Hi, crafty friends. I have a Christmas card to share today, featuring this adorable kookaburra and koala image from Rachelle Anne Miller. Yes, it’s February, and I’m creating holiday cards. This will be very handy in November, and I won’t have to scramble last minute to get my cards finished in time. Also, it’s definitely still winter here, slippery as an ice rink and no fun outside, so card making is a safer option.
I colored the cute little scene with Copics and put it aside while I worked on the rest of my card. On a separate piece of X-Press It blending card I blended the same three blueish teal colors that I used for the kookaburra and the ornaments to create an ombré effect, and used the Merry Script die from Mama Elephant to create part of a sentiment that would match my coloring. I added three white die cuts behind it for dimension to make it stand out on my card.
I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things along with the Selfie Square die, also from MFT, and die cut both from a piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I then used the Watercolor Stripes stencil from Altenew and ink blended Jalapeño Popper ink from MFT very softly onto the white cardstock for a subtle background.
For the word christmas I used part of a sentiment from the Itty Bitty Holiday stamp set from MFT and stamped that using Jalapeño Popper ink. It’s hard to believe it’s the same color that I used for the ink blending, right?
I put foam tape behind my ink blended background and adhered everything to a cardbase I created from Jalapeño Popper cardstock from MFT, before scattering a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin Mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish my card. I used the stencil from Altenew to add a little interest to the envelope, as well.
Simple color palette. A little unusual for a Christmas card, but I really wanted those blues from the kookaburra to stand out.
I colored the gnome (his name’s Alf, you can find him 
I added a scrap of a paper doily from Doodlebug to the bottom left corner, put my sentiment strip on 1 mm foam squares and added a couple of sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I put some natural twine from May Arts through the hole at the top of the tag, added a charm and stapled the ends of the twine to the tag using a mini stapler.
On the back of the tag I stamped a to/from image from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things.
For such a small image, I used quite a few colors.
I printed the image on a piece of X-Press It blending card and colored my birds with Copics in colors that match the Cool Collab paper pad from My Favorite Things, because I really wanted to use it. Red and teal is a color combo I really like, and this paper pad has lots of it. Once my coloring was complete I did some partial die cutting using the largest die in the Slimline Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set, also from My Favorite Things. It gave me a nice double stitched edge around my colored image.
I adhered my panel to a card base I covered with one of the papers in the pad, which gave me a nice frame. I also die cut the word gledelig from another piece of paper in the pad, with three white die cuts behind for dimension. I stamped the word jul (stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS) below it using a combination of Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide ink and Caribbean Sea ink from My Favorite Things to get the perfect color. To finish off the card I added a few heart droplets from the Crystal Collection Glass mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Simple color palette for this one.
I love 
I stamped Flannel using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things onto X-Press It blending card. It’s my favorite cardstock for coloring. It’s super bright white and the Copics blend very well on it. It’s no surprise, though, the paper is made especially for Copic use.
I die cut the panel using the largest of the dies in the Wonky Stitched Rectangles STAX set from My Favorite Things, which is one of the many things I purchased with the $250 gift card I won in this year’s Superstar contest. I love my MFT faux stitch dies, and this wonky one is a fun change from my regular faux stitched rectangles. I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous and melted the granules from the back of the cardstock, before adhering it to an A2 card base I created from Green Parakeet cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
Using the Very Merry and Bright die from My Favorite Things, I die cut the letters for the word Merry five times from the same green cardstock that I used for the card base. I glued them together for a stacked, dimensional look and adhered them to my colored panel using liquid glue. Onto a small strip of Cocoa Bean cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped and white heat embossed part of a sentiment from the 
To finish off the card I added a few Snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards for a little bit of extra interest and dimension. I love these tiny clay snowflakes, I use them all the time.
Simple color palette. That bright green really is fun!
I bought a 36 tube set of Mijello Mission Gold watercolors last September, and they’ve been sitting in their palette scaring me, but I’ve recently started dabbling a little bit. Images like this with big open areas are great for practice, and this is my third proper watercolor piece. Yes, I’m keeping track, haha. The previous two attempts were both noline. One was a background, and the other a digital stamp. My printer ink doesn’t play well (or at all, really) with water, so I had to opt for the noline look to prevent visible bleeding. I dove right into the deep end, hoping I could pull it off.
I stamped the image onto Fabriano Artistico Extra White watercolor paper using VersaFine Onyx Black ink. I’ve created a birthday card with these two once before (blog post 
For my last card with this image, I used my Copic BV20 series for a purply gray elephant. This time, I went for a bluer version to get a nice contrast. I actually decided to mute my pink a little before painting with it. The Bright Opera color from Mijello is a super bright pink, and I added a tiny bit of Hooker’s Green to dull it a little, it was just too bright a pink straight from the palette for what I wanted.
Once I’d painted my scene, I went back over with a black pen to trace the lines of the image. I would have restamped if I could, but I stamped the image weeks before I painted it and removed the stamp from my MISTI in the meantime. Black pen to the rescue. I just wanted crisp black lines. I stamped a sentiment from the stamp set using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and heat embossed that using clear embossing powder.
