2026 Holiday Card Series #3 | Merry Christmas

Hi friends!  Today’s card will be the third installment in my 2026 Holiday Card Series where I am attempting to have my holiday cards mostly completed before mid-November.  I truly enjoy working with colored pencils – I currently have an excessive 12 full sets of colored pencils at my disposal ranging from inexpensive all the way up to “what was I thinking paying this much for a set of colored pencils!”.  Regardless, I have had this Colorado Craft Company stamp set in my collection for many years and I still hadn’t used it.  Today that changed… let’s get started!

The supplies used:

     Colorado Craft Company – Slimline Poinsettias Stamp Set

     The Greetery – Scripted Holiday Sentiments Stamp & Die Set

     Spellbinders – Starshine Background Die

     Spellbinders – Forest Color Essentials Cardstocks

     Anna Griffin – Champagne Matte Foil Cardstock    

     Prismacolor Colored Pencils – PC921, PC924, PC925, PC942, PC1034

     Tsukineko – StazOn Jet Black Ink Pad

     Ranger Ink – Wendy Vecchi Watering Can Archival Ink Pad

     Woodland Scenics – Yellow Paper Flower Pollen

     Iuile Watercolors – Star Watercolor Paint

     Altenew – Black ½” Instant Dimension Foam Tape

     Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

     Ranger Ink – Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte

     Pinkfresh Studio – Metallic Matte Gold Pearls

     My Sweet Petunia – Original MISTI Stamping Tool

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Background Panel

For the background panel, I used the paper trimmer to cut a piece of Spellbinders Forest cardstock to measure 3.25” x 8.25” (this will be a slimline card).  I also cut a piece of Anna Griffin Champagne Matte Foil cardstock to measure 3.5” x 8.5”.  To add texture to the Forest colored panel, I used the Spellbinders Starshine Background die and ran it though the die cutting machine one half at a time since the die was developed for A2 sized cards.  A few drops of water were mixed into the Iuile Watercolor “Star” watercolor paint pan and I used the paint to spatter gold across the entire panel.  Once the spatter dried, I adhered the Forest cardstock panel to the Champagne Foil cardstock panel.

Creating the Focal Point

I stamped the Colorado Craft Company “Slimline Poinsettias” floral images onto a piece of inexpensive white cardstock using Ranger’s Watering Can Archival Ink and the MISTI tool.  I left the stamps in the MISTI tool since I will be stamping the image once again after the coloring is completed. 

For the poinsettia coloring, I used Prismacolor colored pencils in these colors:

     PC924 – Crimson Red

     PC925 – Crimson Lake

     PC921 – Vermillion Clair

     PC942 – Yellow Ochre

     PC1034 – Golden Rod

Once the coloring was completed, I placed the paper back into my MISTI tool and stamped the images again using black StazOn ink.  I chose StazOn since the colored pencils are wax-based and I figured if the StazOn ink will work on acetate, surely it will work atop wax-based pencil coloring.  Next, I applied little dots of Tim Holtz’s Collage Medium Matte on the poinsettia’s cyathia (the yellow centers) and applied a coating of Woodland Scenics’ Yellow Paper Flower Pollen, tapped of the excess, and continued to each poinsettia until all were completed.  After the Collage Medium with the pollen coating had a chance to dry, I used scissors to fussy cut both images.

Creating the Sentiment

For the sentiment, I used The Greetery’s Scripted Holiday Sentiments stamp set.  I used VersaMark watermark ink to stamp the two sentiments onto a piece of Spellbinders Forest cardstock that had been prepped with anti-static powder.  After stamping, I applied Gina K. Designs Fine Detail Gold embossing powder and used my WOW! heat tool to melt the embossing powder.  Once cooled, I buffed off the anti-static powder and used The Greetery’s Scripted Holiday Sentiments die set to die cut the sentiments and cut two additional of each from the Forest cardstock to stack the sentiments for dimension.

Assembling the Card

I glued the background cardstock panels to the front of a white, slimline card base.  Next, I positioned the poinsettias and sentiments on the background to find a pleasing placement. I adhered the sentiments to the background using liquid glue, then placed pieces of Altenew’s black Instant Dimension Foam Tape to the back sides of both sets of poinsettias and adhered them to the left and right sides of the card front.  After trimming off the excess poinsettias that overlapped the edges, I glued a sprinkling of Pinkfresh Matte Gold Pearl embellishments around the edges of the poinsettias to complete this colorful holiday card.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really appreciate it.  Until next time, happy crafting!

Halloween 2024 | Boo!

Hi friends!  For today’s Halloween card I wanted to try something different.  I’ve combined a little watercoloring, colored pencil work, and vellum stamping to make a not-so-spooky little ghost card.   This project can also be found on my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@VeehattInspired

The supplies used were:

§  Paul Rubens Hot Press Watercolor Paper

§  Schmincke Watercolor Paint – Colors:  Deep Sea Black & Tundra Orange

§  Whimsy Stamps “Dungeon Door” Red Rubber Stamp

§  Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing and Watermark Ink

§  Taylored Expressions Anti-static Powder Tool

§  Ranger Super Fine Black Embossing Powder

§  Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils – Door: PC947, PC1082, PC1033, PC1034, PC942, PC914 and Stones: PC1058, PC1056, PC1052, PC1050)

§  Tonic Studios Craft Perfect Pearled Silver Vellum

§  Honey Bee Stamps “Lovely Layers: Party Frames” Die Set

§  Sizzix/Tim Holtz “Vault Gothic Portraits” Die Set

§  Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz “Spooky Spirits” Red Rubber Stamp

§  Xyron Creative Station Sticker Maker

§  Distress Black Two-Tone Woodgrain Cardstock

§  Altenew “Black Diamond” Glitter Cardstock

§  Thermoweb iCraft Black 3D Foam Tape

§  Tim Holtz Idea-ology Halloween Deco Sheets (Orange)

§  My Sweet Petunia Misti Stamp Positioner

For the background, I started by placing a piece of Paul Rubens hot press watercolor paper into my Misti stamp positioning tool and dusted it with anti-static powder.  I then stamped the Whimsy Stamps “Dungeon Door” red rubber stamp onto the watercolor paper using Simon Says Stamp clear embossing ink.  I applied Ranger black embossing powder over the stamped image and tapped off the excess.  Lastly, I used my embossing tool to melt the embossing powder.

