This year I was late starting as I had a bit of trouble coming up with a design. I really wanted to use the Christmas Stocking Stamp and punch that I got last year. I had used them on some tags but wanted to convert them to a card. Alas whatever I tried just did not gel for me, so I had to can that idea and start from scratch.

Stampin Up came out with there new christmas mini catalogue and in it was a really lovely snowman stamp. It was cute that I had to order it.

So this was the image I decided to build my card around.

I stamped the image with black Stazon ink and then did a little colouring just with markers and blender pen and ink. I also sponged the sky with some Bashful Blue ink, but when I was finished the image still looked a bit flat. To get around this I grabbed my Stormy Sky distress ink and used a blender pen to put some shadowing in. This was the perfect blue/grey shade and just finished the image off perfectly.

I cut out the red overlay and stamped snowflakes on it with Whisper White craft ink and then embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. It doesn’t really show up in the picture, but I love that it looks like icicles around the edge where I sponged it. The red snowflakes on the white layer are just stamped with Real Red ink, that was enough for them. The sentiment tab is sponged in the red and then versamark and edged with the same embossing powder.

The inside of the card also has some Real Red sponged around it followed by versamark and more of the Iridescent Ice embossing powder just around the edge. It adds just a nice little bit of sparkle without being too much.

I love the two verses split apart like this allowing for us to write inbetween. The same snowflakes were also stamped on the envelopes.

The best thing is that I have managed to get all 50 cards completed before the end of October, so I feel like I am on track for christmas.

Sammie had wanted a stamp of santa in his sleigh with the reindeer last year, and I had managed to get one after christmas, so I tried out a card with it.

I began by stamping the image with black embossing powder which was coloured with a blender pen after all the background was coloured.

I used a mask to make the moon and inked the outside using Tim Holtz Weathered wood and Stormy Sky distress inks. This gave me just the right blend of blue grey for a night sky. The moon is inked in Stampin”””” Up Barely Banana which is a retired colour, but again just the right shade.

After all the inking I sprayed the top with Dazzling Diamonds glimmer mist for a bit of sparkle, before assembling the whole thing.

This was the first card that I tried out, and we liked it so much that it was the one we used. Made trialing very easy as there was only one. I ended up having to make 50 of them this year, the inking of the background took the most time, but I think the results were worth it.