Welcome to the November  "It's all about Christmas (or Hanukkah) Blog Hop. Doing the projects for this hop just reminded me how close to Christmas it is.  ARRGGHHHH!  I am never ready early. I am one of those late shoppers (thank heavens for the internet and online shopping).  At least I have my Christmas cards finished and now it's up to my DH to write the Christmas letter.  Now that I've imparted all that information....  As always this hop moves in a circle.  You can view the whole hop from the end, beginning or middle just by clicking on Next or Previous.

You arrived at my blog from Marsha's blog. She always has such beautiful creations.

My first card is actually my Christmas card for this year. I accompanied my husband on a hunting trip to Virginia and stayed at the house and created my cards. The first time I've had them done this far ahead.
                                                                                 

The card stock I used for this card is Blackberry Bliss. I love non traditional colors for Christmas and this is one of my favorites. I also used Gold Glimmer paper, the music sheet from Home for Christmas DSP, 1/8"gold ribbon, Gold EP and the background stars are from Too You and Yours stamp set and the main image is from All Ye Faithful stamp set.

My next card is an easy teachable card.

Starting with a Thick WW card base I created a mask from copy paper using the Delicate Ornament Die. I laid it on the card base and using a sponge dauber and Soft Sky and Night of Navy ink filled in the image.  Then I took another layer of WW CS (4 x 5 1/4) and cut the open die from the layer. The mask I had created also had the corners punched with the new Curvy Corner Trio punch. I sponged around the mask using the same Soft Sky and Night of Navy ink. Then I stamped some snowflakes from the Flurry of Wishes using both Night of Navy and Encore Silver. The top sponged layer was laid on the base card with the ornament showing through. Using the snowflake side of a sheet of DSP from the Season of Cheer collection I cut the detailed Delicate Ornament and overstamped it with some silver snowflakes from Flurry of Wishes. I used the fine tip glue pen to adhere it to the card and added the top cut from Silver Foil paper and added a Silver Cord bow.

My next project will take some space here as it needs multiple photos. Years a go I took a class on making Star Books. The instructions for making such a book can be found in a back issue of a magazine that is no longer in publication. I searched the internet for a copy as I had lost mine and was able to procure one. The magazine was called Expressions and this particular issue was Mar/Apr 2002. Needless to say this book was created using many stamp sets, some current, some retired. I will list them at the end of the photos of this book.

This is the front.

2 views of the open Star Book

Back Cover

The covers were made with board from the backing of our specialty designer paper which I covered with velvet paper.  The CS used was Basic Black, Hello Honey, and Crumb Cake. Every other page was done with Gold Glimmer and Black Glimmer paper. I used the Winter Wonderland DSP collection and Winter Wonderland Designer Vellum stack. I absolutely love this collection. The folios were hand stitched together using a coptic stitch method to bind them together. Tools I used were Stars Framelit, Confetti Stars Border, Curvy Corner Trio punch. Embellishments included Rhinestones Basics, retired Black Grosgrain ribbon, 1/8" gold ribbon, and Black and Gold EP.

The stamp sets I used are Wonderful Blessings (r), The Newborn King (r), The Sounding Joy (r), Snowflake Soiree (r), Comfort and Joy (r), Nature's Peace (r), Bright and Beautiful (r), All Ye Faithful, Reason for the Season, and Wonderland.

That's all I have this time.  Now on to Jean's wonderful creations.

Just an additional comment...I hope each and every one of you has a Joyful and Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah.