Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing an untraditional Christmas card today, using untraditional colors for our friends down under. This Christmas Kangaroos image is brand new from Rachelle Anne Miller, and it’s so cute with the little joey holding a candy cane.
I love teal for Christmas cards. I actually love teal for anything, but it’s the perfect color to pair with the dreaded traditional red. I’m not a fan of complementary colors, so red and green don’t really work for me, but red and teal totally do. As does red and light blue, or red and grey, but that’s pretty much my entire list for what goes with red at Christmas. I’m weird, I know.
I decided to pair my teal with a bright pink and used the RV Copic family for the candy cane and all the flowers.
Once my coloring was done I used the Notebook Edge die from My Favorite Things to die cut from the left hand side of the panel. Below the image, I stamped a sentiment from the Holiday Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Hawaiian Shores Ink from Papertrey Ink.
I mounted the panel onto a top fold cardbase I created from Hawaiian Shores cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love it when my colors are a match, and the teal of the cardstock goes well with the teal combo I used for the image.
I thought about adding some sort of embellishment to the card, but in the end, I decided to keep it simple.
Not a whole heap of Copics used for this one.
I thought the ghost stamps in the 
I colored the ghosts with Copics, and used a yellow and a grey marker to color the windows. Most of the rooms have the lights on, but by coloring two windows grey, it gives the illusion that the lights aren’t on in those particular rooms. I also used the grey to add a silhouette of a person in one of the lit rooms, upping the creep factor a tiny bit.
I masked off the ghosts and the house before I ink blended the nighttime sky. I used Eiffel Tower ink from My Favorite Things as well as Distress Inks in the colors Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans and Stormy Sky. Evidently, I’d used the paper I laid down to do my ink blending on to catch overspray from another project I added shimmer to, so the sky has a subtle shimmer to it when you tilt the card in the light. Completely unintentional, but not the worst thing in the world. My ink pads are now a little shimmery too, but it’s not too bad.
I decided to also add an acetate ghost outside the top window of the haunted house. The ghost is from the Candy Corn mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I added my panel to a piece of white cardstock, and then adhered everything to a card base I created from Orange Zest cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
Very simple color palette for this one.
Halloween isn’t really a big thing in Norway, but this image was so cute I just couldn’t resist. I colored up the ground, pumpkins and leaves before asking my “twin” Liz for a color suggestion for the actual dragon, thinking in my mind “please don’t say purple”. What did she choose? It was inevitable, I knew she’d say purple, she even said which purples to use. I actually think he’s cute in purple, and I don’t think I’ve colored one of Lee’s dragons purple before, so I guess it was about time.
Once I finished coloring, I embraced the purple, stamping the Boo! sentiment from the Itty Bitty Boos stamp set from My Favorite Things using Deep Iris ink from Altenew. I then die cut the largest frame in the Scallop Frames die set from Pretty Pink Posh from Amethyst Allure cardstock from Papertrey Ink, adding two additional white die cuts behind it for dimension.
The outside dimensions of the die cut frame are 4 x 5″, so I cut 1/4″ off the height of my card base, making it 4 1/4 x 5 1/4″ instead of the normal A2 size to get an even white border on the outside of it.
The sentiment is tiny, and to draw the eye to it I decided to add a couple of gems. These are from the Meraki Sparkle Red Illusion jar. They’re color changing glass rhinestones, and this color was perfect for this card.
If you look at the various photos in this post, you’ll see that these rhinestones appear to have different colors depending on how the light hits them, it’s a really cool effect. In this photo, you can also see the dimension added by using stacked die cuts.
Fairly simple color palette for this card. It was a pretty quick image to color too!
I colored the penguins with Copics and fussy cut them all, leaving a white border around the edge. I used the Fold-Up Tags from My Favorite Things to die cut four tags from the Hvite juleblomster patterned paper from the Gledelig Jul collection from Papirdesign before I adhered each penguin to each of the tags using 1 mm foam squares.
