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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Thanks for the Joy and a Giveaway

Good Morning,

Wow! Christmas was wonderful and I am looking forward to a Happy New Year. Santa was very good to everyone here. My children were extremely surprised, especially my daughter who could NOT figure out what was in the package. Even after she opened it she still had no idea. Some moments are just priceless.

My husband and I picked out our gifts this year, which was even better the day after Christmas. There were NO returns. That was a great feeling! Here are my crafting goodies I received. I also got a new purse and wallet (Dooney & Bourke), but didn't think you wanted to see that. It was a FABULOUS deal and one of my favorite colors (blue).
We did go shopping for After Christmas sales and found a few more deals that couldn't be passed, but we are done now...well..except for one new addiction or two I may have now.  I will share below. : )
TJMaxx has Martha Stewart supplies for the BEST price, especially when they are 50% off.

Now, I want to share some thank you cards I made for my students last night. I will give them out when we go back to school next Tuesday.
I used the Winter Woodland cartridge, which I received just a few days before Christmas. I actually won the eBay bid while on our mini vacation. I really wanted Winter Frolic, but that will come next. 
The sleigh (p. 53) was cut at 2 1/2". Then I used the scalloped circle (p.33) and circle cut at 1 1/4" for the sentiment.
Other Materials:
Recollection, DCWV, and Cloud9Design papers
silver and white cardstock
silver and red gems
red ribbon
Martha Stewart snowflake stamps
Stampendous silver embossing powder 

Challenges:

Can you guess my new addiction?
 If you guessed heat embossing then you are correct!
I tried heat embossing once a couple months ago and the tool I had must have been defective. It made a loud noise, smelled terribly (it may have even smoked some), and it turned on only once then stopped. I exchanged it without difficulties, but feared the same thing would happen again. I figured it must have been me since I didn't really know what I was doing. I decided to give it another try last night and it worked. Yeah!

Now, I need help!
 What type of embossing powder is recommended and what are your favorite colors to use? I bought silver since it matched the sleigh, but I know I am going to want to expand and have choices. 

I also tried a few rosettes from my new cartridge...Ribbons and Rosettes. My daughter made a personal request for an orange one. I can see these being a big hit.
  Don't forget about the Surprise Holiday Giveaway.
There is still time to enter. Be sure to leave a comment here. The winner will be announced on January 2, 2012. 

Wow!
Lots going on and still another week off. I wonder what else I can get accomplished. One goal is to get published in 2012. Any tips?!?!

Stay Creative,
Georgiana

34 comments:

  1. Very nice Cristmas cards!!! Love the gifts you have got! You are really a happy girl))
    hugs. Hlora. xx

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  2. lovely cards...lucky girl on the amazing stash you recieved bet you cant wait to get goin on some projects

    thanks for the chance to win

    Tina
    ricktina09@yahoo.com

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  3. Wonderful cards- I love to heat emboss as well- gold is a must, and black. If you have clear and any color pigment ink it will end up being the pigment ink color (you don't have to just use the clear embossing ink- pigment will work as it takes so long to dry and the clear powder will stick to it). Happy New Year!! :)Amy

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  4. My favorite color of embossing powder is CLEAR. You use any color ink you have and the clear makes it stand out. The best part is, if the powder gets on the rest of your project, it's not as noticeable. I am always using clear. You will find that you will have a favorite pigment pad as time goes on too.

    Smiles Sher
    ShersL84bed@aol.com

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  5. very nice cards. looks like you got a nice variety of crafting goodies from santa. lucky you. i don't do much embossing, but when i do i usually use clear embossing powder. i also like rainbow sparkle (ranger product).

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  6. Look at all those yummy goodies you scored! Have a blast playing with them!
    Your cards are beautiful!!! I love the heat embossed look! I love using gold and black but also have silver, white and clear. I have not gotten into it too much so I can not recommend one brand over another :( Sorry

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  7. Lovely cards and rosettes! Look the heat embossed look, but I have yet to try that!
    Enjoy all your crafting ggodies! Looking forward to seeing your creations!
    Hope you are enjoying a wonderful Christmas season!
    Glenda

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  8. Fabulous goodies you scored!! Loads of fun there.
    As far as embossing I like Tim Holtz fine embossing powder, as far as colors I like gold, black and clear. Enjoy your goodies.

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  9. Your students are going to love these cards, they're all so pretty!!! You did a great-great job on the heat embossing too! I agree that it can be addictive -- it's such fun to do!

    Sorry, I can't help with any color powder suggestions, I love every color I use depending in the project, so that sums it up for me -- no real favs... lol!

    Oh, and great raks!!! Would love-love to win!!! LOL!

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  10. Cute cards, I love the clear embossing powder, cause whatever ink color you use shows through!

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  11. Wonderful Christmas goodies! Beautiful cards!

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  12. Love all the Crafty Goodies. Those cards look great and I love the rosettes. Glad you had an amazing Christmas.