I cut down my colored panel slightly and adhered it to an A7 top fold card base I created from two pieces of Poppin’ Pink cardstock from Papertrey Ink. To finish the card I adhered sequins, beads, confetti and other various little bits from the Sweet Shop mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I don’t usually put this many sequins on my cards and scatter them like this, but I wanted to really keep the party vibe from these two going across the entire card front.
I colored up these 
I’m usually good at using scraps of patterned paper and rarely use a brand new sheet. Today was the day, though. I thought this patterned paper from the I wish collection from Maja Design went really well with my coloring, and I didn’t have a single scrap of this particular paper. Using the same die that I used on the white panel, I die cut my patterned paper before cutting up my die cut into pieces I could use on my card. I added two layers of cardstock behind both pieces and glued them to my card. I now have a continuous stitched border, even though some of it is my colored panel and some is patterned paper. I love little details like that. I die cut three of the god jul die from Papirdesign from red cardstock and glued them together for a stacked look. I glued my die cut to the center of the wide patterned paper before adding a sub sentiment. The sub sentiment is from Norsk Stempelblad AS, white heat embossed on the same color red cardstock and cut down to a strip, with two additional pieces of cardstock behind it to make it flush with the die cut. I added three snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to the patterned paper, and my card was finished.
Not a whole lot of colors for this one. Soft colors too (except for the darkest green, I wanted a little bit of contrast there), which is rare for me.
I colored the image with my Copics, die cut her using the largest of the A2 Double Stitched Rectangle STAX dies from My Favorite Things and sprinkled on a generous amount of chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, which I then melted.
I adhered my panel onto a top fold cardbase I created from Cranberry cardstock from Concord & 9th, before adding a piece of a mini paper doily from Doodlebug and a sentiment from My Favorite Things that I white heat embossed onto a separate piece of the Cranberry cardstock, with three additional layers behind for a little dimension. I added a few Snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and my card was complete. Super simple.
As usual, I finish with the Copics I used for my image.
I printed my image with gray lines so I could do no line coloring. Whenever I do this, I like keeping facial features black or a dark brown, so I don’t have to free hand draw them back in once I’m done coloring. It’s a neat little trick.
I die cut my colored panel using the largest die in the A2 Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things and adhered it directly onto a cardbase I created from Amarena Cherry cardstock, also from My Favorite Things.
I die cut the word wishes five times from my red cardstock using a die from Mama Elephant. I stacked the words for a dimensional look and also stamped and white heat embossed the words Sweet and Christmas onto separate pieces of the same color cardstock. The stamped words are from two separate sentiments from the Bitty Bears stamp set from My Favorite Things. I love using pieces of sentiments from stamp sets to create new sentiments, it makes them more versatile.
I felt like I had to add a little something to this, so I pulled out my White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards and added them in a visual triangle on my card. This mix is one of my favorites, it’s right up there with the Sparkling clear mix from Pretty Pink Posh.
I don’t often create red Christmas cards, but when I can pair that red with a tealy blue, a light blue or a gray, I can make red work. I printed and colored the image onto a 3 1/4 x 6 1/4″ panel of X-Press It blending card, before sprinkling on lots of chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous to make my scene extra snowy.
The patterned papers are all die cut from the 6×6″ Home for the Holidays paper stack from Maja Design. I love their patterns and their colors, and the colors in this stack are SO good, I couldn’t resist.
Mini slimline cards are fun to make. I really should make my envelopes as I go, but I’m not very consistent with that, I’m afraid, and will have lots of envelopes to create once we get a little closer to Christmas (we’ve got less than 100 days to go, by the way).
I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Itty Bitty Holiday stamp set from My Favorite Things onto a scrap piece of patterned paper from that stack from Maja Design, and die cut that with the coordinating Itty Bitty Strips die.
I added a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and the entire panel is adhered onto a card base I made from Wild Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things. I love their cardstock!
As usual, I finish with my colors. Not a whole lot for this image.
I colored in the image using my Copics, adding footprints on the ground with my markers. Using the new Watercolor Wash Free Form die from My Favorite Things, I die cut a hole from the center of a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 panel of Classic Kraft cardstock from Papertrey Ink. My Favorite Things released a stencil with this design back in July, and it’s awesome. Now there’s a die to match. I added two more layers of white behind my kraft panel to give it a little bit of dimension. I love how the little kid is looking back through the opening.
I stamped and heat embossed a sentiment from the Itty Bitty Holiday set from My Favorite Things onto Scarlet Jewel cardstock from Papertrey Ink and die cut my sentiment using the coordinating Itty Bitty Strips die set. MFT has a stamp set called Itty Bitty Basics, which I love. Great sentiments in a font that will never go out of style, and it makes me so happy that they now have a Christmas one too – I love making Christmas cards. I added a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish off my design.
Simple color palette. I always use lots of blues, purples and blue greens for the snow.
Papirmølla 