Christmas Blessings To You And Yours

EDITED: Following a few requests I’ve updated this post including directions below to make this card.

There’s no blog project this morning as I simply wanted to wish you a merry Christmas and a peaceful 2022. Thank you to you, my blog followers, customers and friends for all your support in 2021, I cannot tell you how much you are appreciated. Please enjoy this final card using the retiring Happy Holly-Days Stamp Set. I couldn’t resist including a little new product sneak peek… it is Christmas after all. x

"Christmas Blessings to you and yours" for 2021 with this card from PapercraftWithMe.com using products from Stampin' Up! #simplestamping

HAPPY HOLLY-DAYS

My project began with the Happy Holly-Days Stamp Set and that pretty bird image. Using Tuxedo Black ink I stamped the bird onto some Basic White Card. Then I turned him into an English robin using Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers.

First I coloured the wings, tail and back using light Pool Party (yep, that’s a blue!). Then I added some dark Crumb Cake over most of the area, leaving out some of the tail, wings and around the edge of the ‘face’. Then I went over the whole area with light Crumb Cake to blend everything together.

For the robin’s breast I first used light Poppy Parade. I must admit that even this light marker looked a bit bright, but after going over the whole area using light Crumb Cake I was definitely happier. Finally I finished off the robin using dark Crumb Cake on the beak and legs.

Now all I had to do was carefully cut him out with Paper Snips.

`Wishing your family health & happiness throughout the coming year" sentiment from the Happy Holly-Days Stamp Set from Stampin' Up! #papercraftwithme

With the most complicated part of the design done I was ready for the sentiments from the Happy Holly-Days Stamp Set. First on a 1″ x 4″ strip of Basic White Card I stamped “Christmas blessings to you and yours”. Then in the centre of a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Basic White Card I stamped “wishing your family health & happiness throughout the coming year”.

Finally I stamped the robin image on the front of a Basic White Medium Envelope. With that I was ready to work on the front of the card.

QUICKEST EVER OUTDOOR SCENE

Now I had the sentiment and robin it was time to put together the background. I ‘d originally planned to use a Christmas-themed Designer Series Paper (DSP) but nothing excited me. So I gave in and opened up some new DSP I’d received just a couple of days ago. This pack of 6″ x 6″ paper is called New Horizons and will be available to customers from January 4th. The pack contains 48 double sided-sheets of watercoloured backgrounds in a variety of scenes and more abstract designs. There’s 4 sheets each of twelve different double-sided designs and I know this pack is going to be very popular.

I took one of the sheets and trimmed 2-1/4″ off the bottom, then I trimmed 1″ from one side. Using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I mounted the remaining 3-3/4″ x 5″ piece onto a 3-7/8″ x 5-1/8″ layer of Old Olive Card.

Next I cut a 1″ x 5″ strip of Kraft Paper and added texture by running it through a crimping tool I’ve had for years. With that I was ready begin assembling the card.

Using liquid glue I fixed the crimped Kraft Paper across the layered DSP, then added the sentiment on top. To make the robin really stand out I attached him to the scene with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Now I needed a card base and so I used my Paper Trimmer to cut and score some Misty Moonlight Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder.

Using more Stampin’ Dimensionals I added the completed scene to the card front, then fixed the Basic White layer on the inside. With that my final Christmas card of 2021 was complete.

I still can’t believe that the Happy Holly-Days Stamp Set is retiring and is now only available while stocks last! Still with products like the New Horizons DSP to look forward to I suspect I’ll get over my disappointment.