Since I started this website fairly recently I thought it to be best for this year to do a summary of some of the Christmas cards that I made (a “Christmas card for the men in your life” is not included in this post, see under Tab “Cards for Men” to find the post on that card or click http://www.makeyourlifecolourful.com/single-post/2016/12/17/A-Christmas-card-for-the-men-in-your-life)

I will mention how to make a certain card and what materials I used. If you've any questions please let me know and I will try my best to answer them.

Christmas with Whimsy Stamps

I would like to start with these cards were I used stamps from Whimsy, I LOVE the stamps in the “Wee Stamps” category designed by Sylvia Zet, especially the fairy stamps stole my heart. You can find more of their designs under the "Gallery"-Tab of this website and here: https://whimsystamps.com/

This design is called an Easel Card: you can make it flat so it fits in an envelope but you can also make it stand as shown in the pictures. The stamps that I used are called "Winter Fairy" and "Holly". I coloured these images with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers and my Pentel Water Brush on Strathmore Bristol Smooth Surface paper.

After colouring the images and cutting them with my Big Shot and a square Crea-Nest-Lies XXL Die I put on the swirls with the Viva Decor "Floral Embellishments" stamp set and the "Platinum" Prima Metallic Chalk Edger and the help of my MISTI. With the same Platinum colour I coloured the edges of the card stock a little.

I matted this piece on red and green card stock from my stash after using a text background stamp on the green card stock.

To make the card stand up I stamped a Quietfire Designs stamp ( "Take time to delight in the little joys of the season" and "A Smile is the best Christmas decoration of all") on white card stock, edged a little with the same Platinum ink as I used before and matted it on the same red and green card stock with the difference that I put some foam tape on the back of the red card stock so that it is a little raised.

From gold glitter paper I die cut the "Swirl Border" from PreciousMarieke with my Big Shot after putting double sided tape from Elizabeth Craft Designs on the back.

You can't see it to well in the pictures but there is also a little space to write your greetings that is only visible when opening the card completely.

Christmas with Purple Onion Designs

My next Christmas card is made with the cute critters from Purple Onion Designs. I coloured these images with the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and my Pentel Water Brush. I cut them out by hand with my Fiskars scissors. I ran the craft card stock through my Big Shot with the "Dots & Flowers" embossing folder from Sizzix and putting some Hero Arts "Unicorn" pigment ink over it to make it look a little like snow. The light from the lantern is making a pool of light that ads a little more interest to this card. I coloured a die cut circle with "Dandelion" ink from Memento and "Wild Honey" Distress ink.

To complete this card I added some white glitter on glitter glue and made a banner from black card stock with a sentiment from Clearly Besotted ("Sweet little Sentiments") in white heat embossing.

Other cards

Since I make two of every card that I make, and I also had some birthday cards to make, and two request cards and I also participated in the Caring Hearts Card Drive 2016 (this year close to 64.000 cards were collected from all over the world, which is an amazing number, and it's fantastic that we can put a smile on that many faces with just doing what we like to do, make cards for others) http://lingshappyplace.blogspot.nl/p/caring-hearts-card-drive-2016.html

I could not make all my cards this time consuming unfortunately. The next cards are what I call "fast cards" they take an hour or two or less.

Let's start with this card: I started out with a piece of white card stock on which I applied the "Pearl White" colour from the Gansai Tambi 36 set. After letting it dry I used the screen from "the big, the bold and the happy" set from Winnie & Walter and filled the outline in with rubber cement. This takes some time to dry. After that I applied the "Golden Sands" colour from Paperartsy Infusions (if you let the water stay on longer the walnut will come through more). After drying you can remove the rubber cement to reveal the white part of the sentiment. Then I stamped the snowflakes from the "Flurry of Wishes" stamp set from Stampin'Up with "Espresso Truffle" ink from Memento. The "new year" part of the sentiment (also from Winnie & Walter) is white heat embossed on brown card stock and put on with foam tape. I decorated this card with sequins from Cartwright's and Pretty Pink Posh and some gold twine from my stash. It's a different technique then what I usually do and it was fun to try out the Infusions!

