Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Christmas cards featuring red and blue plaid paper, a variety of images & greetings and some ribbon

I am committed to making Christmas card regularly over the course of this year so I will have them ready by December when I need to have them mailed out.  I decided to use up a piece of foil gift wrap that was around one of our gifts this past season.  It is a red and navy plaid so I just cut what was usable from the piece and got eight 3.75" squares.  I found cardstock that coordindated  - one red and one navy and cut eight cards and the corresponding navy layers for each card.  I dug through my Christmasimage stash and found a few that would work with this sketch and colour scheme.  I also dug through my stash of Christmas greetings and found some that would also work.  I created the cards one at a time after that.
The first one features a Melonheadz image of Santa and the baby Jesus.  I trimmed the image into a square, watercoloured it and added faux stitching all the way around using a permanent marker.  I mounted the navy layer to the red card, added the plaid paper square then mounted the image over the paper using 3D foam tape.  I added a strip of the same red cardstock below the image and mounted my laser printed greeting over it using 3D foam tape.
The second one has a similar sketch.  I added a length of white seam binding to the navy/plaid paper layer before mounting my sleigh image (Black Berry Jelly) with 3D foam tape.  It is watercoloured, glittered and layered with navy cardstock. The greeting is stamped in blue, layered on red and flagged on the right hand side and mounted with 3D foam tape.
The third one features a snowman paper cast which I made a long while back to which I added a little turquoise snowflake with a tiny silver brad.  The paper has turquoise lines which only show when you look at it from an angle.  The laser printed greeting is layered with red, has a folded ribbon on the right hand side and is mounted below the focal image with 3D foam tape.
The fourth one is a bit of a departure from the sketch.  Because the image was larger I tore the square in two and mounted the two pieces to the top and bottom of the navy layer.  I watercoloured the angel (SU) and ran the tracing wheel on all the edges before mounting it to the layer with 3D foam tape.  I punched a Modern Label layer from a scrap of foil turquoise paper which is glued to cardstock to make it stiff enough to mount.  I added a small laser printed turquoise greeting.  I mounted the greeting overlapping the image and added a bit of 3D foam tape to the bottom edge when it attaches to the background.
The fifth card has the plaid paper adhered to the navy glued to the red card.  I layered a die cut nativity image (reused card) onto a white scalloped circle (Nestibilities) which I mounted with 3D foam taper for the plaid paper.  I layered the stamped greeting (SU) with red and mounted it with 3D foam tape.  To finish it off I added a length of white seam binding below the elements and adhered the ends to the inside of the card with double sided tape.
The sixth one has a very similar layout featuring a layered image of a couple of friends out for a walk in a winter wonderland (reused card) layered onto a white scalloped circle with a laser printed image layered with red below the plaid square.  I trimmed the red cardstock with decorative scalloped scissors, paper pierced the scallops and added a couple of embossed lines to each side of the greeting.
For the seventh one, I embossed the navy layer and mounted the paper over it.  Not the best idea with foil paper.  I layered the image of a beautiful house all ready for Christmas (reused card) with turquoise and mounted it this layer using 3D foam tape.  I adhered this large layer to the red card.  I layered the laser printed greeting with red before mounting it to my card front using 3D foam tape.
The eighth and last card features a small die cut ornament in navy.  I used glitter pens to colour the top and the wavy band and added dots of clear glitter to the rest of the ornament.  I mounted it to a white embossed strip with 3D foam tape, added a red ribbon to the top and flagged the end of the strip before mounting it to the navy/plaid paper layer.  I added clear glitter faux stitching all the way around the navy layer and below the plaid paper.  I trimmed a laser printed greeting, layered it with red, flagged both ends and added some embossed lines on each side before mounted it to my card front.
It was really fun to be back making Christmas cards after a bit of a break.  I am very happy with how they all worked out and that they are all a bit different.               Therese