This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!
Hello friends, and Merry Christmas to you! I am back for this month’s Songs of the Season post, made extra special due to the fact that today is the big day… Christmas Day! I adore holiday crafting in all forms… cardmaking, crafting, baking, etc etc… and I always listen to Christmas music while I am channeling my love for Christmas into something tangible. My mom and I used to listen to the “Sounds of Christmas” album from Johnny Mathis while we baked cookies when I was a child, and so my heart always feels lighter whenever I hear the jubilant introduction to this album. This month, as I have been crafting and baking, taking my kiddos to look at Christmas lights, and traveling to watch the Nutcracker, I have been reflecting on how much I enjoy Christmas and the feelings of happiness the season bring.
One of the lines in the song “Christmas is a Feeling In Your Heart” particularly resonated with me:
Faith and hope, goodwill to man
Love and peace, and faith again
Let the prayers that Christmas bring
Brush your heart like angel wings
In this time of such turmoil around the globe, I want to encourage you to carry those feelings and prayers of love, peace, and goodwill towards our fellow humans that we feel so much more deeply at Christmas into our daily life. We are all citizens of our world, and I hope desperately that the coming year brings peace and calm.
I have been having a love affair with the gorgeous tree in the Winter Woodlands set from Tim Holtz. It is just the perfect Christmas tree! I was shopping at Target with my kiddos last weekend, meandering in the Christmas section, when I saw some beautiful monochromatic holiday cards, featuring a tree that looked so similar to the perfect tree in this stamp set that I wanted to create my own version in a rainbow of colors! The vintage pastel pink of the cards in the store reminded me that pastel colors can certainly be used as holiday colors if applied in the right way. Let’s get started on the details for my card!
For this quartet of cards, I first pulled out four different shades of cardstock, in light bubblegum pink, lilac, sky blue, and mint green. To coordinate with the different cardstock colors, I pulled out Carnation, Lilac, Marine, and Tropic Pawsitively Saturated Inks. I wanted to create a “glow” behind the Christmas trees, before stamping my trees, I used blending brushes to lightly blend a bit of coordinating color in the center of each colorful A2 card front. I used my handmade sparkling watercolors to splatter some shimmering coordinating “snow,” adding to the magical feel of the cards!
After I had created my quartet of colorful backgrounds and left them to dry, I used my MISTI to stamp the large tree stamp from the Winter Woodlands stamp set from Tim Holtz. I stamped each tree on another panel of the same pastel shades of cardstock using the coordinating ink color, then stamped them again using embossing ink directly over the initial stamped image and sprinkled holographic glitter embossing powder over the top. The effect is so colorful and sparkly!
I die cut all of the sparkly trees using the DieCember Winter Woodlands Coordinating Die (which is now back in stock!) and adhered them on each coordinating blended card front using foam adhesive squares. I also added a smattering of shimmering gems on each tree in coordinating shades to create super sparkly, monochromatic holiday trees!
For the greeting, I stamped a sentiment from Holiday Typewriter using the same shades of ink on their coordinating cardstock colors and die cut them with the coordinating die. I popped up the greetings on each card with a double layer of adhesive to help them pop even more from their background. The pastel shades look so beautiful for Christmas with all of the different elements of sparkle and shimmer! The simple design on these four cards came together really quickly, and having the different color schemes would be a great way to “mass produce” without being boring.
Well, that’s all for my projects today. I hope that, if you celebrate, you are having a wonderful holiday with lots of family, yummy food, and maybe some gifts, and remember: Christmas is a feeling in your heart. 🙂 If this season is a difficult one for you for any reason, I am sending you lots of love and hugs. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous holiday!