At a local store I found these fun wooden Christmas decorations and some burlap "ribbon" with gold flecks. Combined with some sequins from my stash and some red ribbon it made a fun and simple Christmas card. It also was the heaviest card this year because of the wooden element so I gave these to my neighbours and my cousins.

Another card with an element from the Whimsy collection: these are finished toppers that you can put on your card without colouring them yourself. Since the Whimsy stamps are fairly expensive here in the Netherlands I can only buy a couple a year. This one is on my wish list for next year! I matted it on a green die cut from Marianne Design Creatables LR0141. The background was made with red card stock and gold glitter paper and the Marianne Design Folder Extra DF3415. I finished the card with some red sequins and the sentiment is from Wild Rose Studio ("Christmas Circles").

These two cards are made with a cutting technique from some years ago. I still love to use it sometimes and it looks so nice with this card stock that has a different colour on the back. I will explain how this technique works in a post I hope to put up soon, it's a baby card ( I'm not sure though that the cutting moulds are still on sale, the technique is called "Lacé"). You can find this post here http://www.makeyourlifecolourful.com/single-post/2016/12/17/Cute-Baby-Card-with-an-ancient-Cutting-Mould-technique The candle images I cut out by hand (they were pre coloured as well) and to finish this card I used some ribbon and a few sequins. The first sentiment is from the Stampin'Up "Flurry of Wishes" stamp set and the second is from the Wild Rose Studio "Christmas Circles" stamp set.

On the next card I used a stamp from Stampendous called "Special Delivery". I love this cute little deer! I matted it on craft, burgundy and plaid pattern (with a little sparkle, that you probably can't see in the picture) card stock from my stash and finished this card with a sentiment from Wild Rose Studio ("Christmas Circles") and a little bling.

For the next card I started out with some cremé coloured card stock that I put through my Big Shot with the Marianne Design Creatables LR0236 die. Next I stamped the sentiment from the Stampin'Up "Flurry of Wishes" stamp set with "Espresso Truffle" ink from Memento. The background was made out of some brown/red card stock from my stash and I stamped on it with the snowflakes from the Stampin'Up stamp set mentioned above also in Espresso Truffle. Some sequins finished this clean and simple card.

And the last card for this post is also with warm colours: do you see a pattern: I seem to like red/green/gold and brown for my Christmas cards a lot this year! And I love sequins in case you didn't notice (though I didn't love them in the beginning because the little hole in the middle annoyed me somehow, but I guess the bling won me over in the end and now I have to restrain myself for not putting them on every card that I make)!

You can't really see it in the picture but I started out with a cremé card stock with a pearl finish and run this through my Big Shot with the Memory Box "Cosmo Border" die. From the same pearl card stock I cut the sentiment from Elizabeth Craft Designs (nr. 944). To give this card some dimension I put foam tape between the two layers of brown card stock and finished of with some "Sparkling Clear" sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

I hope you enjoyed this summary!

Do you have a theme that comes back in a lot of your Christmas cards or some cute Christmas stamps that you want to tell me about?

-----------

If you don't know what a Big Shot or a MISTI is then look on this website under the Tab "Handy Crafty Things" for an explanation.

#makeyourlifecolourful #handmadecards #whimsyholly #whimsywinterfairy #quietfiredesigns #asmileisthebestchristmasdecorationofall #taketimetodelightinthelittlejoysofthesea #vivadecorfloralembellishments #mariekedesignswirl #pentelwaterbrush #primametallicchalkedger #platinum #strathmorebristolsmoothsurface #zigcleancolorrealbrushmarker #creanestliesXXL #Elizabethdesigns #purpleoniondesigns #fiskars #SizzixDotsembossingfolder #heroartsunicorn #mementodandelion #wildhoneydistressink #clearlybesottedSweetlittlesentiments #creanestliesXXL #GansaiTambi36set #PaperartsyInfusions #cartwrightssequins #winniewalterthebigtheboldthehappy #stampinupflurryofwishes #prettypinkposhmetalicgoldsequins #wildrosestudiochristmascirlces #mariannedesignLR0141 #mariannedesignDF3415 #stampendousSpecialDelivery #lacécutting #mariannedesignLR0236 #memoryboxcosmoborder