Hi, crafty friends. We’ve reached the end of the month, and I’m rounding out Christmas in July with a circle card. July’s been so cold, we might as well have had Christmas this month. I know they say there’s been a heat wave in the Northern hemisphere this month, but that heat wave certainly didn’t reach Northern Europe. It’s been cold and wet.
The cold weather’s been perfect for Christmas in July, though, and this cutie from the latest Lili of the Valley release is definitely ready for even colder weather (even if I’m not. I’m never ready).
I colored both the penguin and the letters with Copics and fussy cut them. I left a white border around the penguin, but cut the letters up to the black lines.
I created a circular card base from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and added a circle on top that I created from Sno Cone cardstock from My Favorite Things. I dry embossed the Magic Snow Cover die from Mama Elephant onto the colored cardstock for a little bit of added interest in the background, before mounting the penguin in the center of the card and adding the letters around him.
To finish off the card I added a few Snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to the letters. I tried using pearls first, but these worked better with the card. She’s stopped selling these clay sprinkles, so I kind of hoard the ones I have.
Super simple color combo for this guy.
There are five adorable penguins in this stamp set, and I chose two to color, with a vague idea for a card in the back of my mind as I was coloring. Once I’d colored both penguins and fussy cut them, I realized splitting them up and creating two cards would be better. For this card, I placed the Grid stencil from My Favorite Things at a bit of an angle directly on my top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Using Sno Cone ink from My Favorite Things and a blender brush, I created a soft blend near the bottom of the card front, fading to white above and below.
The wishes die from Mama Elephant is probably my most used word die, I love it so much. I die cut it five times from Wild Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things and stacked the die cuts for dimension. Onto the background I stamped a sub sentiment and the word Christmas from the 
The good thing about small(ish) images is that you don’t need heaps of colors. They’re also fairly quick to color.
I actually decided to create a shaker card this time. I colored in the 
I put an adhesive sheet from Altenew on the back of a piece of heavyweight translucent vellum from My Favorite Things, before using the Leafy Cover die from Mama Elephant to die cut a frame to put on my card front. I cut off a couple of leaves where I thought they covered up too much of the image and adhered the rest directly onto the bottom of a large stamp storage pocket from Avery Elle. The storage pocket was just wide enough for my colored panel to fit when I turned it 90 degrees. I trimmed off a tiny bit of my panel (1/16″) so it would be less snug in the pocket, and cut off a couple of inches from the top of the pocket. This way I could put the panel inside the pocket, and there would only be one side of the pocket that needed to be sealed once my shaker bits were in place.
I adhered my shaker pocket to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I die cut the sentiment using the Celebrate die from My Favorite Things. I used Caribbean Sea cardstock from My Favorite Things for the top layer and a few layers from white cardstock behind it for dimension. I also stamped a sentiment from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things onto white cardstock using Caribbean Sea ink, also from My Favorite Things, turned it into a strip and placed it directly underneath the die cut word. To finish the card, I adhered some sequins from the Seashore mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, as well as from the Seaglass mix from Simon Says Stamp. These two mixes work really well together, and they’re also what I used to fill my shaker.
Speaking of, here they are. Full shaker cards are fun, and I’d say they’re a lot easier to create than regular shaker cards, where you need to create dimension for the shaker bits to shake around.
The storage pocket works so well as a shaker pouch, and because of it, it gives everything a bit of a lift off the card. It looks like the vellum and the die cut sentiment both float on top, even though they’re both adhered directly to the pocket.
My last holiday card was blue, so I needed a new color. Green to the rescue, with a little bit of “gold” and a touch of pink. Somehow, I think it works.
I printed the image twice: once onto X-Press It blending card, which is what I use for all my Copic coloring, and once onto Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I wanted to fussy cut my colored image right up against the lines, but Rachelle’s images come with these great squiggly lines that I didn’t want to lose, they add such a unique look. By printing twice, I could mount my colored piece onto the other one and maintain the wonderful linework.
For the background, I ran my printed white cardstock through my die cutting machine using the Magic Snow Cover die from Mama Elephant, which adds a nice faux stitch snow flurry look. I used an embossing mat to make the details stand out even more, then adhered my white panel to a white cardbase and mounted the colored image using 1 mm foam squares – I wanted a little bit of lift, but not too much dimension.
I then used the sentiment from the Let It Snow die set from Mama Elephant to die cut 5 times from Meadow cardstock from Hero Arts. Before die cutting, I colored one of the pieces with my G46 Copic marker to better match my coloring, stacked the five layers together with the colored one on top and added the stacked die cut sentiment to the card.
I finished off the card with a few sequins. These are a mix of Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and select sequins from the Sea Glass mix from Simon Says Stamp.
I used my favorite green combo AND my favorite “holiday pink” combo for this card. I hope they inspire you.
I stamped and masked Birch before stamping the 
I used a gradient of purples for the sky, starting with BV17 at the top and working my way down to B60 at the very bottom. B60 is technically a blue color, but the entire B60 family has a purple tinge, making B60 the perfect choice for the lightest color in the sky. I then used the Big Happy Holidays die from Mama Elephant to die cut 6 layers from white cardstock that I stacked for a super dimensional sentiment that I placed in the sky. I decided to keep the card very clean and simple and didn’t add any embellishments at all.
