Hi, crafty friends. Can you believe it’s November already? I long for summer, but I’m still creating Christmas card. It’s weird, I know, but that’s just how it is. Today I have a Christmas card to share with a real cutie on the front.
This image is Winter Delivery from Mo’s Digital Pencil. I’ve used him once before (here), and was really planning on creating a blue card this time (the last one was green), but somehow the green won out.
I have a tall pine tree outside my craft room window. In it, there’s a huge nest that magpies built a few years back. One morning last week, I heard the magpies making more sound than usual. When I looked outside, there was a squirrel that had taken over the nest. It was adding one twig after another to the nest, I guess it had evicted the magpies. After quite some time, one of the magpies tried to get back in, but was chased away by the squirrel. I must admit I was delighted, I’d much rather have a squirrel outside my window than magpies. The squirrel is much cuter, and it’s a lot quieter too.
Back to the card. Once I finished the coloring, I stamped the word Christmas from the Christmas Greeting stamp set that Lili of the Valley released earlier this year using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things.
I then die cut the panel using the second larges die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things and adhered it directly to a card base I created from Jalapeño Popper cardstock, also from My Favorite Things. On a scrap piece of cardstock the same color, I stamped and white heat embossed the words cosy and wishes to complete my sentiment. I put a couple of additional layers of green cardstock behind each word for a little bit of added dimension.
I added a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin Mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish off this very simple card. A little bit of shine is never a bad idea on a simple card.
You’d think an image this simple would have less Copics used, but I tend to go overboard on snow. This time I also went overboard on the fur, even though it might not look like it.
I had my penguins colored, fussy cut and ready to go. I rummaged through my Christmas themed patterned paper scraps and found a piece from Papirdesign and one from Maja Design that were just big enough to die cut a snowflake from. This snowflake is the Stitched Snowflake Frame from Lawn Fawn that came out last year. I added a white die cut circle to the back of the opening that the die creates and stamped a to/from stamp on the back.
I added the penguin using foam squares and also a white heat embossed sentiment strip. The sentiment is from the Jul stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad. I stamped and white heat embossed a bunch at once on a scrap piece of blue cardstock from Maja Design. I added my strip using foam squares and finished off the tag with a few sequins from the Igloo mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards and a bow I tied to the top using Divine Twine in the color Blueberry.
I used the same setup for the second tag, only switching out the sentiment and using pearls instead of sequins. They’re from the same mix from Lucy, though.
I love using 1 mm foam squares. It adds a little bit of raised dimension to something that is very simple, and the bow adds a little bit of texture.
Simple color palette for these two (and the other two penguins that are still lost somewhere in my craft room).
I thought this guy from the Smile and Wave stamp set was too cool not to use, so I colored him with my Copics and did some fussy cutting, leaving a white border around the edge. I wanted him to stand out and to make a super simple card.
I created a mask with some 2″ post-It tape by cutting a sloping hill with a craft knife. This is easy to do free hand, but you can use a curved die if you’d like.
I wanted this guy to really stand out against the background and decided to ink blend using distress inks. I used Abandoned Coral, Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed and Scattered Straw for the sky. The yellow and orange tones pick up the colors from his belly, beak and feet and really stand out against the blue of his hat. For the ground I used a little bit of Tumbled Glass Distress Ink near the horizon, fading into white near the bottom.
I sprinkled on Chunky White embossing enamel to the background, making sure no granules covered my stamped sentiment before melting the granules from the back. I mounted the panel onto the white top fold card base using foam tape for dimension.
I mounted the penguin onto foam tape and used some clear iridescent crystals from the Crystal Collection (Glass) from Little Thing from Lucy’s Cards to finish off this very simple card.
Simple color palette.
I thought the ghost stamps in the 
I colored the ghosts with Copics, and used a yellow and a grey marker to color the windows. Most of the rooms have the lights on, but by coloring two windows grey, it gives the illusion that the lights aren’t on in those particular rooms. I also used the grey to add a silhouette of a person in one of the lit rooms, upping the creep factor a tiny bit.
I masked off the ghosts and the house before I ink blended the nighttime sky. I used Eiffel Tower ink from My Favorite Things as well as Distress Inks in the colors Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans and Stormy Sky. Evidently, I’d used the paper I laid down to do my ink blending on to catch overspray from another project I added shimmer to, so the sky has a subtle shimmer to it when you tilt the card in the light. Completely unintentional, but not the worst thing in the world. My ink pads are now a little shimmery too, but it’s not too bad.
I decided to also add an acetate ghost outside the top window of the haunted house. The ghost is from the Candy Corn mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I added my panel to a piece of white cardstock, and then adhered everything to a card base I created from Orange Zest cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
Very simple color palette for this one.
I colored the penguins with Copics and fussy cut them all, leaving a white border around the edge. I used the Fold-Up Tags from My Favorite Things to die cut four tags from the Hvite juleblomster patterned paper from the Gledelig Jul collection from Papirdesign before I adhered each penguin to each of the tags using 1 mm foam squares.
