Oh Christmas Tree

Good morning!  It's a cool, brisk, and breezy morning here, and I can almost believe the holidays are coming.  I'm still making Christmas cards so I will have plenty to send out to friends and family in a few short weeks.  One of the cards I made recently is this quick and easy Christmas tree card.  This is just one piece of white cardstock folded in half - that's it.  This one will be super easy to mail!

I started with a white cardstock, 4.25"x11, folded in half.  I placed the new Christmas Tree Edger 1 stencil from A Colorful Life Designs about 2/3rds of the way up the card.  I then inked up my blender brush very lightly with some Rustic Wilderness distress ink and very lightly applied the ink over the stencil.  I picked up the stencil, moved it slightly over to the left, and placed it just under the first row of green trees.  I brushed some more ink over this second row, making this one just a little bit darker than the first row.  I repeated these steps for the next three rows, moving the stencil left or right and adding more color to each row as I went down the card.

The sentiment from Technique Junkies was stamped at the top with the same green ink.  Once everything was dry, I sprayed over the whole piece with an iridescent glitter spray.  It's very hard for the camera to pick that up, but there is a subtle glittery sheen on this card.

Please feel free to use this code, HollyFan10, when you shop at A Colorful Life Designs.  You will save 10% off your entire order, so have fun shopping!

 

Snowflake Wishes Trio

Good morning!  I'm thinking cool thoughts with this trio of snowflake cards because yesterday was over 90 degrees here.  As I type this, some places like Colorado are getting 6 to 12 inches of snow.  That's crazy, isn't it?  

I used the beautiful new Elegant Snowflake stencil from A Colorful Life Designs to create these little works of art.  I placed the stencil down on some gray cardstock and then spread three different colors of a glittery paste over the stencil.  After the three panels dried, I added the die cut sentiments (Elizabeth Craft Designs) and adhered them to white card bases.  

The close-ups of each card are shown below.  Which one is your favorite?  Is the pink calling your name, or does the teal make you swoon?  Do you melt for the classic white snowflake with the palest touches of pink?  I love all three of them mostly because I'm all about the glitter!  Hahaha!!

Please feel free to use this code, HollyFan10, when you shop for stencils at A Colorful Life Designs.  You will save 10% off your entire order and you'll have some great new stencils to play with.  Happy Shopping! 

 

 

Retro Aqua Ornaments

Doesn't this card just scream 1970?  I love these nostalgic ornaments on this Retro Ornaments stamp from Technique Junkies.  I stamped this background with some aqua ink onto aqua paper and then used a silver gel pen to color in some areas of the ornaments.  For the sentiment, I found this smaller holiday sentiment on the Christmas Ornaments Trio set.  I didn't want to cover up these awesome ornaments in the background, so that's why I chose a smaller sentiment.  I embossed this with white powder onto a strip of vellum and wrapped it around the aqua ornament background.

You can use this code, TJ10Holly, to save 10% off your entire order when you shop at Technique Junkies.  You can stock up on Christmas stamps, Shimmering Bliss sprays, the new Catherine Pooler ink pads, and tons of stencils.  Have a great week!

 

Moonlit Village in Teal

Good morning!  Do you have your Christmas cards ready?  Here is an easy idea for you using the new Village Edger 1 stencil from A Colorful Life Designs.    I sprayed the back of the Village Edger 1 stencil with some Pixie spray and then placed it down on some black cardstock.  With a plastic spatula, I spread some gorgeous glittery teal paste over the stencil and the rest of the exposed black cardstock.  I carefully lifted the stencil off and left the piece to dry for a few hours.  While that was drying, I cut the moon from a circle die and the Santa and reindeer from a Frantic Stamper die.  After the paste was completely dry, I glued down the die cut pieces and adhered the panel to a white card base.

You could easily do this in an assembly line format.  Have all your black cardstock cut first, then stencil as many pieces as you want.  While the pieces are drying, die cut your elements or stamp your sentiments, whatever you want to add to your cards.  Then all you have left to do is glue things down and address your envelopes.  

Feel free to use this code, HollyFan10, when you shop at A Colorful Life Designs.  You will save 10% off your entire order, so fill up your shopping cart and have fun!

 

Beyond the Blue #38 - Autumn Leaves

Happy Friday!  Today's Beyond the Blue challenge is all about autumn leaves.  I pulled out some stamps and dies from The Greetery and stamped the various leaves with Distress Oxide inks.  I tried to choose colors that were different from the regular yellow, orange, and red fall colors.  The oxide colors I used are Fossilized Amber, Bundled Sage, Crackling Campfire, Dusty Concord, Aged Mahogany, and Gathered Twigs.  After I cut these out, I arranged them onto my white card base and glued them down.  

Check out today's Beyond the Blue challenge and share your creations with us.  I hope you're enjoying some wonderful fall weather today!

 

Blue Green Fa La La Trees

Good morning!  Remember how I was in a pink mood on Monday?  Well, today I'm in a blue-green mood.  I pulled out some blue and green distress inks and made this fun mix-up of trees with a cute holiday background.  The fun background was stenciled with the new Fa La La stencil from A Colorful Life Designs.  How cute is that?  I love the tiny little hearts all over the letters.

The trees (a very old stamp set from PTI) were stamped with green and teal distress inks and then cut out with scissors.  I had fun arranging them on the card, adjusting for the different heights and colors and widths of the trees.  After I glued everything down, I sprayed the card with an iridescent glitter.  It's a very subtle glitter and, therefore, very hard to capture on camera.

This would be a fun and easy card to mass produce.  If you haven't made your Christmas cards yet, this card came together in about 10 minutes.  Set up an assembly line to stencil the background, stamp and cut the trees, and you could have 50 to 100 cards done in an afternoon.

Feel free to use this code, HollyFan10, when you shop at A Colorful Life Designs.  You'll save 10% off your entire order and you'll have some fun to stencils to play with.  Have a great day!

 

Holiday Joy with Pink Trees

Good morning!  I'm in a pink mood today, so I'm sharing this holiday card with pink trees.  I used the new Christmas Tree Edger 1 stencil from A Colorful Life Designs to brush three different colors of pink distress oxide inks onto some white cardstock.  I started with the lightest color of pink and placed the Christmas Tree Edger 1 stencil in the middle the paper.  Then I picked up the stencil and moved it down just a little bit and used a slightly darker color of ink for the second row of trees.  The bottom row of trees is the darkest color of pink and I used that ink to stamp the sentiment as well.  

To add a little shimmer to my holiday card, I flicked some clear shimmer spray over the whole piece.  It looks like it's snowing with these shimmery snowflakes.  

To save some money, please feel free to use this code, HollyFan10, when you shop at A Colorful Life Designs.  You'll save 10% off your entire order.   Have fun shopping!