In the air there’s a feeling of Christmas

A happy hello friends…

I hope that you are well. I am back today to share some Christmas cards that I created for the Stampers Anonymous release that Tim hosted a couple months ago. If you missed it CLICK HERE to check the youtube LIVE replay.

These cards were created using the new Winter Watercolor 2 (CMS443). You all know how much I love a good watercolor stamp set, and these do not disappoint.

I am a traditional Christmas girl, so every year I like to make at least one “fancy” Christmas card for the LIVE.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a girl who loves a good grunge, but…Red, Green, Gold, Vellum, glittered Holly Greens and sparkly texture paste…

that is my kind of Christmas card!

Ok..so let’s get started!

I started with the background paper…using my mini ink pads in Rustic Wilderness, Peeled Paint and Candied Apple, I inked up the stamp, using both the greens onto the stem and leaf-ish area, then added the red onto the berry-ish areas. I say “ish” because you don’t have to be perfect with this technique. Simply tap the ink pad directly onto the stamp and see what magic happens.

I spritzed the stamp with a light mist (about 2 quick mists) with my distress sprayer. Then stamped it onto the paper, I spritzed the leftover ink again with a quick mist of water, then stamped it again. This is how I have brighter and lighter stamped area, this technique is also called 1st and 2nd generation stamping.

It’s amazing how much ink is left on the stamp after the 1st stamp and fun to see how much you can get out of it.

The background paper that I used was a half sheet of White Distress Heavystock Mixed Media paper. I trimmed a full sheet in half, stamped it, then trimmed it down to 4.25″x5.5″ for the card fronts.

So technically, if I wanted to make a good amount of cards, this would be a great option. 4 card fronts lickety-split!!

This has become one of my FAVORITE new papers for this technique. Watercolor is another great option, but the whiteness of the mixed media paper and it’s ability to soak up the ink is AWESOME.

Here’s a good close-up of one of the finished cards…the stamped areas at the top were 1st generation stamped, and the lighter greens on the right towards the bottom and berries on the left bottom are both 2nd generation.

Once I had finished stamping, then dried the paper with my heat tool, I added some grit-paste through the Speckles Layering Stencil (THS021) with a palette knife randomly onto the background.

While the texture paste was still wet, I sprinkled it with Clear Rock Candy Glitter, then set the paper aside to dry. (it’s not recommended to heat grit-paste so let it dry naturally..this takes approximately 15-20 minutes)

After it was dry, I cut the paper in half to make 2 card backgrounds.

I stitched around the edges of the backgrounds using my sewing machine and white thread. I cut a piece of vellum for around the card front and stamped a phrase (Holiday Scenes CMS425) using Distress Embossing Ink and sprinkled it with Gold Embossing Powder, then embossed it with my heat tool. I had some skinny trims leftover from another project (cut using the Sizzix Decorative Trims), trimmed it to fit the vellum piece, then ran the trim through a Xyron sticker maker, and stuck it to the vellum.

The vellum piece was then wrapped around the background and adhered. I cut a piece of Gold Paper to mat to the back of the background and adhered it together. Then added an inked background (using a variety of red spray stains) behind the gold and adhered it using foam tape.

At the beginning of each making season I always make a good variety of inky background papers to use to cut festive greens. I LOVE tiny greens on a card. They just add that extra festive something.

Here’s a look at the combos that I made this year…water, spray inks, a heat tool, craft mat to pick up the drips, combine that with some of your favorite Holiday floral die sets and you’re golden!

The greens were cut using the new Festive Bouquet die set, then rubbed with some Dina Wakley White Gesso, rubbed with Opaque Grit-Paste and sprinkled with Clear Rock Candy Glitter. I tied them together using some string, then tied on a couple idea-ology jingle bells.

I tucked one set of greens under the vellum piece, then adhered it with foam tape and glue. The other was tied and adhered using foam tape and glue just below the vellum piece.

For my second card, I adhered the background to a piece of the white Mixed Media Heavystock that I spritzed with some of the new Christmas Mica Spray in Holly Branch and arranged the greens in a slightly different way.

With that, my cards were complete.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and be sure to check back over the next few weeks as I’ll be sharing more holiday makes.

Have a great day!

Creatively yours,

Stacy

Products used to create these cards- to shop at Simon Says Stamp CLICK HERE

Winter Watercolor 2 (CMS443), Holiday Scenes (CMS425), Speckles Layering Stencil (THS021), Distress Metallic Kraft Stock (Gold & Silver), Clear Rock Candy Glitter, Opaque Grit-Paste, Mixed Media White Heavystock, Peeled Paint, Rustic Wilderness, Candied Apple Distress Inks, Dina Wakley White Gesso, Walnut Stain, Festive Berries, Aged Mahogany, Crackling Campfire, Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Cracked Pistachio Spray Stains, Festive Bouquet Thinlet Set, Decorative Trims Thinlet Set, String, idea-ology Jingle Bells, Decorative Trims Thinlet Set, Vellum Paper, Distress Embossing Ink Pad, Gold Embossing Powder, Sewing Machine and more…

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