Hi, crafty friends. It’s the third Thursday of the month, and that means it’s time to Get Cracking on Christmas. This is a series Jenn Shurkus created a few years back, aimed at creating holiday cards all year to make you less stressed come November and to also use those supplies you bought, but didn’t have to use last year. We all do that, right? It’s not just me? It’s also a great opportunity to play with techniques and different card designs. I love creating Christmas cards all year, so this is right up my alley.
For this card, I’m once again focusing on the Snow Cute stamp set Lili of the Valley released earlier this month. It’s such a cute stamp set (aptly named), and I just can’t resist when there’s a penguin to color. I colored the penguin with Copics, cut my panel down to a strip and put it aside while I worked on the rest of my card.
I created a top fold card base from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink. This is one of my all time favorite cardstock colors, and I hoard it, always afraid I’m going to run out even though I have several packs of it. I die cut the lighter blue panel from Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things using the Stitched Snowflake Backdrop die from Lawn Fawn. The die cuts a full size panel for an A2 card, I trimmed mine down slightly to have the darker blue border showing around the edges.
I added a few extra white pieces of cardstock behind my colored panel to make it stand out a little more against the background. I like the dimension it adds.
I used a few words from the Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley, cut them down to strips and added a few more cardstock layers behind them for additional dimension.
To finish the card I added a few sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I also added a bit of black glaze pen to the penguin’s eyes, and then a white dot of Gelly Roll 05 on top once the black had dried. This makes the eyes stand out a little against the rest, and the shine looks great in real life. It’s hard to photograph, though, so you’ll just have to trust me.
Simple color palette for this one, these penguins don’t require a lot.
This card features the same stamp from the Snow Cute stamp set that I used on the previous card I made with stamps from this release (
I created my card base from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and I wanted a blue gradient near the bottom, fading into white at the top. I pulled out a couple of blender brushes, the Lapis Lazuli inks (Azurite, Ultramarine, Eastern Sky and Iceberg) from Altenew and started blending from the darkest at the bottom to the lightest at the top.
Once I was happy with my blending, I die cut a bunch of snowflakes. I used an old die from Marianne Design (CR1335) which cuts plenty of snowflakes, as well as the Snowflake Confetti Fancy Die from Hero Arts. This is actually a cover plate, but as the name suggests, it creates confetti in the shape of snowflakes. I put the positive die cut back into the packaging to use for another card and glued the snowflakes to my background. The stark white of the snowflakes was a little too white for the sentiment I was putting on top to stand out, so I went back over with more blue ink once the snowflakes were adhered. This toned them down a bit, just enough for my die cut word to stand out.
Speaking of die cut word, I used this wishes die from Mama Elephant and die cut three layers of white cardstock, which I glued together for dimension. For the polaroid frame, I used the Precious Polaroids die set from My Favorite Things and die cut three of those as well.
I adhered the polaroid frame and the die cut word to the card front, popped the little penguin into the opening of the polaroid using some foam tape and completed the sentiment with a stamped word from the new sentiment set from Lili of the Valley, cut down to a strip and adhered with a couple of additional strips of cardstock behind it. Because dimension is life!
This is 
After coloring the image with Copics, I used the largest of the dies from the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel. I adhered it to a top fold card base I created from Hibiscus Burst cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before gluing on a scrap piece of doily from Doodlebug Design in the upper right corner. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Julehilsen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a die cut piece of patterned paper from Bo Bunny. I added another die cut piece of patterned paper (this dotted pink is from Sunny Studio) and stapled the two pieces together before mounting them to the card using foam tape. I put another scrap of the pink in the opposite corner of the card and finished off with a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Colors for this crazy combo. Evidently I forgot to include the greens, but they are BG99, G99, YG67, YG63 and YG61.
This cute image with the penguin, reindeer and bear peeking up from behind something stole my heart. It’s from the Snow Cute set, which includes another one of these peeking images and six individual penguins. I colored a winter sunset behind them before coloring the critters, used a black Glaze pen to make their eyes extra black and shiny and also put a dash of Glossy Accents to Rudolph’s nose. Once the layer of Glaze was dry, I added white dots using a 05 Gelly Roll pen.
I fussy cut the image at the bottom and added my narrow panel to a white cardstock panel. At the bottom of the panel I stamped the word Christmas from the sentiment set using Ocean Tides ink from Papertrey Ink. I adhered the white panel to a top fold landscape card base I created from Ocean Tides cardstock, also from Papertrey Ink.
I white heat embossed a sub sentiment from the sentiment set onto Ocean Tides cardstock, cut it down to a strip and adhered it to the card with a few extra layers of cardstock behind it for dimension.
