Welcome to the monthly 'Tour de Freaks' blog tour!
This month we're featuring Christmas gifts & snow themed projects!

The tour will take you in a complete circle so you may have just arrived from seeing the great projects on Jen's blog.
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This card is one we made at my Card Clubs in November. The combination of Soft Suede with Very Vanilla is so very rich & beautiful.
Can you see the sparkle? It's one of my very favorite techniques for Christmas cards.
I stamped the greeting & snowflakes in Soft Suede Classic ink on the Very Vanilla card stock. Then press your Versamark inkpad directly onto the stamped card stock covering it completely with Versamark ink. Sprinkle the whole piece with Iridescent Ice embossing powder & heat emboss. You get beautifully glittered card stock with glitter that does not come off on your hands!
The ruffled ribbon is created by adhering a strip of Sticky Strip adhesive on the left side of the card & pressing & gathering the ribbon onto it a little bit at a time. I advise you to give it a little twist as you are pressing so the ribbon has that 'vintage' look.
Notice the half back pearls & Vintage brads? They add the perfect finishing touch to this vintage Christmas card.
Here's a project we made at last month's Big Shot class:

I cut out two Box #2 die-cuts from Real Red card stock. I cut off the two tabs shown here:
Fold the box together but do not fold down the top box lid. Punch out one 1 3/8" circle punch from the middle of that lid.
Adhere both boxes back to back so the lid/covers are adhered together.
Use the first circle punch as a guide to punch another through the second box cover. Now you have your basic double pocket box. I punched out two 1 3/8" circles from a scrap of Baja Breeze card stock & then punched a 1 3/4" scallop circle around each of those punched holes. This gives you two scallop frames for both sides of the handle.
I used a strip of Candy Lane designer series paper to wrap around both boxes. This covers the seam where you joined the boxes together. You need one 12" strip plus about another 2" of designer series paper to wrap around them.
Then use a scallop edge punch on a strip of Whisper White card stock & adhere that to the top edge.
For the Happy Holidays tag I adhered a short piece of clear Tinsel trim behind it & adhered it with a few dimensionals. I love this effect!
The snowflakes are from the new Decorative Strip Northern Frost. These snowflakes are beautifully intricate. I use a paper piercing tool to poke out the little center pieces & added a few rhinestone jewels to the centers.
Here's what the box looks like filled with Chocolate candy:
And lastly I put together a Christmas house for you.
It may look like a lot of work, but it sure wasn't. It took me a little more than an hour to make. Honest!
If you start out with the 'Design-a-House' from the Holiday Mini catalog (pg 37 US) it's easy. And I love the fact that I could leave most of it white, just out of the package. And check out the cute little door knob - it comes with the house too! And also included are the templates to cover each piece if you'd like to. I just covered the roof, door & chimney.
- Stamps - Four the Holidays
- Ink - Chocolate Chip
- Card stock - Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Basic Black, Whisper White, Crumb Cake
- Punches - Boho Blossoms - small & large wreath, Scallop trim punch - shutters, Scallop oval - window awnings & Santa's coat, small oval & Ornament punch - Santa's shoes, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack
- Other - Design a House, Clear tinsel trim, mini glue dots, Tombo multi-purpose adhesive, gold brads, Red taffeta ribbon, Fine Galaxy glitter, two-way glue, dimensionals
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And now you're off to see what uniquely fabulous projects Jan Tink has for you.