Winter Owls

The other day I was working on some Thank You cards for Christmas gifts that people had given to me.  It was a wintery, snowy day and I took out Winter Owls.  I paired it with the soft colors of One Horse Open Sleigh papers and love how my cards came out.

For this first card, I die cut a circle and put some of the designer papers behind it for the focal point.  I stamped and cut out the owl and used some branch die cuts from Classic Cloche dies.  I heat embossed the saying on Just Jade paper and think that the colors go so well together for this wintery card.  I got the idea from Sandra Kogel.

Another beautiful wintery card is this one - the designer papers do all of the work.  I started with Misty Moonlight cardstock and added the winter scene.  I stamped the owl in navy blue and cut him out.  I love how he is flying by the winter tree.  A quick and easy card.  I saw a card by Nancy Wood and copied her idea.

This next card is pretty much the same layout, only it uses a different paper.  It comes with this saying and I thought it was so appropriate for this time of year.  I stamped the bird in Early Espresso and colored him in a bit.  I added Wink of Stella to make his wings sparkle as he flies through the snow.  

I loved making these cards and now I wish that I had more of the One Horse Open Sleigh papers.  :)

 

What is a Cloche?

 A cloche is a little dome that you put over something.  In the fall SU catalog, there are 2 new cloche sets to chose from.  They both use the same dome and cut out.  This set, called Classic Cloche, has a house stamp and some cute birds.  Even though the birds on my cards are not inside of the dome, I still like this look.  I copied the idea for these cards from Kerry Timms.  

Look how sweet the birds are sitting on a little branch!  I used the new sponge brush on the dome to shade it in and the flowers are from the Hand Penned stamp set.  

 This is pretty much the same card, only with a Soft Succulent background.  I love how these cards came out.  

Next up is this cards using the "book fold" at the side.  Here I featured the houses from the stamp set.  Then I tucked a little bird in the corner.  The roofs of the houses have Wink of Stella on them to give them a bit of a sparkle.  I cut out some little trees from the die cuts to finish the scene.  

Here is a sample of how to use the Cloche set for a Christmas card.  I put the little houses under the dome and added some snowflakes and sequins for a winter shaker card.  The paper is Beautifully Penned from the summer Sale-a-Bration selections.  I got this idea from Cheri's Cards.

Which one do you like the best?  It's nice to be able to use your stamp sets through many seasons, don't you think?