Hi, crafty friends. It’s the third Thursday of the month, which means it’s time for Get Cracking on Christmas. Jenn Shurkus started the Get Cracking on Christmas series years ago, and it’s an awesome way to get started on holiday cards early and not be swamped come November. It’s also a great opportunity to use stamps and dies that you may have purchased for last year’s holiday season, and never got around to using, because time simply ran out. That’s what I’m doing today, keeping the focus entirely on a stack of critters from the No One Stacks Up stamp set illustrated by Stacey Yacula for My Favorite Things.
I stamped my critters onto a piece of X-Press It blending card, which is the paper I prefer for all my Copic coloring. I colored the image, then restamped it using VersaFine Onyx Black to get super crisp black lines in the image. This needs to be done after coloring, Copics and VersaFine don’t play well together.
I used a die from Kort & Godt to create the torn page edge at the top of my panel, before trimming the rest of it down to fit on the front of a mini slimline card. I stamped a sentiment from the Scripty Xmas stamp set from Mama Elephant using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things, added another three layers of cardstock behind my panel and adhered it to a card base I created from Jalapeño Popper cardstock from My Favorite Things.
To finish the card I scattered a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things From Lucy’s Cards around the image and sentiment.
I love this little stack of critters, and the tall, narrow design is the perfect kind of image for a mini slimline card.
You’d think my color palette wouldn’t have this many colors in it, but I tend to go overboard on the snow. I do the same with the green, I love this green combo.
I colored my image with Copics and put it aside while I worked on the rest of the card, which I kept fairly simple. I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things in combination with the Watercolor Wash Free Form die, also from MFT, to die cut a window from Bright Buttercup cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I adhered the image to the back of this window and adhered it to my card base, which I made from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I die cut the Celebrate die from My Favorite Things twice from white cardstock and once from a silver sparkle cardstock and adhered them together for dimension. I also stamped a sub sentiment from the Itty Bitty Birthday stamp set from My Favorite Things onto Hibiscus Burst cardstock from Papertrey Ink and heat embossed it, before using a banner die from the Everyday Gift Box die set from My Favorite Things. I put a couple of additional layers of pink cardstock behind it, adhered it on top of the stacked Celebrate die cut and embellished the card very simply by putting two star enamel dots in spots that have stars in the stamp. Simple, right?
Quick and easy coloring with a fun, summery color palette (it’s been snowing and sleeting and freezing here, which makes me long for summer even more than usual).
I printed the image near the bottom left corner of a panel of X-Press It blending card, before coloring it with Copics and using the largest die in the A2 Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create a finished look with the nice faux stitching details that I love to add to my cards. I adhered it to a cardbase I created from Jalapeño Popper cardstock, also from MFT, and I had my base ready for some play with scraps.
I love creating these clusters of die cut scraps on my cards, and I have stamp storage pockets with little die cut patterned paper scraps sorted by color. That way I can rummage through these when I create my cards instead of having to find lots of patterned paper to match my card, then die cut it. It usually takes several different patterned papers of one color to create the dynamic look I want for my cards, but for this one, I actually kept it simple with one yellow (P13), one white and gray (Sunny Studio) and only two green ones (Basic Grey and Karen Foster Design). They’re all different shapes, which still keeps it interesting. Some are glued directly to the card, some with foam tape for a little bit of dimension. Using VersaMark ink, I stamped a sentiment from the Mini Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant onto one of these die cut pieces (it happened to be a tag) and heat embossed it using Super Fine Detail embossing powder from Ranger. I used part of a mini paper doily from Doodlebug Design behind my main cluster, and added a few enamel dots (green from Papirdesign, yellow from Altenew) to embellish.
Lots of green for this color palette.
As soon as I saw this train, I immediately thought of the movie The Polar Express, which happens to be my favorite animated Christmas movie. I colored my train in similar colors to the one in the movie, and I put a mask on top when my coloring was done and airbrushed the sky, moon and glow coming from the headlight.
