Snowman gift tags {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends! I shared a few of these gift tags before Christmas, but there’s a line in a Norwegian Christmas song saying Christmas lasts till Easter, and as a result, I’m sharing a few more. There’s also the fact that I was too busy all of December not to share anything, basically, but I won’t mention that.

These snowmen from the Snow Much Fun stamp set from Streamside Studios might be my favorite images that Shawne has drawn. I’m a sucker for snowmen, and these are so much fun (fitting with the title of the set). I created these two along with a bunch of other similar one in a few compartmental crafting sessions. I usually create my projects from start to finish in one sitting (maybe two, if I color one day and do assembly later), but for these, I created a bunch of backgrounds at once, created tags from the backgrounds in another sitting, stamped and heat embossed sentiments in one, die cut a bunch in one and did coloring in one. It’s a great way to be crafty even if you’re kind of stretched for time.

I have lots of layers on these, and used a whole bunch of Christmas scraps from old collections by Pion Design, as well as some sentiment stamps and other stamps from Inkido and Norsk Stempelblad AS.

More scraps on the back. I love this way of creating, and I hope to do more of it this year!

Christening {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. Today I’m sharing a card made for a little girl whose christening was actually back in November.

This Christening image from Mo Manning is one that I’ve used in the past as well, and I used a bunch of scraps of patterned paper as well as some really old dies and flowers to create this card. More than anything, I love it when my pile of scraps shrinks. It doesn’t happen very quickly, because I rarely use this much patterned paper on a card, but boy, does it feel good.

I used 3 different collections of patterned paper from Maja Design for this card. One of the benefits of using their papers is that their collections usually match pretty well. Vintage Basics Summer, Vintage Baby and Sofiero are the collections I used for this card, and they all match. I used older dies from Lifestyle Crafts, Cottage Cutz, Scrapmagasinet, Marianne Design and Spellbinders, as well as flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and Papirdesign.

The insides of the card have a very similar layout, and so does the back. Onto a white circular panel, I stamped a christening stamp from North Star Design using Soft Granite ink from Hero Arts.

The card was too thick to fit inside a regular envelope, so I created a box envelope using a punch board from We R Memory Keepers. Onto a diecut eyelet circle I stamped a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment and adhered it to the box envelope.

This image is so quick to color and doesn’t require a ton of markers. Easy peasy!

Time for Mittens {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! November and December are usually fairly hectic around here, and this time, they were especially hectic. I changed jobs and felt like I worked around the clock, which left little time for blog posts and to upload my creations to Instagram. As a result, I’m playing catch-up, and I have a few more holiday cards and tags to share over the next few weeks. Let’s face it, I make Christmas cards all year anyway, so I’d probably be sharing holiday cards in January even if November and December hadn’t been as crazy as they were.

Every year I seem to create just enough Christmas cards by making them all year, but I tend to neglect gift tags and scramble last minute to get them done as I wrap presents. This time I was a little more ahead, and this gift tag was one of the early ones I made, featuring Mittens from Purple Onion Designs, as well as the Snow-capped Duo in the background.

I created a very layered tag for my niece and used the Stitched Traditional Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things to achieve that faux stitch look that I’m such a fan of. I used another stitched die from MFT to create the slope in the background and added both the ground and my fussy cut cat using foam tape.

Through the hole at the top, I looped a bit of tinsel and tied a bow around it using Purple Plum divine twine from Whisker Graphics. I also die cut a letter tag using the Personalized Tags die set from My Favorite Things from some Winter Wisteria cardstock from Papertrey Ink. My niece loves purple, so I thought it fit nicely. I also added a charm with a pair of mittens, I just couldn’t help myself. This tag doesn’t even have to be a holiday tag, it’d be perfect for someone born in the winter months (not my niece, though, her birthday’s in June).

On the back of the tag I used a piece of patterned paper from the Forever Green paper pack from Moda Scrap. I die cut it using that same stitched tag die from MFT that I used on the front and stamped a to/from stamp from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Milk Chocolate ink from MFT. I love their inks, they stamp so well!

You wouldn’t think I’d use this many colors for such a small image, but I did. I even airbrushed the sky in the background using B93, 91 and 90 (a color I’ve made myself), and used BG93 and BG90 with a tip to tip technique on the trees in the background for just a hint of color. I wanted the main focus to be on the cat in the foreground, so I chose very soft colors for the background.

January

Hi, there!!! Happy new year! I hope your 2022 is off to a good start. I’ve decided to try to send out more cards this year than in previous years. I make so many during the year that I feel the need to at least try to put smiles on people’s faces by giving them a handmade card. I’ve also decided to start a birthday calendar, and I’ll be sharing a new calendar page at the beginning of each month throughout the year. A calendar will help me keep track of birthdays and where and when to send cards.

My page for the January calendar features this cute owl from Haven Hill Crafts, from the Snowed Inn stamp set, which also includes a sweet fox and the coolest moose! The owner, Hanna, contacted me in the fall, asking if I would like to play with some of her stamps. Of course I had to say yes. This owl is so cute, and there’s also an awesome washi tape stamp in the stamp set.

I stamped the snowflake in the stamp set repeatedly across my background using Iceberg ink from Altenew. I did second generation stamping on some of the snowflakes, especially where they overlap the lines where I intend to write. From Cornflower cardstock from My Favorite Things, I die cut the letters to spell januar using the In Stitches Lowercase Alphabet die set, also from My Favorite Things. I adhered the letters using liquid glue, centering them above the dates for the month.

I used lots of colors for this little owl. Isn’t he just the cutest, sitting there on his branch wrapped in a scarf?