A Calm Christmas???

Hello stampers!
I'm glad you came back for a visit this wonderful Monday!
Hasn't our weather just been the best?  You know me... I love the sunshine and this lovely Indian Summer weather really makes me happy!

As you know,  a few posts ago I promised to concentrate on Christmas cards for a while, then I promptly turned around and we viewed a couple of Thanksgiving projects.  But today, we're back on track with Christmas cards.  I'm planning to continue with Christmas the rest of the week, then we'll probably take a little break as I've got some non-holiday cards I'd like you to see.

So, here we go again,  onward toward Christmas!  Before I show you the card, which was made with a great new stamp set in the holiday catalog called "Calm Christmas" I just want to pose the question.... is there such a thing as a calm Christmas??  I'm not sure I've celebrated one of those, ever.  But I'd like to someday! Christmas, for most of us, is anything but calm.  There's so much to do, and the days fly by and before we know it, Christmas arrives and we count ourselves lucky if we managed to get the gifts wrapped before midnight!

The first card I'm going to show you is one we made today at my "Head Start on the Holidays" class.
Here it is...

I used Very Vanilla card stock for the base of the card and the focal panel.  Then Crumb Cake and Midnight Muse is layered on top.  The Midnight Muse panel is embossed with the Pretty Print embossing folder on page 24 of the holiday catalog.  The dove is stamped in Midnight Muse ink over a background made with the World Map background stamp on page 23 of the annual catalog.  The sentiment comes with the Calm Christmas set.  It is stamped on Very Vanilla with Midnight Muse ink and then punched out with the Large Oval punch.  Some Crumb Cake seam binding ( page 173 of the annual catalog) makes a nice finishing touch.  I sponged everything with the Crumb Cake ink to give the card a more vintage feel.

Since I used this card at two different events this past weekend, for many of you this is "old hat."  So here's another card using this same set so you'll have something new to inspire you.

This great card is the work of Janet Jones, one of the talented stampers in my group.  Here's a quick list of what she used:
Stamps:  Calm Christmas
Ink:  Raspberry Ripple, Island Indigo, Old Olive
Paper:  Island Indigo, Raspberry Ripple, Whisper White, In-Color Designer Series Paper Stack, Silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Apothecary Accents Framelits, p. 187 of the annual catalog, silver 1/8 inch ribbon, page 28 of the holiday catalog, Northern Flurry embossing folder (p. 191 of the annual catalog)

I hope you agree... Calm Christmas is a wonderful stamp set  and at just $14.95, it's a great bargain as well.

I hope your new week is off to a great start!  The forecast says we're going to continue with the sunny weather for a bit longer, so that's a happy thing to look forward to!

Don't forget to come back on Wednesday for another Classic Card.
Hugs,
Susan