My best friend and I have a tradition where we sit down and watch this movie every year, and I thought the sentiment from the 
The sentiment is actually one long line, but I did some masking to create a staggered one, which I thought fit my card better. I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark ink and heat embossed it in white using Super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger.
I created the moon by first masking off a circle as I airbrushed the sky, then I used the moon mask that was part of the Tim Holtz/Simon Says Stamp collaboration set for Stamptember 2021 to create my moon.
Once I’d created my moon I covered the circle opening again with VersaMark ink and sprinkled on Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder from Judikins, which I then melted. It gives the moon a nice sparkly glow. I thought that would be a nice detail to add to what is otherwise a very simple card. I adhered the colored scene to a white top fold card base and decided not to embellish, I wanted the image to be the focal point on this card.
Lots of Copics for this one. The ones after the white gap are the ones I used to airbrush the sky, moon and the glow from the headlight.
I colored the bear quickly with Copics, fussy cut and put the image aside while I worked on the rest of my card.
I haven’t made a mini slimline card in a while, and I haven’t made any at all since I purchased the Stitched Mini Slimline STAX die set from My Favorite Things back in November, and thought it was about time I break them in. I used the largest die in the set for this card, once on a piece of patterned paper from the Watercolor Wishes 6×6″ paper pad from Lawn Fawn, and once from white cardstock at an angle that I’d stamped a background stamp onto (the Paint Splatter background from MFT) and heat embossed.
I used one of the dies in the Precious Polaroids die set from MFT to die cut three times from white cardstock and once from a gold cardstock from Rayher. It has a brushed finish, which adds a little interest in texture instead of being flat gold. I put a thin strip of this cardstock above and below my heat embossed white cardstock piece as well, for a bit of definition to the top and bottom of the panel. I stamped a sentiment from the Birthday Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant onto a scrap piece of the pink patterned paper and poured on Gilded embossing powder from Brutus Monroe (the same embossing powder that I used for the paint splatter background), before melting the powder. I die cut it into a small strip with an angled end using one of the dies in the Everyday Gift Box die set from My Favorite Things and adhered it to the top of the polaroid using some 1 mm foam squares. I finished off the card with a few sequins from the Heaven Sent mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
The Copic palette couldn’t possibly get any simpler.
I colored the cute little scene with Copics and put it aside while I worked on the rest of my card. On a separate piece of X-Press It blending card I blended the same three blueish teal colors that I used for the kookaburra and the ornaments to create an ombré effect, and used the Merry Script die from Mama Elephant to create part of a sentiment that would match my coloring. I added three white die cuts behind it for dimension to make it stand out on my card.
I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things along with the Selfie Square die, also from MFT, and die cut both from a piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I then used the Watercolor Stripes stencil from Altenew and ink blended Jalapeño Popper ink from MFT very softly onto the white cardstock for a subtle background.
I put foam tape behind my ink blended background and adhered everything to a cardbase I created from Jalapeño Popper cardstock from MFT, before scattering a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin Mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish my card. I used the stencil from Altenew to add a little interest to the envelope, as well.
I stamped and masked 
I colored in the scene using my Copics, and I actually used all the gray families for this, something that rarely happens. I tend to stick to one or maaaaybe two, but using all four made sense for this card.
On a piece of Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped the 
The sentiment is a mix of a stamp from the 
To finish the card I added a few Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh around the sentiment.
Lots of Copics for this one, but not a lot of color. Like I mentioned, I used all the gray families for this card.
I colored in the image with my Copics, used the second largest die from the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX Set 1 die set from My Favorite Things to create the wonderful stitching on the border of the colored piece and adhered it to a card base I created from Harvest Gold cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I clear heat embossed the Happy Birthday background stamp from MFT on the card base. I stamped a sentiment from the Scripty Bday set from Mama Elephant in VersaFine Onyx Black ink and clear heat embossed, turned it into a circle using a nesting die and adhered it to the card using foam tape, before finishing off the card with a few Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.
Papirmølla 