Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today with another Christmas card. I can’t seem to stop, and the Snowmen stamp set from Lili of the Valley too cute to resist.
My original plan was to color in their accessories in a peachy pink color and a dark green combo that I love for my Christmas cards. There’s usually a lot of detail to the Lili of the Valley accessories (stripes and dots), making it easy for images to look messy if you choose too many colors. I tend to opt for a lighter and darker version of the same color, which makes it better for the eyes. Once I’d done the peachy pink, I went in with the lighter of the greens, because I didn’t know how dark I wanted it. When the light green was in place, I realized I really liked the light color with the pink, so I decided not to add too much of the darker greens.
Once the coloring was complete, I used the largest die in the Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel with a fun faux stitch edge. I then used Winter Lake, Icy Water and Polar Bear inks from Altenew to ink blend a soft sky from the top, before sprinkling on Chunky White embossing enamel from Stampendous and melting the granules from the back of the paper with my heat gun.
I adhered the panel to a top fold card base I created from Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. From Grapefruit cardstock from Condord & 9th, I die cut the oh so merry from The Penguin’s Waddle die set from Mama Elephant. I cut three and ink blended on the bottom using Berry Sorbet ink from Papertrey Ink, before stacking them together for a dimensional look and adhering them to the card. I finished the card with a few Coral Heart droplets from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I realize now that the green mitten probably belongs to the snowman on the far left, which means I should have colored it pink. Oh well, next time. The faux stitching, the snow and the ink blend on the letters add a bit of texture and detail to the card without adding bulk. Of course, I love my dimension, so I layered up the die cuts and added the heart droplets, but this card is still fairly mail friendly, I’d say.
The cardstock from Concord & 9th, which is what I used for my stacked sentiment, is not a very thick cardstock, so it’s great to use if you don’t want too much dimension on your cards. I just really wanted that color, which is why I chose it, but it also die cuts really well.
Last, but not least, my color palette. I still go overboard when I color snow, I have a feeling that won’t ever change.
I shared a card a couple of weeks ago with a bullfinch. The stamp set has another bullfinch image, and I decided to put this one to good use too. This time I fussy cut around him, leaving a white trim around the edge. Onto a top fold card base I created from Rustic Cream cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I mounted a piece of patterned paper from Maja Design (Tomten kommer from the Gammaldags Jul collection). From the Christmas Flower sheet from the Wintertime in Swedish Lapland collection from Pion Design, I die cut a tag, added that in the center using foam tape and a bow at the top that I found in my stash.
I used a die to create the word jul. The die actually cuts the word juleklem, but I only needed jul for my card and cut the other part off. Using an alphabet die, I die cut the letters to spell god and glued them above jul to complete my sentiment. I added the bullfinch image using foam squares and also added a big gold pearl to the knot on the bow for a little bit of shine to finish my card.
Simple color palette, and it happens to be the same as the one I used for the previous bullfinch card.
Small images in stamp sets often get neglected, but they’re so fun to create backgrounds from, and that’s exactly what I’ve done with this candy cane image from the 
Using a die from Kort & Godt, I created my sentiment from gold glitter cardstock, with three extra layers of white die cuts behind for dimension. The sentiment kind of got lost against my busy background, though. Vellum to the rescue. I cut a strip that was the perfect height for my sentiment and added some detail using a stitched border die from Lawn Fawn. I added my die cut letters on top, popped up the vellum panel and finished off with a few gold gems from Kort & Godt.
Super simple color palette today.
I colored the image and fussy cut it right up against the black lines. When you do, you lose the cute little extra lines on the outside that is part of Rachelle’s signature, which is a bit of a shame, but for the card design I had planned, it was a necessary sacrifice. I could have kept a little white trim (and thus, the wispy lines) around the image, but I feel that would have made the image less of an integrated piece of the overall design, so I went with the close cut.
Onto the card base, I ink blended Icy Water and Winter Lake inks from Altenew to create a soft blue sky. I die cut the Winter Forest cover die from Mama Elephant from Heavyweight vellum from My Favorite Things and adhered it on top. Using the same die, I also die cut the background from a couple of colors of gray cardstock. I used Mushroom from Concord & 9th and Soft Stone from Papertrey Ink and adhered the little gray notches into the openings of my vellum trees. On parts of the lighter ones, I ink blended with Charcoal ink from Hero Arts for a little variation in my grays.
I adhered my little scene on top of the vellum trees. I glued it flat down on the edges and used 2 mm foam squares near the top of the image for some dimension. I used a black glaze pen to add some shine to their eyes, and added a white dot on top once the black was dry using a Gelly Roll 05.
