Holiday Mini Swap

Here's the card I created for my swap group's Holiday Mini catalog swap. I haven't gotten the swaps back in the mail yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing what all of the other amazing stampers in the group created.

This card uses Stem Silhouettes and the polished stone technique. Unfortunately, the photo doesn't show the polished stone look too well . . . I used Cameo Coral and So Saffron reinkers here, along with silver reinker for the technique. The branch image is stamped over the polished stone panel with Basic Brown ink. I wish I had had some gold reinker to use instead of silver--it would have looked more fall-like with that. Just something else to add to my next order, I guess.

I used some of the Fall Flowers designer paper (definitely a favorite from the new catalog!) here and added a scalloped border made with the slit punch along the bottom edge. I tied some of the wide Chocolate Chip grosgrain around the polished stone piece. I don't know about you, but I am finding the wide grosgrain really hard to work with. I have a hard time tying it and I have really tiny fingers so tying ribbon usually isn't a problem for me. This ribbonjust isn't for me! I am really missing the retired narrower chocolate grosgrain, and the taupe, too.

Materials Used (All from Stampin' Up!):
Stem Silhouettes stamp set; Basic Brown Classic ink; Cameo Coral, So Saffron, and Silver reinkers; So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Really Rust, and Glossy White cardstock; Fall Flowers designer paper; slit punch; large oval punch; photo corner punch; silver brads; Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain