November Christmas cards: Woodland magic

I didn't plan to make any more holiday cards this year, but then a couple of weeks ago I won an Instagram contest from Lavinia Stamps, and my prize was the all the stamps in their latest release. I was so surprised -- and excited! And since I had a whole bunch of new amazing wintery stamps, I had to make a small batch of woodland magic Christmas cards.

I have admired Lavinia Stamps from afar, but I've been intimidated because they're not my usual style. So for my first cards with these stamps, I stuck with clean-and-simple layouts. I used a masking stencil and Distress Oxide inks to create a deckled rectangle in the middle of a white panel and then spritzed on a bit of water.

When the panels were dry I stamped the images in black. I added sparkle by splattering metallic watercolor on the pine tree card and using a glitter Gelli Roll pen to color accents on the card with the fairy (Eve). I adhered the panels to black card bases and finished them with a few confetti sequins.

I used the same basic process/techniques for the next pair of cards, although I switched the color palette. I also added some tone-on-tone stamping with the Forest Leaf image on the background of the card with the smaller tree. To make the sentiment strip with the large tree, I stamped "Noel" on a strip of white card stock and trimmed each end into a V. Using my bone folder, I added a curve to the strip (like it was curling ribbon). I placed a double layer of foam tape behind the middle of the strip and glued the ends directly to the panel.

For the last two cards I decided to shake things up just a little -- starting with kraft card bases. I ink blended a couple shades of brown ink around the edges of the card bases to add some depth. Then to make the Peace card, I used the Fairy Catkins images stamped repeatedly in a circle to create a wreath, although mine is a bit wonky. I stamped a small flourish image in each corner of the card base and finished with metallic paint splatter and a few pearls.

For the fairy card, I layered stamp images on the card base: the Leaf Bouquet stamped in brown, small and large snowflakes in white, and the fairy (Starr) and sentiment in black. There's metallic splatter (of course), and a few rhinestones are the finishing touch.

I had a lot of fun making these cards, and I'm looking forward to adding more Lavinia Stamps to my collection. And if you'd like more inspiration, my friend Sunshine shares beautiful cards made with Lavinia Stamps on her blog!

Thanks for stopping by!