used a bit of the excess Cool Pool print, to stamp and detail cut the blue coffee cup.

This is sort of a different color combination for a winter card too - and I LOVE to pull out some wacky color combinations for winter and Christmas cards. The cool blues and purple really are lovely for winter, but the oatmeal cookie color warms it up a bit, and the pop of black grounds everything nicely.

SO here's your challenge, should you choose to accept it. Search your stash. Find some NON-holiday product. Put it together to make a holiday card. Maybe even try a new color combination with it! Get crazy! Have fun! It's November! Go for it!

So, I have one more BIG thing to hit you with today before you go - have you heard? FSJ and Spellbinders are joining into one big crafty collaboration, starting TODAY November 1st. You'll be able to purchase FSJ right from the website, no direct sales coach required! We are so excited for you to shop on our new website, and explore all the goodness that Spellbinders and FSJ have to offer! If you're new to one or both companies, you'll have a great time exploring the website! And I'll be sharing lots of ways that you can use Spellbinders and FSJ products together to make crafty gorgeous creations! Together we bring paper to life!