I stamped and white heat embossed several sentiments from the Jul stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto Classic Kraft cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I also die cut reinforcements for the tags from the same cardstock, and some tiny snowflakes from white cardstock (also from PTI) using the Snowflake Confetti Fancy die from Hero Arts. I mounted the sentiment strips on foam squares, adhered the snowflakes using liquid glue and added a 2 mm white pearl from Kort & Godt to the center of each of the snowflakes. I used natural twine from May Arts through the reinforcements and threaded two gold bells to each piece of twine before securing the twine to the tags.
On the back of the tags I stamped to/from labels from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Dark Chocolate Ink from Papertrey Ink. I stamped the labels before adding the reinforcements. In hindsight, I wish I’d kept the stamps in my MISTI and restamped after the reinforcements were glued on, so the label would be continuous on the back, but I didn’t think of it as I was creating. I’ll try to remember for my next batch of tags.
Simple color palette for these simple tags.
Three same, but different gift tags using all the gingerbread people in the stamp set. I created the tags themselves using dies (two of them are actual tag dies, I used the topper from the ornament die set to create a topper for the heart to create a tag from that too). I used the Itty Bitty Gifting stamps and the Itty Bitty Strips dies, both from My Favorite Things, for all my to/from strips.
I used Classic Kraft and Stamper’s Select White cardstock for most of my die cutting, both from Papertrey Ink. For the ornament I also used a piece of silver cardstock from Rayher. I did all my Copic coloring on 120 lb white cardstock from Simon Says Stamp. This isn’t the cardstock I normally use with my Copics, but it’s great for one layer cards and elements that you can see the back of, because the markers don’t bleed through. Getting smooth color blends with Copics is trickier on this cardstock than my beloved X-Press It blending card, but the thickness saves me from having to fussy cut each of those gingerbread twice to cover up any bleed through. It’s worth the trade off, I think.
For the yellow one, I used the Snøfnugg, stor die from Papirdesign to create the snowflake tag. I added Nuvo Jewel Drops in the Key Lime color to the green buttons on the belly, and used a couple of pearls from the Igloo mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards for a little bit of embellishment. I put a piece of Divine Twine in the Lemon color through the hole at the top, making it easy to add to a gift.
For the pink one I used the Hjerte 3 die from Papirdesign to create the tag (and the Julekule die to create the hole at the top). The sequins are from the same Igloo mix that I used for the yellow, and I also added Jewel Drops in the color Key Lime to the buttons on her belly. The twine is Divine Twine in the Cotton Candy color.
And finally the green one. I used the Julekule die set from Papirdesign to create the actual tag, Nuvo Jewel Drops in the Limoncello color for the star on his sweater, and green dots from Papirdesign to embellish. The twine is Divine Twine in the color Green Apple.
Very simple color palette for these.
I used the large flower from the Lovely hello stamp set for this card. This image is huge, and it covers most of an A2 card front. I colored the image with Copics and then fussy cut the whole thing. This image isn’t very detailed on the edges, so it was easy enough to fussy cut.
I mounted my fussy cut image to a card base I created from Rustic Cream cardstock from Papertrey Ink using the Double Thick Crystal Clear Foam Tape from the Rabbit Hole Designs. This tape is super thick and super sticky, and it adds a ton of dimension.
I used part of a sentiment from the same stamp set. It actually says Hello lovely, but I wanted the hello. I also fussy cut this, leaving a thin border around the black letters. There’s a coordinating die to go with this sentiment, but I don’t have it and don’t actually mind fussy cutting.
I popped up the sentiment with foam tape and added sequins here and there using the Rosy Glow mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish the card.
This card has it all – dimension, shine and a gorgeous flower. What more could you possibly want?
I used very few Copics for this image, actually.
I created a very simple scene for this card, stamping the snowman in Fadeout ink from Inkon3 before adding a mask, then stamping the 
Every once in a while, I break out my airbrush system. I actually keep it out on my desk, but I have a big desk and don’t usually sit close to it. I love the airbrush system, it’s such an awesome way to get a layer of color quickly. Coloring an entire nighttime sky with Copics takes a while, airbrushing it is faster. Use colors that are darker than what you think you want, and make sure there’s enough ink in the marker before starting. I used B99 and B97 for this sky, and it’s wonderfully dark and the perfect backdrop for the lighter colors of the snowy scene in front.
