Hi, crafty friends! Is it too early to think about Christmas cards? I know there are lots of people who don’t like creating holiday cards this time of year, and I totally get it. I, myself, am an all year Christmas card maker. My problem for the past couple of years hasn’t been creating the cards, but getting them in the mail. I’ll try to be better this year, we could all use the extra joy that fun mail brings, right? If I want to send cards, I also need to create some, and this Peeking Reindeer from Mo Manning was so cute, I couldn’t resist. It was the November 2025 freebie over on her Patreon.
I created a tri fold card this time, with the reindeer peeking out from one of the folds. I couldn’t resist a red Rudolph nose, even if that makes my card inaccurate in its reindeer portrayal. Only female reindeer have antlers in the winter, so this is technically a female reindeer. It’s not like a red nosed reindeer is all that believable to begin with, so I guess it doesn’t really matter, it’s just a fun little tidbit.
For the blue background, I used Powder cardstock from Concord & 9th. I used the Stitched Snowflake Backdrop die from Lawn Fawn to create some interest in the background. I die cut the a sentiment from the Jolly Holiday Greetings die set from Concord & 9th using Cranberry cardstock, also from C9. I stacked three layers, stamped part of a sentiment (have a) from the Christmas Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things and the word Christmas from the Scripty Xmas stamp set from Mama Elephant, both in Cranberry ink. I die cut the have a with the coordinating die and fussy cut around the Christmas (there’s no coordinating die for this set), and put the three parts together to form a complete sentiment.
I added a strip of Champagne cardstock from C9 to the edge where Rudolph (not really Rudolph) is peeking out, to emphasize the edge of the panel that opens. I scattered a few Champagne glitter drops from Pinkfresh Studio for a little bit of embellishment.
When you lift the flap with Rudolph (not Rudolph), you’re left with a regular side folding card. I’ve hidden magnets so Rudolph (not Rudolph) keeps the flap closed until it’s time to open the card.
This one has a super simple color combo, there’s was very little coloring to do on Rudolph (not Rudolph).
First up is this one. I chose an analogous color combo of Powder, Blueberry and Oceanside inks from C9, and a pop of Lemongrass for a somewhat contrasting color as my fourth. I cut the stamped panel in two, and then cut diagonal lines on each of my two pieces.
I covered a card base with Oceanside cardstock and adhered my panel pieces on top, leaving a gap between them so the Oceanside cardstock would show through.
I stamped a sentiment from the Serene Blooms stamp set from Altenew using Obsidian ink from Altenew, and die cut it using the coordinating die. I stacked another three die cuts behind the sentiment for some dimension, and adhered my stack on top of the opening between the two largest pieces of the stamped background, before finishing off with enamel dots from C9 in the same colors that I used for the stamping.
My second card features the same technique of cutting up the finished piece into smaller bits. Here, I used Sprout, Sunflower, Sorbet and Harbor inks, which makes for a way more colorful background (it’s basically a green, a yellow, a red and a blue).
I used the Waterbrush Hello die from Altenew to create my sentiment for this card. I stacked three black die cuts for a bit of dimension and stamped and white heat embossed the sub sentiment from the Serene Blooms stamp set from Altenew. I’ve just replaced my VersaMark pad, so the letters are a bit thicker than I’d like, but i really did need a new pad. I finished off with a few dew drops from C9. There was a lot going on with the background already, and the dew drops are a bit more subtle.
The final card is very different. For this one I had two full panels that I’d stamped with the Northern Shore bundle of fresh dye inks from Altenew (Polar Bear, Icy Water, Winter Lake and Arctic Mountain). I used the hexagon die in the Wild Meadow die set from C9 to cut as many hexagons as I could from the two panels and mounted them on foam tape to a piece of Blue Beyond cardstock from My Favorite Things. I then chopped off a bunch on all four sides for a nice border and adhered it to a card base I created from the same color.
The die cut sentiment is from the Just picked die set from C9. I die cut two layers from blue cardstock and the top layer from Champagne cardstock from C9, adhered my sentiment in the center of one of the hexagons and decided to skip embellishments for this card. There’s a lot going on already with all the hexagons and dimension, I felt like the card really didn’t need more.
