My Christmas cards and tip-ins

I don't normally make Christmas cards, but so many of my friends have stopped making altered books and have moved into other areas of art and away from tip-ins. So this year, I made more cards than tip-ins. And I don't make just one card, or tip-in. I make all of mine the same. I'm not much for coming up with ideas, and composition is not my forte, so when I decide on a plan, I make sure I don't reinvent the wheel, so to speak.



I had a terrible time with the front of my cards. I bought a "gently used" rubber stamp that didn't want to stamp. I picked the very best image I could find to scan for the front of the card. I asked my Wednesday WOYWW friends for advice about why I didn't get a good stamped image, and I got several reasons why the image may have been less than "perfect."

The most helpful reasons were that the stamp could be a "grunge" stamp, and it isn't my stamping inability at all. Of course, I doubt that, while something I "knew" but forgot was glossy card stock works better for these photo realistic stamps. Several suggested I should press hard on the stamp, by placing it on the floor and gently stamping with my feet. That may be why I got better coverage on some of the completed images than others. Since I stand to stamp, and since I'm so short, I had to press my entire weight against the stamp block on the table. And finally, several of the stampers said they took emery boards or sandpaper to the rubber side, something I am tempted to do, since I always thought the rubber was not quite "level."

I want to thank all my WOYWWednesday stamping friends for their advice, and really liked what Kyla said about having other friends use the stamp to see if they have the same problem.

To complete the card, the inside reads: "Dear Santa . . . just dreaming of a white Christmas." The back has my "Handmade by" stamp where I added my name. I can't believe I stamped the entire card. What a feat for someone who simply doesn't stamp!


My tip-ins were definitely supposed to be quick this year, but turned into a nightmare when I tried to add all the balls and stars. On the reverse, I stamped the rocking horse, which was a gift from Ohhh Snap. The background colors were made using several Staz-0n reinkers and 91% alcohol. I learned one year that the colors bleed through to the back of the 110 lb. card stock substrate, so there is no need to color the back. And because of the alcohol, these dry very quickly and completely flat, unlike most background techniques.

I hope I'm not jumping the gun on this post and that most of my friends (other than possibly my Canadian buds) have received their tip-in or card by now. As it is, I hope no one has sent me an e-mail letting me know they got my Christmas envelope, because I'm still not able to write "glad you got it!"