2025 Holiday Series #2 | Fa La La La La

Hi crafty friends!  Today I am sharing a cute Christmas card showcasing die sets from Gina K. Designs and Spellbinders.  The snowmen in the “The Snow Notes” die set are so irresistible that I had to make a card with them this year!  I also selected card #202 from the Sarah Renae Clark 2^nd Edition Color Cubes so I’m going to try to keep my color choices closely limited to these colors just for fun… I might go rogue on the background/sky though… let’s see how this goes.

The supplies used:

Spellbinders – The Snow Notes Die Set

Gina K. Designs – Master Layouts 20 Die Set

Ranger/Tim Holtz – Distress Gray Two-Tone Woodgrain Cardstock

Ranger/Tim Holtz – Distress Watercolor Cardstock

Copic Alcohol Markers – E49, RV02, RV06, RV09, E71, E79,

     110, E31, E35, E99, E50, E53, E34, YR15, YR07

Picket Fence Studio – Day and Night Gem Embellishments

Winsor & Newton Designers Permanent White Gouache

Masha Watercolors (Etsy Shop) – Shadow Blue Dark & Vivianite Blue

Spellbinders – Indigo Colorwheel Cardstock

Spellbinders – Opaque White Glimmer Foil

Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

Ranger Heat It Craft Tool

Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foiling System

Creating the Card Front Frame

I cut a piece of Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Gray Two-Tone Woodgrain cardstock using the large, stitched frame die from Gina K. Design’s “Master Layouts 20” die set and cut a second one from heavy weight white cardstock to add more dimension.  Next, I glued those two layers together and placed an acrylic block on top until the glue dried.

Creating the Snow Characters

Using the Spellbinders “The Snow Notes” die set, I die cut all the pieces for the snow characters and their accessories from white 110 lb. cardstock.  Once the die cuts were sorted, I began coloring all the elements with Copic markers.  These are the color combos I used:

     Book:  RV02, RV06, RV09

     Dark Brown Scarf:  E71, E79, E49

     Medium Brown Scarf:  E31, E35, E99

     Light Brown Scarf:  E50, E53, E34

     Carrot Noses:  YR15, YR07

     Stick Arms:  E49

     Mouths:  110 (Black)

After coloring all the pieces, I glued all the scarves, arms, noses and music book to the snow characters, then added Picket Fence Studio “Day and Night” black gems onto the snow people for their buttons. 

Creating the Background

I taped an 8” x 5-1/2” piece of Distress Watercolor Cardstock to a hardboard using blue painter’s tape.  After choosing which watercolors I wanted to use, I grabbed a ¾” Silver Black Velvet Oval paint brush and applied a generous amount of clean water to the watercolor paper.  I prepped the two watercolors that I wanted to work with – Masha Watercolors (shop is on Etsy) Shadow Blue Dark and Vivianite Blue – and began applying the Shadow Blue at the top of the watercolor paper and Vivianite Blue toward the bottom third of the watercolor paper.  Once I reached the color intensity I wanted to achieve, I dried the watercolors with the Ranger Heat It Craft Tool.  For the last touch, I mixed a small amount of white gouache with a couple drops of water and mixed them with a small paint brush and then spattered the gouache across the watercolored background to create a snowy effect.  Once dry, I removed the watercolor paper from the hardboard.  I trimmed the dry, watercolored panel down to measure approximately 5-3/4” x 3-3/4” and glued it behind the frame I had die cut from the Distress Woodgrain cardstock. 

Building the Sentiment

Utilizing the banner sentiment that came with the “The Snow Notes” die set, I used Spellbinders Opaque White Glimmer Foil and the Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foiling System to foil the sentiment onto Spellbinders Indigo cardstock and used the coordinating die from the set to die cut the actual banner.  I also cut a second banner from the Indigo card stock so that I could glue the two together to give it some dimension. 

Finishing the Design

To complete the card, I trimmed about 1/3” off the bottom of each of the snow people so that they fit better within my frame and glued each one to the bottom edge of the frame I cut a card base from white card stock that measured 8-1/2” x 6-1/4” and scored it at 4-1/4” to make a completed card base that measures 6-1/4” x 4-1/4” (that I can mail easily in a 5” x 7” envelope).  I glued the banner sentiment to the top center of the card frame and adhered the card front to the card base.  No other embellishments are really needed so that wraps this card up perfectly!

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

Happiest Birthday Ever! | Trinity Stamps + Honey Bee Stamps

Happiest Birthday Ever!  |  Trinity Stamps + Honey Bee Stamps

Hi friends!  Today I’ve made a birthday card using the Sarah Renae Clark Color Cube card #030 color scheme.  The stamp and stencil products I used are from Trinity Stamps and Honey Bee Stamps.  It’s definitely a hand delivery card with the amount of Hero Paste I used – but well worth it for the look I achieved.  Let’s get started!  

