Hi, crafty friends! Yes, I’m aware that we’ve still got three and a half months until Christmas, but I love creating Christmas cards and just can’t stop.
Old Betsy from Purple Onion Designs is such a great image. I love this pick up truck with the bear inside waving hello through the window. I’ve used it before on this card, which also featured lots of other images. This time, though, I only focused on this one image, and only used the front section of it too.
Using the Itsy Bitsy Polka Dot Backdrop die from Lawn Fawn, I die cut a panel of white cardstock from Papertrey Ink to add a little bit of texture to the front of my card. I adhered it to a quarter panel of Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things, before using the Selfie Square die, also from My Favorite Things, to die cut a window in the top center.
I put foam tape on the back of my polka dot panel and adhered it to my colored piece, making sure to line up the image so it would show trough the window the way I wanted it to. I then grabbed a quarter panel of Jalapeño Popper cardstock from My Favorite Things and used my G99 Copic marker and scribbled it close to the edge of the green cardstock to make the color match my car a little bit better. Green cardstock is tricky, and I don’t often find the right kind of green that I want for my projects. This was an easy hack, but if anyone out there has a suggestion for a green cardstock that is close in color to G99 (or G94), please let me know.
I adhered my improved green cardstock to an A2 top fold white note card and mounted the polka dot piece with the colored window using foam tape – lots of it. I then used the same Blue Breeze cardstock that I used previously to cut the word merry three times using the Merry Script die from Mama Elephant. I love their script dies! On the top layer I spritzed sheer shimmer craft spray from Imagine for a bit of sparkle to the letters. Unfortunately, details like that are tricky to photograph, but it’s definitely noticeable in real life, trust me 🙂
Onto a leftover scrap of X-Press It blending card, I scribbled an even layer of G99 to create a dark green cardstock that would match my colored image. Onto it, I white heat embossed the word Christmas from the Holiday Messages Sentiment Set from Purple Onion Designs. I love the classy script die cut with the more playful block lettering of the heat embossed word. I added a couple of cardstock strips behind my sentiment strip for dimension and finished the card with a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I love my Copics and used quite a few for this rather simple image.
I colored up 
Once the coloring was complete, I used the largest die in the A2 Double Stitched Rectangles STAX die set from My Favorite Things to turn my panel into a rectangle with a nice faux stitch around the edges. I then added a thick layer of Glossy Accents to the heart and let that dry.
Using the Geometric Landscape stencil from Altenew, I ink blended a bit of yellow in the top right corner using Distress Inks in the colors Mustard Seed and Squeezed Lemonade, letting the lighter shade of the two fade to white. I then adhered my panel onto a top fold card base I created from Stormy Sea cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I die cut the word wishes four times from the same color cardstock using a die from Mama Elephant. I stacked the die cuts for a dimensional look and adhered them on top of my ink blended section.
Using two stamp sets from My Favorite Things (Bitty Birthday Wishes and Itty Bitty Gifting), I heat embossed sub sentiments onto strips of Canyon Clay cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I die cut those using the Itty Bitty Strips dies, also from My Favorite Things, before finishing off the card with a few yellow enamel dots from the Pocketful of Sunshine pack of enamel dots from Altenew.
This was a fun color palette to work with, and I think the finished card echoes that. I’d say it’s my usual style of card, just not my usual color palette. I need to branch out more often, I had a blast using these colors.
There’s a stamp set in the release which includes a wreath and six different critters you can put inside, as well as a few individual stamps that go well with the wreath. I chose the wreath and the reindeer in the set for this card, making sure Rudolph was stamped a little crooked peeking into the front of the card from the side, I thought that made for a dynamic card design.
Using my Copics, I colored Rudolph and the wreath and also one of the smaller images, which I also fussy cut.
I trimmed my panel down so that it was 1/2″ more narrow than the card base and mounted it on foam tape onto a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″ piece of Clover cardstock from Concord & 9th. They have the most gorgeous color range! Their cardstock isn’t very thick, so I don’t use it for card bases, but their colors are magical. This panel I adhered to a top fold 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 decided to add a layer of black glaze pen to Rudolph’s eyes. This makes them shiny and also adds a tiny bit of dimension. Once dry, I put a white dot in each eye using a 05 Gelly Roll pen. I also added Glossy Accents from Ranger to the berries and Rudolph’s nose for some extra shine.
Rudolph and his shiny nose say hi. It’s really shiny!
Fairly simple color palette. This card was so much fun to make, I love the playfulness of Rudolf with his head tilted in from the side of the card.
The sentiment comes with the image. You can omit it if you want to, but I really like both the placement and the mix of the handwritten style with the playful print style. I decided to also add a few additional leaves above their heads. Aside from the green leaf to the left of the bird and the one leaf that’s landed on the hat, all the leaves above their heads are ones I added. I did that by copying the leaves already in the image and placing them where I wanted them; it’s one of the many advantages of working with digital stamps.
I colored everything with my Copics and went for a much warmer color palette than I usually choose. Their clothes are cool tones, but everything else is in warm tones.
I used one of the dies in the Stitched Borders set from Lawn Fawn to create the faux stitching on the sides of my colored piece, before I adhered it to a top fold card base I created from Jalapeño Popper cardstock from My Favorite Things. I did add a few additional layers of cardstock behind the panel for dimension, though.
I wanted to keep the focus on this cute image, and scattered a few iridescent gems from the Glass Crystal collection from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish it off.
The gems catch the light and add to the warm feel of the card.
I used quite a bit of Copics for this card, even though my coloring is pretty simple.
These penguins are about 4 cm tall, which makes them the perfect size to create gift tags from. By stamping them on a sheet of X-Press It blending card (or your cardstock of choice) with a little bit of space between them, you can die cut some and fussy cut the remaining ones. I decided to fussy cut the one in the center, while using dies for the other two.