I decided to keep the card very simple and added a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish.
The sprinkles add a little bit of dimension to the card. So does the sub sentiment. In this photo you can even see that Rudolph’s nose sticks out a little because of the Glossy Accents.
I used a lot of Copic colors for this image.
For today’s card, I no line colored this selfie with the penguin and snowman from the Selfies with Santa stamp set, designed by Stacey Yacula for My Favorite Things. I love this stamp set and went with a pink to yellow winter sunset in the background, and a grayish green and brownish orange for the rest. Somehow it works. Onto a card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped snowflakes from the Flurry of Love stamp set from My Favorite Things using Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide ink. I didn’t have an ink in the same tone as my coloring, but the yellow works.
I mounted my the selfie at an angle using foam tape, die cut the Merry Script die from Mama Elephant several times from Ocean Tides cardstock from Papertrey Ink and stacked them together for dimension. I stamped and white heat embossed the word CHRISTMAS from the Itty Bitty Holiday stamp set from My Favorite Things, and adhered that below the die cut word with 6 additional strips of cardstock behind it for dimension. To finish off the card I adhered a few sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Lots of colors for this one.
I printed the image on a piece of X-Press It blending card, extending the candy cane so it would run along the entire left side of my card front. The line style of the image is somewhat sketchy, which means you can’t really mess up creating an additional couple of lines. I colored the image with Copics and sprinkled on lots of chunky white embossing enamel, before melting the granules from the back of the cardstock.
I wanted a big sentiment for this card, and chose the Let It Snow die from Lawn Fawn to create it. I cut once from Hawaiian Shores cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and three times from white cardstock, also from PTI, to create a chipboard like element that adds dimension to my card. I finished off with a few snowflake sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Simple color palette. I would never pair red with green for a Christmas card (I’m not a fan of complementary colors), but red and teal works sooo well.
I decided to create a full card shaker this time. They’re fun to make, and a lot easier than you’d think. Even easier (and way faster) than regular shaker cards! At least they are to me.
This is the 
This cool, deep pink is so much fun to use for Christmas cards, it’s unexpected and fun, and matches the Autumn Rose color cardstock from Papertrey Ink sooo well.
I created my shaker pocket from half a stamp storage pocket from Avery Elle. I created score lines and folded so my panel would fit inside, used score tape on the back of the bottom and sides of the pocket and filled it before folding over the top flap and sealing it shut.
I used the Icicle Sequin mix from Hero Arts to fill my pocket. This mix has clear sequins, matte white sequins and iridescent star confetti, just enough to create interest, while not being too distracting. It’s a perfect mix for wintery shaker cards.
For the die cut word, I used the Believe die set from Simon Says Stamp. I die cut the shadow from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink and the word itself from Autumn Rose cardstock, also from Papertrey Ink. I adhered the two together and then directly onto the shaker pocket. If you’ve never created a full card shaker before, I urge you to try, it’s so much fun!
I tend to go overboard when I color snow. No exception this time 🙂
The image is called Bunny & Guinea: Snowman, and you’ll find it over in 
I used the Mega Snowflakes Cover die from Mama Elephant to die cut my frame. I stacked three for dimension and adhered it to my colored image, then adhered the whole thing to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
Using the Merry Script die from Mama Elephant, I die cut three from Hawaiian Shores cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and another three from the same white cardstock that I used elsewhere on the card. I stacked the colored die cuts and the white ones separately so that I could put the white ones behind the parts of the colored ones that aren’t on top of the white stacked die cut frame at the bottom.
Onto a strip of Hawaiian Shores cardstock, I white heat embossed part of a sentiment from Purple Onion Designs and cut it down to fit my card, adding two more strips behind it so that the stamped part of the sentiment would be flush with the die cut part.
I added a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish the card.
Simple color palette.
I’ve made a slimline card this time, with images from a Stamptember collaboration set from Mama Elephant and Simon Says Stamp that I colored up in November 2020. These have been sitting on my desk for a while, and I always planned on creating this window design with them – Get Cracking on Christmas is the perfect opportunity to execute plans you’ve had for a while, but not had time for.
This time, I have a fun slimline card to share featuring 
I used a couple of dies from My Favorite Things to create the window openings and the faux stitch edge around the white cardstock. I stamped the 
I colored both the images in greys and reds and mounted the white panel with the window openings using foam tape for dimension. This cat is like a grey version of Garfield, it’s too funny.
Fiona looks like she’s kind of done with Christmas, Shari creates so much personality in each of her critters.
I kept the card very simple, but did add a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Papirmølla 