It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

When I'm getting in the holiday mood in my craft room, it's usually still fairly warm and sunny outside, so I have to crank up the holiday tunes on my Pandora. Johnny Mathis Christmas songs really get my nostalgic Christmas memories flowing, and remind me of how much Christmas means to me. Those tunes, coupled with the vintage images that have been super popular this year, really help get my creativity flowing. Let's get started!

When I first saw these darling little vintage deer from the Avery Elle "Kitsch Christmas" I knew I neeeeeeded them. Not only were they adorable, but I could color them too! I immediately stamped several of them using Versafine ink and heat embossed them with clear on my favorite watercolor paper, then got to work watercoloring them with my Zig markers. These images scream "vintage" to me, so I went with a vintage aqua and red color scheme. 

For my simpler card, I simply used the little starburst/snowflake images included in the Kitsch Christmas set to flow from the top left to bottom right corner of my card base. I stamped them using Tropical Teal ink from PTI onto a Tropical Teal card base, and I used all of the sizes included, spreading them out and using the larger images towards the bottom. After I had done that, I wanted to highlight my cascade a little more, so I used my Clarity Stencil brushes to add some color in the opposite corners. The greeting, from Avery Elle's Comfort and Joy stamp set, was stamped with Versamark, then heat embossed in sparkly red embossing powder. I added a red foil frame die cut with the Double Stitched Rectangle dies from The Ton around the edge using dimensional adhesive, then added some sequins from my stash. 

This next card was certainly more involved, but I am loooooving it. I started by stamping the Hand Drawn Snowflake background from Hero Arts on a bright turquoise card base using Simon Says Stamp Audrey Blue ink. I then placed my red foil frame (cut at the same time as the frame used for my first card! Love those double stitched dies from The Ton.) on my card base and determined where I wanted to place my deer and my sentiment, conveniently placing my sentiment on my MISTI to ensure it was stamped where I had originally intended it haha. I then used an older technique that I learned from Jennifer McGuire: use white pigment ink to highlight a sentiment on a busy background. I started by masking off the corner of the card base, because I wanted the edge to be nice and clean. I then used a makeup sponge and some white pigment ink to concentrate the color in the center of where the sentiment would end up, and pulling the color out towards the edge in a sort of halo effect. Once it was opaque to my satisfaction, I set it aside to dry overnight. I didn't use my heat gun, because I didn't want the card base to warp. (Actually, naptime was over and I didn't get to work on it again until the next day. See how I made it seem like it was intentional? Teehee!!)

After my white pigment ink had dried, I stamped and heat embossed my greeting from Comfort and Joy in the same red glitter embossing powder, being sure to use my anti-static tool first. (That glitter gets eeeeeverywhere.) After that was completed, it was time for the fun part: filling the shaker! I filled it with a variety of red, turquoise, teal, and iridescent sequins, as well as some pearly white seed beads. I love making shaker mixes. They make my heart happy. 

Aren't these little vintage cards so cute?! That darling deer is so precious. One of my favorite new holiday sets, to be sure. Have a fabulous day, friends, and I will see you back here in a few days! I have approximately a bazillion more projects to share with you that I've been hoarding, ahem, stockpiling, so I will have a new blog post for you shortly!