From the Editor

Winter 2012 Issue

Although we honor important holidays throughout the spring and summer months, the fall and winter months reflect a different celebration of tradition, family, and memories. The custom of Thanksgiving is exclusively American, a time for thanks and gratitude for the blessings our family, many of whom left their homelands in search for a better life for themselves and their children, has provided. Our Thanksgiving collection offers a wonderful assortment of cards that is sure to provide you with the perfect image and greeting to share with your family and friends.

And then there are the Christmas and Hanukkah celebrations that fill us with anticipation, hope, and peace—a true multicolored festival of lights that fills the inside and outside of our homes with twinkling cheerfulness to be shared with all. The cards we have featured in this issue range in style, sentiment, and imagery. And that's not all—from ornaments to tags and gift bags to home decor, we have everything you need to make this season extra special.

After all the holiday decorations and keepsakes have been tucked away for another year, be inspired by our sweet collection of Valentine cards that will honor the person for whom the light always shines the brightest.

Wishing all of you a season filled with joy and peace.

Harvest Trio
Elegant in their simplicity, these fall cards incorporate traditional colors with contemporary style.

Happy Thanksgiving
Fall colored leaves and coordinating buttons accent this simply stated Thanksgiving greeting.

Happy Pumpkin Pie Day
Words of grateful thanks and turkeys tend to rule the day, but the happy card featured here pays homage to one of Thanksgiving Day favorite desserts: the colorful and spicy pumpkin pie.

Art Nouveau Seasonal Card

Majestic Turkey Card
A majestically posed turkey is colorfully stamped in a three-step process using three different ink pads. The effect is dramatic, having the effect of hand painting. A hand-dyed silk ribbon beautifully accents the striking teal and copper metallic striped patterned paper, while creative folding makes this a truly stand-alone card.

Art Nouveau Seasonal Cards
Mucha is a well-known Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist. In 2010 (150 years after his birth), his work had become part of the public domain. As a result, some of the newest 3-D press-out designs available through Ecstasy Crafts features the designs from this famous artist and will delight art fans everywhere! The cards featured here use some of Alphonse Mucha seasonal designs for fall and winter

Bottle Cap Ornaments
Created from crisp white cardstock, metallic foil, and silver bottle caps, these enchanting snowflakes are perfect accents to make your Christmas tree or holiday packages sparkle.

Sparkling Snowflakes
This stunning card captures the beauty of winter with a swirl of crystallized snowflakes studded with flourishes of icy bling.

Snowflakes Happy Birthday
A flurry of embossed snowflakes embellished with one sparkling jewel is the perfect choice to celebrate a winter birthday.

Holiday Sparkle
Rhinestone studded and embossed snowflakes add both interest and texture to this sweet beribboned card.

Merry KISSmas

Lulu Snowman
Cool blue and mini dot patterned papers team up with an icy rhinestone flourish on this wintry snowman card.

Little Tree
As the card featured here clearly shows, you don't necessarily need Christmas patterned paper to make your holiday greeting cards. Designer Julie Koerber chose a vibrant blue and white polka-dot print and paired it with a daisy patterned paper. Red accents and a fun seasonal image tie it all together with a lot of spirited fun.

Merry KISSmas
What else can you say when standing under mistletoe, except "Merry KISSmas?"

Kwik Kards for Kids
Colorful, happy, and lots of fun, the kids cards featured here take just a few minutes to make. The trick is keeping things simple. Torn white cardstock is perfect for simulating mounds of snow and outlining with Glitter Glue is a cinch. And what could be easier than adhering stickers? Ya gotta love it.

Warm Wishes
Warm woolen mittens and mini Christmas trees studded with rhinestones, poinsettias, and berries just a few of my favorite things.

Chubby Snowman Birthday Collection
Make someone's winter birthday extra-special this year. Our chubby Frosty collection was especially created to do just that!

Simple Snowman
Super quick and easy to make, the card featured here provides a great opportunity to use up leftover scraps of your favorite patterned papers.

Embossed Holiday
Simple and elegant, embossed snowflakes create an elegant background for the crystallized snowflake and red velvet poinsettia cards featured here. Additional embellishments are kept to a minimum. In this case, less is definitely more!

