Family Christmas Invitation

Over the weekend, I made our family Christmas invitations! I still have to type up the text for the inside, but that requires me to play in Photoshop and I really need to be in the mood to deal with Photoshop.

Why an invitation to Christmas? Well, we live several hours away from our families and we feel it's very important to share the holidays with them especially since our nephews are growing so fast! Before we relocated, We hosted the family Christmas Feast every year. Both sides of the family would come. I love having a house full of people on Christmas! Christmas is my most favorite day of the year. It's really hard to spend it away from family, but we're managing.

During the past week, I have used several sheets of Papertrey Ink's cardstock and I really have fallen in love with them. I looooooove the weight! It's not expensive either. It's only a little bit more than you pay in a big box store for cardstock that's about as thick as printer paper. And it comes in so many colors. You can buy it by the individual color or a yearly sampler pack which has every color in it. You can also buy the individual colors in three packs - 12, 24, or 50 sheets. And here's the best part. If you spend $70 or more, you get free shipping! 

Papertrey Ink has really thought of everything. They have coordinating cardstocks, inks and reinkers, ribbons, buttons, felt, and baker's twine. They have very high quality controls and will not sell a product if it is not 100% up to their standards. Their colors really match! I can't say that about every company unfortunately. There's nothing worse than stamping away only to discover your ink is a completely different shade of red, blue, purple, whatever than the matching cardstock. That's so frustrating!

Here is my Christmas invitation:

Papertrey Ink & Inkadinkado

The card base is Poppy from Papertrey Ink. The cardstock with the stamped image is Colonial White from Close To My Heart. The edges of the Colonial White cardstock are distressed with Topiary ink from Close To My Heart.

Inkadinkado, Ranger, & Tsukineko

Both images are stamped and embossed. The tree is from Artistic Holiday from Inkadinkado. It was first stamped using Pearlescent Thyme from Brilliance made by Tsukineko. Then I embossed the tree using Frosted Crystal embossing powder from the Embossing Antiquities line from Ranger. 

Inkadinkado, Tsukineko, & Close To My Heart

The Merry Christmas image was stamped in Platinum Planet from Tsukineko's Brilliance line. Then I embossed over it with Cranberry embossing powder from Close To My Heart. This stamp is from the Filigree Holiday Patterns set from Inkadinkado.


I do not receive any compensation for the products used on Inky Hot Mess. I use what I like. The products are not given to me. I have purchased every item used. So if I think something stinks, I'll tell you to save your money and go elsewhere. If a product is given to me to test out, I will let you know.