    Hugs,
    kate

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  13. What great crafting goodies you got! Have a lot of fun with them. I see your enjoyment in what you do. Isn't exploring new techniques fun. Have a great New Year.
    Rae Ann O.
    http://joyinart.blogspot.com

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  14. Great cards and looks like you got a ton of goodies! I have only tried heat embossing once before and I had the UTEE powder which I think was a little too thick for what I was trying. I may have to get some different powder and give it another try after seeing how great it looks on your cards.

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  15. What a lucky ducky! ;) The cards are fab and I am going to continue to drool over the score of goodies you picked up for a few minutes before moving on to comment on other blogs. Happy New Year!!!

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  16. Great gifts! Good choice of cartridges. Love the Ribbons and Rosettes! Recollections has some good colors for embossing powder. I like the new look of your blog.
    Have a Happy New Year!
    Kerry

    mommakcrafts.blogspot.com

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  17. You got some awesome goodies there!!! I so want the Ribbons and Rosettes cartridge. Love the ones you made. Your sleigh cards are all so so cute!! I don't do a lot of heat embossing, but I like to use Zing and Ranger. :)

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  18. What a great haul! And your cards rock! I have only been embossing a little less than a year, but my favorite powders so far are Zing, Tim Holtz, and the Recollections brand! Enjoy your crafty goodies! Thanks so much for playing along with Docerela Creations!

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  19. Your embossed cards are gorgeous! My favorite ep is a muse studio, of course. We carry the basic colors in big jars for a good price.

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  20. Hey G! You got some great goodies! I went out today and found tons of fun stuff! Great Thank you cards and Yippee for the embossing! The first heat gun I bought caught fire! CRAZY! Now I use mine every day! Text me...

    Carri~abusybee
    www.doubleclickconnections.blogspot.com

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  21. Whoops I forgot to say...

    Thanks for joining us at Docerela Creations! DT Member Carri

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  22. Wow! Those cards are beautiful! Your students are going to love them. I love heat embossing. I highly recommend any Stampin Up embossing powders. Especially the white. It is the best quality I have tried. Make sure to grab an embossing buddy too, it will keep your embossing perfectly clean. You are going to have some serious fun:)
    Maribel

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  23. You are really going to enjoy your week off.
    Looks like Santa was really good to you.
    DIANA L.
    http://dianamlarson.blogspot.com

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  24. WOW, so many wonderful Christmas crafty goodies!
    Your cards & rosettes look great!
    I really like Stampin Up emobssing powder, I actually just ordered some before stopping by your blog.

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  25. I really like that sleigh from Winter Woodland, G. Great cards you made with it! And great crafty stuff for Xmas presents!! Your rosettes are so pretty--I really think I need that cart now. I didn't ask for any carts since I still have about 7 unopened ones (never used!!)--Pat

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  26. What a fun post! Let's see...great Christmas haul, wonderful sleigh Thank You cards, and congrats on learning to heat emboss! I love to use colored pigment inks and clear embossing powder. There is very little chance of getting stray color on your project. The colored embossing powders tend to fly away sometimes! Oh, be sure to check out UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel)...This stuff is great!
    Have fun!
    Carolyn
    http://cccscraproom.blogspot.com

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  27. oh thanks so much for joining in my challenge. love these cards! I just got a new heat gun so I think I will join you in your heat embossing addiction ;)! Hope you have a wonderful vacation from school....

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  28. Beautifully Festive Cards and that is a fab die cut sled & Thanks for the Chance at such a sweet Stash of goodies ... they look marvelous

    Embossing I love to emboss for using a Clear pad the best one I have is Versamark Clear - Great for those stamps with lots of details
    Embossing Powders there are soo many to play with and I have my faves
    Stampin Up - Clear always works well with high detail stamps, Winter White is just such a nice bright white too
    Tim Holtz Distress are really kewl to work with
    but depending on what you like you can peel away a bit when it's hot some of his glittery ones are nice but they aren't my faves
    Stampendous has some fantastic shiney (Pearlustre colors)
    Plus if you buy some of the cheaper embossing powders the longer you have the heat on them the colors seem to blend together leaving a kewl white exposed
    I also like to mix my powders over top of each other to create different effects too (each color is heated on top a already heated up area)
    With the thick ones I find it best to heat the embossing powder from the underside so it doesn't fly away, which it does seem to do
    Utee is really thick and has some fun colors to work with
    hugs Nikki C

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  29. Lovely cards - thank you for sharing them with us at Crafty Cardmakers.

    I think you can't go wrong with gold and silver detail embossing powder, clear, black and white. Having said that, you will soon find you are building up a collection of all sorts of colours, and types. Holographic is good - it takes colour from the ink below and adds a whole new vibe to it...

    Happy embossing!

    Jackie

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  30. Great cards! Thank you for joining us at docerelacreations

    Catarina

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  31. Love, love, LOVE your work! I am getting my first cricut machine this weekend (a birthday gift to me!). I can't wait to start crafting.. hope I can make things as cute as yours;)

    Kristina Schnepf

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  32. I can see you had a great deal of fun with your new cartridge!

    Thanks for joining us at Crafty Cardmakers.

    Happy New Year

    Lin

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  33. Very pretty cards, thanks for sharing them with us at Crafty Cardmakers.

    Feebsy
    xx

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