Christmas cards 2012

Dear reader,

In this post I want to show you the first batch of Christmas cards I made this year. A lot of them have the same background. I stamped snowflakes in white with stazon ink and inked over them with distress ink. That way the flakes really pop. But I will highlight the various techniques with each card.

 This card was made with Christmas wrapping paper and pressed gold angel hair I got from my mom.
I glued a fragment ( a piece of acrylic in various shapes) on the wrapping paper showing the pensive cherub and let it dry and then cut it out. On the back I put some strong double sided tape and put the pressed angel hair on it. I then trimmed it so it formed kind of a crest. The background is made like I explained earlier and I used the same strong double sided tape to adhere the fragment to the background. I cut out the sentiments from the seasonal paper stash by Tim Holtz and chomped the corners.

 

 This is also a snowflake background and I made a tag using various reds of distress inks. I stamped in black and white stãzon ink using the new seasonal minis from Tim Holtz. The tree I embellished with some self adhesive pearls. I then embossed a piece of green card stock with my cuttlebug and a seasonal embossing folder by Sizzix, distressed it with some walnut stain ink and glued everything together on the background. I did add a red and green coloured ribbon to the tag and put some pearls on them to hide the staple hahaha. But it makes it festive also. The corners were chomped so it looks more finished.

Again I used the snowflake background which started out as an experiment but I liked it so much that I used it for most of my cards this season. The tag I stamped with the Santa stamp in jet black Stãzon ink and the pine branches were stamped in green archival ink. I coloured the card with red distress ink using the ink blending tool and the edges with green. I then stamped the sentiment in embossing ink and embossed it with gold ultra fine embossing powder. Some gold coloured paper ribbon through the hole of the tag gives it a festive touch. I added a little silver Christmas tree charm and glued it all to the background and chomped it. 

 



 



Same background (again....) coloured it with walnut stain distress ink. The tag is a manilla tag I coloured red with distress ink and a blending tool.The big pine tree I die cut from grunge board and painted with crackle paint in green and brown. The tag I stamped with green archival ink using the pine tree stamp from Tim. With a white pen I drew in some fake snow. I sprayed it with perfect pearl  to give it some glow and adhered the die cut to the tag. I cut out the sentiment from the seasonal paper stash and put some crackle accents on it to age it. I put it on the tag using 3D foam to give it a bit of dimension. All was glued to the background after I put some ribbon and threads through the hole of the tag.









What a surprise.....the same snowflake background. I Die cut Frosty out of chipboard and painted it white with a paint dabber, the arms brown and the hat black with crackle paint. The white I covered with Rock Candy crackle paint and let it dry. The buttons, nose and eye I made with liquid pearls. I painted part of Frosty with Tumbled Glass distress Stain to give it more of a frosty look. Some of the snowflakes on the background I covered with glossy accents and sprinkled some glittery flakes on it. The sentiments were made with a label maker and that was basically it.

This was made the same as the one with the mini stamps only to this one I added a sentiment ticket I stamped in red and green and the toy soldier has a few liquid pearl accents.

 Same background and again I used wrapping paper and a fragment. It said Merry Christmas to you so it had to be used. The tag I coloured with blue and silver distress stains. I stamped the snowflake in jet black Stãzon ink. You can't see it in the picture but the sentiment was covered with glossy accents to make it shine.

Same procedure as some previous ones. Tag stained with distress stains, stamped in jet black and sentiment embossed with cuttlebug. However I covered the tree with distress stickles to give it some sparkle. The ends of the branches I embellished with adhesive pearls. The star at the top of the tree I coloured with gold stickles for some festive glitter. A dual coloured ribbon and a golden snowflake charm finish this project off.

 Same snowflake background but I stamped this one with dark blue distress ink with snowflakes and a snowman. The tag is stained with silver distress stain and stamped with a larger snowman and some pine twigs. The sentiment is stamped with embossing ink and embossed with Christmas red embossing powder. Some silver paper ribbon through the hole and I glued it to the rest of the card.
On the side I stamped the holly using the seasonal stamps from the Dylusional range by Dyan Reavely. I traced it with green and red stickles for some pizazz

 This is also a similar one to a previous card. Only on this one I also stamped with embossing ink on the background and dusted it with perfect pearls powder for some sheen.

 Ahhhhh, finally another project altogether right? I used a black tag #8 and die cut the festive greenery by Tim for Sizzix. I coloured it all in various colours using distress inks. The sentiment I stamped in embossing ink and dusted with several colours of perfect pearls powders. I glued the greenery on the card and the berries were made using white or red liquid pearls. The edge of the tag I dabbed with a pearl paint dabber. A ribbon through the hole and it is ready for the mail.

 This background I made by stamping the green in embossing ink and covering it with embossing powder. After cooling I coloured the whole thing with re distress ink. The icicles I die cut from white card stock and covered it with rock candy distress stickles and glued it to the card. The pine branch I also die cut from white card stock and coloured it with distress ink. The ornament I die cut using a die and a sentiment movers and shapers by Tim Holtz. I heat embossed it with gold UTEE and embellished it with various colours of liquid pearls. The sentiment ticket I stamped using two colours of archival ink and distressed it with Walnut Stain ink. I bound the twig to the ornament using a small ribbon and then glued everything together.

The background of this card is embossed using the cuttlebug and I added some colour using different colours of distress ink using the ink blending tool. I then sprayed it with perfect pearls spray. The frosty is made the same as the others. The tag was stained using red and gold distress stains. Paper ribbon, sentiment ticket and all put together.

Again a black #8 tag stamped with Dyan Reavely's Christmas stamp in clear embossing ink. Brushed with perfect pearls powder and it really pops. The berries I emphasised with red stickles. White paint on the edges and a green and red coloured ribbon through the hole makes it festive.

 On this project I was experimenting again. I stamped with a pearl paint dabber using the seasonal stamps again from Dyan Reavely. Over it I blended green and red distress ink with a blending tool. The sentiment I stamped in jet black Stãzon ink and Frosty is die cut from chipboard. Painted with white, brown and black crackle paint. The nose, buttons and eyes I made using Stickles. The edge I distressed with Sepia Archival ink as distress ink doesn't stick to Crackle paint.

 

Last but not least I share with you this card. Well from this batch anyway, as there are some more to post. This background is again the snowflake one but not so inked so the flakes are more subtle. I stamped let it snow on it to make it more winter like. The little houses and Frosty are die cut from chipboard and painted either with crackle paint (frosty) or paint dabbers by Adirondack (houses). The icicles I described earlier and also how frosty was made. The houses I drew in with a snow marker that puffs up when heated with a heat gun. It really looks like puffy snow. Glued all to the background an we have another card.

Well I hope you enjoyed looking at my Christmas projects sofar. There are a few more to come.

Happy holidays!!

Frederique