Holiday Cards Blog Hop

 Are you ready for the festivities of the holiday season?  I for one am glad to have something to look forward to in this crazy year.  You'll get lots of holiday card ideas along this special blog hop.  (If you're already hopping you should have arrived from Michelle's blog, and from here you'll visit Brandi's blog next.)

For my cards, I used the NEW Jingle Joy collection with the Jingle Joy Scrapbooking stamp set & coordinating Thin Cuts.  I used Clover, Raspberry, Black, and NEW Flamingo inks on my cards.

One of the many cool things about being a CTMH Maker (formerly known as consultant) is that you get products and workshops in advance, and these cards are all from the preview of this new collection.  CTMH makes it so easy now to make fabulous artwork.  Of course I always have to add my own little twist, but I have learned over the years that their ideas really work!

For this card, the center Flamingo tree was stamped on its Thin Cut and then added to the card front.  I trimmed down a piece of zip strip to mimic washi tape at the top, and then decided to add Black Liquid Pearl "stitches" to further enhance this simple card.

Do you love how the "Just Believe" stamped Thin Cut extends beyond the sentiment band as much as I do?  In the spirit of the Polar Express, I had to add the bell to this pretty card!

For my final card of this post (but not my final of the collection- more to come!), I added the "all is bright" to the original card idea.  As I was putting it together, I manged to smear some black onto the stamped focal panel.  Don't let a mistake ruin your project!  (I had already glued the piece down so I couldn't turn it over and try again.)  My CTMH's team t-shirt reads "It's not a mistake; it's an opportunity to embellish."  In that spirit, I just randomly smudged more black onto the sentiment panel.  It wasn't quite the look I was going for, but it no longer looked like a mistake. 

Also, in case you missed it, here is a sweet little treat that I made using the November stamp of the month.  (You can learn more HERE.)

Thanks for letting me share a little holiday cheer.  Please leave a comment before hopping on to visit the talented Brandi next to continue the Holiday Cards Blog Hop!

{Click HERE for all the hop participants and their blogs.}