The supplies used were:

Trinity Stamps “Hey Cupcake” Stamp and Die Set

Honey Bee Stamps “It’s a Party” Stencil Set

Hero Arts Glitter Hero Paste

Brutus Monroe Gold Glitter Glaze

Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated Inks:

    Honey

    Field

    Morning

    Dusk

    Peachy

    Terracotta

Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Dye Ink

Copic Alcohol Markers –

    Yellows:  Y04, Y18, Y26

    Blues:  B93, B45, B97

    Peaches:  YR01, YR65, E97

X-Press It Blending Cardstock

Spellbinders Sunkissed Cardstock

My Favorite Things Blue Yonder Cardstock

Pretty Pink Posh “Beach Day Shaker Beads”

Wagner Heat Embossing Tool

Misti Original Stamp Positioning Tool

Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

I started today’s card by cutting a piece of white cardstock that measured 4-1/2” x 5”, a piece of Spellbinders Sunkissed cardstock that measured 5” x 5-1/2”, and a piece of My Favorite Things Blue Yonder cardstock that measured 4-7/8” x 5-3/8” (approximately).  I used tape runner to adhere the yellow and blue panels together.

For the stenciling, I used the white cardstock panel listed in the previous paragraph and used the Honey Bee Stamps “It’s a Party” stencils to create my background.  There are six stencils in this set and I used a blending brush and Simon Says Stamp’s Pawsitively Saturated Inks in the colors: Honey, Field, Morning Peachy, and Terracotta.  After my stenciling was completed, I re-used the Layer 4 stencil (the one with the stars) and placed it back onto the ink blended panel and aligned it with the yellow inking that was already completed and applied a generous layer of Brutus Monroe Gold Glitter Glaze with a palette knife all over the stencil until it was evenly covered, returned the excess back into the jar and immediately cleaned off my work surface, palette knife, and stencil.  I set the background panel aside to dry while I moved on to the next step.

Using my Misti stamp positioner, a piece of X-Press It Blending Cardstock, and Simon Says Stamp Intense Black ink pad, I positioned the two cupcake stamps from the Trinity Stamps ”Hey Cupcake” stamp and die set into the Misti and stamped the images onto the X-Press It cardstock panel.  After cleaning off my stamps, I used my heat tool to dry/set the ink since I was going to be coloring with Copic alcohol markers. 

For the cupcake coloring I used Copic markers Y04, Y18, and Y26 for the icing portion; markers B93, B45, and B97 for the cupcake wrapper; and markers YR01, YR65, and E97 for the small cake portion.  I used the coordinating dies to die cut the images and also cut an extra layer of the icing from heavy white cardstock to make that piece more structurally sound since I will be applying paste to it later and the extra cardstock will help prevent warping as the paste dries.

I used the smaller icing die included in the “Hey Cupcake” stamp/die set and die cut a piece of heavy weight white cardstock to make a stencil for my pasting (which means I only wanted the negative space).  I used temporary tape to adhere this piece of cardstock to the top of my Copic colored icing die cut and carefully applied a thick layer of Hero Arts Glitter Hero Paste over the inked icing (again, using that negative space stencil I made).  I slowly removed the homemade icing stencil from the yellow icing die cut and used my fingertips and a metal piercing tool to sculpt the edges of the Glitter Hero Paste so that the edges were completed covered and to also clear the paste from the black inked shadow areas that were made by the actual stamp.  I did this until the entire die cut was evenly covered with the paste and then added some Pretty Pink Posh “Beach Day Shaker Beads” to random areas in the icing to mimic nonpareils.  I set this portion of the project aside to dry several hours since I didn’t want to smear my paste.

Once the Glitter Hero Paste dried, I used liquid adhesive to adhere the icing die cut to the top of the cupcake die cut.  I used a white gel pen to add some highlighting to random areas of the blue cupcake holder and allowed that a small amount of time to completely dry.  While the gel pen was drying, I used the “Wishing you the happiest Birthday ever!” stamp from the Trinity Stamps “Hey Cupcake” stamp/die set and stamped it onto a piece of white cardstock using Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated “Dusk” ink then used the coordinating die to die cut it and also an extra one so that I could add dimension to the sentiment.  I adhered the birthday greeting to the blue cupcake holder portion of cupcake using liquid glue and then applied thin foam squares to the back of the cupcake.  Next, I used tape runner to adhere the stenciled card panel to the card front panels, then removed the release paper from the back of the foam tape squares on the cupcake and adhered it to the card front and that completed today’s card. 

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed the birthday card and found inspiration for some of your cardmaking projects!  Until next time… happy making!