March Christmas cards: Naughty or nice?

I don't make a lot of Santa-themed Christmas cards, so my March Christmas cards are a little change of pace for me. The stamp I used is actually the same style background stamp as the one I used for my Easter cards earlier this week. But this time I just used it as a background because I don't have the coordinating die to cut out these fun Santas.

Supplies:
Stamps: St. Nick Background (Taylored Expressions), Retro Holiday Greetings (Essentials by Ellen)
Paper: Toffee card stock (Taylored Expressions)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Sugar Cube (Taylored Expressions), Poppy Parade (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Everyday Label punch (Stampin' Up!), jute twine (May Arts Ribbon), rhinestones (Stampin' Up!), 1/16" hole punch (Fiskars), foam tape (3M)

I used Toffee card stock, which is a kraft color, for the card bases and stamped the Santa background using black ink. The background stamp also comes with clear stamps to fill in the whole Santa image -- hat, face, and beard -- but I didn't want to add that much color. I finally settled on just making red hats with white trim and pompoms, and I really like how it looks on the Toffee card stock.

I wanted a larger sentiment for the front of the card, and when I came across this one in my stash, it seemed perfect. (I hope I'm on the "nice" list!) I stamped the sentiment using the same red ink as the hats (Poppy Parade) and then punched it out with a label punch.

To add a little texture to the cards, I punched a 1/16" hole in each side of the label, threaded a piece of jute twine through the holes, wrapped the twine around the card front, and tied it off in a knot at the left side of the tag. (I also put some foam tape behind the label to keep it secured to the card and to add some dimension.) The finishing touch was a tiny rhinestone on the end of three of the Santa hats.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hippity hoppity Easter cards

I know after 2020 a lot of people had high (or maybe just higher) expectations for 2021. But so far this year has not been proving itself to be any better. Without going into detail, there has been a lot of worry, stress, and sadness, and I haven't had any interest or energy to devote time to blog posts for the last six weeks or so. I have made a few cards here and there, though, to give myself a bit of distraction, and now that we have some sunshine and springtime weather, I'm hoping things will start to turn around.

So to get back into the swing of things, and with Easter coming up next week, I decided I should share these cute little bunny cards.

Supplies:
Stamps: Hop to It Background, All Tucked In - Easter (Taylored Expressions)
Paper: Whisper White card stock, Neutrals Core-dinations card stock (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Calypso Coral, Petal Pink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Hop to It die (Taylored Expressions), jute twine (May Arts Ribbon), foam tape (3M)

I bought this background stamp around Easter last year and didn't have a chance to use it then, so I figured I'd better pull it out before another year passes by. It's a fun stamp that is filled with these adorable bunny faces and comes with a few additional photopolymer stamps to fill in the bunnies' ears and cheeks. You can use the stamp to create a background, or you use the coordinating die to cut them all out, which is what I did here. 

These cards are 4" x 4", so they are a bit smaller than a U.S. standard A2-sized card. (Although I'm planning to mail them in A2 envelopes so I won't have to use extra postage because of the square shape.) I stamped the background image a few times on white card stock, used several spring-y colors to add the details on the ears and cheeks, and set out die cutting a pile of bunnies.

 I used Core-dinations card stock for the card bases because I wanted to add a little texture to these clean and simple cards. For each card I arranged four bunnies in a grid and attached them to the card base with foam tape, leaving a little extra space at the bottom for a sentiment. I stamped the sentiment on white card stock, trimmed the ends into a banner shape, added a loop of jute twine to the back, and then used foam tape to attach the banner below the bunnies. Now I just need to get these cards in the mail so they (hopefully!) arrive before Easter!

Thanks for stopping by today! I did make a few March Christmas cards, so I'll be back to post those in the next couple of days. And I'll try to work toward a more regular posting schedule in April.