Last-Minute Christmas Card

Happy Friday!  I had to sneak in one more Christmas card for you.  This one is quick and easy, which is just about all I have time for right now.   I love the Christmas season and will be sad to see it end, but I won't miss the craziness of holiday preparations!

Here's my keep-it-simple Christmas card for today:

I started by making a card base from Crumb Cake card stock.  I used some dark green card stock to die cut three Christmas trees, then added some color by watercoloring over them in green.  To add a little sparkle and texture, I outlined them and scribbled over them with a clear Spica pen.  (It's hard to see the texture and sparkle in this picture.)  I stamped the sentiment in Handsome Hunter using both a pad and a marker (I didn't like the coverage I got with a stamp pad alone, so I used the stamp pad first and then filled in any light spots with the marker before stamping).  Since this is a large stamp and some of the letters had spots that still weren't as dark as I'd like, I used a blender pen to fill in where needed.  I added a background of ivory burlap, then added my die cut trees over the burlap with mini glue dots.  For a little sparkle, I added some rhinestones near my sentiment. 

I hope you are feeling the joy of the Christmas season, too.  Thanks for stopping by today!

 

Products Used:

 

Stamp: Hero Arts
Paper: Crumb Cake card stock (Stampin' Up!), dark green card stock (unknown)

Ink: Handsome Hunter Classic Dye Ink (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories and Tools: Framelits Holiday Collection (Stampin' Up!); Watercolor Crayons (Staedtler);
Spica pen (Too Marker Products); rhinestones (Zva Creative); ivory burlap

Joyful Trees for Christmas

Yay, it's Friday!!  I don't know about you, but I could sure use a weekend! 

This week's Ways to Use It Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers asks us to use "fussy cutting" on a card.  Fussy cutting is cutting very carefully (usually with precision scissors or a craft knife) around an image, so it takes some extra time and effort.  I've also been a bit fascinated by a technique I've recently learned about called "inlaid embossing".  This technique involves adhering die cuts, layers, etc. together and then dry embossing those elements right into the paper.  There are so many possibilities for this technique, but for today's card I combined fussy cutting with inlaid embossing and kept my design fairly simple. 

Here's my card:

 

I started by fussy-cutting the trees from some patterned designer paper I had in my stash.  I tried to keep just a tiny bit of the border around each tree to help it stand out against the background.  I adhered the trees to a piece of dark green card stock in slightly uneven rows (intentionally this time!) and then ran the whole panel through my Big Shot using the Bow Strings embossing folder horizontally.  I stamped my sentiment in Pine on a piece of Natural White card stock (which is a lovely off-white color), then adhered the sentiment to dark green and kraft card stocks.  My kraft card stock isn't very heavy, so I lined the inside panel of the card with Natural White card stock to add support. 

 

I pulled a fiber strand from some off-white burlap I have in my materials stash and adhered it over my inlaid embossing panel. ( I love the slightly frayed look I can get from burlap.)  I attached the embossed panel to a card base made from kraft card stock.   I added some Glossy Accents to the "joy" sentiment and set it aside to dry.  I wanted this card to be understated, but just couldn't resist a tiny bit of shine!

 

I hope you are having a blessed Advent season  Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

Products Used:

 

Stamp: Naughty or Nice (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Ancient Page Pine (Clearsnap)

Paper: Solar Crest Natural White 80 lb. (Neenah); Cutesy Christmas Trees patterned paper (The Paper Studio); dark green card stock (unknown); kraft card stock (unknown)

Other: Burlap fiber; Glossy Accents (Ranger)