Hi. Christmas is less than six months away, so what’s more natural when we’re approaching the end of June than a Christmas card, to kind of kick off Christmas in July?
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 Snowman Family stamp from Rachelle Anne Miller. She creates the cutest snowmen. I printed the image so it covered most of my panel and colored it with Copics.
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 🙂
This was a BIG image. It came into Photoshop as a full A4, and it’s kind of perfect for the front of a party invitation (which is what it’s actually intended for), but I wanted to create a regular size card from it. The tag tied to the a in Party actually says RSVP, but I erased that digitally before printing my image.
I was worried this would take a long time to color, but it wasn’t that bad, actually. I used a fairly limited color palette, I think that helped.
I colored the entire panel using my Copics, before using my scissors to cut around the edge. I usually use a trimmer or a steel ruler and a craft knife for this, but the frame has a fun, uneven line, and I wanted my cutting to be uneven too, so scissors were the way to go.
I adhered my panel onto a card base I created from Sorbet cardstock from Concord & 9th, stamped and white heat embossed part of a sentiment from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things onto a strip of Sorbet cardstock and glued a few additional cardstock strips behind it for dimension before adhering it to the card.
To finish off I added a layer of Glossy Accents to the letters. I didn’t want to add any embellishments to this card, it had enough going on already with the busy scene, but a little bit of shine is never a bad idea.
See? Not that many Copics considering how busy this scene is.
I stamped 
I colored the entire panel with Copics, deciding to add a few clouds in the sky as well as some visible blades of grass near the trees.
I adhered my colored panel onto a top fold landscape A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I stamped a sentiment from the 
To finish off the card I added a few pearls from Kort & Godt in three different sizes (2 mm, 2.5 mm, 3 mm). Adding the pearls was actually my niece’s idea. I tend to go for sequins myself, but I love pearls too and hadn’t used these in a while, so it was good to break them out.
The lack of dimension makes this a very thin, lightweight card compared to my normal cards, which means this won’t have any problems going through the mail.
Not a lot of colors given that the entire card front is colored.
I colored the dragon with my Copics and fussy cut him right up against the black lines of the image. I put him aside while I worked on the rest of the card.
Onto a top fold white A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I ink blended Azurite, Ultramarine and Eastern Sky inks (all from Altenew) towards the top of the card, fading to white near the bottom. I splashed some water droplets on top for a cool effect. Dye inks are water based and react with water, so this works with most inks you probably have. The darker the color, the bigger the impact.
From Cement Gray cardstock from My Favorite Things, I die cut two layers of the skyscraper skyline in the Slim Film City die set from Mama Elephant and adhered them at the bottom of my card. Using the cloud die in the Slim Basics die set, also from Mama Elephant, I die cut the cloud shape three times from Stamper’s Select White cardstock, stacked them and adhered them to the top of the card.
Onto the card base, I stamped a sentiment from the 
I adhered the dragon partially on top of the clouds, using foam squares behind the parts hanging off the clouds for even dimension, and sprinkled a few gems and sequins from the Seashore mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards around the dragon and sentiment to finish the card.
Suuuuper simple color palette for this dragon.
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 wanted to add a little bit of interest to my flowers and did some simple ink blending. I used Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks for the yellow, Fresh Leaf ink from Altenew for the green and Vintage Timber from My Favorite Things for the brown. I also added additional diecuts to build dimension and interest to these flowers.
Onto a white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped a sentiment from the 
This is a very simple card, and in hindsight I kind of wish I’d used a different color for my card base, or even ink blended a gradient blue with on the card base, but the white makes the yellow pop and is very clean, which is usually my preference on simple cards.
Here you can see a little bit of the dimension on the card. I used white diecuts behind the the yellow ones (I don’t have a lot of that Buttercup cardstock and wanted to use as little of it as possible), which worked out great. The white almost disappears against the white of the background, making it look like the flowers are floating on the card, it’s such a cool effect!
This time I’m keeping the focus on 
I used a lot of green for this card. Not too many markers, but I feel like most of the card is green. I actually had to refill all the greens I used for the fields and trees halfway through. They hadn’t been refilled in a couple of years, so it was about time, I use these greens a lot.
I needed a pop of color to counteract all the green and decided on a corally pink color combination that I used for the party hat and balloon. I dug through my colored cardstock looking for a match, and wound up with Fire Coral cardstock from My Favorite Things. I created a top fold A2 card base from it and adhered my colored panel onto it to the left side, it wasn’t wide enough to cover the entire card front.
In the fall of 2020 I was running seriously low on X-Press It blending card, which is the only cardstock I use for my Copic coloring. It was hard to get hold of back then, but I lucked out and got a pack from Amazon UK. It was A4, which kind of blew my mind a little bit. Up until that point, I didn’t even know A4 X-Press It existed, I’ve always bought letter size. A4 is less wide and taller than letter size, which means I only get two panels that cover an A2 card front from one sheet. I used one of the narrower pieces on this card, which left me with about 1/4″ extra width on the card base. I debated cutting it off, but I feel like the pink strip on the right provides a little bit of balance, the card would be very green without it.
Onto a separate piece of Fire Coral cardstock, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Til mannen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS, before die cutting it using a speech bubble die from Altenew. I popped it up on 1/16″ foam squares from Gina K for a tiny bit of dimension.
You’d think that with a close to full panel of coloring that I’d use a lot more colors than this, but the four greens near the left end of this graphic were all I used for the grass and the trees, which covers most of the card.
I colored in the image using Copics, before fussy cutting it, right up against the black lines of the image. I put the image aside while I worked on the rest of my card.
I actually worked directly on the card base for this one. Using the Big Balloon stencil from My Favorite Things, I ink blended two balloons using Distress inks – one using Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick and Abandoned Coral; the other using Mustard Seed and Squeezed Lemonade. And in the words of Laura Bassen – the magic’s in the overlap.
Once the balloons were done, I used the mask in the Big Balloon stencil set to mask off the balloons while I used the Slimline Cloud Edges stencil, also from MFT, to create the illusion of clouds in the distance. I used Eastern Sky ink near the top of the card, Iceberg ink towards the bottom, both are gorgeous colors from Altenew.
I free hand cut a grassy hill from Parsley cardstock from Concord & 9th and adhered it to the bottom of my card. I die cut the Happy Birthday die from My Favorite Things twice using white cardstock from Papertrey Ink (same cardstock as my card base) and adhered the two layers together for a tiny bit of dimension and adhered my layered die cut on top of the balloons.
To finish off the card, I drew in balloon strings using a 0.35 Copic Multiliner, popped the tortoise (I can’t bring myself to write the word “turtle” when this is clearly a tortoise) up using some 1/16″ foam squares and added sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things From Lucy’s Cards for a bit of sparkle and shine.
Simple color palette for this small image.
I colored up this image nearly a year ago, so it was about time I put it to good use on a card. Using the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things, I turned it into a panel with the faux stitch edge that I love to use on my cards. There’s something about faux stitching dies that make the cards look more finished. It’s a nice, subtle detail. I adhered the panel to a top fold card base I created from Blueberry cardstock from My Favorite Things.
From the same color cardstock, I die cut the sentiment using the Dagen er din die from Papirdesign. I stacked four die cuts for a dimensional look and added a few blue enamel dots from Papirdesign to finish off the card.
Blues and greens for the win for this one. I’ve always been a fan of analogous color combinations, they’re very harmonious.
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.
Papirmølla 