Hi, crafty friends. Today’s the third Thursday of the month. Kind of hard to believe – true, nonetheless. It’s what you get when the month starts on a Thursday, and it also means it’s time to get cracking on Christmas. Just over 3 months to go, it really is time to get started on Christmas cards if you haven’t already. At the very least, it’s time to start thinking about it.
I’ve created a very simple card this time, featuring this cute little car from the new Snowglobes stamp set from Lili of the Valley, which came out earlier this week. The stamp set includes a snowglobe, six different scenes to put inside and a few sentiments. I actually omitted the snow globe entirely for this card, I thought the car to go inside worked well on its own and decided to go for a no line version.
I did some simple no line coloring of the image. I hadn’t done no line in a while when I created this, so opting for this tiny image was perhaps not the most brilliant idea ever. It’s kind of what I do, though, I jump in. I used a grey Copic to give the illusion of someone sitting in the car, used a couple of blues for some simple shading near the tires and kept everything very simple.
Using four different shades of blue ink (Distress Inks in the colors Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans and Stormy Sky, in addition to Iceberg ink from Altenew), I softly ink blended an ombre sky before sprinkling on Chunky White embossing enamel for a snowy effect that I love having on my cards. I heated the panel from the back, melting the granules and adhered the panel onto a top fold card base I created from white cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
Using the sentiment die from The Penguin’s Waddle die set from Mama Elephant, I created a chunky sentiment by adding several die cuts together for a stacked, dimensional look. I adhered it to the top center of my card and finished it off by placing a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards near the car.
I love a dimensional die cut sentiment, it kind of says I mean business and adds so much to a simple card!
Simple color palette for this one. It’s a simple card with a tiny image, so it’s kind of a given.
As soon as I saw this stamp set, I knew these snow globes would make the perfect shaker cards. The stamp set comes with the snow globe and six different scenes you can stamp inside. I, of course, opted for the penguin, but there’s also a snowman, a car with a tree on the roof, a house, a tree with presents and a village, as well as a few sentiments.
I stamped and colored the empty snow globe on a quarter sheet of X-Press It blending card. I stamped the penguin on a separate piece of blending card and colored that for the inside of my snow globe. I glued a few Kort & Godt pearls around the penguin and put him aside while I worked on the rest of the card.
I cut the center out of the snow globe and adhered a piece of acetate to the back of the white cardstock, before adding foam tape on the back of the shaker area, making sure not to leave any gaps. With glitter inside the shaker window, you don’t want it to escape.
I put a mix of clear Distress glitter from Ranger and some micro beads inside the shaker area, before adding my colored penguin to the exposed adhesive of the foam tape to close the shaker.
I initially put too much inside (I always seem to put too much inside) and had to pour some out to get the perfect amount. I then adhered my popped up snow globe to a card base I created from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I used the merry script die from Mama Elephant to cut the word merry three times from Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things, stacking the die cuts for a dimensional look. Near the bottom of the letters I softly ink blended a bit of Blueberry Sky ink from Papertrey Ink to add a little bit of a gradient. I stamped the word Christmas from the
This is a fairly simple looking card, but it’s got tons of dimension and a shaker card is always fun, right?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I can’t resist a good penguin, and the
Last fall, I made a bunch of snowy backgrounds using an old Falling Snow stencil from Simon Says Stamp, some modeling paste from The Crafters Workshop and Rock Candy Distress Glitter for some sparkle. If you sprinkle on the glitter while the paste is still wet, it will adhere nicely. I didn’t use all my backgrounds last year, and dug this one out of a drawer in my craft room. The cardstock is Rustic Cream from Papertrey Ink, which is a nice cream color. It’s got the right amount of color to let the falling snow show without being too distracting. It also has these little flecks of darker color here and there, giving it a rustic feel, it’s really nice.
I adhered my snowy background to a top fold card base I created from Amarena Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things, before die cutting the word MERRY (Stacked Merry die from My Favorite Things) four times from Classic Kraft cardstock from Papertrey Ink, which I stacked and then adhered to the snowy background using liquid glue.
I put foam tape behind the penguin and added him to the card, before using one of the words from the
I used a black glaze pen to add shine and dimension to the penguin’s eyes. Once the black was dry, I added a dot of white Gelly Roll 05 over the top.
These penguins are quick and easy to color and don’t require a whole lot of markers.
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 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.
This image is the perfect fit for a mini slimline card. I colored it with my Copics, before using a die from the Slimline Starter die set from My Favorite Things to partially die cut my panel twice to get it down to the perfect size.
I adhered the colored piece onto a mini slimline card base I created from Sour Apple cardstock from My Favorite Things.
Onto the balloon, I stamped a sentiment from the Bursdag inch stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad using VersaFine Onyx Black ink.
I adhered some sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards here and there on the scene to embellish a little.
I really wanted the image to be the focal point of this card, and with this festive gang of party goers, I think it is.
Simple, analogous color palette for this card.