2025 Holiday Card Series #3 | May This Season Bring You Peace

Hi crafty friends!  Today I am sharing a sweet Christmas card that has a special meaning in my heart… the winter cardinal.  If you’ve lost someone near and dear to you, I’m sure a lot of you feel the same way when you see a red cardinal at Christmas time.  My Gran always told me it was a sign from a passed loved one who was coming to check on us – that’s what I like to think anyway.

The supplies used:

Honey Bee Stamps – Lovely Layers: Winter Birds Die Set

     The Greetery – Botanicuts Mighty Oak Die Set

     Sizzix – Holiday Greens-Mini Die Set

     Spellbinders – Precision A2 A Layering Die Set

     Spellbinders – Crimson, Poppy Field, Phone Booth Cardstock

     Pinkfresh Studio – Holiday Greetings Sentiments Press Plates

     Copic Alcohol Markers – R89, R59, R37, R29, R14, E37, E59, G05, G46

     Sakura White 05 Gelly Roll Pen

     Spellbinders – Opaque Black Glimmer Hot Foil Roll

     Ranger/Tim Holtz – Distress Watercolor Paper

     Gina K. Designs – Black Onyx Cardstock

Mijello Mission Gold Watercolors (oatmeal-color mix I created)

     Ranger/Tim Holtz – Distress Snowfall Grit Paste

     Ranger/Tim Holtz – Distress Palette Knife

     Pinkfresh Studio – Ruby Glitter Drops Embellishments

     Simon Says Stamp – Big Momma Foam Tape

     Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

     Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil System

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Card Front Background

I started the card by die cutting a piece of white watercolor paper using the second to largest die in the Spellbinders Precision Layering A2 A die set and then cut a piece of Gina K. Designs Black Onyx cardstock using the largest die in that set.  I created sort of an oatmeal-colored mixture of Mijello watercolors to give the background a simple wash to serve as a backdrop for my focal point image.  I applied the wash of watercolor paint to the watercolor paper using a ¾” Silver Black Velvet oval watercolor brush and set the panel aside to air dry.

Creating the Focal Point

For the branch/greenery, I used the Sizzix Holiday Greens – Mini die set and cut the holly branch eight time from white cardstock and the berry branch four times and glued a die cut on top of another so that all the die cuts were double stacked to give them some more heft.  I also used the branch die from The Greetery’s Botanicuts Mighty Oak die set and cut it two times from kraft cardstock and glued those one on top of the other.  Lastly, I die cut the cardinal from Honey Bee Stamps “Lovely Layers: Winter Birds out of Spellbinders Crimson, Phone Booth, and Poppy Field cardstocks; however, I did cut the base layer twice and glued it behind its counterpart for added dimension.

I added shading and color to all the die cuts using Copic alcohol markers.  The color combinations used were:

     Branch:  E37, E59

     Holly Leaves:  G05, G46

     Berry Branches:  E59, R29

     Cardinal:  R89, R59, R37, R29, R14 (white Gelly Roll pen for eye)

Next, I snipped all the little holly leaves from the four holly branches I colored and also snipped the berry stems from the berry branches and set them aside.  I took the branch diecut (from the Botanicuts Mighty Oak set) and placed it on my glass mat and began gluing all the holly leaves onto the empty branch stems.  Once those were glued into place, I began gluing the little berry branches in front of and behind the holly leaves.  I placed an acrylic block on top of the branch/leaves until dry.  While the branch was drying, I assembled and glued all the layers for the cardinal then placed a white dot on the cardinal’s eye with a Sakura 05 white Gelly Roll pen.

Building the Sentiment

Utilizing the Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil System and Opaque Black Hot Foil Roll, I selected the Pinkfresh Studio Holiday Greetings Sentiments Press Plate set and hot foiled the “May This Season Bring You Peace” plate onto a scrap piece of the watercolor paper I used for the card’s background.  Once hot foiled, I used the coordinating die to diecut the sentiment.

Finishing the Design

To complete the card, I added thin foam tape to the back side of the watercolor panel and adhered it to the A2 size piece of black cardstock.  Next, I positioned my cardinal and holly branch where I wanted them to be on the card front.  After picking the two up together with reverse tweezers, I added small, narrow pieces of foam tape behind the holly leaves surrounding the cardinal.  I added Bearly Art Precision Glue to the back side of the cardinal and adhered both the branch of holly and the cardinal at the same time.  I added foam squares to the back side of the sentiment and adhered it to the upper left of the card front.  Lastly, I added Ranger/Tim Holtz’s Distress Snowfall Grit Paste with a palette knife along the top side of the branch and on a majority of the holly leaves – just a tad here and there to give it a frosty, wintery look.

For the last touch, I added a few Pinkfresh Studio Ruby Glitter Drops embellishments over all the berries and adhered the card front to an A2 size card base.  Another holiday card completed for the 2025 season!

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