Once I finished the airbrushing, I carefully removed the masks and did no line coloring of the rest of the scene. At this point, I’ve colored snow so often, I can do it in my sleep. This snowman is pretty easy to color too, most of the areas are pretty big surfaces, so it’s a very forgiving image.
After I finished my coloring, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment in the sky. The sentiment is actually from the Scripty Xmas stamp set from Mama Elephant, I kind of forgot for a second that I was creating a Purple Onion card, I was a little lost in a creative zone. After heat embossing the sentiment, I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous to create my super snowy scene, making sure to remove any granules that landed on top of the embossed letters before melting the granules from the back.
I trimmed 1/8″ off each side of my scene and adhered it to a white card base I created from white cardstock from Papertrey Ink, deciding not to add any embellishments. I figured there was enough going on already with all the snow.
As usual – lots of colors used for the snow. The two blues at the very bottom after the break are the colors I used for the airbrushed sky.
I love Mo’s elves, and this is 
Once the image was colored, I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to create a faux stitch border. I then white heat embossed a sentiment from the Mini Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant in the center of the darkest bauble, before adhering the panel onto a top fold card base I created from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I added a few diamonds from the Urban Chic mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish off the card.
Simple color palette for this one. It was super fast to color too, which isn’t usually the case with no line coloring.
I didn’t know what color scheme to go for, and my color buddy Liz suggested purple, knowing I’d kind of hate her for it. 😉 I struggle with purple. It’s not my favorite color to begin with, it’s tricky to photograph well, and also difficult to find good matches with ink and cardstock for. AND it’s even hard to find colors that pair well with it. It’s not something I’d normally use for a Christmas card, but I love a good challenge, so I grabbed a bunch of purple Copics and started coloring.
I kind of tried to chicken out a bit by asking Liz if it’d be okay if I added some aqua tones. “Only if purple is the dominant color,” was her answer. With no chance to weasel my way out of purple and into something I’m more comfortable with, there was only one thing to do… keep coloring purple.
I did add a little bit of aqua to not have everything purple. I even tried some blue, but that didn’t really work and I actually covered up the blue… with more purple. Once I finished my coloring, I added a sentiment from the 
I used a black glaze pen to get their eyes extra black and shiny, added a tiny white dot to each eye using the 05 white Gelly Roll, and covered Rudolph’s nose with Glossy Accents. Once dry, I sprinkled on lots of chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous and melted the granules from the back of the panel for a snowy look.
I adhered my colored panel to a top fold landscape card base I created from Royal Velvet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and added a thin strip of Sea Glass cardstock from Concord & 9th below the sentiment for an additional element that wasn’t purple.
I used so many colors for this, it’s ridiculous. I used different colors for all the animals, only keeping cheeks, noses and inner ears the same throughout.
I colored up the scene using Copics, then used the largest die in the Slimline Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to add faux stitching to both sides. There’s no reason you can’t use slimline dies for an A2 sized card, and this worked out really well, the die was the perfect width for my image.
I used a black glaze pen from Sakura to get some shine and dimension into the eyes of these cute critters (you can see it in real life when you tilt the card in the light, I promise), then sprinkled on Stampendous chunky white embossing enamel that I melted from the back of the panel.
Using lots of foam tape, I adhered my panel to a top fold card base I created from Blueberry Sky cardstock from Papertrey Ink. This blue is gorgeous, and it’s perfect for the B90 Copic family.
I white heat embossed a sentiment from the Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley onto a piece of Amarena Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things. I cut the sentiment down to a strip and added it to the card using foam tape.
To finish off the card I added a few die cut heart outlines. These are from the Wax Seals die set from Waffle Flower. There are two different sized hearts in the die set, I used both for this card and cut them from Amarena Cherry cardstock before adhering them to the card.
Simple color palette for this one. Lots of colors used for the snow, that’s pretty much a given when I color snow.
Papirmølla 