The party season has well and truly started .......

Happy Wednesday .......

Can someone put the brakes on please ..... this week is going too fast!!!

The festive frenzy has started!  It was Christmas party after Christmas party all last weekend!  Friday afternoon for hubby, although to be fair he was home early ..... surprisingly!  Saturday we were both out on hubby's works do ..... always a memorable night!  I did say I wasn't staying late as I was out again on Sunday but, too much champagne and far too many cocktails later ..... we rolled in at 2am! All I'm saying is, I was very quiet at the Christmas lunch with the crafty girls on Sunday!

It's been full steam ahead this week, making Christmas cards ...... and I'm still not done yet!  Next year I AM starting in January!!
I'm onto batch making now ....... nice and easy, quick, clean and simple ..... well almost!

I really enjoyed playing with my Distress Oxide sprays and the emboss resist technique for my inpiration piece for this months Craft Stamper Blog Challenge, so I decided to do a few more.  Slightly different from the original but ..... all the same techniques.

I stamped my snowflakes onto some teal coloured cardstock and then heat embossed them with clear powder

I then used the Oxide Sprays over the top ......

Once everything was dry I placed a piece of copier paper over the heat embossing and used a hot, dry iron to remove the embossing powder, and any of the oxide spray still sat on the top. 
I love the effect you get.  Because of the ink used to stamp the snowflakes (I used Versamark) you get this nice dark image left behind that really pops from the background.

I added some ink splatters, a festvie sentiment and a few shiny gems.

I love the turquoise/teal colour but you could use any colour of cardstock and Oxide Sprays.
You can even do it on white card ..... heat emboss in clear onto the white card, and then use the Oxide Sprays to add the colour.  Doing it this way, the snowflakes would be white once you removed the embossing powder with the iron ..... cool eh!  I must give this a go if I get the chance!

If you haven't seen the original card check it out here

We're off out again this evening, just hubby and I tonight, for a quiet dinner at our favourite place. Then we're off to the UK tomorrow to see family and friends before Christmas.  If I ever get the suitcase packed that is!
Fingers crossed the weather's OK, it's been a little bit wet and windy here the last couple of days, with flight delays and cancelled boats.   We're not sailing over this time though.  We're flying into Liverpool and hiring a car instead ........ no where near as bumpy a crossing (I hope!) 

Thanks for popping by ...... enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time ......

Products used:
Stamps: Swirly Snowflakes (Tim Holtz); Poinsettia Wreath (The Ton) - for the sentiment
Inks: Versamark; 
Others: Distress Oxide Sprays - Broken China, Salty Ocean; Clear Embossing Powder, White Embossing Powder (WOW!); Gold and Silver ink