Christmas (Gift Enclosure) Cards

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Hi there, I hope you had a merry little Christmas! Ah, I can't help but still sing that song in my head about once a day. The season just goes by so fast... which is exactly, why I wanted to show you a smaller version of my Christmas cards that I used as Christmas gift enclosure cards and also as small gifts to give to friends so they can dress up their gifts, too. I still had a bunch of kraft Project Life cards from guest designing for Dani Peuss in summer. They're basically 4 x 6 cards with a perforation line in the middle just screaming to be made into little cards or tags. 

First, I got my white ink pad out and stamped a fabulous star background pattern from a Studio Calico stamp subscription set. Then I used two layers of die-cut tags, one is vellum with a strip of silver washi tape, the other is again one of those super cute snowmen from Crate Paper's Snow & Cocoa collection stamped with a simple Christmas sentiment. I also layered a die-cut glittered snowflake in-between for good measure. Don't you love when you can whip up something without buying expensive manufactured die-cuts or stickers? Also, my Crop-a-Dile got quite a workout this holiday season. I don't merely use it often enough, though. 

Don't think I only stuck to the snowman style cards. The concept for this next one is very similar, though. I got me these Kesi'Art snowflake dies and die-cut one from black cardstock (with a piece of silver glitter paper on one side) and layered a second vellum snowflake underneath. 

I also found this fun mustard color patterned paper that made me think of actual fuzzy snowflakes dancing in the air. To give it a little more texture, I ran it through my Cuttlebug with a We R Next Level embossing folder (it's a set of two called 'geometric'). A stamped sentiment and a big pearl brad from the stashed finished it up. 

 

Supplies

Please note: I received some of the following products for free or discounted as a guest designer for Dani Peuss and as a former member of the Studio Calico design team. These items are marked with a "*". 

  • Kits: *Studio Calico Stamp Kit Gypsy Moon
  • Stamps: *"Tis the Season" by Hello Forever, Klartext "13 mal Frohe Weihnachten"
  • Paper: Kesi'Art Happy 2017 (Juillet), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa (Let's Play), vellum
  • Cardstock: Neenah Solar White, Papertrey Ink True Black, Kesi'Art Bling-Bling (silver)
  • Other: Kesi'Art Metallics (flocons, coupons), *Studio Calico craft-dies (tags), pearl brad, Tsukineko Versafine ink (Onyx Black), Hero Arts Pigment ink (Unicorn White), We R Next Level Embossing Folder (geometric), We R Precision Press Stamp Tool, pearl brad

Cute Snowmen Christmas Cards

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I received a few Holiday cards this past few days and really there is nothing better than finding a sweet note from your friends in the mailbox to make the season all the merrier. So, what better time to get back into crafting and make some myself? I have two simple layered cards to share with you today. Both using the adorable Snow & Cocoa collection from Crate Paper. 

I used a couple of tag and snowflake dies that I had in my stash to cut my layers Then, I decorated them with silver glitter tape and a clear Wink of Stella brush. I also got out a Klartext stamp set with Christmas sentiments and one of them fit perfectly inside the snowmen bodies. 

Things already slowed a bit down for the Holidays beginning this week. Tomorrow's my last work day for this year - yay! I'm gonna celebrate with a last visit to one of the Christmas markets and a dinner with friends (that's after chasing for some last minute gifts, of course). I really hope you also get to enjoy the season, the sparkly lights, not to mention the delicious foods - roasted almonds, anyone? :)

Dani Peuss Guest Designer: Make it Shine

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While it has been a little quite on my blog and social media these days, I've been working behind the scenes to whip up some fun handmade cards for a German craft supply store, danipeuss.de. I'm very happy to be their guest designer for the June 2017 card kit which is aptly named "Make it Shine". It was super fun to unpack a pizza box of craft supplies again, not least because Reni packed it up herself and included one of her beautiful cards with a personal message. 

Her take on the no-line watercoloring technique is stunning, isn't it? I have washi-taped it up on the wall above my desk so I can admire it daily :) If you're curious to find out which supplies come in the June card kit box, you can watch Reni's video below - there's also some inspiration on how to use the kit towards the end of the video. 

My single favorite item from the kit was the powder tool - seriously! I hadn't used one before and the last few times I tried to order it from Dani's shop it was temporarily sold out. Also, I didn't think it would make such a difference... boy, was I wrong. Usually, when I heat emboss, there are lots of tiny sprinkles of embossing powder in areas where they aren't supposed to be (aka outside of the stamped image). Trying to clean the image up with a brush before heat setting had actually taken the fun out of heat embossing for me. This time, though? Zero sprinkles, not even on the vellum - I'm impressed! Betcha, there will be lots of heat embossed sentiments this month. 

The cute papers are from Pebbles Inc.'s Tealightful collection. Above is a first look at a 3x4 inch card made with the card kit. I really like the small format and it's super easy to punch a whole in the upper corner and add bakers twine to turn it into a gift tag.

More cards with the "Make it Shine" card kit are coming soon! Meanwhile, I hope there is some sunshine where you are and - if you are in Germany - have a fabulous long weekend with lots of fun and some craft time, too.