Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with a card I actually shared a few weeks ago on the Papiria blog. It’s a very clean and simple one, using only white cardstock, a few dies and some blue ink.
I started with the Snowfall Backdrop Landscape die from Lawn Fawn, which I die cut from white cardstock (Stamper’s Select White from Papertrey Ink). I did a bit of ink blending with Fresh Dye inks from Altenew, using Arctic Mountain, Winter Lake and Icy Water inks going from top to bottom for a gradient effect.
I used the Snøkrystall ramme 2 die from Papirdesign to cut my border of trees and snowflakes. This die set actually has two borders – one that cuts out the trees and snowflakes I used here, and the other one does snowflakes and stars. I thought the trees went well with my snowfall backdrop, which is why I opted for that.
I trimmed down my snowfall backdrop, adhered it to a white cardbase and layered my die cut border on top, before adding a sentiment that I created with the Juleklem die from Kort & Godt. I cut two layers from the same white cardstock I’ve used throughout the card and one layer from an ink blended piece using the same inks that i used for the sky for a very clean look. This card is so simple, and you could easily mass produce this if you wanted to. I only make one offs, but it’s totally up to you.
I wanted to create a blue Christmas card. Blue’s my jam, and I had this idea as soon as I saw the release. I started with the Merry Trees stencil set, which is a set of two stencils that creates a line of trees. Each of the stencils has two “layers”, and if you layer all four you have the full line of trees in up to four colors. I used the Northern Shore family of Fresh dye inks from Altenew for my stenciling, it’s a great blue family of inks.
Using the Merry Trees die set, I took the big MERRY die and die cut it straight out of my ink blended trees. I also die cut an additional four layers of using After Midnight cardstock from My Favorite Things. I cut off a little on each side of the white panel, adhered it to a card base in that same dark blue color and puzzle pieced the letters back in. The fact that they’re stacked with a dark color makes the word easier to read than if I’d used white to stack.
I white heat embossed a couple of sentiments from the Merry Greetings builder stamp set onto After midnight cardstock and cut them down to sentiment strips using the Merry Greetings builder die set. I usually use a steel ruler and craft knife to create my sentiment strips, but there’s something about the roundness of the edge that you get by using a die. I added a few more strips of cardstock behind each of the sentiment strips for dimension and placed them above and below the die cut MERRY to complete the sentiment.
I decided not to use any embellishments on this card. Sometimes I feel like the colors and cardstock do all the work for me, and I love how this one turned out.
I colored the little snowball with Copics and fussy cut him, adding a touch of black glaze pen to his eyes to make them shiny, and then a tiny white dot of Gelly Roll 05 once the black was dry. I used the Fa la la inlay die from Concord & 9th and die cut a white panel. I trimmed off a little on each side and glued it to a card base I created from Grapefruit cardstock from Concord & 9th, inlaying the white letters back into place. I cut a few in the grapefruit color, stacked them and emphasized one line in the background using this color, which left just enough room on the right for the snowman to sit on some foam tape.
I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the older Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley onto a piece of Aqua Sky cardstock from Concord & 9th. The cardstock color was a little bit light for the white letters, so I ink blended on top using Aqua Sky ink to make the sentiment more visible. The exposure in the photo makes it lighter than it is in real life, it’s actually very easy to read it in person. I used the Snowflake Confetti Fancy die from Hero Arts to die cut small snowflakes from Aqua Sky cardstock. I stacked two of each for a tiny bit of dimension and used them as embellishments on the card.
Very limited color palette for this one.
I colored my penguin with Copics, fussy cut him and used a black Glaze pen to add shine to his eyes, before putting him aside while I worked on the rest of my card.
I really wanted to use the big MERRY greeting in the Merry Trees stamp set from Kristina Werner. I love her cleanly designed products, they’re right up my alley, and this greeting makes a statement. I stamped with VersaMark onto Juniper cardstock from Concord & 9th, before sprinkling on super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger, which I then heat set. I die cut an additional four layers of the letters from white cardstock and stacked them with the green on top.
I used the Berries & Boughs embossing folder from Concord & 9th to create a little bit of interest to the background. I trimmed my white dry embossed panel slightly and adhered it to a black cardstock panel that I adhered to a top fold white card base. I arranged my merry letters on the front of the card, added my penguin with foam tape and also added a white on black heat embossed sub sentiment from the Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley.
I added a few pearls from the Glossy Porcelain mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish. I love how I was able to turn this cute party penguin into a holiday penguin, and I’m kind of liking the untraditional Christmas palette of green and black.
I messed around with a few greens to find the right combo to somewhat match my green cardstock. If it hadn’t been for that, this would have been a very limited color palette.