This all started with patterned paper from Maja Design and the Sleigh full of cheer dies from Concord & 9th. Die cutting presents like this is a great way to use scraps. I used the Christmas Nostalgia collection for this. I’m a sucker for anything blue, so I wanted a dark-ish blue at the bottom, a lighter blue at the top and a contrast in the center. You could do this with any color, even plain cardstock. There are actually some images in the coordinating stamp set that will allow you to add patterns to your die cuts using just ink, but I opted for the patterned paper version here. I die cut the bow, the ribbon for the presents and the sleigh using champagne foil cardstock from Concord & 9th and added those for a touch of shine. The sleigh itself is a few layers thick to make it stand out against the background, and I did some ink blending on the seat using Wheat ink to make it stand out even more, as I have the same cardstock color for the seat as my background.
Speaking of backgrounds – I used one of the stencils in the Splatter Textures stencil set from Kristina Werner on a panel of Wheat cardstock from Concord & 9th. I added Altenew embossing paste through the openings and sprinkled on rock candy distress glitter while the paste was still wet. It’s important to clean your stencils quickly when using paste, or you’ll have a really hard time making it come off. Nobody wants to clean, but when dealing with pastes, you need to. I stamped my sentiment from the Joyful and merry stamp set from Kristina Werner using Wheat ink on Rustic Cream cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I used the coordinating die set to cut out my merry, and added another three die cuts on the back for dimension. I cut down everything to a nice strip, added another strip on the back for strength and adhered the sentiment to the largest present to finish the card.
I started by coloring the images with Copics. They each come with a frame, but I wanted this postage stamp look, so I cut my images on the inside of the frames.
I wanted some interest in the background, and the Sparkling Snow embossing folder from Simon Hurley/Spellbinders is amazing! It creates proper six pointed snowflakes and gives such a cool texture, I want to use it on everything. I used it with a panel of Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things. It’s one of my favorite light blue colors, I may need to hoard it since MFT went out of business. I trimmed my panel down, matted it with a panel of Cranberry cardstock from Concord & 9th and adhered both to a top fold white card base I covered with an A2 panel of X-Press It blending card, just so that my whites would match.
I adhered each of my colored images onto Cranberry cardstock for a nice framed look, then adhered my matted images to postage stamps I die cut with the Postage Collage die from Waffle Flower.
I mounted each of my postage stamps using foam squares, adding the first two straight before making sure the last two were wonky. I like that both the images and their placement tell a story about what happened in that photo booth, everything going perfectly at the start, followed by slight chaos. To finish off the card, I added black glaze to the eyes for some shine and a tiny bit of dimension, as well as snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Not a whole heap of colors used for these.
I went for a no line version this time. This is probably my most used image from Mo, and I love how easy he is to color. I chose a pink color combo that I really like, and I think this could work both as a holiday card and as a general winter card. I added the dots back into his scarf using an extra fine white Sharpie, and then fussy cut him. He’s pretty easy to fussy cut, too. I used the Sparkling snow embossing folder from Simon Hurley (Spellbinders) on the background for some texture. I love the detail this embossing folder gives, and they’re proper six pointed snowflakes and not the weird 8 pointed ones that some companies make. Real snowflakes never have eight points, they always come in multiples of six. It has to do with the way water molecules are formed and then bind together. Anyway, it’s a great embossing folder and it adds interest to an otherwise plain background.
I trimmed my embossed panel slightly, added a couple of layers behind it and adhered it to a card base covered with a panel of Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink. On a separate piece of Autumn Rose cardstock, I stamped a sentiment from the Snøstorm stamp set from byCino using VersaMark ink, before sprinkling on super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger and melting it until it was smooth. I cut my sentiment down to a wide strip, added a layer to the back of it for a little bit of dimension, then put a couple of additional layers behind the snowman before gluing him down and finishing the card with a few sequins from the Assorted Moonshine mix from Simon Says Stamp.
Simple color palette for this one.
