Warm Wishes: my 2014 Christmas cards using 'Precious Remembrance' stamps

Well, hello there, season's greetings to you, your hair's looking great today, here, have a mince pie.

Forgive me. But, alas, there are no mince pies here. I'm actually just buttering you up because ... chances are ... I haven't sent you a Christmas card this year.

Don't be offended ... I've actually only sent 1 card so far, and I've only written out 4 more. And so, if you haven't got one from me ... you're not alone ... and it's nothing personal!

How about - as a way for me to wish you all the joys of the season - you take one of these [virtual] warm wishes instead?

The focal point of my cards this year is the fun take-out coffee cup - from the 'Coffee Love' stamp set by Precious Remembrance:

It's not actually a Christmas themed stamp set [you know me .... I'm  not a big Christmas crafter once my magazine commissions are out of the way by August!]. I bought the set, back in October, as it had some nice general sentiments and, of course, that fabulous cup design.

Then it was while I was trying out stamping it on different papers that it dawned on me ... if I just used Christmassy papers ... then it could easily look like one of the festive style of cups the big coffee shop chains use at this time of year. And suddenly, I had myself something rather festive and cosy:

The look is really easy to achieve - it's just a simple stamping/paper-piecing technique -  but just in case you're wondering, let me show you how to recreate the look:

1. First ink up all of the cup design and stamp it on to a festive patterned paper.
2. Next just ink up the middle-section, the cup-holder shape, and stamp it on to kraft cardstock.
3. Better still, stamp it on to ribbed card to mirror the corrugated card that's often used for cup holders. [The ribbed kraft cardstock I used is by Woodware].
4. Cut around this mid-section and glue it to the patterned base.
5. Finally, ink up just the top of the stamp, the lid section, and stamp it on to white paper/card. Trim around it and glue on to the cup base.

Precious Remembrance is an American brand of stamps but if, like me, you'd like to get your hands on them in the UK then try the Sprinkle Twinkle shop. That's where I found the 'Coffee Love' set while I was hunting down a UK supplier. [I don't know about you but, as a first port of call, I prefer to trawl around for UK suppliers rather than risk customs fees ordering direct from the US!]

[Product disclaimer: None of the links in this post are sponsored. All products were bought and paid for by the contents of my own bank account!].

Once I'd made all my festive cups I decided to keep the rest of the card fairly simple, to not detract from the main feature. So the backgrounds consist of just a few strips of paper, a tag shape, some twine and the occasional charm.

I found that, despite the stamp set not being intended to be Christmassy its 'Warm Wishes' sentiment translated perfectly on to a festive card:

 As for my papers the majority came from 'Fa La La' the 2012 Christmas range by Lawn Fawn, but I've also made a few with different splashes of colour. Such as blue and black:

And not to mention yellow:

And unlike many festive stamps sets at least this one will come in useful year-round for more general greetings cards.

But for now those are my 2014 Christmas cards. And while I can't make and send one to everyone who's stopped by to visit me here this year ... I really do appreciate your companionship and comments and so ...

... please consider this post me sending you the same sentiment.

Warm wishes to all!

Julie x