Pigment Craft Co. Christmas cards

I was able to purchase several new-to-me stamp and die sets by Pigment Craft Co. this summer, and was very keen to get them made into cards.  Their flowers & foliage stamps are amazing, and just my style... so after MUCH fussy cutting, I got four cards put together:

Stamp sets used are Berry Sprig, Winter Sprig and Festive Floral.  I had several foliage dies in my collection that I pulled out and cut in brushed silver and gold Spellbinders cardstock to tuck into my sprays, plus an old Echo Park word die set for the Merry.

I used the rectangular postage die set from Spellbinders to cut out my background, and adhered it to the base with 3D foam tape.

I wasn't sure if I'd use my second colour combo for Christmas cards or not, but once the shimmery gold die cuts were added, I thought it worked really well.

Happy to have two of each version in my stash... and have many more pieces to still create with.

Here's my pile of stamped images that were fussy cut!  And yes... each of those pine boughs was painstakingly cut while I watched Hallmark Christmas movies :-)

A Spidey Birthday!

I have a wonderful Great Nephew who turned four this week, and he's a huge 'Spidey' fan - he's the version of Spiderman aimed at a younger audience.  So... I pulled out my supplies and got creative in figuring out how I could make a Spidey card.

I used an oval die to cut out his head, then reshaped it a little, and copied the web pattern on his head with a marker.  I had one of these silhouette die cuts already, and decided to layer them to make a shadowy cityscape.  After spelling out his name, I decided that the D in the alphabet die set would work for his eyes, so I added those, plus a few dots for decoration... and a Spidey card was born.

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Cozy Fireplace

The October Betterpress Society plates from Spellbinders are called Cozy Fireplace - a set of registration plates (meaning multiple colours/pieces) for the holidays.  This is the first of several projects that I've made with the set:

I wanted a retro vibe for my card, so chose some muted Distress Oxide inks, which have a muted cast to start with: Vintage Photo/Ground Espresso/Bundled Sage/Rustic Wilderness/Speckled Egg.  The trees were done with an ombre effect.

I love the idea of mixing die cuts with Betterpress images, so pulled several Spellbinders sets from my stash, and decorated the mantle.  I matted my scene with the same pink cardstock as my poinsettia, and added a gold star to the small tree.

You can get a subscription to the Betterpress Society through the Papercrafter's Workshop.

Ai Christmas Card

 I am on the Art Impressions blog today, for my last 2024 Watercolor Weekend!

Today I am using the 5857 - Baby Mini Foundation Set that was released last year.  This image was part of the Nativity Journal Bundle, but works great all on it's own as a card.

Before stamping, I determined that I was going to use the 5065 - Oval Double Stitched Dies to cut out my image, so I traced the outline on my Canson XL Watercolour paper to give myself a painting guideline.  I stamped my image using #N65, as I wanted a soft outline to paint with.  I used four of the branches from 4960 - WC Fir Trees Set coloured in #249/565 and stamped in all of the pine boughs.  There are two branches that bend in each direction, so it allowed me to make it look as though the branches were hanging down from each side.  I coloured each branch in #249, then added #565 along the bottom edge to provide a built in shadow.  I touched all the branches with a damp brush to bring out the colour, and soften the lines.  The birds were painted with #969/947/865, with several layers to add some depth.  #992/969 were painted in streaks on the manger, to indicate a wood-like texture, and I used the #992/993 markers directly on the paper to create the hay underneath.  #850/947 were painted on the Baby's face, with a little glow added to His cheeks.

A wash of #565 was painted on the sky, but it was a bit too purple for my liking, so I darkened it up a little using Blueprint Sketch Distress ink.  It was also added to the snowy hillsides, and as shadows around the manger.  I used my Twintone markers to add in the bird's eyes/beak/legs, and the Baby's features.  I used Bleedproof White paint to add snow to the branches, along with a few snowflakes in the sky, then painted in some shadows with #565 on the snow.

I used the oval die to cut out the image, then matted it and mounted it onto my background paper from 5963 - Winter Woodland PP with 3D foam adhesive.  A few jewels and a foiled sentiment finished it off.  *I am sharing one project this morning, and Gennette will be posting another one this afternoon, so be sure to check out the Ai blog later on!  

Christmas Pudding

I've pulled a few different products together to create today's card.  The Christmas Pudding die set, and the Cooking Up Christmas stamp/stencil set are both from The Greetery, combined with several different dies for the pine boughs and foliage.

This was a labour of love!  There are ten colours of cardstock and seven inks involved... and much fussy cutting.  And when you go to this much trouble, you make more than one, so I have eight of these added to my stash.  You should see my craft desk, it's like a bomb went off.

I wanted a little glimmer, so I used brushed metallic gold paper to cut out the Joy sentiment, and spattered some gold paint on the finished product.  Happy to have these completed, and plan to spend the next hour tidying up my craft room :-)

Winter Farmhouse

I've been hoarding the Winter Farmhouse papers from Simple Stories for a LONG time!  But I am slowly trying to use them up.  I had precut the tag, and had the bits and pieces from Spellbinders Holiday Blooms die set already on my craft desk... so this card was born.

The Joy is an old Memory Box die that has been in my stash forever... and the little gold strip was cut off of a panel that I'd run through my Minc machine this weekend.

This is one of the rare times that I haven't added foam tape to a card!  It'll be a good one to mail.

All supplies were bought from the Papercrafter's Workshop.

Poinsettia Spray

I'm wanting to revisit some of the stamp and die sets that I've acquired this year, and this Poinsettia Spray die set from Spellbinders is one of them.  I've tried it with an arch and a rectangle, but never an oval, and this is the most traditional colour combo that I've done.

I wanted a warmer card, so added the soft yellow to the mix, and LOVE the kraft base.

The sentiment is the Christmas Sentiments Foilables from Pink & Main.

All supplies are available at The Papercrafter's Workshop.