Archive for ‘25 Holiday Cards’

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December 5, 2011

’tis the season

Faux Embossed Christmas CardThe fourth card in my 25 Holiday Cards Challenge uses the faux embossing technique explained by Alesha Wells. It’s a fairly simple look, but I like the effect. I tried adding another element on top, and it seemed like too much. Sometimes simple is best.

Here are the details on how I made him:

  • Background: Cherry Cobbler
  • Stamp Brush Set: Bulb from Tags Til Christmas in Cherry Cobbler with a Drop Shadow set to Blur: -6, Opacity: -50%, and Pixel Offset: x: 0, y: 0
  • Embellishment: ’tis the season from the Trim the Tree set

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December 4, 2011

Certainly Celery & Old Olive Christmas Card

My card for this week’s Stampin’ Queens Sketch Challenge (SQSC15) is the fourth card in my 25 Holiday Cards Challenge. Here’s the original sketch:

SQSC12 Design

The scalloped circle focal point reminded me of fabric in an embroidery hoop, so I decided to try to go with an old-fashioned, vintage look. Here’s my version of the card, using various papers in either Certainly Celery or Old Olive:

Olive and Celery Christmas Card

Here’s the breakdown on the elements:

  • Background: Certainly Celery base with Holiday Harmony II—8
  • Back Rectangle: Certainly Celery with Vintage Overlay—11
  • Middle Rectangle: Brocade in Certainly Celery
  • Top Rectangle: Holiday Harmony II—11
  • Circle: Very Vanilla with Old Olive
  • Stamp Brush Sets: Something for Christnas—Ornaments 1, 2, 4, & 5 and Merry Christmas
  • Embellishments: Small Rhinestones and Certainly Celery Grosgain Bow

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December 3, 2011

Glitter Punch Santa

Glitter Punch SantaI’ve posted drafts of the third card in my 25 Holiday Cards Challenge on the My Digital Studio site, but I haven’t posted it here yet (plus I made a few extra changes since those drafts. I originally found the design for the punch Santa on Jackie Topa’s Addicted to Stamping site. I had to adjust a few things to make the card work in the My Digital Studio software, but he’s pretty close to her original.

Here are the details on how I made him:

  • Background: Homemade Cherry glitter paper and Old Olive Dotted Stripe
  • Colors: Homemade glitter paper in Cherry, Olive, White, and Suede Plus plus regular Blush Blossom and Whisper White
  • Punches, all with a Basic Black mat:
    • Circle for body and pompom
    • Medium Heart for right arm and nose
    • Large Heart for hat and hair
    • Small Heart for gloves
    • Word Window for cuffs, belt, bottom of hat
    • Oval and Modern Label for bag
    • Butterfly for beard
  • Embellishment: Celebrate the Season from the Trim the Tree set, on a rectangle of white glitter paper with a Bashful Blue mat.

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December 2, 2011

Glittering Jingle Bells

Glittering Jingle BellsThe second card in my 25 Holiday Cards Challenge came from a Fiskars page that focused on Piecing Together the Holidays. They’re doing cool and interesting things with punches and stencils, and I decided to see if I could create similar cards in My Digital Studio. The Fiskar’s card used Silver bells, but otherwise, I think I managed to “piece together” a similar card. I especially like the watercolor look I managed with the green background.

Here are the details:

  • Background: Real Red Small Polka Dot
  • Main image background: Three Square Punches, reshaped into rectangles and layered. The bottom and middle layer are Certainly Celery. On the middle layer, I added a full drop shadow at position 0,0 to give the impression of a slightly darker piece behind it. The top layer is from the Vintage Overlays Designer Series Paper. I think it’s Texture 8.
  • Stamp Brush Sets: Leaf from A Cardinal Christmas in Whisper White, and Pine Bough from Lovely as a Tree in Garden Green. Snowflakes is from Best Wishes and More in Garden Green (some 100% opacity and some at 63% opacity)
  • Jingle Bells: Homemade Mustard glitter paper with Circle and Square (reshaped) punches in Basic Black to create the lines.
  • Embellishment: Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon and Bow
  • Sentiment: Typed in the Bell MT font in Real Red

 

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December 1, 2011

May Your Holiday Shine

May Your Holiday Shine, a Christmas CardThe first card (click on the image to see a larger version) in my 25 Holiday Cards Challenge pulls together techniques that I’ve learned in the last month or so. I incorporated both the homemade glitter paper that I made and I used the watercolor technique to fill in the tree.

Here are the details:

  • Background: Homemade white glitter paper
  • Main image background: Curly Label Punch in Baja Breeze, with a drop shadow centered at 0,0.
  • Trees: Row of Trees from the Lovely as a Tree Stamp Brush Set, in Basic Black
  • Middle Tree: Watercolor technique with the Splatter from the Extreme Elements Stamp Brush Set, in Handsome Hunter, with opacity adjusted in a few stamps to create the look of depth.
  • Decorations: Circle Punches, resized, in various shades. Star from A Holly, Jolly Christmas Stamp Brush Set in Whisper White
  • Gift: Gift from Jolly Bingo Bits in Whisper White with Brilliant Blue Square and Circle Punches behind.
  • Sentiment: Typed in the Lucida Calligraphy font.

 

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December 1, 2011

The 25 Holiday Cards Challenge

When I was in high school and my younger siblings were in elementary school, I would spend the weekend and days before Thanksgiving piecing together homemade Advent calendars. I would gather poster paper, glitter, construction paper, glue and all the old Christmas cards I could find and spend hours each night while they were in bed creating a family calendar.

These homemade things were anything but polished, but I loved the process of planning out something for each day and waiting eagerly for them to open each door and see the image inside.

I have a collection of Advent calendars now, mostly from Hallmark, which I put up to mark the days from December 1 to Christmas Day. It’s fun, but not quite the same thing. Last year, a friend on DeviantArt told me that she was participating in (as I remember it anyway) a challenge to take and post a Christmas photo each day, from December 1 to December 25.

Stacked Santa Boxes (6th of 25 Santas)The idea captured that Advent calendar lover in me, and while I was never going to produce the kind of professional-quality photos she does, I decided to try something similar. I would have a bit of a scavenger hunt to find and photograph a Santa for each day. The result was The 25 Santas of Christmas. They’re not the best pictures, but they all make me smile.

It’s now December again, and I’m kicking off another challenge for myself. Each day, I’m going to try to post a holiday card that I’ve designed in My Digital Studio. It seems like a more difficult challenge than just taking photos, so I’m allowing myself to focus on just having 25 cards designed by December 25th. If they don’t go up every day as I’d like, that’s okay.

So prepare for a flurry of cards from me, and if you’re interested in tagging along or trying a smaller challenge (12 cards of Christmas?), please do!

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