I Brake for Christmas!

Merry Christmas! It's Monica from Taylormadecards4u. I hope everyone so far is having a wonderful day with Family and Friends. I wanted to share with you my last Christmas Card of the season.  I am using the Music Sheet Background from I Brake for stamps and have stamped the Large Grungy Leaves stamps over it.

The Large Grungy Leaves stamps was the perfect addition to give the background some color. 

Sometimes we forget how accent stamps can add great contrast to our backgrounds. This stamp can be used all year round and for so many occasions.

Thanks for stopping by!

I Brake for Teddy Bears!

Hey everyone. It's Monica from Taylormadecards4u. I am sharing a cute vintage Christmas card I created using this adorable stamp called My Bear from I Brake for stamps. I love these stamps that are re created from vintage photos. They are great for creating vintage style cards.  

I stamped the image using Black archival ink. I thought it looked like a negative from a photo so I decided to go with that theme.  

I dry embossed some black cardstock and added some metallic distress crayon to the edges.  I framed some white cardstock with some washi tape before cutting it with my rectangular die stitch.

From There I adhered my image, added some ribbon film strip and a metal element. 

Thanks for stopping by!

I Brake For....Bisters!

Hello crafty friends.  Nancy here and today I am sharing a gift bag made using Bisters for the colors.

 Bister is a wood stain that creates beautiful backgrounds. It is water soluble. To use, put a tiny amount on card stock and spray with water. You can use a light spray or a heavier spray, depending on the background that you want to achieve.

You can find Bisters on the IBFS store here.

For my bag I used Bisters in the Mahogany and Green colors to make the Poinsettias,  leaves and the background on the bag.  These colors have a rich and rustic look to them. They are beautiful and it is hard to capture the colors in a photo.

For the main flower I sprinkled mahogany bister on watercolor paper and spritzed water.  Here is what it looks like before cutting out the shapes.  The color is a rich dark red.

Here are the poinsettia die cuts -I used the Spellbinders Poinsettia dies.  I just put the pieces together and attached a dark red glittery  pearl to the center.

Here is the sheet with Green bisters and the leaves cut out.

Once I had the flower finished I made a bag using the We R Memory Keepers Gift Bag Punch Board.  I made several bags this season for gifts and really love this tool.  

I lightly sprinkled some Green Bister onto the bag before I put it together -it gives the bag a bit more of a rustic look. I also punched out some leaf branches and a tag with the leftover piece of green stained paper.

Hop on over to the IBFS store and check out all the Bister colors.  They are so much fun to work with!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

I Brake for Pinecones

Hi everyone. It's Monica from Taylormadecards4u. I am here today sharing a very simple Christmas card I created using one of the holiday background stamps over at I brake for stamps. This stamp is called Pinecone Background and is beautiful for Christmas or winter cards. 

I stamped the image using Vintage photo Distress oxides then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I added some green using one of my distress crayons. 

I used two rectangular stitch die cuts to cut out two pieces and matted them onto some craft cardstock.  From there I added a big bow and a sentiment and adhered that to some white card stock.

Thanks for stopping by!

I Brake for Anniversaries!

Hello and happy Saturday!

Today I'm sharing the anniversary card that I made for my Mother and Father-in-Law.

I've used the EVERY DAY PHRASES sheet for the Happy Anniversary saying and the main image is called CHERRY BLOSSOM WITH DREAM.

On the inside of the card I used a sentiment called LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE.

I Brake For Four Birdhouses!!

Hello Everyone, 

Today, I'm sharing two tags with you. The stamp is called four birdhouses from the store.  The gold  is ranger gold embossing pearl powder, and the paper is from recollection black kraft and gold pad. The sentiment came from Catherine Pooler Designs Merry and Bright stamp set. The pine needle is a die by Gina Marie Designs.

 

Stamp Used: 

four birdhouses

 

I Brake For...TAGS!

Hello friends! Nancy here -  it's December and just about 2.5 weeks away from Christmas!  I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the season.

Today I have a couple of holiday tags to show you.  To get the most out of my Christmas stamps I like to use them not only for cards, but for tags as well.   My craft room is filled with enough paper, ink, ribbons and stamps so I really don't need to buy ready made tags.

Here is the first..

This tag uses the cute North Pole Postage stamp found here.

I colored it with copics and adhered it to a tiny red card that opens up and provides a space for you to write To/From.

From there I attached it to a base that consisted of red cardstock and a snowflake die cut.  The die cut was attached to the red cardstock with spray adhesive - its the best thing to use when you have a die cut with a lot of open spaces.  The only problem is you only get one chance to attach it.  Once it is on the paper it is stuck!  No repositioning!    And forget about the fancy twine in the scrapbook aisle.. that white string is crochet thread - cheap and lasts forever.

