January Christmas cards: Gel print trees

With everything going on in the world, I almost completely forgot to make any January Christmas cards this year. Luckily I was off work this weekend, so I was able to make a few cards yesterday and share them today.

Supplies:
Stamps: A Little Christmas Carol (Unity Stamp Co), Christmas Quilt (Stampin' Up!)
Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White card stock; gold foil sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!), Sugar Cube (Taylored Expressions)
Accessories: Perfect Pines dies (Stampin' Up!), Merry Minis punch pack (Stampin' Up!), cranberry grosgrain ribbon (Stampin' Up!), foam tape (3M)
Other: Gel plate prints in various shades of green

Years ago I made a few gel press prints with green paint. I saved them because I thought they would be perfect for die cutting Christmas trees, but I never remembered to use them. Well, since I was short on time for this batch of cards, it was the perfect solution for quick focal points. I was able to die cut twelve trees (three different sizes) from the gel press prints. I made three cards with a single tree and three cards with a trio of trees.

For the background I used a stamp I bought just before the holidays last year. It has lyrics to Christmas carols (religious and secular) in a type-style font. I love it!

I also splattered the background with white pigment ink to create the look of falling snow. To do this, I squeezed a few drops of pigment ink from the refill bottle on a clear stamp block and added a tiny bit of water. Mix it with a paintbrush and then tap the brush over the card to create the splatter. Add more ink and/or water as necessary. Depending on the size of the drops and the amount of water, it may take awhile for the splatter to dry. I ended up blotting the card fronts and then using my heat tool just a bit to help them dry.

Finally, I added a gold star to one tree on each card and brought in a bit of red with grosgrain ribbon and an enamel dot on each card.

Inside the cards I added a layer of white card stock with a sentiment stamped in Crumb Cake ink. I had some small scraps from the gel prints, so I punched out six tiny trees and added one below the sentiment in each card.

Thanks for stopping by today!