Here’s another old favourite stamp set that’s on it’s way out at the end of this month – Contempo Christmas.

I’ve gone with non-traditional colours this time using Crumb Cake & Baja Breeze.  The Christmas tree has been stamped in Versamark onto Very Vanilla cardstock and silver embossed.  The rest of the card is straight-forward with cardstock and patterned paper and then some Seam Binding and Rhinestone brads to embellish.

Oh! Quick tip for heat embossing: Make sure you keep your Versamark inkpad nice and juicy.  For some reason we tend to reink our regular inkpads much more often than poor old Versamark.  It makes a big difference in your embossing if your Versamark inkpad is well inked.  While I’m on the subject… I’ve seen quite a bit on the internet over the years about making your own Versamark refill with Glycerine.  My advice is don’t do it – it’s just false economy.  I followed this tip many years ago and I ended up having to throw my inkpad out.  While it looks okay, it doesn’t stamp the same without the proper Versamark refill… I don’t know how to explain it other than you don’t get such a crisp image and so you just won’t get that detail in your embossing.  For example the Christmas tree above has the swirls, and you can even see the swirls in the pot, they just come out fuzzy if you use a homemade refill.  Same with if you’re using your Versamark and chalking over the top with chalks – fuzzy colours.  Anyway, that’s my bit of ‘advice from experience’.

If you have any questions about the card or products I’ve used, or if you wish to purchase any Stampin’ Up! products, please feel free to email me.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Contempo Christmas (retiring 31st August 2012)

Cardstock & Paper:
Very Vanilla cardstock
Crumb Cake Textured cardstock
Stampin’ Up! Simply Scrappin’ Kit – Tickets & Tags (retiring 31st August 2012)
Designer Series Paper Stack – Neutrals

Inkpads/Markers/Paint:
Versamark

Tools:
Heatgun

Accessories:
Silver Embossing Powder
Baja Breeze Seam Binding
Circle Ice Rhinestone Brads (retiring 31st August 2012)

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Stampin’ Dimensionals (foam dots)