Once the embossed image cooled, I used masking tape to adhere the watercolor paper to a hardboard.  I added a few drops of water to my pans of Schmincke watercolor paint in the colors Deep Sea Black and Tundra Orange to get them ready for use (these come in a tube, but I keep quarter pans of all my colors, I feel I waste less paint that way). 

Using a #16 round paint brush, I applied water to the entire piece of watercolor cardstock and began to apply a watered-down layer of Deep Sea Black to serve as a base layer for my colored pencil work that will come later.  Then I used a #6 round paint brush to apply a watery layer of the Tundra Orange watercolor paint.  I used my Ranger Heat Tool to speed up the drying process.

Once the watercolor panel was dry, I used my Prismacolor Premier colored pencils (colors listed above) to color the dungeon door and the stonework directly surrounding the door plus the steps.  I removed the cardstock from the hardboard and set it aside.

For the ghost, I stamped one of the ghosts from the Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz “Spooky Spirits” stamp set and Jet Black StazOn ink to stamp it onto a piece of Tonic Studios Craft Perfect Pearled Silver vellum.  To make the ghost image less transparent, I ran the piece of vellum through the Xyron Creative Station to essentially make it a sticker, then adhered it to a second piece of vellum before fussing cutting the image.  Once the ghost was trimmed out, I ran it through the Xyron again to add adhesive to the back of the double-stacked vellum ghost.

To create the sentiment, I cut the “boo” die in the Sizzix/Tim Holtz “Vault Gothic Portraits” set twice from black cardstock and once from the orange piece of Tim Holtz Idea-ology Deco Sheets that were from a Halloween release.  I adhered the stack sentiment die cuts together using liquid glue.  I also cut the smallest bat from the same die set out of Altenew Black Diamond glitter paper.

Now for the card front.  I used Honey Bee Stamps’ “Lovely Layers: Party Frames” and used the postage edged die to cut out the watercolored panel and then used the largest die in this set to cut my base layer from Distress Black Two-Tone Woodgrain cardstock.  I believe Tim Holtz commented that this cardstock was no longer going to be made; however, I had purchased several packages when it was released.  If you want to recreate a similar look you could use black cardstock ran through a woodgrain embossing folder or simply use a piece of black cardstock… it’ll still look great.

I applied Thermoweb black 3D foam tape to the back side of the watercolor panel and adhered it to the woodgrain cardstock.  I removed the ghost from the Xyron backing sheet and adhered it to the card front at the bottom of the steps.  Using liquid glue, I adhered the sentiment and bat toward the top of the dungeon panel. Lastly, I glued the completed card front to an A2 size, top folding card base.

I hope you enjoyed the card and found inspiration for some of your own card making projects!  Until next time… happy making!

Hamsterific Birthday | September 2023

For this birthday card, I’m using some supplies that were already in my stash from My Favorite Things (MFT) and Mama Elephant that I just didn’t think I showed enough love to during their initial release.

I started this project by cutting a piece of diagonal striped patterned paper from the My Favorite Things “Time to Celebrate” paper pad and trimmed it to measure 5” x 5”. I took the paper and cut a hole in the center using a circle die from the Hero Arts “Nested Circle Infinity Dies. For the decorative trim for the circular hole, I used the “Nested Decorative Circles” dies (the middle sized one that looks rainbow-ish) from Scrapbook.com and a piece of black cardstock, then glued this trim piece to what will be my card front.

Using a scrap piece of white cardstock and the hamster with balloons stamp from Mama Elephant’s “Celebration Hamsters” stamp set, I stamped and used my Prismacolor Premier colored pencils to color the balloons in colors that closely resembled the stripes of the MFT paper for the card front, as well as colored in the little hamster. I also stamped a sentiment from MFT’s “Itty Bitty Celebrations” onto white cardstock, used Simon Says Stamp Black Ultra Fine Embossing Powder, and heat set the birthday greeting. When the heat embossing cooled, I cut out the sentiment using Avery Elle’s “Simple Sentiment” dies.

Since this card was going to be a shaker, I cut a piece of acetate and glued it to the back side of the hole in the card front and added strips of foam tape around the edges of the card front and around the edges of the hole in the middle. I filled the well (the center of the cardstock that is covered with acetate and surrounded by foam tape) with a few different types of clay bits I had in my stash and carefully placed this aside so I could work on the card base.

For the card base, I cut a piece of 110# cardstock to measure 10” x 5” and scored it on the long measurement at five inches. I used another piece of patterned paper from the MFT “Time to Celebrate” paper pad and glued it to the front side of the card base. Next, I carefully removed the backing from all the foam tape and adhered the card base to the shaker card front. WHEW!! That part is always sketchy for me!

Now for final assembly. I added Simon Says Stamp 3D Foam Squares to the back of the sentiment strip and hamster with balloons image and adhered those to the card front.

My final touch was adding Pink & Main “Musical” enamel dots in random places on the card front for some additional interest. Project complete!

I hope you enjoyed the card. Thank you so much for stopping by to see me - I appreciate you doing so!

Until next time…