Mass Producing Beautiful Quick and Easy Cards

I have a big post up on the Studio Katia blog today!
I was busy making Christmas cards using snowflake stencils from Studio Katia!

I made two sets of cards using the Studio Katia Snowflake stencil and the Floral Snowflake stencil. I used them along with Distress Oxide inks and Distress Oxide Sprays to quickly create some what are some of my favourite designs this year!

I used the Studio Katia Snowflakes stencil for this first set of cards. I began with a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock. I sprayed the back of the Snowflake stencil with Pixie Spray, it makes keeping your stencils flat and in place so easy. I adhered the stencil, sticky side down, to panel so the snowflake is off the edge. I began by blending Scattered Straw Distress Oxide ink in the centre of the snowflake. Then working out from the centre I blended Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry and Spun Sugar Distress Oxide inks with the Studio Katia Ink Blender Brushes until I was happy with the blend. I intentionally did not cover the entire panel with ink, I let the Spun Sugar just fade off.

Each panel ended up a bit different depending on my ink blending, I wasn't too worried about getting the stencil spotless between each card. While cleaning off the stencil on my media mat I noticed the ink colours were seeping under the stencil. It looked like watercolour on the back, so I quickly grabbed another panel of Bristol Smooth and dropped the stencil on it. I wish I could have been able to get a better photo for you but this one turned out so fun. My favourite Christmas card I made!

Once all of the panels were dry I die cut them using the stitched rectangle from the Darling Ribbons & Trims die set. This gives a nice finish to the edge of the panel. The sentiment, Peace on earth, from the Poinsettia Border stamp set, was stamped and heat embossed with Wow Gold Pearl embossing powder on all the cards. Six cards and a bonus 7th!

For the second set of cards, I used Distress Oxide ink and Distress Oxide Sprays and with the Snowflake stencil and the Floral Snowflake stencil.

The first group were all made with the Snowflake stencil. Just like I did with the last set of cards, I cut nine panels of Bristol Smooth cardstock. I sprayed the back of the Snowflake stencil with Pixie Spray, adhered the stencil to the panel and put it into my Spray box. I sprayed Distress Oxide Sprays on to the panels one at a time using a variety of blues Distress Oxide Sprays--Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon, Faded Jeans and Cracked Pistachio. So fast, so fun and so pretty.

The next two cards are a bit different the first card uses Twisted Citron and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide Spray along with the Snowflake stencil.

For these next two cards I started by blending some Tumble Glass Distress Oxide ink onto the two panels just around the edge and keeping the centres mostly white. I used the Floral Snowflake stencil using Abandoned Coral and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide Sprays.

Once all of the panels were dry I die cut them using the stitched rectangle from the Darling Ribbons & Trims die set just like I did with the first set. All the sentiments were from the Gift Tags Greetings: Winter stamp set. Once everything was assembled I sprayed the panels with clear Glimmer Spray for extra shine and set them aside to dry.

A couple hours in my studio and I ended up with 16 Christmas cards!

A Few More 'Foil' Christmas Cards

Hi friends, sorry that It's been so long since I posted. After the 25 Days of Christmas Tags wrapped up I I changed gears and took a much needed break from crafting. It was not easy to step away from my craftroom but I was struggling to find my mojo and I told myself I was not going to make another card until I was creating from my heart and not from a deadline. After Christmas I was doing some tidying and I realized that I had not created any card with the ornament dies and the polished foil papers. So an idea was born...

I am up on the Birch Press Design blog today with a quick how to for making these brushed foil Christmas cards...for next year!

I made three cards using the Birch Press Design Marisol Ornament Layers dies and the Memory Box Polished Foil paper pad.

Full details are on the Birch Press Design blog.
Hope you have a chance to head over and say hello!

25 Days of Christmas Tags 2020 Superstar

Ready for the winner of the 25 Days of Christmas Tags Superstar?

There were 20 people who participated every day of the event--thank you so much!

Congratulations Carmela Hubler!

Carmela created some amazing tags inspired by our guests for all 26 Days!

The prize for the 25 Days of Christmas Tags Superstar as announced HERE is fabulous bag created by our own design team member Kim Heggins, a very talented sewer and who has an Etsy shop at Running Stitch Design, selling her fabulous handmade designs. Definitely worth checking out for those last minute Christmas gifts! 