I colored all the penguins with Copics and used a black glaze pen to create a little bit of shine and dimension to their eyes. Once the black was dry, which didn’t take long, I used a white Gelly Roll 05 on top of the black to put the white back into their eyes.
I’m starting with this fussy cut penguin. In a drawer, I had a scrap of a snowy background that I created last fall using Rustic Cream cardstock from Papertrey Ink, the Falling Snow stencil from Simon Says Stamp, modeling paste from The Crafter’s Workshop and Rock Candy distress glitter from Ranger. I decided to put it to use and die cut it using the 210 die from Kort & Godt, I really like the heart shaped hole it creates at the top. I mounted the penguin using foam tape and added a sentiment strip below. The sentiment is from the 
On the back, I added die cut letters to spell the words to and from. The words are from the Tag Builder Blueprints 6 die set from My Favorite Things, die cut from Amarena Cherry cardstock, also from MFT.
Simple color palette for this one.
Next up is the circular tag. I used the Tag Builder Blueprints 6 die set for this one as well, as well as another sentiment from the Christmas Greetings stamp set from LOTV. I added Divine Twine in the color Cherry to the top, a bell charm and a few red enamel dots from Papirdesign to finish it off.
A few additional colors for this one, I wanted to ground my penguin and also needed some color on that candy cane.
For the blue one, I used the Fold-Up Tags die set from My Favorite Things to create my tag. I made sure not to cut off his scarf by fussy cutting that and putting it behind the die as I ran it through my die cutting machine. I used a piece of Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things to create the reinforcing element near the top, added some Divine Twine in the color Blueberry, a couple of white bells from UiT Hobby and some thread that’s actually meant to use with a loom (it’s super strong). Once again, I used the Christmas Greetings stamp set for the sentiment, and scattered a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish.
On the back, I used that same die from the Tag Builder Blueprints 6 die set from My Favorite Things that I used for the other two tags, this time die cut from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
Once again, simple color palette. These were such fun to make. I want to make more, and have a bunch on hand when it’s time to wrap Christmas presents, so I’m not rushing last minute to get the tags done.
I colored my scene with Copics on X-Press It cardstock and fussy cut right up against the black lines. This image has very simple outlines, making fussy cutting a cinch.
I covered the entire colored panel with sheer sparkle craft spray from Imagine, it adds so much sparkle, which unfortunately is hard to capture in photos. It’s there in real life, though, trust me. I glued my colored piece onto a thicker white cardstock, both for a bit of stability and to hide the back of the colored panel. Copics bleed through to the back (you want that, it’s actually a sign that you’re using a good cardstock for Copic coloring), and I usually add my panels to card bases, but this one was different. I scored the white cardstock at the bottom and glued the back flap to the back bottom of an A2 card base I created from Lovely Lady cardstock from Papertrey Ink. With hidden magnets between the layers of the card, it stays shut and doesn’t fall open.
You can see some of the shimmer in this photo, a couple of big droplets fell on the mushroom and the rainbow. I added pearls from the Igloo mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards for the mushroom, and used a black glaze pen from Sakura to make the eyes stand out.
Lots of Copics for this one.
There’s a stamp in the stamp set with a penguin holding a present. I thought it was perfect for a simple birthday card. I colored the penguin with Copics and added a layer of black glaze pen to the eyes for shine. Once the black was dry (this stuff dries fast), I went back in with a 05 Gelly Roll to add the white dots back in. I fussy cut the penguin and started working on the rest of the card.
Using the Snow Drifts Cover-Up die from My Favorite Things, I decided to create some waves on the front of my card. I die cut four layers from white cardstock and used various shades of aqua tones for the top layer. From bottom to top they are: Tropical Teal from My Favorite Things (bottom two waves), Caribbean Sea from MFT, Hawaiian Shores from Papertrey Ink, Summer Splash from MFT, Sno Cone from MFT and Stamper’s Select White from PTI (top two waves).
On the Hawaiian Shores wave, I used one of the big words in the 
I used the Sea Glass mix of embellishments from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards for a finishing touch. This mix was the perfect color for my card, and it’s sometimes fun to add something besides JUST sequins. There are a couple of gems and even confetti stars on this card, too, all from the same mix.
I love the dimension of those waves, it’s very impactful, and the reason I wish I’d added dimension behind my penguin, as well, I feel he’s a little flat compared to the rest. Oh well, next time.
Simple color palette for this one.
I stamped April (the bunny on the swing), masked off the rope of the swing, stamped the 
When I color full panels like this, I usually color the sky blue, but I wanted to shake things up a little for this card and gave it a soft sunset vibe instead. I live far enough north that the sun doesn’t really set until really late at night in the summer, but a girl can pretend, right? Anything goes when it’s a card, it doesn’t have to be very realistic – not that a bunny on a swing (or one holding a flower for that matter) is very realistic to begin with.
I lost track of how many layers of green I added for the grass. I wanted it to be light and soft looking almost fading into white in the background to make the foreground stand out, and darker in the foreground so the critters would look like they belonged to the scene. I started with the lighter colors for my blends, then kept introducing darker greens towards the bottom and fading up into the background until I found the intensity I was after.
Once I finished coloring in the scene, I added a sentiment from the 
I trimmed off 1/16″ on all four sides of my colored panel and adhered it to a white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I thought about leaving the panel a full size, but I really like the border the white cardstock gives, it’s a nice little frame.
I find it odd that I rarely use more colors for full panels like this than just a simple image, but that tends to be how it is around here.
For this card, I’m once again focusing on the 
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 
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.
Papirmølla 