Wishing You a Merry Christmas

Hello my sweet stamping friends! I sure hope you are cozy and warm wherever you are right now, nestled in and enjoying this beautiful season! The stockings are not yet hung at my place, but the Koerber home is looking and waiting in hope for a beautiful Christmas Day! 

And with the joy of Christmas alive in our hearts, I wish you and your loved ones tidings of comfort and joy. I say that because as I type, I am listening to the Choir of King's College sing this beautiful hymn -- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen -- and reveling in all this year has changed for me personally. There's too much to list but I sit back and thank the Lord, who came into this world as a vulnerable child to bring salvation for us all. What a beautiful and awe-inspiring gift! I pray you feel that beauty and awe in the coming days -- seeing it in friends and family, in generosity shared, in love expressed, in all the daily things we might otherwise take for granted. Know I keep you all in my thoughts and send prayers for safety, health, and happiness in the coming year with more blessings than you can even imagine! 

Now on to some card making fun! The Power Poppy Bloom Brigade decided in this hustle and bustle of the last few days before Christmas, we would take a break from creating, and simply show some of our favorite Christmas creations! 

As I scrolled through all of my Power Poppy creations, I didn't have to travel very far to find a few of my favorites. This one above might be the winner. I am not sure why -- maybe it's the soft coloring, the accents of white, the image itself or the soft blue hues -- or a combination of them all -- but this one came in the top three! You can check out the full card HERE.  I used Power Poppy's Winter Wonderland stamp set. What's even more fun is that I just sent this one out into the world yesterday with Christmas wishes attached! 

And because I found it hard to pick just one, my eyes settled on this one above as well! For this one, I used Power Poppy's Snow Kissed stamp set. What I love about this card is how this stamp set delivers a kind of homespun charm. That snow guy is just about the cutest thing ever and creating with him is even more fun! You can check out the full card details HERE. 

And lastly, because many of us like to follow up the holidays with some handmade thank yous, I included this one. The layout is simple but I love how the image from Heaven and Nature Sing just stands out. It is such an absolutely beautiful illustration and a joy to color up! Check out the full card HERE. 

As we get ready to celebrate with family and friends, those are a few of my Christmas favorites! I know the Bloomies have some of theirs to share as well! We have a kind of favorites of Christmas past hop. We all wanted to share and take some time to wish you all the very best! So, be sure to holiday hop on over to see...

Allison Cope

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Julie Koerber >>> you are here!

Kathy Jones

Katie Sims

Stacy Morgan

Tosha Leyendekker

Before I bid you farewell, I have one more quick thing to share! I decided this year that I would try my hardest to add some homemade joy to my tree as well! Since we are all crafty peeps here, I thought what better friends to share my creations with than all of YOU!!! Thanks in advance for obliging me! ;-) As you can see, I grabbed some knitting patterns and downloaded some felt ornament patterns to be able to hang a little bit of my heart on the tree as well. Here's a few shots of how that turned out. While I wanted to have the tree full of homemade ornaments, I only managed to eek out 14. So, I have my work cut out for me next year! ;-)

So, on that fine note, I hope you enjoy all the holiday brings! I'm wishing you the Merriest of Christmases and I'll see you back here -- hopefully before 2018 hits! ;-)

Merry Christmas!
~Julie

It's Christmastime.... on the blog!

Hello sweet stamping friends! How has your week been? Are you starting to make your lists and check them twice? Do you know who's been naughty.... and who's been nice? ;-)

I am not sure if you've been following the flurry of activity over on the Power Poppy blog this week but, if not, I strongly urge you to check it out! Each day this week -- actually since the first of December -- a different designer has been a guest blogger on the Power Poppy Blog, showcasing a fun-filled project to get you in the spirit of Christmas! And, I actually tried one of them today!

On Day 2 -- Stacy Morgan challenged us all to make a gift card holder and gave a step-by-step tutorial on one of her favorite ways! You can click HERE to check it out! Well, I decided to try this and made mine into a card. So, needless to say, my dimensions had to be a bit different. The good news is, I am sharing that with you today!

Here's a peek at how the project turned out!

I will point out, right off the top, that this project was one that I wanted to create in a jiffy. You might notice that the coloring on this is a bit all over the place. Well, that was my intent! Just a quick watercolor wash using my trusty (and very old) Twinkling H20s. I got these paints when they first made an appearance on the scene and I really need to drag them out more! It was fun to just color outside the lines and get that dreamy look with a bit of sparkle as well. Here's a little close up for you! I wish you could see the sparkle!

And, just to let you know, I used the hellebore image from Power Poppy's Heaven & Nature Sing stamp set - stamping with Versamark and then embossing with gold detail powder! Okay... moving on! Here's how I created my gift card holder!

I started by cutting a strip of paper to measure 4-1/4" by 11". From there, I scored 4" in on each side. After you do so, You have a 3" section in the middle. I added another score mark at the 5-1/2" line to create my mountain fold in the center. This will become my gift card holder!

From there, using the Heaven & Nature Sing stamp set from Power Poppy, I stamped all over this piece using a tan water-based ink.

Once I was done stamping, I did go over all the stamped areas with a water brush to give some depth to the stamped flowers....

And I also stamped the sentiment from Holly Golightly in Versamark Ink and then heat embossed using gold detail powder. The sentiment on the front is from the Under Glass: Christmas Traditions stamp set. 

Now, you can see that once I taped it all down, it created that mountain in the center of the card. I even put a line of tape at the far edge of each side of the mountain fold so that it would stay together and keep that gift card in place. One more note! Before I stuck that down, I did use a large oval die shape to create the slot for my gift card. See?

Once cut, you can see that the gift card fits in that little slot perfectly! From there, the rest is just matting up your card. I used a window die for my front, setting the stamped sentiment inside and that was pretty much it -- an easy and earthy gift card holder that is now ready for me to share the spirit of Christmas!

And that, my friends, is it! Like I said, check out Stacy's tutorial HERE and if you are looking for a few more ideas, I did a gift card tutorial last year, just in time for the holidays, HERE! 

Now, keep in mind, if you run through all the tutorials and decide to give one of them a try, don't forget to link up your creation on THIS POST. Every project linked up will be in the running for our 12 Days of Christmas Power & Spark Challenge. Winner gets a $50 Shopping Spree to the Power Poppy Shop! Oh, what fun!

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what I've been up to! Now it's time to check in not only with the Power Poppy blog HERE for today's tutorial with the oh-so-fabulous Cindy Lawrence but the other Bloomies below!


Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber >>> you are here!
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker


Hope you have a wonderful weekend and I will see you all back here real soon!
~Julie

Be sure to check out the Power Poppy Blog Today!

Hey all, if you didn't know it -- Power Poppy is hosting the 12 Days of Christmas Power & Spark Challenge! And, for 12 Days (it started December 1st), some of the Power Poppy designers are sharing some of their favorite Christmas projects -- just to help you get in the spirit!

Want to learn how to make this little box?

Just click HERE and you'll have a step-by-step tutorial! Hope you hop on over there! I'll see you back here real soon!

~Julie