Joy to the World Christmas Cards

Hello,

Today I have two cards which use the sentiment as the main focus with an embossed vellum overlay for interest.  I've always been a fan of Christmas cards that aren't too in-your-face Christmas-y and these certainly fit that description.

Materials used:

• Blue and red card bases
• Vellum, black and white card
• Silver and gold embossing powders (Ranger)
• Versamark ink
• Various snowflake stamps
• 'Joy to the World' sentiment stamp (Teresa Collins)
• Silver and gold gel pens

For the vellum piece, I used the edge of a stencil to trace the scallop shape along one side with a pencil. Flipping the piece over I began to stamp the snowflakes starting with the largest and progressing to the smallest.  After each stamp I applied the embossing powder so I could see where I had stamped so I wouldn't accidentally overlap any.  Once I had heat set the powder I turned the piece over again and used scissors to cut along the scalloped line and used an eraser to take away any left over pencil marks.

The sentiment was stamped and embossed on a tag shaped which I got by tracing a die cut and trimming out with scissors.  Using the black gel pen I created a dash line border around the sentiment.  For contrast I used a 2cm wide strip of black paper with dash lines along each edge.

The stamping of the snowflakes did take a while but if mass production is your aim then stamping a larger sheet of vellum and embossing before cutting it down would be your best option.  I quite like the simple nature of this card, all the focus is directed to the sentiment and then you notice the pretty snowflakes in the background.

Til next time
Stacey

Trio of Christmas Trees Card

Hello,

I decided to do something I've never done before this week, I used Kraft coloured card.  Not being a big fan of Kraft meant that I actually don't own any so I had to go out and buy some, and I eventually settled on pre-made square card bases with matching envelopes.  This particular card is really quite simple and will be easy to mass produce.

Materials used:

• Kraft card base (Creativ)
• Four shades of green patterned paper and a star patterned paper
• Christmas tree die (Couture Creations)
• Gold embossing powder (Ranger)
• Versamark ink
• 'Merry Christmas' sentiment die cut

I began by using the die as a template for the trees, cutting out triangles from three of the four green patterned papers.  The fourth green paper was cut with the die.  I used the die cut to draw a star on to some white card and embossed the opposite side before trimming out the shape with my scissors.  I used the embossing powder also on the ornaments of the die cut.  Then I adhered the die cut and the star to one of the trees.

Once I had all the pieces made I could adhere them all to the card.  The background paper and the two non-decorated trees are adhered with double sided tape while the decorated tree, star and sentiment are adhered with dimensional foam tape.

As I said earlier this card would be easy to mass produce as there is no stamping involved (unless you decide to stamp the sentiment rather than using a pre-made one) and all that is required is some basic cutting and die cutting.

Till next time,
Stacey

This card has been submitted into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - 'We're seeing stars'.
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

Die-cut inlay Christmas Cards

Hello,

So I've been neglectful again, my bad.  I'm still working out a new lifestyle and this blog has really slipped down the list of priorities.  Anyway, I'm back now and hopefully *fingers crossed* I keep it up this time.

It is now November so it's time for Christmas again.  This year I've started off the festivities with a set of sparkly die-cut inlay cards.  Initially I created two water colour background pieces for two cards but ended up making four cards.

The first card with a complete die-cut inlay

Materials used:

• Card bases, two white A2 sized, one purple and one white 10.5cm x 10.5cm.
• White linen 240gsm card (Trophee), pearlised paper (Creativ), sliver and white glitter paper.
• Distress mini ink pads in seedless preserves, salty ocean and picked raspberry.
• Pearl-ex powder.
• Silver embossing powder (Ranger) and embossing ink (Versamark).
• 'Merry Christmas' stamp.
• Snowflake die (Couture Creations).
• A selection of self-adhesive pearls and gems.

The second card with a partial die-cut inlay

I began by making the two background pieces with the distress ink, water and pearl-ex powder.  Once they were dry I ran them through my Cuttlebug with the snowflake die reserving all the small pieces that were cut out.  Both the smaller 10.5cm x 10.5cm cards have the water coloured die-cut snowflakes while the two bigger cards have glitter paper die cuts.

The fist smaller card

The partial die-cut inlay card has just the glitter die-cut inlaid with pearlised paper behind the top half, while the fully inlaid card also has the small pieces from inside the snowflake adhered back into place (though two pieces have annoyingly fallen out somehow).  The sentiments on both of these cards were embossed in silver and gems were added to both the snowflakes.

The second of the smaller cards

For the two smaller square cards, only the water coloured die-cuts with gems/pearls are on the front.  For the first card I added more of the distress inks + water to the card base so when I layered the pearlised paper over it there was a border that matched the snowflake.  The second card has a purple card base as the snowflake is mostly purple in colour.

These cards are likely to be the most 'wintery' Christmas cards I will make, as it is summer at Christmas here in NZ.  I tend to make cards that reflect that or don't suggest any particular season.  I just have a strong connection between summer and Christmas (don't hate me, it's just super unlikely that it will be cold here in December).

Till next time,

Stacey