Petite Prints

Sweet Christmas
Embellished with frosted holly berries, a stamped trio of candy canes is wrapped with a silk sash and a sweet sentiment perfect for spreading a little Christmas joy.

Happy Holidays
Multicolored rhinestones and glittery red and yellow Stickles add sparkle and shine to this lace-edged holiday card.

Petite Prints
Mini dot, petite print, and tiny plaid patterned papers unite in both scale and color to create these neat and tidy Christmas cards. Baby rhinestones, baker's twine, and simple greetings complete this sweet trio.

Bulbs with Bling
Clear rhinestones and silver tinsel add just the right amount of bling to this cheerful Merry Christmas card.

Cookie Tags

Country Christmas
I like to use nontraditional colors and patterned papers when making Christmas cards. I don't know why that is but, well, that's the way it is. You might be surprised to know that the papers used to make the cards featured here are from Graphic 45 On the Boardwalk collection. The swirled patterned paper certainly does a wonderful job of simulating frosty flourishes and curly mouse tails. Although summer imagery dominates this stunning paper collection, I loved the rusty red and gray/blue tones were perfect for providing a country flavor.

Wishing You a Blessed Christmas
Gifts come in all shapes and sizes. Many times a simple box or bag will suffice, but then there comes a time when you need something different. Here's one idea that's easy to make, lets you recycle some of those leftover scraps, and that's perfect for presenting those little hard-to-wrap gifts.

Test Tube Treats
Quick and easy, this fun idea is one that the whole family can enjoy making and eating! Make a batch to use as stocking stuffers, gift toppers, tree ornaments, holiday party favors, or to add a splash of color to your holiday table.

Cookie Tags
Candy stripe and frosted glitter papers partner with cookie-style images to make these sweet tags look good enough to pick up and eat!

Believe
With a sparkle in his eye, jolly old St. Nick is making his list and checking it twice. This card delivers a dose of holiday spirit and lets Santa know ... "I believe!"

Holly Wreath Card
Stamped and then hand-colored, these sweet holly and berry stamps are sure to deliver a double dose of holiday cheer to everyone on your card and gift lists.

Thinking of You Warms My Heart

Baby Bibs and Stars Ornaments
Eyelet borders perfectly trim out these sweet bib ornaments, while tiny buttons secure a seam binding hanger. Paper stars are filled with crinkled tissue paper, and are accented with hand stitching and pearl droplets.

Happy Hanukkah Collection
Multicolored blue, white, and gold patterned paper is enhanced by the traditional symbols of Hanukkah. Jeweled brads and coordinating ribbons are the perfect accents to complete this joyful card and gift bag.

Vintage Cards
Most card makers have boxes of leftover paper scraps and bits and pieces of ribbons, buttons, and everything in between. Creating vintage cards provides the perfect opportunity for rummaging through your stash and finally using all those special finds that have been lovingly saved for just the right project. For ease in making these cards, pattern placement guides are provided on the pattern pull-out.

Thinking of You Warms My Heart
This little charmer is hard to resist, and so is the sentiment that comes straight from the heart.

Hey Sweet Cheeks
Super fast, super simple ... perfect!

Warm and Toasty
Sweet little lamb ... all dressed up and ready to send a cozy greeting to special friends

Harvest Stenciling with Spellbinders
Here are some wonderful ideas for getting the most from your favorite tools. After cutting and embossing selected Spellbinders die-cut shapes, designer AJ Otto got very creative and then used them as stencils. The technique is quick and easy to do and adds unexpected color, texture, and dimension to the beautiful collection of harvest cards featured here.

Peppermint Patty
Mini Hat Box and Gift Tags

Creating with Digital Images
A story of three creative paper crafting friends who created an online business that sells around the globe.

Decorative Holiday Trees and Ornaments
This delightful collection of holiday trees and ornaments provides an opportunity to use some of those leftover scraps and have fun while you doing it. All the projects featured here are easy to do and something that the whole family can enjoy creating together.

Rethink and Reuse
Over the years I've collected about a dozen small, sturdy gift boxes that were too nice to toss. And at the same time, I tucked away a folder full of card fronts from holiday greetings. Of course, I didn't have a plan for this stash of goodies: that happened this week when the deadline for Rethink and Reuse was approaching and I hadn't yet invented a project...