...and THEN I found some paper...

I have to laugh as I feel that I have spoken out of "both sides" of my mouth this week LOL!!!

After finishing up my last post about enjoying the Fall, which I TOTALLY intend to do, by the way, I realized that I guess I should proooobbbaaably get a jump start on holiday cards, from a business point, especially!

Each year, I have the privilege of creating many, many cards for my friends, family, and clients during this time of year, and there's no better time to start than the present! (ha ha, get it? Present? heh heh) Since my website has been down a few months, in preparation for our grand "reopening" of sorts, I definitely don't want to drop the ball on this coming winter's surge....so, I decided to play around a bit yesterday and was quite pleased with some papers I found hiding in my scrapbooking bag :)

I'm not much for square cards, I have to be honest. I LOVE the look of them, but the postage is killer! I couldn't resist this sketch from Beate on SCS though, so I decided to play along, albeit a few weeks later than it was issued :)

I used textured Artichoke CS, and layered that with two patterns from the Basic Grey FIGGY PUDDING line. I love these little trees! All DP was distressed with Versamagic Olive Chalk ink. A few brads toward the top helped accentuate the distressed look as well. I followed the sketch, placing the papers along the card and then tore my piece of white paper to give it a bit more of an "edge".

I used the new Snow Swirled Set from Stampin' Up! I love this pretty snowflake and it has an amazing Christmas tree that you can use as well. You can hop on by to Darla's SU page and order this set...it's 15% off right now! I matted the white square in the middle with the new Kiwi Kiss paper from SU! also, and layered this with their new Kiwi Kiss/vanilla satin ribbon. It's SO pretty and soft to the touch. Definitely worth getting to go with the new colors, I think. To top off my snowflake, I used these topaz colored rhinestones from Hero Arts. They are small and delicate and make the perfect embellishment to any holiday card. They also make great "ornaments" for that tree that comes with this set... you'll be seeing more from me with this set VERY soon!

Take care and remember to enjoy the coming Fall season... I'm trying not to get TOO wrapped up in all of the craziness, that's for sure! We are headed off to my daughter's football game soon (well, she's not PLAYING football, lol..she's "pomming"...is that a word?) and it's a crisp 60 degrees and sunny...a little too cool for me, but we'll take it!