I stamped and white heat embossed several sentiments from the Jul stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto Classic Kraft cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I also die cut reinforcements for the tags from the same cardstock, and some tiny snowflakes from white cardstock (also from PTI) using the Snowflake Confetti Fancy die from Hero Arts. I mounted the sentiment strips on foam squares, adhered the snowflakes using liquid glue and added a 2 mm white pearl from Kort & Godt to the center of each of the snowflakes. I used natural twine from May Arts through the reinforcements and threaded two gold bells to each piece of twine before securing the twine to the tags.
On the back of the tags I stamped to/from labels from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Dark Chocolate Ink from Papertrey Ink. I stamped the labels before adding the reinforcements. In hindsight, I wish I’d kept the stamps in my MISTI and restamped after the reinforcements were glued on, so the label would be continuous on the back, but I didn’t think of it as I was creating. I’ll try to remember for my next batch of tags.
Simple color palette for these simple tags.
I created a very simple scene for this card, stamping the snowman in Fadeout ink from Inkon3 before adding a mask, then stamping the 
Every once in a while, I break out my airbrush system. I actually keep it out on my desk, but I have a big desk and don’t usually sit close to it. I love the airbrush system, it’s such an awesome way to get a layer of color quickly. Coloring an entire nighttime sky with Copics takes a while, airbrushing it is faster. Use colors that are darker than what you think you want, and make sure there’s enough ink in the marker before starting. I used B99 and B97 for this sky, and it’s wonderfully dark and the perfect backdrop for the lighter colors of the snowy scene in front.
Once I finished the airbrushing, I carefully removed the masks and did no line coloring of the rest of the scene. At this point, I’ve colored snow so often, I can do it in my sleep. This snowman is pretty easy to color too, most of the areas are pretty big surfaces, so it’s a very forgiving image.
After I finished my coloring, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment in the sky. The sentiment is actually from the Scripty Xmas stamp set from Mama Elephant, I kind of forgot for a second that I was creating a Purple Onion card, I was a little lost in a creative zone. After heat embossing the sentiment, I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous to create my super snowy scene, making sure to remove any granules that landed on top of the embossed letters before melting the granules from the back.
I trimmed 1/8″ off each side of my scene and adhered it to a white card base I created from white cardstock from Papertrey Ink, deciding not to add any embellishments. I figured there was enough going on already with all the snow.
As usual – lots of colors used for the snow. The two blues at the very bottom after the break are the colors I used for the airbrushed sky.
I love Mo’s elves, and this is 
Once the image was colored, I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to create a faux stitch border. I then white heat embossed a sentiment from the Mini Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant in the center of the darkest bauble, before adhering the panel onto a top fold card base I created from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I added a few diamonds from the Urban Chic mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish off the card.
Simple color palette for this one. It was super fast to color too, which isn’t usually the case with no line coloring.
I didn’t know what color scheme to go for, and my color buddy Liz suggested purple, knowing I’d kind of hate her for it. 😉 I struggle with purple. It’s not my favorite color to begin with, it’s tricky to photograph well, and also difficult to find good matches with ink and cardstock for. AND it’s even hard to find colors that pair well with it. It’s not something I’d normally use for a Christmas card, but I love a good challenge, so I grabbed a bunch of purple Copics and started coloring.
I kind of tried to chicken out a bit by asking Liz if it’d be okay if I added some aqua tones. “Only if purple is the dominant color,” was her answer. With no chance to weasel my way out of purple and into something I’m more comfortable with, there was only one thing to do… keep coloring purple.
I did add a little bit of aqua to not have everything purple. I even tried some blue, but that didn’t really work and I actually covered up the blue… with more purple. Once I finished my coloring, I added a sentiment from the 
I used a black glaze pen to get their eyes extra black and shiny, added a tiny white dot to each eye using the 05 white Gelly Roll, and covered Rudolph’s nose with Glossy Accents. Once dry, I sprinkled on lots of chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous and melted the granules from the back of the panel for a snowy look.
I adhered my colored panel to a top fold landscape card base I created from Royal Velvet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and added a thin strip of Sea Glass cardstock from Concord & 9th below the sentiment for an additional element that wasn’t purple.
I used so many colors for this, it’s ridiculous. I used different colors for all the animals, only keeping cheeks, noses and inner ears the same throughout.
I colored up the scene using Copics, then used the largest die in the Slimline Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to add faux stitching to both sides. There’s no reason you can’t use slimline dies for an A2 sized card, and this worked out really well, the die was the perfect width for my image.
I used a black glaze pen from Sakura to get some shine and dimension into the eyes of these cute critters (you can see it in real life when you tilt the card in the light, I promise), then sprinkled on Stampendous chunky white embossing enamel that I melted from the back of the panel.
Using lots of foam tape, I adhered my panel to a top fold card base I created from Blueberry Sky cardstock from Papertrey Ink. This blue is gorgeous, and it’s perfect for the B90 Copic family.
I white heat embossed a sentiment from the Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley onto a piece of Amarena Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things. I cut the sentiment down to a strip and added it to the card using foam tape.
To finish off the card I added a few die cut heart outlines. These are from the Wax Seals die set from Waffle Flower. There are two different sized hearts in the die set, I used both for this card and cut them from Amarena Cherry cardstock before adhering them to the card.
Simple color palette for this one. Lots of colors used for the snow, that’s pretty much a given when I color snow.
I’ve created a very simple card this time, featuring this cute little car from the new 
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.
Papirmølla 