I stamped the image near the bottom center of a panel of X-Press It blending card using Extreme Black ink from MFT, which is a Copic safe hybrid ink. I colored the image and created a spooky silhouette background which fades from black in the distance to green as you get closer to the front of the image.
I masked off the scene and put a moon mask from an old Simon Says Stamp Stamptember collaboration with Tim Holtz into the top right corner, before I went in with Copics and an airbrush to create the sky. I used three colors of blue, trying to make it a bit lighter near the moon and darker further away. I took off the moon mask, masked the sky and airbrushed into the circle opening using E40 for a very pale moon. I then added the detail mask for the moon and airbrushed the openings with T1, which is a very light grey that I also used for the mouse. Once all the coloring was complete, I removed all the masks, added a bit of black glaze pen to their eyes and stamped a sentiment at the bottom using Obsidian ink from Altenew, before trimming the panel down a little and adhering it to a card base I created from Black cardstock from Concord & 9th to finish.
I used quite a few markers for this. The ones after the gap are the ones I used for the airbrushing of the moon and sky.
I started by stamping the little decorations on the trees with VersaMark ink onto Artichoke cardstock from Concord & 9th, before heat embossing with white embossing powder from Ranger. I then used the coordinating tree die to cut out my trees. I added foam tape to the back and put the trees aside while I worked on the rest of the card.
Onto a panel of Wheat cardstock from C9, I stamped and white heat embossed the snow flurries from the Sleigh full of cheer stamp set from C9, as well as a sentiment from the Joyful and merry stamp set from Kristina Werner. I used one of the dies in her Gift bows die set to cut a thin strip of Champagne cardstock from C9, which I adhered below the snow flurries and sentiment. I also die cut a star from the same cardstock using a die in the Yuletide Lane die set from Concord & 9th. I mounted my trees to the card and added the champagne star on top of the tallest tree to finish.
This was my inspiration for my card. Very clean and simple with lots of white space and the snow flurries in the background to ground the trees. It’s an awesome card!
I die cut the “map” from the Joyful Wreath die set into a panel of Nectar cardstock. This die doesn’t actually cut anything, but is a great placement guide when gluing all the leaves on top. I die cut the leaves from Eucalyptus, Rainforest, Grasshopper and Champagne cardstock and put a drop of liquid glue at the base of each, which made it possible to lift the leaves off the panel for an airy feel.
I die cut the top layer of the berries from Cayenne cardstock, opting for the darker Cranberry for the base. I glued them directly to the leaves, tucking parts behind some of the leaves. I went back and forth on the sentiment, trying a few different things before choosing this simple Kort & Godt sentiment to stamp in the center using Cayenne ink. I trimmed the Nectar panel slightly and adhered it all to a top fold white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I started by die cutting the branch four times from a piece of green patterned paper from the Key to my Heart Collection from Kaisercraft. I then painted unevenly with a VersaMarker and added White puff embossing powder from Wow! for a snowy effect on parts of the leaves. I then cut each of the branches up into little mini branches to create my wreath.
I splattered white reinker onto a panel of Wheat cardstock from Concord & 9th and adhered it to a top fold white card base. I added my mini sprigs of leaves in a wreath formation, popped up a sticker sentiment near the base of the wreath and added three red pearls to embellish. I also put little pieces of foam squares behind some of the leaves to make it more dimensional.
I colored the image with Copics, opting for the cool grays for the bench. I wasn’t planning on making it this dark originally, but when my C9 made a blob, dark was the only way to go. It still works, and I don’t think you can really see where the blob was. I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to trim the panel down a little, then a large blending brush to add some soft blue to the background. I didn’t add any ink to the brush, I simply used whatever was left from a previous project.
I stamped a sentiment from the Småtekster stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS next to the bench using Tide Blue ink from Altenew. I added my colored piece to a panel of Buttercup cardstock from Concord & 9th, which I then adhered to a top fold white card base. I die cut the word hei twice from Green Parakeet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, stacked them and adhered my double die cut next to the boy on the bench before adding a few die cut clouds and some dew drops. Both the cloud dies and dew drops are from Concord & 9th.
I used quite a few colors for this very simple image.
Papirmølla 