Here is the prize below that she made for this year's winner. Carmela please EMAIL to me with your name, mailing address and telephone number and we can get your prize out to you right away.

This last post for year 10! Thank you once again to everyone who participated this year!

Merry Christmas and wishing everyone a Happy New Year, good health and safety for 2021! 

Quick and Elegant Christmas Card

I am over on the Studio Katia blog today with a really quick and easily reproducible Christmas card. We are getting to crunch time now and it seems no matter how early I start making Christmas cards in the year, I never seem to have enough.

I used the Poinsettia Border stamp set to create my card today using some coloured cardstock, embossing and ink blending. Simple design but also very elegant.

I started with a 5 1/4″ x 4″ piece of red cardstock. I used my anti static tool all over the red cardstock so that I could prevent stray embossing powder sticking where it shouldn’t. Next I stamped and white embossed the poinsettia border in the upper left corner of my card. The sentiment from the same set was built with the “Merry” script stamps and Christmas in the sans serif font from the same in the bottom right.

My very simple card design was pretty, but it seemed to be missing something. I added some dimension by ink blending Black Soot Distress Oxide ink in from the corners on the red embossed panel using Studio Katia Blending Brushes. I used a very light hand to build to shading up slowly. Remember to can always add more but you can’t take it away.

To add a bit of sparkle to the front of the card I sprayed it with Sparkle Shimmer Spritz. It didn’t want to smile for the camera, but trust me it added a bit of elegance. To add a bit more to the card front without going overboard I added some Studio Katia Wine Berry Pearls over top of the berries on the poinsettia using Studio Katia glue. I used the two smallest pearl sizes and grouped them in three. 

Thanks so much for stopping in today!

25 Days of Christmas Tags 2020 - Winners

 Thank you once again for making this year's 25 Days of Christmas Tags the best one yet!

A big shout out to my amazing design team, they have been busy behind the scenes creating beautiful tags for every day of the event to inspire you and they have been busy visiting your blogs to see all the fabulous tags you have linked up. Visit their blogs and you will definitely be inspired!

Kim Heggins
Joyce Mehrberg
Lindsey M-p
Carol Mayne
Lindsey Larsen
Ardyth

So many absolutely incredible tags created for your inspiration by my sponsors and guests. The 25 Days of Christmas Tags Pinterest Board for 2020 has all the tags from my guest designers and the 25 Days of Christmas Tags design team for the entire event. Inspiration whenever you want it!

456 pins on the 25 Days of Christmas Tags 2020

This year's linkup is full of so many gorgeous tags created by you during the event! 

1415 tags linked up in total--WOW!

 So much inspiration once again this year. Remember that you can always come back and view all these tags anytime if you need a little Christmas spirit!

With the help of random.org the winners have been chosen for this years event.

Prizes have been drawn from commenting on the posts on this blog during the event, the posts done for the event by my sponsors/guests and from the tags linked up following the set guidelines outlined the first day of the event HERE!

****Winners you have until Friday, December 18th, 11:55 pm EST to email me HERE with the subject line to read '25 Days of Christmas Tags 2020 Winner'. Include your full name, mailing address with postal/zip code, email address and the name of the prize that you have won! 

If you have not claimed your prize by the deadline I will need to draw another name, I'm sorry no exceptions!

