Hi, crafty friends! I’m back with what I’d call a super rare card. Super rare for me, that is, because I’ve put florals on a Christmas card. I don’t know why I don’t feel like it’s a good match, but the Festive Blooms die set from Concord & 9th was too good, I just couldn’t resist.
This die set is massive, there are 18 dies to cut out everything I’ve used on this card. Included in the die set is also a large die that leaves a faux stitch outline of this arrangement. I didn’t use that for this card, but I’ve used all the other dies in the set.
Aside from the white cardstock (Stamper’s Select White from Papertrey Ink), I’ve used Concord & 9th cardstock colors. Tidepool for the poinsettias, Harbor for the other flowers, Honeycomb for the centers, Mushroom for the holly leaves, Dove for the medium grey leaves, Pebble for the light grey leaves and Juniper for the banner. I ink blended on most of these die cuts (not the banner) using coordinating inks, but on the dark grey holly leaves I chose Midnight, which is a dark blue ink. It doesn’t show too well in the photos, but it’s definitely more noticeable in real life. On the white berries I used a little bit of Polar Bear ink from Altenew to give them a hint of blue.
I used the outline die in the die set to cut my card base from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I folded half a sheet (4 1/4 x 11″) and did partial die cutting, so the top of the die wouldn’t cut. I then adhered a white panel I cut with the same die and then arranged my florals on top. I glued some pieces flat down and added others with diemension behind them.
I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Festive Blooms stamp set onto Juniper cardstock, die cut it into a banner and added a couple of white die cuts behind it for strength and dimension, before popping it up on foam tape in the center of the card.
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 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 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 stamped this cute gang onto X-Press It blending card and colored them with Copics, then used the largest die in the A2 Rectangle STAX Set 2 from My Favorite Things to create my standard faux stitch edge. I stamped a sentiment from the 
I covered the critters with a mask, then used the Bokeh Elements Stencil Duo set from Waffle Flower to create some interest to the rest of the panel. I used Pistachio and Misty Sage fresh dye inks from Altenew for the green and started with Peachy Glow, also fresh ink from Altenew, for the smaller yellow dots. I suspect my stencil wasn’t clean from the last project, because the yellow seemed a bit too muddy for the look I was going for, so I went over with Scattered Straw Distress Ink, which helped. I then rotated the stencil 180 degrees and went in with Simon Hurley Solar Paste in the Golden Hour color. This paste goes on so easily and has a lot of shine. Once the paste was dry, I adhered my panel to a top fold card base I created from Sour Apple cardstock from My Favorite Things, and the card was complete.
The solar paste adds so much shine that I decided not to add any embellishments to this card, making it very mail friendly.
I didn’t use a ton of colors for this one.
Papirmølla 