Peaceful Boughs

Hey Stampers!
Can you guess what one of the most popular Christmas motifs is in stamping? It's so popular you'll see it in home decor, fabric, kitchen ware and even on clothes sometimes!  It's the pine bough! I think it's popular because it's so versatile and so familiar. I would guess there are some sort of pine trees almost everywhere in the country and beyond. We are surrounded by deep forests of pine trees here in Montana and they are also in every town and along the countryside. I love the smell and look of pine boughs and the warm Christmas memories I have of my mom carefully attaching real, as in not fake,  pine boughs to our staircase every Christmas.

The 2019 Holiday catalog is no exception and there is a magnificent stamp/die bundle called "Peaceful Boughs". I like this set so much because the dies work really well and the scale of the boughs and pine cones is great!  You can stamp or cut (or both) your boughs and pinecones and go to town on your idea involving pine!  I had some fun with this set a few weeks ago and wanted to share it today:

For my first card, I cut the large pine bough die out of Old Olive cardstock. Before I attached it to my card, I used an Early Espresso Stampin'Write marker to color the branch part of the die so it wouldn't also be green.  You can see that I used the pine cone dies as well as one of the sentiment dies to cut out my greeting. Before adhering everything, I daubed all the edges with a dauber and some Soft Suede ink for a more vintage, antiqued look.

My second idea is about 180 degrees different than the first idea!  Sparkle and shine were the themes of this card!  I stamped some of the bough stamps on some Blackberry Bliss cardstock with Versamark Ink and then heat embossed our Shimmer White embossing powder on them. The picture really doesn't do it justice but it's quite sparkly! I used some more bling with silver glimmer paper and some rhinestones. This is an elegant and more contemporary example of using this set.

For this card, I wanted to try inking up the pine bough stamps with Stampin'Write markers so I could get two colors on the stamp, Old Olive and Early Espresso. Here you can see I also stamped some pine cones and cut them out with the corresponding dies. The polkadot stamp is also part of this set so I scattered some of that all over the place in the background. My favorite linen twine completed the look.

And, back to bling!  This card features some die cut pine boughs and the Stained Glass dies that are in the Annual Catalog. These dies require a little patience to remove the paper from the die but overall, this was fun. I used Champagne Foil paper and Merry Merlot cardstock and ink.

I know I'll be hanging on to this set for at least one reason. We've had other pine bough dies in the past but they were difficult to use because it was hard to get the paper out of the die after cutting, without ripping the paper. This batch of dies are much easier to have success with so I'm a big fan.

A couple of awesome things are happening this week
24 HOUR FLASH SALE
Tomorrow, Wednesday, October 23rd, there will be a 24 hour flash sale on many stamps in the Annual catalog! They will be reduced for 15% for tomorrow ONLY!  This sale does not include any coordinating dies or bundles - just the stamps!  Check back tomorrow for the link to the sale or go to the online store (link is on the right side bar) and it will be the first thing that pops up!

HOLIDAY CARD BUFFET
I'm having my annual Holiday Card Buffet this weekend!  The fun starts on Thursday night at 5-8 p.m. and continues on Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is an open house style event so you can come and go. It's at my house and I should have almost 20 card choices for you to make. Bring a friend and enjoy stamping, treats, prizes, displays and more! Contact me at scade403@hotmail.com if you have any questions or need directions to my house!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Did you know you can follow my blog and get updates every time I post. You won't miss out and don't have to remember to find me!  Click on the "follow" tab to sign up!

Happy Stampin'!
Sarah