Winners

Michele K Henderson

Sunny Studio Stamps - $25 Gift Certificate

#48 - Angela
Simon Says Stamps - $50 gift certificate

Mary Holshouser
Altenew - $25 gift certificate

#1271 - Mary-Anne V.
Newton's Nook - $25 gift certificate

artful notions
Ellen Hutson - $25 gift certificate

#533 - Robyn Oliver
Stamplorations - $25 gift certificate

Lisa Elton
Stamplorations - $25 gift certificate

#140 - Susan Renshaw
£20 - Uniko gift certificate

Lisa`s Creative Niche
Avery Elle - $25 gift certificate

#617 - Becca Yarling
Pink & Main - $50 Prize Pack

Karen Letchworth
Reverse Confetti - $25 gift certificate

#1005 Bunny
Reverse Confetti - $25 gift certificate

Ms. Tamp
Birch Press Design- $25 gift certificate

#258 - Laury55
Pinkfresh- $50 gift certificate

Subhashini
Paper Sweeties - $25 gift certificate

#732 - Gail
Lawn Fawn/Lawnfawnatics - $25 gift certificate

Arianna Barbara
Honey Bee Stamps - $25 gift certificate

#888 - Katie Ann Brooks
Concord & 9th - $50 gift certificate

Dawn S.
Picket Fence - $25 gift certificate

#240 - Chandhini
AJVD - $25 gift certificate

Fikreta
Waffle Flower - $25 gift certificate

#647 - Pat Gotsis
The Greetery - $25 gift certificate

#150 - erin t
Studio Katia - $30 gift certificate

#541 - Karen B
Erin Lee Creative - $50 gift certificate

Sharon G
Penguin Palace -  $35 gift certificate

#260 - Angela
Heffy Doodle - £35 gift certificate

Jade
Pretty Pink Posh - $25 gift certificate 

#1163 - ca_hoosier (Suellen Rowe)
MFT Stamps  - $50 gift certificate

Julie P
Pear Blossom Press - $25 gift certificate

Cassie Martin
Scrapbook And Cards Today - Autumn Scrapbook Kit

#3 - Beverly Sizemore
Janes Doodles - $35 gift certificate

Congratulations to all of the winners and thank you everyone for participating this year! 

There is ONE more prize for this years 25 Days of Christmas Tags 2019 Superstar! This special prize is for one person who participated in ALL 26 Days of the event and that the tags were made according to the contest guidelines! 

You could be the 25 Days of Christmas Tags 2020 Superstar if you created a tag for all 26 days of the event, link your name up here by 11:55 pm EST Friday, December 11th and I will draw one name to win this gorgeous project bag handmade by design team member Kim Heggins, Running Stitch Designs. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Covid free New Year! Stay safe!

Singing Snowman

Happy Friday!

I hope all my American friends are having wonderful Thanksgiving.

I have a post up on the Studio Katia blog this morning. I am finished my tags for this year and I am full on finishing up my Christmas cards now.

Hope you have a chance to head over to have a closer look at my card, see what products I used and a few more photos. Have a wonderful weekend!

 

25 Days of Christmas Tags 2020 - Day 26

  

Check out the 25 Days of Christmas Tags 2020 Pinterest Board we  have so many amazing designer tags added so far--Click HERE to see them all!

Welcome to Day 26, Bonus Day!! All the details and the linkup can be found HERE!

I cannot believe how quickly the month has flown by, but I am thrilled to share that for our Bonus Day I have My Favorite Things as my final sponsor.

They are offering one lucky winner a $50 gift certificate to their online store.

I have some of the designers from My Favorite Things Stamps here today to share some amazing tag inspiration with you...

Francine Vuilleme

Karolyn Loncon

Inge Groot

Melania Deasy

Marieke Slaats

Alberto Gava

Rachel Alvarado

Anna Lorenzetto

Amy Yang

Laura Dovalo

Angelica Conrad

And today's Special Guest is my talented friend Donna Mikasa!

Donna Mikasa

From the 25 Days of Christmas Tags Design Team...

Joyce Mehrberg

Kim Heggins

Ardyth

Lindsey M-P

Carol Mayne

Lindsey Larsen

...and one more from me!

Tracey McNeely

Thank you all so much for visiting every day for the past 26 days! 

 A special thank you to Kim Heggins, Lindsey M-P, Joyce Mehrberg, Carol Mayne, Lindsey Larsen and Ardyth Percy-Robb. They are my amazing design team and have worked with me behind the scenes for months and have probably paid a visit to your blog if you linked up a tag this year!

I hope that you found the event inspiring. There are almost 450 tags from all of our guests on this years Pinterest board, link above and as I finalize this post there are 996 entries in the linkup, my guess is by the time you read this is the morning we will have crested 1,000! I have been so inspired by all of your creations.

Watch over the next couple of days for the linkup for the special prize for the 2020 25 Days of Christmas Tags Superstar chosen from those of you who add your name to the Superstar link up and made a tag for all 26 days of the event!

Remember that you still have one more week to finish up your tags and add them to the main link for your chance to win one of the many prizes sponsored by 30 amazing companies! 

The contest and linky will close December 3rd 11:59 pm  (EST)! Prizes will be announced on or before December 10th here on my blog.