October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: Very Merry Christmas

The Close To My Heart October stamp of the month, Very Merry Christmas, has arrived in time to get started on those crafy holiday projects!  I hope that this blog hop will inspire your creativity.  (If you're already hopping along, then you've probably arrived from Laurie Newton's blog.  From here, you will hop to Susan Brooks' blog next.)

My cards all pair the October stamp of the month with the Pear and Partridge paper pack to make cards that would mail easily to get a jump start on my holiday cheer.  I used card sketches from the Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 1 to simplify the process.  Red and Stardust Glitz Glitter Gel make adding bing a snap.  I also used Cranberry baker's twine on most these.  For the mitten card, above, I used the Cricut Artiste to cut the mittens, stamped them in Cranberry, and then stamped them again with New England Ivy on Colonial White scrap cardstock.  I cut out the green cuffs, adhered them to the Cranberry mittens (with the baker's twine in between the two layers) and then outlined the design with Liquid Applique.  After the Liquid Applique dried, I heated it with my heat tool so that it puffed up.

For this 3rd card of the same design, I stamped the presents from the tree image several times in multiple colors on scraps and then cut them out to adhere to the card front.  I also comined two of the sentiments into one.  This card has a lot of Glitter Glitz bling! 

My 4th card uses a different Make It From Your Heart sketch.  Can you see how I scored the Cranberry cardstock to add interest to that panel? 

Finally, I made this card for two different challenges (that you can read about HERE) but here it is in case you missed it.  I dyed our seam binding ribbon with Sweet Leaf reinker and added a few details with the Silver metallic pen.

I also have some non-holiday uses for this stamp set that I will be sharing throughout the month, so please visit often or even consider becoming a follower of my blog.  Thanks for stopping by, for your kind words in the comments section, and for your time.  Be sure to check out Susan's festive project next.  Happy holidays!