I die cut the Winter Forest cover die one final time, this time from white cardstock. I cut away the trees, but kept the frame and slope near the bottom and stamped a sentiment from the Together stamp set from Purple Onion Designs using Gravel Gray ink from My Favorite Things.
This image is so sweet and can be used for a variety of occasions. Rachelle’s images always have such a cosy vibe, and this one fits perfectly with all the other images she’s illustrated.
I see I’ve forgotten to add the greens I used in my Copic graphic. They were YG17, YG03, YG01 and G40.
I stamped Mimi using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, colored her with Copics and stamped on top using Obsidian ink from Altenew, which is a super crisp pigment ink that doesn’t play well with alcohol markers, but is perfect for stamping at the end after the coloring’s done. I fussy cut her leaving a white trim, and put her to the side while I worked on the rest of the card.
I chose one of the green papers in the Watercolor Wash 6×6″ paper pad from My Favorite Things to cover the front of a landscape oriented top fold A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I cut down a white piece of cardstock and created texture using the Crystal Distortion embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp, before mounting the panel in the center of the card front using lots of foam tape.
I then used the Stitched Happy Birthday Rectangle die from Memory Box to die cut once from the green patterned paper I’d already used and 10 or 11 times (I lost count) from white cardstock to create a shaker well. I cut the words out of the white frames, stacked them, added acetate to the back of my layered frame and adhered it in the center of the card. I then filled the shaker well with the Candy mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. This mix has pearls, little flower shapes, sequins without holes, some hearts and raindrops. I topped it with another piece of acetate, then adhered the patterned paper die cut on top.
By creating the well from so many layers of cardstock, my little embellishment mix has a lot of room to shake around. A few of the pieces in there are quite large, and I didn’t want any of them getting stuck.
I added Mimi to the side of the frame. I put three layers of foam tape behind her for dimension, so she’d be level with the frame. This card has a lot of dimension, it’s almost 1/2″ at its thickest.
Simple color palette for Mimi, she’s pretty quick to color.
This is the card closed. I created this by gluing 2 side fold A2 card bases together; the half with the snowman with the fold on the left and the other one with the fold on the right.
I used the Snowflake Confetti fancy die from Hero Arts to die cut from Gina K Masking Magic to create a stencil to ink blend through. I used Iceberg ink from Altenew to create subtle blue snowflakes in the background on the front of the card to the left of the snowman and also on the other flap.
I adhered an 1/8″ gold glitter cardstock strip from Kort & Godt for the snowman to hold on to for a defining edge and used the Stacked Merry die from My Favorite Things to die cut 6 times for a stacked look. 5 layers from white cardstock, the top layer from a piece of X-Press It blending card that I colored to match the green on the snowman. I stacked the six layers and adhered them in the center of the left front panel, stamped and white heat embossed a sub sentiment from the 
I embellished with a combination of gold pearls around the sentiment and tiny confetti stars all across the background. Both are from the Vanilla Kiss mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I also added a bit of black glaze pen to the eyes of the snowman. It adds a tiny bit of dimension and some shine. Once dry, I went over with a dot of white, using a Gelly Roll 05.
On the inside flap, behind the snowman, I stamped another sentiment from the Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley, this time using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things.
Simple color palette for this one. Lots of colors for the snow, though, I can’t seem to help it.
I had to go for my traditional Christmas colors for this one with blue, brown and grey, it’s such a good combo. I made all the lights the same color. I know some people prefer the differently colored lights, but as a Scandinavian minimalist, my color palette for Christmas is very toned down, including my Christmas lights, which are all white.
Once I’d colored my image, I used the largest die in the Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things to create a faux stitch border around my panel. I then took the Plaid builder stencil set from My Favorite Things and ink blended using Blue Yonder ink from My Favorite Things in the top right corner with the stencil with the wide stripes. On top of the stencil with the smaller stripes, I used Light & Fluffy Modeling Paste from The Crafter’s Workshop for a little bit of added dimension and interest to the background.
I adhered my panel to an A2 top fold card base I created from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Using the scripty wishes die from Mama Elephant, I die cut three layers of white and one blue on top for a stacked look and adhered it on top of my stenciled background. I also stamped and white heat embossed a couple of sentiments from the Holiday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant to add to the wishes to make my sentiment complete. I cut them down to strips and added a few layers of cardstock behind each of them for dimension, before finishing off the card with a few sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, as well as Glossy Accents for the lightbulbs.
I love the glow and shine from the lightbulbs.
Fairly simple color palette for this one.
