Santa Stationery

So this one time (meaning this very year)... while the, ahem, Easter Bunny (meaning me) was dutifully filling the all important baskets... there might have been a small incident.

One involving an 8 year old, an unlocked door, and an apparent lack of instruction in basic door knocking by the 8 year old's parents. 

The moment was short, but I fear the damage was done.

Yikes.
Tell me I'm not the only one.
{No, really... tell me.  I still feel guilty!}

I'm thinkin' it might not be long before a certain 8 year old starts to question the validity of ol' Saint Nick.  Obviously... the time is right to commemorate what might be his last letter to Santa.  Enter Papertrey Ink's brand new set, Santa Stationery...

Cute, right? 
Not that I would say that to my 8 year old boy... I'd probably go more along the lines of "Wow!  Isn't that awesome?"

There are so many clever little elements in this set... everything you need to create your own custom letter to Santa stationery.  I started with some Basic Grey patterned paper and the little label and heading image.  The "naughty/nice" boxes (I like to think of that as the "confessional" image, haha!) went right next to that so that Eli can check one off himself.

I left some space between the heading and the actual list... gotta make sure there's room for a polite greeting first, right?  Obviously, we need to work on the manners.  See above ;)

PTI's previously released Gratitude Journal set has the perfect numbers to go along with this set...

The bottom of the letter is finished out with the Santa image and a greeting from another previously released set... Holiday Photo Finishers.


And if you're giving a kid some super cool letter to Santa stationery, what else should go along with it besides a Santa envelope and coordinating adress labels?

I left the labels unadhered for now.  I know 8 year olds and trust me... he's going to want to glue them down *himself,* thankyouverymuch.  Here's what it looks like in my mind, though...

Now to make two more for the other kiddos ;)


There's more to Santa Stationery, though...

This is just the first of *loads* of holiday cards this month :)

Love the bit more formal feel of the "from the desk of" image so, of course, I went with some embossing. The large holly image from the new Mistletoe and Holly set works just right to surround the sentiment. 

White embossing on rustic cream cardstock... trust me, folks... try it.  Or white on Soft Stone.  It's not a super bold look, but really striking and elegant in person.   

The inside is filled to the brim with a little Nice List Declaration.  Love the signature and signature line at the bottom... so official! 

Totally thinking this same idea can be switched up for good friends to say "naughty."  Maybe with a little handwritten list of transgressions at the bottom...?  Could definitely be fun.

I wanted to add one last touch to the back of the envelope.  This little certificate label fit the bill. A little more gold embossing made for a simple faux wax seal.

It really looks more complicated than it is.  For faux seals, I like to start with a punched cardstock or die cut shape.  The traditional method of heat embossing would call for you to ink the front of the shape up with an embossing ink (I use VersaMark), then cover it with embossing powder, heat, and repeat by quickly adding more powder to the already melted powder on top.  I take a little shortcut here by putting adhesive (strips of ScorTape) on the top instead of ink... it just helps to get a solid layer of embossing powder stuck on the cardstock. 

After about 3 layers of embossing I quickly stamped the label image right into the melted embossing powder. The key here is VersaMark... you really *must* ink any images with it in order for the image to release from the embossing powder. Give the whole thing a few seconds to dry and then gently peel the image away. You can just adhere the label to the back of your envelope


I get such a kick out of making these... they make for such a fun accent and definitely add a touch of "wow!"  If you want to impress your friends, make a faux wax seal.  Guaranteed to impress ;)


And speaking of impressive, I know you're going to love all the other Santa Stationery projects from the rest of the design team...

Nichole Heady

Betsy Veldman

Maile Belles

Dawn McVey

Heather Nichols

Melissa Phillilps

Danielle Flanders

Cristina Kowalczyk
Erin Lincoln

And that's it for me today!  Not to worry... there are actually 3, count 'em THREE, more September release posts to come.

Later, friends!

{Letter to Santa} stationery set 

Supplies not available now but available 9/15: 

Stamps - Santa Stationery
Suppliest available now:

Stamps - Gratitude Journal, Postcards, Label Basics, Holiday Photo Finishers

Die - Rectangular Labels
PP - Hello Luscious (Basic Grey)
Ink - Pure Poppy, Simply Chartreuse, Dark Chocolate
Other - manilla envelope

{From the Desk of} card

Supplies not available now but available 7/15: 

Stamps -Santa Stationery, Mistletoe & Holly
Supplies available now:
CS - Rustic Cream
Ink - Pure Poppy, VersaMark, Gold ColorBox (Tsukineko)
Other - Filigree White & Filigree Gold Embossing Powder