I started by stamping the large floral image using Obsidian ink from Altenew. This is a very crisp, dark black pigment ink, so I heat set it before moving on to avoid the risk of the ink smearing. I used the stencils to color them in with Fresh dye inks from Altenew. I used the Sun-Kissed Delights collection for the yellow, the Blushberry Bliss collection for the pink and the Jade Dreams collection for the green. I left out the darkest shade in each of the color families, and opted for Wheat and Nutmeg inks from Concord & 9th for the center of the yellow flower.
Once the image was properly inked, I used a die from the die set to cut out the image. I put foam tape on the back before adhering it to a top fold landscape card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, which is the same cardstock I used for the flowers. I trimmed off the small bits that were hanging over the edge of the card base.
Using a die set from Kort & Godt, I cut the word gratulerer a few times from Honeysuckle cardstock from Concord & 9th, and the shadow layer from 40 lb vellum. I stacked two of the pink on top of the shadow and another two behind the shadow, giving it a little bit of lift off the flowers.
I used a sentiment sticker strip from Kort & Godt for the sub sentiment. The sticker was originally white, but I ink blended with Misty Sage, which is the second lightest color in the Jade Dreams family of fresh dye inks from Altenew. I then trimmed it down to be a little bit narrower and adhered it to the word die cut, before finishing off the card with a couple of enamel dots from the Fall Harvest pack from Altenew.
I colored her up with my Copics and kept the panel intact this time. No die cutting, no nothing. I adhered it directly to a top fold A2 card base and put a torn piece of patterned paper at the top. The paper is from the Watercolor Wishes pad from Lawn Fawn, and I white heat embossed triangles onto it to create a little more interest, using the Scattered Triangles Background stamp from My Favorite Things.
I used a small circle die to create notches near the top of the card. I stamped a sentiment from the Mini messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Obsidian ink from Altenew onto a piece of patterned paper from the Watercolor Wash Brights paper pad from My Favorite Things, and die cut it with one of the dies in the Blueprints 27 die set from My Favorite Things. I put foam tape on the back and adhered it to my card, before adding some black twine to the card, tying it in a bow at the top of the die cut. The notches help keep the twine in place. I finished off with a few pearls from the Meadow mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I love using Rs and YRs to create peach colors.
I used the igloo with the peeking penguin and only added one small penguin for this simple card. I didn’t even use the entire igloo, I like the look of the design coming in from the side like this. I colored the image with Copics and used a die in the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower to turn it into a nice panel and adhered it to a top fold card base I created from Peacock cardstock from Concord & 9th.
Using the Hooray Script die from Mama Elephant, I cut three die cut layers from Watermelon cardstock from Concord & 9th, which I stacked for a little bit of dimension. I white heat embossed a sentiment from the Birthday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant on a strip of Peacock cardstock. I added a few more layers of cardstock behind it and adhered it below the die cut part of the greeting, before finishing off the card with a few sequins from the Ice Water mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Mostly BGs for this card. I love my BGs.
I colored the images with Copics, then used the Postage Collage die from Waffle Flower to create stamps.
I added Solar Paste in the Golden Hour color onto Lemon Tart cardstock from Papertrey Ink using the Merry Go Round stencil from Memory Box. I wanted a little bit of interest in the background, but nothing too distracting, and this worked really well. I added the panel to a top fold white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I added scraps of cardstock behind my die cuts to give them a little lift off my card and adhered them pretty much in the center of the card.
I stamped a sentiment from the Anything-but Basic Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things onto Spring Rain cardstock from Papertrey Ink using Obsidian ink from Altenew. I cut the sentiment down to a strip and added a few layers of cardstock behind it before adhering it to the card.
I finished off with a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Fairly muted color palette for this one.
I had a dry embossed white panel in my stash I thought I’d put to good use (I used the Snowflake Confetti fancy die from Hero Arts with an embossing mat to create this texture).
I die cut a scribbled circle and a couple of layers of a poinsettia from Ocean Tides cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I used the same color cardstock to create my card base and mounted my white panel at an angle to create a dynamic design.
I adhered the circle with a tiny bit of glue where my leaves would cover it, making the rest of the circle float above the rest.
I cut apart the poinsettia petals to use as leaves and inked over them with Eucalyptus and Rainforest inks from Concord & 9th. I adhered the large ones with a bit of foam behind each leaf for dimension, but glued the smaller ones straight down at the base of the leaves.
Using liquid glue, I added three large berries to the center of my leaf arrangement before finishing off with a sticker, which I put slivers of foam on the back of for even more lift. I like that it kind of floats above the rest.
Papirmølla 