Copic marker-colored Christmas cards

It’s been some time since I made a post, almost half a year in fact. My time flies! Life has been eventful in many good ways and I’m looking forward to sharing with you all many of my creations these past few months.

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But first off, I’d like display some of the Christmas cards I’d made for my friends and family this past Christmas. Copic colouring has become a new hobby of mine and because they’re so pricey, I managed to snag a few cheaper knock off alcohol markers on Aliexpress. I’ll put up a blog post about that soon but from my initial foray into alcohol markers, they seem to work quite well!

I wanted a cute and wintery theme for my cards so I used my Hampton Art Stamp and Die set – Penguins.

In order to use this die you need to have a Sizzix or cuttlebug die-cutting machine.

I stamped the image of the penguins using Memento in Tuxedo black by Tsukineko which is one of the best dye inks for alcohol marker coloring. After coloring the penguins, I cut them out using the penguin die.

To decorate the cards I used a few different kinds of backgrounds, here are a few:

1. staggered snow fields. I used foam dots to create dimension on the snow fields. I used a blue cardstock as the background and stamped white snow flakes .

2.  A fat ornament on an embossed background. I purposely made the ornament enormous so that it would take up half the card. I cut the ornaments out using my silhouette cameo to the size I wanted. Finally I decorated the ornaments with rhinestones or ribbons.

Finally I used a banner with a white embossed greeting and attached the penguins with a foam dot to make it 3D.

I loved the rhinestone-embellished ornament so much that I made card featuring just the ornament on an embossed background!

Well that’s it I hope you enjoyed these cards and stay tuned for more!

 

 

Calendar Style Birthday Card

I made this card for my BFF a few months back for her birthday but just got around to uploading it. Sorry for being MIA for a while, my studies have been so super busy! I went away to present my research at a conference and although it was probably one of the best experiences of my life, it also left me very little free time for a while.

But I’m back in the game and super excited to share with you all my most recent creations, starting with the least recent haha!

I really wanted to showcase when my BFF’s birthday was which is the 29th of December so I printed out, stained and distressed a calendar that I found online.

I used some glimmer mist in Rouge and Cork using my technique on how to prevent paper from wrinkling after soaking it in wet media and letting it dry. You can find that tutorial here.

Once it dried, I stamped some swirls using Versamark and transparent embossing powder. You can see the glimmer mist underneath of it that way.

Then I just finished up the card by adding a gemstone over the top of the 29th of December because that’s the date of her birthday. And then I just embellished with a flower (I don’t remember what it’s called, an accordion flower? Somebody help!) I cut out with my Silhouette Cameo, but you can also use a Tim Holtz die to do that.

I mounted the calendar onto another piece of cardstock which I punched with a Martha Stewart doily punch just on one edge and then distressed the edges with Vintage Photo. 

Finally I mounted everything onto a card with a pretty pink background I dug out from my scraps stash from DCWV Garden Tea Party Stack.

Share your comments below!

Bubbly Snowman Card

Today’s tutorial will be on how to make a fast and easy snowman Christmas card. If you’re pressed for time or need to pump out 15 of these in one night, this is the card for you! All of my stamps, embossing folders and papers can be replaced with anything you might have at home so you don’t need exactly the same ones to make a fun and spirited card!
I love to watch Kristina Werner tutorials on Youtube and this card was definitely inspired by her creative style. Hop over to her youtube channel to check out some of her techniques and tutorials as well!

What you’ll need:

1. card and envelope – 4 x 5 1/2 inches

2. printed Christmas cardstock in green and red – preferably with gittery designs
These are cut in the following dimensions:
Red: one rectangle of 3 x 2 1/2, and one strip of 1/2 x 4 inches, with rounded corners
Green: one banner of 1 1/2 x 4 inches

3. An embossing folder, preferably with a simple design like bubbles

4. Snowman stamp – I’m using the Imaginisce Snag ’em #003367
and acrylic stamp block if needed

5. One cream cardstock rectangle of 2 3/4 x 2 1/4 inches with rounded corners for stamping the snowman image

6. Foam dots

7. ATG gun

8. Green or red stickles

9. Corner rounder punch

10. Versamark stamp pad

11. Silver detail embossing powder – recollections

12. Heat tool

13. Silver marker

14. Rhinestones in red, green or silver

Instructions:

1. Take the folded card and putting only front flap of the card in the embossing folder and wrapping the back of the card around the back of the embossing folder, run the sandwich through your die-cutting machine.

2. Take the small cream cardstock rectangle of 2 3/4 x 2 1/4 inches and stamp the snowman image using versamark or your favorite embossing stamp pad. Generously sprinkle silver embossing powder over the stamped image over a large piece of scrap paper. Optional, before stamping, use a sachet of baby powder and cornstarch, or the EK success powder brush tool and generously dab powder over the front of the cardstock to prevent flyaway embossing powder. This helps to build a very sharp embossed image since embossing powder tends to stick to the cardstock in non-stamped areas. I always forget this step haha but you should do it because it’s good for you!
Using a prewarmed heat tool, hold the cardstock with tweezers (to avoid burning fingers!) and blast the image with the heat tool to melt the embossing powder. Set aside to cool for a few seconds.

3. Using green stickles, fill in areas of the stamped image where you feel it needs a little extra bling! I selected the snowman’s scarf and the little bird’s hat. Set aside to dry at least 30 min. Then using a tape runner, mount this stamped image on to the red printed cardstock rectangle to make a red frame.
Optional – apply 2-3 rhinestones in a line but apply them so that they’re asymmetrically distributed. Asymmetry will make the card look unique and stand out.

4. While your stickles are drying, assemble the embellishments for your card. Using your tape runner, tape the small red strip to the large green strip of paper (as shown) above.

5. Apply all the different pieces to your embossed card. Start with the Green and red banner, place it about 1/3 of the way from the bottom using your tape runner on the back of the banner. Do not attempt to run your tape runner across the embossed front of the card as it will deflate your embossed image. Then using foam adhesives, mount the image of the embossed and stickled snowman to give the card an extra level of dimension. Using your corner rounder, round the corners of the card. Finally, pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

And that’s it! Thanks for tuning in this week for this fast and easy Christmas card tutorial! I will try to post a new tutorial once a week and since we’re fast approaching the holiday season, I’ll be focusing on Christmas card tutorials! Many of my scrapbooking friends have already finished or are nearly finished their Christmas cards this year so for those of you who haven’t started, my tutorials will make holiday card making a breeze.

Please be sure to SHARE your creations and comment below if you have any questions 🙂