February Christmas cards: Festive faux postage

For my February Christmas cards I knew I wanted to use the Ringed with Nature stamp set (Stampin' Up!). After a little trial and error, I ended up with a festive faux postage layout. 

I haven't made a faux postage card in quite awhile, but I love the way they look. To make these I used the Master Layouts 11 die set from Gina K Designs, which was a Christmas gift from my sister. I cut the postage panels out of white card stock, and used another die from the set to make a mask out of masking paper. I placed the mask over one of the postage panels and used a blending brush to apply a light layer of Crumb Cake ink around the edges of each "stamp." Before removing the mask I stamped the images using two shades of green ink and two shades of red. Then I carefully removed the mask, applied it to the next panel and repeated the process.

Once all the panels were stamped I used a thin paintbrush to add gold details to the images (the inside of the poinsettias and the ends of the berries). I wish I had taken a close-up of the gold so you could see it better. I also spattered gold paint on the upper left and lower right corners of the mint green card bases.

I glued each panel to a card base -- after a lot of debate over whether they should be placed straight or at an angle. I stamped the sentiment (from a past My Monthly Hero kit) using dark green ink on white card stock and cut it out with a strip die. I used foam tape to add the sentiment to the left side of the card, with a couple of die cut sprigs (one gold, one dark green) tucked behind. I finished the design with three small clear droplets.

After I finished the six cards I planned to make, I used a few leftover pieces to make one more. Bonus! This time I cut apart two of the faux postage stamps and combined them with a die-cut, embossed wood slice. As with the previous cards, I used gold paint, die-cut sprigs, a sentiment strip, and clear droplets.

So far the Christmas cards I've made this year have had traditional colors and images. I think I'm going to have to mix it up a little next month! Thanks for stopping by!