I colored up these two sloths from the Hang Out and Celebrate stamp set. I stamped using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, which is a hybrid ink safe to use with alcohol markers. I colored the sloths with Copics, then re-stamped over the black lines, this time using Obsidian ink from Altenew. This is a pigment ink that is super crisp, but it’s not compatible with Copics, so I need to stamp with an alcohol friendly ink first, do my coloring, then stamp on top with the pigment ink. Once the ink was dry I used the coordinating dies to cut out these cute sloths.
I created an A2 top fold card base from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink and decided to do a little ink blending near the top right. Using the Watercolor Circle stencil from My Favorite Things (which was also new in the July release), I ink blended Eastern Sky and Iceberg inks from Altenew to create a soft sky. I eventually realized it needed to be darker for my clouds to show up over top, so I also went in with Ultramarine, which is one shade darker than Eastern Sky. These three blues are all in the same color family from Altenew.
With the circle mask still in place, I added the Tiny Clouds stencil from My Favorite Things on top, and used Fresh Snow hybrid ink from Papertrey Ink to create soft clouds on top of the blue I’d already ink blended.
At the bottom center of the card, I stamped a sentiment from the stamp set with the sloths, this time using Caribbean Sea ink from My Favorite Things. I also stamped “Make a” from the older Birthday Chicks stamp set and adhered die cut letters between my stamping to complete the sentiment. I die cut the word with from the Wish Big Today die that also came out in the July release from My Favorite Things (it was such a good release). I used Sour Apple cardstock, and at the base of the letters I ink blended using Sour Apple ink, and a little bit of Jalapeño Popper ink for extra oomph. I put three additional die cuts behind each letter and adhered them to my card.
Time for the sloths. I die cut three additional layers of cardstock to go behind each of my die cut sloths, and glued them directly to the card base. I cut off a portion of the balloon on the back layers, so I could overlap the colored one with the other sloth. I added a dot of black glaze pen to the eyes of the sloth that’s awake, and Glossy Accents to the balloon for a bit of shine.
To finish off the card I used some sequins from the Waterfall mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I packed a lot into this card, and the sentiment wound up taking much more space than I’d sketched out in advance, but I still like it. This is the part where I usually show a graphic of the Copics I used, but I simply can’t locate the post-It I used to write them down.
Hot pink and orange/yellow/gold. It’s not a Christmas color palette you see every day, and when I did the actual coloring, I wasn’t sold on this. I wasn’t sold when the card was done, either, but it’s grown on me, and I’m now in a place where I like it. That might change again, though, ask me tomorrow 😉
I printed the image on the bottom half of a quarter sheet of X-Press It blending card, did my coloring, then used the Basket Weave stencil from My Favorite Things to add a little bit of interest to the panel. Above the image, I used Puffy Heart and Rose Quartz inks from Altenew, underneath the image I used Scattered Straw Distress Ink. I trimmed off 1/4″ on each side and mounted it with foam tape onto a card base I created from Ripe Raspberry cardstock from My Favorite Things.
I added black glaze to the eyes for some shine and Glossy Accents to the lightbulbs, before stamping and white heat embossing a sentiment from the Holiday Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant onto a scrap piece of pink cardstock. I cut the sentiment down to a strip, added a few more layers behind it and added it to my card, before finishing off with a few gold jewels from the Fesitivities mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
The Glaze, Glossy Accents, sub sentiment and gems all work together to add interest to what is otherwise a very simple card.
The coloring is pretty simple too 🙂
I decided to use the macaron from the stamp set. There’s actually a large and a small one in the set. I used the large one, and I stacked seven on top of one another, so I could add lots of different colors to them. It’s an odd rainbow, but I think it works, and I kept the coloring very simple. I fussy cut my stack of macarons, leaving a thin white border and put it aside while I worked on the rest of my card.
I cut down a piece of patterned paper from the Ink Drops – Vivid paper pad from Craft Consortium. I chose this particular sheet because the colors I used for the macarons are well represented in the paper. I printed the sentiment directly onto the patterned paper and adhered it to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I die cut the largest frame in the Classic Rectangle Frames die set from My Favorite Things 9 times from white cardstock. I stacked them and adhered them to the card front, before adding sequins and gems to the well. The sequin mix I used is the Vanilla Kiss mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I adhered a few around my sentiment to keep them from falling to the bottom, then sealed my shaker well with a piece of acetate from Simon Says Stamp. I added one final white die cut frame on top of the acetate for a clean look and also adhered the stack of macarons to finish the card.
By creating thick walls for my well, the sequins, gems and pearls really have a lot of space to shake around. I made sure to place the large pearls and gems the right side up before I added the acetate, so they wouldn’t turn around on me. The smaller ones do, but as long as the big ones show their good side, I’m okay with that.
Very sherbety color palette for this one. Three colors for each macaron.
Papirmølla 