Lots of cool tones for this one (the markers after the gap are the ones I used for the air brushing).
When I first saw the 
I just knew this bunny had to be digging for treasure somewhere and decided to pair it with the carrot cupcake. I colored my image with Copics, stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Scripty Bday stamp set from Mama Elephant, before adding a fluffy tail from part of a ribbon from Papirdesign. I felt the soft pink worked with the rest of the image. I fussy cut around my colored piece leaving a thin white border and put it aside while I worked on the rest of the card.
Onto the card base, I stamped and white heat embossed the Happy Birthday background stamp from My Favorite Things, before ink blending in the center with a blender brush and Summer Splash ink, also from My Favorite Things.
Using a die from the Stitched Rectangle Scallop Edge Frames die set from My Favorite Things, I die cut 5 frames from white cardstock and stacked them for dimension. I covered a sheet of white cardstock with a double sided adhesive sheet from Altenew, before using the same frame die to die cut one more from that. I added it on top of my stacked frames, removed the release paper from the top and covered it with rock candy distress glitter from Ranger for a bit of sparkle.
I centered the frame on my card base and added my colored image in the center using foam tape. This card is fairly simple, and that tail totally steals the show.
Simple color palette for this one.
Isn’t this image the sweetest, with mama bear and her two cubs? For some reason, I love coloring polar bears, and to make them look “white” (although real polar bears aren’t really white), I always do no line coloring whenever I create cards with polar bears.
Once my coloring was complete, I made a quick mask from Post-it tape to cover up my polar bears before I used my Wintry Forest stencil set from Pinkfresh Studio along with inks from Altenew (the colors are Misty Morning, Cloudy Sky and Nimbus) to create my background.
I die cut my panel using the second largest die in the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower Crafts, adhered it to a panel of Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink and then onto the card base.
I stamped a sentiment from the Scripty Xmas stamp set from Mama Elephant using Enchanted Evening ink from Papertrey Ink and added some white dots to the cub’s hat with a white Gelly Roll 05 pen. And that finishes the card. I decided not to add any embellishments to it.
Oh, how I love blue for Christmas cards.
Naturally, lots of blue for the coloring, too.
I stamped the wreath on a piece of Rustic Cream cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before coloring with pencils. Yes, you read that right, I broke out my Prismacolors and did pencil coloring. I don’t use my pencils very often. Copics are my “go to” coloring medium, but every now and then, I shake things up.
I fussy cut around the finished piece, leaving a white border along the edge and cutting the open part at the top right as if my colored panel was a circle. I didn’t want to cut away the interior, and this seemed faster, easier and better. I created a 4 1/4″ square card base and used the Caleidoscope embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp to create a little bit of texture in the background, before mounting the wreath on foam tape.
I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Mini Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant onto a piece of Cornflower cardstock from My Favorite Things, before using a nested circle die to turn it into a circle. I put a few foam squares behind it and adhered it to a part of the wreath where it wouldn’t cover up too many of the flowers.
To finish the card, I added a generous amount of Papirdesign pearls for some shine.
I colored my image with Copics, before using one of the stitched rectangle dies from My Favorite Things to create a nice faux stitching detail along the edges of the panel. I then sprinkled on a generous amount of chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous and melted the granules from the back of the panel.
I created a card base from Vintage Timber cardstock from My Favorite Things and mounted my colored panel in the center using foam tape. Using the Believe die from Simon Says stamp, I die cut four white believe that I glued together for a stacked look and added one more on top that I colored with blue Copics (B91 and B0000) before die cutting. It gives the word a little bit of added interest. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Holiday Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant onto Wild Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things and cut the sentiment down to strips, adding a few extra layers of cardstock behind for dimension and strength.
I have a coloring/card making buddy in Liz Vefall and sometimes ask her for suggestions when I’m stuck and/or can’t make up my mind. I always run with her ideas and the cards usually end up looking great, but I seem to have lost the ability to turn her suggestions into a final product that I’m happy with. The black pants and the brown card base were both suggestions from her, and I’m not comfortable with the end result, somehow. Diecutting the white word with a little bit of blue at the bottom was also her suggestion, and I wound up loving that, so I ended on a positive, at least
Fairly standard Christmas color palette, with a couple of odd ones thrown in there for good measure.
I love teal for Christmas cards. I actually love teal for anything, but it’s the perfect color to pair with the dreaded traditional red. I’m not a fan of complementary colors, so red and green don’t really work for me, but red and teal totally do. As does red and light blue, or red and grey, but that’s pretty much my entire list for what goes with red at Christmas. I’m weird, I know.
Once my coloring was done I used the Notebook Edge die from My Favorite Things to die cut from the left hand side of the panel. Below the image, I stamped a sentiment from the Holiday Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Hawaiian Shores Ink from Papertrey Ink.
I thought about adding some sort of embellishment to the card, but in the end, I decided to keep it simple.
Not a whole heap of Copics used for this one.
Papirmølla 