Hi-ya! So glad you were able to stop back by for Day 5 of the Papertrey Countdown! TONIGHT is THE night! Tonight at midnight EST, Signature Christmas and all of the other new goodies you've seen this week will be available for purchase at Papertrey Ink! I can't WAIT for this release -- this week has been SO much fun! I'm thrilled to hear that so many of you are excited about Signature Christmas and I so appreciate you sharing part of your week with me. Stay tuned at the end of this post for a GIVEAWAY!! We've been talking about Christmas all week, after all........seems fitting that we'd have some presents, don't you think? ;)
Ok, so today's post focuses mostly on the art of saying 'thank you'. I knew I really wanted to include a special little sentiment in Signature Christmas that is specific to saying thank you at Christmas time. There are a lot of gifts given during the Christmas season and I think it's so nice to send a thank you note after the holidays, to express my thanks for the gifts I've been given. You can ask Bart -- I make cards each year and have even had him write out a few notes for gifts that he's been given as well. It's just a great habit to get into.....it's good to not overlook showing our gratitude and it's a habit that you can get your kids involved in as well, teaching them to be grateful and not take things for granted. We all know how much time and effort (and finances) are spent each year to make gift-giving possible so this sweet little sentiment -- 'A Christmas Thank You' -- makes it so easy to let your friends and family know that you appreciate their generosity.
So one person in my family that ALWAYS sends thank you notes is my sweet Grandma. You can rest assured that if you send her a birthday gift, a Mother's Day gift, a just because gift or a Christmas gift, she WILL be sending you a thank you note. *smile* I just love that about her. It just shows that she doesn't take any of those gifts for granted. And so, it was with her in mind, that today's post was born! I decided to create a gift set of Christmas thank you cards that I will give her as part of her Christmas gift this year. She's always telling me when she's used cards I've given her and I know that she's running low right now, so giving her a set of thank you's that I KNOW she'll be able to use will be just the thing for her!
I knew that I wanted to keep the cards fairly flat so that they won't cost her extra postage so this is what I came up with. I'm so in love with stamping spring moss ink on aqua mist card stock now, so I pulled out the background image from the new Peaceful Poinsettia to create this background. Then, I used the new Tree Trimming Trio to stamp my focal image.
I covered the ornaments (stamped in aqua mist ink) with the new epoxy circle stickers to add a bit of dimension without creating any extra bulk or weight. The little vintage cream scalloped border was the perfect finishing touch to dress these trees up just a bit!
To coordinate with the 'flourished tree' that I used on the card, I pulled out the largest flourish stamp from Fancy Flourishes to add a bit of detail to the front of the envelopes. So simple, but boy, it really adds a bit of class to the envies! And just so you know, I was able to fit 8 of these cards as well as 8 coordinating A2 vintage cream envelopes in the Clearly Creative Card Box that I packaged them in. I just added a simple bow to the outside of the box, letting my card front really shine since the boxes are clear.
I have one more Christmas thank you card to show you today. Remember that green plaid patterned paper I stamped the other day? Well, I decided to try it again in pink and red! I loooove how it turned out. I stamped it exactly the same way as I did the green pattern, just substituting pure poppy for the ripe avocado and sweet blush for the spring moss ink.
I then pulled out one of the label images from the new Vintage Labels set and stamped it in conjunction with some images from Peaceful Poinsettia and my Christmas thank you sentiment from Signature Christmas. I simply hand cut the label with my little paper snips. This totally got me to thinking though.........if this little label looks so cute on a card front, why couldn't I change out the sentiment and create gift tags along the same line as this card's focal point???
So guess what I did.........
I created a little set of gift tags! There are 8 tags -- 2 each of 4 styles -- and I put them all in a cute little Medium Glassine Bag. I created one extra 'tag' which I used on the front of my glassine bag. I adhered a strip of ribbon behind the tag with Scor-Tape -- so fast and easy!
Here is the set of tags all together. I simply used a bit of rustic jute button twine for the ties on each tag. Wouldn't this little set make a great gift for the mail lady or the school bus driver or a teacher?? They'd even be great 'just because' gifts to give the ladies in your family when you get together for Thanksgiving -- that way, they'll be able to use them on their Christmas gifts! Everyone that gives Christmas gifts needs SOME sort of gift tags, right??? ;)
Here is a close up of two of the tags. The sentiments are both from Signature Christmas. The label stamps are from Vintage Labels and the images are all from Peaceful Poinsettia.
And here is a close-up of the other 2 sets of tags, featuring two different sentiments from Signature Christmas and more images from Vintage Labels and Peaceful Poinsettia. When you limit yourself to a select set of colors and stamp sets to work with, it makes building goodies like these little tags much easier!
Welllll, what do you think? I hope you've enjoyed this week's Signature Christmas posts! Be sure and visit Nichole's blog again today as well as Becky, Melissa, Beth and Lauren -- they've all got a few more sneaky-peeks for you!
Would you like to win a gift from me? Since we've been talking about Christmas all week, I'd love to give away a little 'present' to one lucky winner. I'll be giving away TWO stamp sets -- one Scattered Showers and one Scattered Showers Additions (pictured in the photo above) -- to one winner. All you need to do to enter to win, is leave a comment on this post! You can tell me what your favorite stamp set from this release is, or you can tell me what your favorite Christmas color combo is. Or, you can even tell me something you're most looking forward to this coming Christmas! I can't wait to hear from you! Contest ends on Tues., Sept. 15 at 9pm CST. Only one entry per person. Winner will be announced here at the blog-o on Wed.
Don't forget that tonight is the Official Papertrey Release Party starting at 9pm EST. I'll be in the Papertrey Forum for the festivities -- I'd love it if you came by and said HI! Hope to see you there, Peeps!
Have a goodie!
{A Christmas Thank You note card set supplies}
Paper: aqua mist, spring moss, vintage cream
Stamps: Signature Christmas, Tree Trimming Trio, Peaceful Poinsettia, Fancy Flourishes
Ink: spring moss, aqua mist, dark chocolate
Other: spring moss classic grosgrain ribbon, vintage cream A2 envelopes, clearly creative card box, clear epoxy stickers, Fiskars apron lace punch
{Christmas Thank You/Plaid supplies}
Paper: pure poppy, sweet blush, vintage cream
Stamps: Signature Christmas, Peaceful Poinsettia, Vintage Labels, Faux Ribbon, Background Basics: Retro
Ink: pure poppy, sweet blush, vintage cream, dark chocolate, spring moss
Other: sweet blush classic grosgrain ribbon, EK Success diamond lace punch
{Gift Tags supplies}
Paper: vintage cream
Stamps: Signature Christmas, Vintage Labels, Peaceful Poinsettia
Ink: dark chocolate, pure poppy, sweet blush
Other: Medium Glassine Bag, pure poppy classic grosgrain ribbon, rustic jute button twine
