Christmas in .... June!

Back to the retiring sets.  I took a bit of a break this week with the cards that I will be offering in the drawing at the end of the month.  (See this post)  I was busy doing things for Newcomer's Bingo and for Stamp Club but now I am back to working for YOU!  And today we are showcasing Christmas!  I love the set, Big on Christmas.  It is really easy to use - stamp it, color it in and mat it. 

 I stamped the image with Espresso ink and colored it in with my white gel pen.  I colored the tree with a Copic pen.  I did faux stitching around the edge.  (Use paper piercer and pierce all around the edges; then use a white gel pen to "connect the dots".)   The DSP is retired as is the Taken With Teal that I matted the image with!  But who cares?  Not the person who will receive the card at Christmas time, I'm sure!

OK - Ignore the black dots on this card.  I had it sitting on my desk yesterday when I reinked my black stamp pads!  Guess a couple of drops eeked out onto the card.  I didn't even notice it until after I took the picture - thought it was something on my camera lens until I took a second look at the card!  There's a sneak peek on this card though so I had to share it.  The lighter colored purple is one of the new In Colors!  It is called Wisteria Wonder. 

I used a thin oval wooden frame that I got from m's to layer with my embossing folder to create the un-embossed oval in the center.

RECIPE:
Stamp:  Big on Christmas
Card Stock:  Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant
Ink:  Black, Wisteria Wonder Marker
Access:  Snowflake Brads (non SU), Stickles Glitter, SU Markers, Snowflake Embossing Folder

I got even better news from Ashley yesterday!  She now thinks she will be returning another week earlier!  Looks like she may be leaving there around the 21st of July.  Not giving us much time to find a good flight but maybe we'll consider driving instead.  We just need to wait for her to return to her base where she can find more details.  She had hoped to be leaving her temporary post last Wednesday and go to a medical conference in Baghdad.  But that didn't work out and she will probably be at the temporary base until next week.  You can believe she is counting down the days.  I don't think she has seen one patient all week!  She read all the books she took with her and was going to the library on base and getting 5-10 books at a time to read.  She reads 1-2 books a day.  Yesterday she went to the library to return her books and get another stack and to her horror, the shelves were EMPTY!  Because the base will be closing, they had thrown away all the books a couple of days ago.  If you are a reader, doesn't this make you cringe?  She has her Kindle with her and it has a couple of books on it plus the Bible.  So, she said she guess she will be reading the Bible for the next few days from cover to cover!  The internet connection is bad there and it would take her too long to download more books on to the Kindle.  So let's hope the PA that she is replacing comes back soon!