Merry Christmas to you!!

A very Merry Christmas to you!! I hope you've had a wonderful day of spending time with family and friends and maybe some relaxing along the way too. For us Christmas started with Midnight Mass and then some early morning Skype calls to NZ to chat with family and share in the lovely nephew and nieces opening their presents...such fun!! Then it was lunch with friends and a surprise flying visit from an Aunty from out of State and a long overdue catch up with more family and cousins etc. So a busy day but a lovely one :-)

Today I have two cards and a few other related projects to share with you to finish the Christmas theme for this year. This first one is clean and simple and sparkly. I teamed the Winter Wonder EF with the Swirly Snowflakes Thinlits and a little blue and copper.

The sparkly snowflake is inked with Distress Inks to add some colour and interest.

Card stock: Whisper White (thick and standard), Dazzling Diamonds Glitter Paper, Copper Foil, Vellum

Accessories: Big Shot, Winter Wonder EF, Swirly Snowflake thinlits, Christmas Greetings Thinlits (retired), Metallic Sequin Assortment

Non SU: Distress Inks - Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, Frosted sequins (SSS)

The last card is in honour of this being Sally the Lab's last Christmas as she has cancer and is going out to our vet family in Hallam without whom Sally would not be here several times over. Later versions of this for family and friends are without the gold tree.

Along with the card are a few little gifts with mainly the same photo - my first attempts at using Waterslide Decal Paper.  The process is simple but not always so in practice so I have a couple of hints for you.

I found that one coat of Clear Acrylic spray wasn't quite strong enough to prevent the images from cracking on transfer - especially on the mug. Other sites I found suggested up to 3 sprays and I'd recommend that too if your object isn't flat like the tile coasters. After they are dry, you can coat with more acrylic to make it all shiny and smooth and heat resistant in the case of the coasters. Be aware though in the case of mugs and glasses that it's not dishwasher safe.

And yes, the other side of the mug here features Sally playing with her good mate Monty - a happy snap from years gone by.

Card stock: Real Red, Whisper White, Silver - and gold Glimmer, Garden Green, Whisper White

Accessories: Big Shot, Softly Falling EF, Christmas Greeting Thinlits (retired), Peaceful Pines Thinlits, Metallic Sequins Assortment

Non SU: Square Stitched Framelits (SSS) chocolates!!

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope you can take some time to enjoy the rest of the holidays and I look forward to journeying with you in the New Year!

Happy stamping  until then,

Jan