Christmas Cards in April?

Well, hello there! It's been awhile since I've posted here. I've made numerous cards since my last post in 2019 (!!), and will try to post them all here in the near future, even though I may be the only one looking at them at this point! 😏

These cards are the ones I made for my family for Christmas 2020. I made, I think, about 8 of these. 

I had run out of the lime green cardstock midway, so some were done in red. Thankfully, I didn't run out of the red!

I've done this card style before. But this time I went a bit more elaborate by making my own "snow" out of white embossing powder, glitter and clear Glossy Accents. I just mixed them up as I went. Because I didn't have a lot of white embossing powder on hand, I couldn't cover everything I wanted to with my "snow". But what I did cover turned out pretty good. 

I also did a lot with glitter gels. I used Stickles to accent many of the pieces. 

Stamping, coloring and cutting out all the little pieces was very gratifying, although I did get a bit weary of it toward the end. 

And here's what things tend to look like when I'm creating.

I used one of my favorite old Cuttlebug embossing folders, D'Vine Swirls, to create the snow effect. I have more than gotten my money's worth from that thing!  And I stamped all the snowflakes on the red and green backgrounds with white pigment ink using a stamp from my old Stampin' Up! Flaky Friends set.

I colored everything with Copic markers. And here they are, once again, finished and ready to give away.

I wish my background cardstock would've been long enough to make one more bend at the back. It would've held the gingerbread house more upright. But alas, I did not have the 12"x12" kind, just the normal size.

I realize that no one is really interested in Christmas cards in April, but I am posting it while the urge hits, so I guess it's Christmas in April on my blog. Sorry about that.

I hope you have a lovely day, and thank you for coming by for a visit. Please let me know if you've stopped by so I can know you were here. Take care.

Stamps: Taylored Expressions Season's Sweetings, Taylored Expressions Home Sweet Home, SU Flaky Friends

CS: All cardstock is from Papertrey Ink.

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Colorbox Frost White pigment ink, Copics

Other: Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls embossing folder, paper piercing tool, foam tape, Stickles glitter gels, white embossing powder, white glitter, Inkssentials Glossy Accents clear dimensional medium, Paper Shapers small and large oval punches

Flaky Friends

I finally got some stamping done! It's been, what, a month? My days are already full with homeschooling and chores and such, but for the last few weeks I've also added canning tomatoes and apples to the pile. I love the taste of homemade applesauce. If you've never made it, let me tell you it is so easy! You peel, core and chop the apples, cook them in a little water until they're fully cooked, blend them to break them down (like you would for mashed potatoes) and sugar and cinnamon them to taste. That's it! So much better than store bought.

After having processed 2 bushels of apples, I'll say I am so glad to be done with it all! Maybe 2 bushels is one bushel too many? Saturday I spent the entire day on my feet making 7 more quarts of applesauce, some apple leather (dehydrated apple sauce) and 2 apple pies. My hubby and younger daughters were off on a Heritage Girls field trip for the day, so my son and I enjoyed some peace and quiet while he played video games and I canned and baked. I love putting a video on while I work in the kitchen, and it being Saturday, I decided to put on some cooking shows. So I popped my Jacques and Julia dvds in and listened to their friendly banter and advice while I cooked. A cold front was coming in with chilly temps and a good, strong breeze, so I opened the door to the back deck to let the lovely fresh air into the kitchen. It helped me go a lot farther than I would've in that hot kitchen!

Hubby and the girls and I were so exhausted after our busy days that we decided to stay home from church. I slept until 11am! I guess I was pretty pooped! It had been so long since I stamped, I was determined to get some stamping time in on Sunday.

I wanted to do something wintery, so I pulled out a set I haven't used in a long time: SU Flaky Friends. But I wanted to use colors that weren't standard winter/Christmasy colors, so I pulled out the Basic Grey Archaic 6X6 pad and chose my colors from there. I picked out markers that would match and set to coloring. For the snowmen's bodies I used a water brush and swiped the Bordering Blue marker with it and lightly dusted them along the edges to differentiate between them and the background. I could've done the opposite and darkened the background a bit instead, but I chose to do it this way.

After stitching around the edges, I used white Liquid Applique very thickly along the bottom and added Crystal Snow glitter over it. I let it dry for a bit and then heated it with my heat gun. The glitter stuck to it and looks really neat, although the pics don't show it very well. I also added a bit on the hat of the far left snowman.

Although it's not very easy to see, I used the Martha Stewart Double Scallop border punch on Swirl vellum and added it as a layer under the designer paper with the blocks on it.

I think everything else is pretty self-explanatory. I appreciate you coming by for a look! I'll try to get more stamping in now that the apples are done and my free time is a little freer. Gotta get going on designing our Christmas cards if I'm going to make them this year!

Take care!



Recipe

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Flaky Friends

CS: Chocolate Chip, white, black, Basic Grey Archaic, Swirl vellum

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black

Markers: CTMH Lilac Mist, CTMH Garden Green, SU Creamy Caramel, SU Close to Cocoa, SU Ruby Red, SU Pumpkin Pie, SU Bordering Blue

Other: Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Squares Large, Classic Squares Large, Classic Scalloped Circle Small, Standard Circle Large, Martha Stewart Double Scallop border punch, sewing machine, Dutch blue grosgrain ribbon, pearl gems, Sticky Doos, 3D-Dots, white Liquid Applique, Crystal Snow glitter, water brush