The next tag uses the beautiful stamp called Poinsettias...found here. 

As you can see I only used part of the stamp - I colored it with copics, cut it out and attached it to a die cut tag.

Over the years (decades?) of paper crafting I have learned not to spend a lot of money on gift wrap.  For small items I use my (large) stash of patterned paper to make gift card holders, envelopes, boxes and bags.  For larger gifts I have a roll of white wrapping paper that I purchased at a local retail supply house.  With white wrapping paper you can do so much - it can be used for any occasion - just dress it up with ribbons or stamp on it and you have a custom design.

For this package I used a pretty gold ribbon that I saved from  a gift I received last Christmas along with some plain red satin ribbon to wrap the box.  Add the tag and I'm done!

Hop on over to the IBFS store and check out the thousands of stamps - I know you will find something to you liking.

Thanks for stopping by today!

I Brake for Snow Days!

Hi everyone, it's Monica from Taylormadecards4u One of my favorite additions to Christmas Presents are handmade Christmas tags. This is a way to personalize your gifts and add fun unique additions to your presents. 

Christmas tags don't have to be fancy to be beautiful. I created these tags using the child on sled stamp from I Brake for Stamps. This vintage image has so much detail and is perfect as a black and white image.  

I added some snow flake stickers and labels to create the sentiment "Let it Snow". I finished it off with some black and white twine.

Thanks for stopping by!

I Brake for Christmas Elves!

Hello and happy Saturday!

Today I'm sharing another new release from the set Christmas Sheet -all 10 images at I Brake for Stamps.

He's called ELF CHRISTMAS.

He's so cute on his way back with his Christmas tree!

I added some glitter pen to the ground to look like glistening snow.

You can take a look at all the CHRISTMAS stamps that IBFS offers.

I Brake for Joy!!

Hello Everyone, 

Today I'm sharing a holiday card with you. The sentiment is called Brushed Joy from the store.  The red and brown sparkle on this card is recollection tinsel embossing powder, and the embossing is from Martha Stewart Oval folders. 

 

Stamp Used: 

 Brushed Joy 

 

 

 

I Brake For....Poinsettias!

Hello my stamping friends!  Nancy here today!

I hope your Thanksgiving was full of joy, family, friends and food!  Now we are in full swing for Christmas!  I have most of my cards completed and my shopping is about 90%  done.  Ok, I cheat a little - I live far from my family so most of them get gift cards to their favorite stores, which makes my shopping very easy to do.  So I tend to focus on pretty packaging for the gift cards - making and embellishing envelopes to hold the gift cards.

Today I have a very pretty card to show you.

It uses only one stamp - actually only part of the stamp.  The stamp is called Poinsettias and can be found here.  The stamp has two poinsettia blooms but I only used one for this card.

Since the image is traditional and classic I wanted to keep that feeling with the card.  I used a fancy swirly die cut in white and mounted it on white cardstock. I used a spray adhesive on the die cut - found that it works best with those die cuts that have lots of open areas.  And I  love the white on white look.  The poinsettia was colored with copics  and mounted on a fancy edge pierced die cut

As I have done with most of my Christmas cards, I used a stardust gel pen to add some sparkle to the image  - here is a close up.

Hop on over to the IBFS store to find thousands of stamps - there is something for everyone there!

Thanks for stopping by today!

I Brake for Nutcrackers!

Hi everyone, Monica here from Taylormadecards4u.

If you are anything like me, it is hard to throw away even the smallest pieces of beautiful cardstock. So instead I have a large storage bag where I save all of my holiday scraps to make "quilt like" backgrounds.  

I typically will make several in one sitting so that I have them ready to go when I want to put a card together.

I used the Tall Nutcracker stamp from I Brake for Stamps and added it to my quilted background. It is a great stamp and so easy to color.

This stamp would also be great for large Christmas tags as well. It is a fun image, perfect for the holiday season.

I mounted the image using some foam tape then added some fun embellishments. 

Thanks for stopping by!

I Brake for Christmas Houses!

Hello and happy Saturday!

Today I'm sharing a brand new release from I Brake for Stamps.

The stamp is called CHRISTMAS HOUSES and it's from

the CHRISTMAS SHEET - all 10 images.

I used some Ranger inks to create the night time sky behind the houses.  Then I used a white gel pen and a glitter pen to add some stars.

The verse is from the sheet called EVERY DAY PHRASES.