Crafty Elves Countdown to Christmas - August 2020 Edition + Video

 

Hello everyone and welcome to the August 2020 edition of The Crafty Elves Countdown to Christmas.  I cannot believe that Christmas is in 122 days!  Something new with this post - I made a video showing you guys the cards I made with a quick explanation of how I made them.  

You can also check out the video directly on my YouTube Channel - HERE.

The other Crafty Elves, Debra, Lisa, and Jessica, have also been busy making their Christmas cards for you to see and the links to their blogs are at the end of this post.  I hope you will find some time to show them some love also!

Now, on to my cards - 

Card Idea No. 1

• I started by making a top-folding A2 card our of white cardstock and adhering a piece of red cardstock to the front.
• Using a 4" x 5.25" stitched rectangle die, I cut a piece of holiday paper, which I adhered to a piece of fun foam, which i then adhered to the card front. 
• I stamped the Winter Village (H170/Retired) from Great Impressions Rubber Stamps and the sentiment from Christmas Sentiments 1 from Anthony's Paper Craft on to a piece of white cardstock and colored it in using a variety of BIC Intensity Ultra Fine Tip markers.
• I trimmed the image, layered it on a piece of fun foam, and adhered it to the card front.
• Lastly, I used Frosted Lace Stickles on all the areas where there is snow in the image.

Card Idea No. 2

For this card, I used a stamp called "Three Ornaments" from Motivet, a brand that, sadly, went out of business many years ago.  But almost every stamp company has Christmas ornament images that you can use if you wish to re-create the card.

• I started by making a top-folding A2 card of white cardstock, to which I adhered a piece of Christmas designer paper.
• I cut a piece of white cardstock and stamped the "Three Ornaments" image as well as the sentiment from Christmas Sentiments 1 from Anthony's Paper Craft.
• I "colored" parts of the ornaments using Gold, True Blue, Firefly, and Yellow Stickles (Ranger).  I also adhered small crystals and placed this to the side to dry.
• I die cut a piece of red cardstock using an Inside Scallop Stitched Rectangle die.    
• Once the Stickles were dry, I adhered that piece to the back of the red rectangle piece, which I then adhered to the card front. 

Card Idea Nos. 3(a and b)

For these two cards, I used the new Peppermint Wishes Digital Stamp set and the Peppermint Wishes Digital Paper/Ephemera set from Polka Dot Orchard.   

A few weeks ago I made a Christmas photo folio,  and the cover of the folio looked like a card, and I decided to recreate it here.  

• I started with a top folding A2 card base of red cardstock.  
• I printed one of the candy-cane papers from the Peppermint Wishes Ephemera set, cut a piece of it using a stitched rectangle die, adhered it to a piece of fun foam and then I adhered it to the card front.
• I applied Christmas Red Stickles (Ranger)  to the candy canes and set it aside to dry.  
• I printed the sentiment from the Peppermint Wishes Stamp set, cut it using a stitched banner die and adhered it to a piece of red cardstock.  
• Once the Stickles were dry, I adhered the sentiment to the card front using foam tape.  

For my 2nd card - 

• I started with a top-folding A2 card base of white cardstock, to which I adhered one of the designs from the Peppermint Wishes Ephemera set.
• Then I printed out the large background image from the Peppermint Wishes Stamp set, colored it using BIC Intensity Ultra Fine Tip markers, adhered it to a piece of red cardstock and then to the card front.    
• I printed the sentiment, also from the Peppermint Wishes Stamp set, adhered it to a piece of red cardstock and then to the card front. 
• The last thing I did was to color in some of the images using True Blue and Christmas Red Stickles and to adhere a small crystal on the center of each snowflake. 

Card Idea Nos. 4(a-d)

For these 4 cards, I used images from The Happy Holiday Tags Bundle Digital set from The Paper Rabbit on Etsy.  You might know The Paper Rabbit as Lindsay Ostrom - Creator of Cuteness - one of my favorite designers.  The bundle comes with both Christmas and Hanukkah images. 

 

I will not bore you with a post about all 4 cards other than to explain:

• I made my top folding card bases to which I adhered a piece of decorative paper or cardstock.  
• I colored and cut out the 4 images I wanted to use.  Some of them had a "to/for" section on the tag, which I tried to trim away.  
• I layered the images on to a piece of red cardstock and then on to the card fronts.  
• I adhered my sentiment under the images except for the Santa image where I adhered it, diagonally, across the "to/for" sentiment on the tag.
• Lastly, I used a variety of Stickles (Ranger) and, at times, enamel dots to add some bling and fun to the card fronts.  

Bigger versions of each of the cards are below - 

Done!!

I'd love to know which card(s) is/are your favorite and I really hope these cards have inspired you to dig into your stamp stash and to find the time to make some holiday cards yourself.

Please remember to check out what the other Crafty Elves have up their sleeves this month - 

Debra (Meticulosity)

Lisa (Life of a BZ Scrapper)

Jessica (Polka Dot Orchard)

As always, thanks so much for stopping by my blog today!  You can also follow me on my Instagram page by clicking HERE!

Until next time, hugs from Brasil - 

~Michael

For the Bride and Groom...

Hello everyone and welcome to August 2020!  This year is just flying by and I cannot believe that it will be the holidays in 5 months.  If we have holidays this year!  

It's time for a new challenge on the If You Give A Crafter A Cookie Challenge Blog.  If you would like to play along with us, below is the "inspiration photo" that the team had to work with for Challenge No. 148.  You could make a wedding card, a floral card, a basket of flowers...plenty of ideas.    

When I first saw the photo, I immediately thought of a white on white wedding card.  The card came together very quickly and, it's quite classy! 

I cut a piece of heavyweight white cardstock in half on the short side.  I made my top-folding A2 card base using one half, and, with the other half, I die cut the Quilted Frame Elle-ments die from Avery Elle.  I also cut a piece of white fun foam to fit under the Quilted Frame.  

I adhered the fun foam to the quilted frame piece, which I then adhered to the card front.  Then I adhered a small half pearl to each of the crosshatches using Multi-Matte Medium.  I also stamped the bride and groom from Wedding by Inkadinkdo on to the oval center part.  

I adhered the oval bride and groom to the card front using foam tape and I added some Clear Wink of Stella to the bride's dress to give shimmer.  Then I stamped the sentiment from the Life Stuff Sentiments set (IOStamps), die-cut it using a stitched banner die, and adhered it to the card front.  Lastly, I adhered 3 flowers near the banner. 

 

Done!  Now if only I had a wedding to go to or a couple to give the card.  LOL  I'd love to know what you think of the card.  And, if you play along with the challenge, please let me know so I can check out your card.  Thanks for stopping by the blog today. 

Stay safe and, until next time - 

Hugs from Brasil -

~Michael