The Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - September 2021

 

 

Hello everyone and welcome to the September 2021 edition of The Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas. I cannot believe that Christmas is 3 months away!  Well, the elves...myself, Debra of Meticulosity, and Lisa of Life of a BZScrapper, have been busy this month making new card ideas to share with you guys.  

I was so busy preparing for a class that I was worried I would not have 4 cards made.  But I was able to come up with 4 cool ideas and I hope you like them. 

Links to all the other Crafty Elves' projects and social media links are at the end of this post.

Now, on to my cards!

Card No. 1

 

This card!  I loved making this card!  And here's an interesting fact about me...something only a few people know...Justin...Sue...Debra....I am NOT a fan of these triangle vector trees.  Yes, I know most trees are triangular but I like real looking trees.  But when I saw this digital set of the Christmas trees from LineArtLover on Etsy, the idea for this card immediately popped into my head and I had to have it.  I also loved the idea of coloring this image with different shades of green.  

Note:  Just as I was preparing this post I saw that Brutus Monroe is selling this image as a clear stamp called Ho Ho Ho. As much as I love digi stamps, there are limitations using them.  So, if you want this as a stamp, you now have that option. 

• I started by printing the image on a piece of white cardstock so it would fit a slimline card front.  
• Then I colored the image using a variety of BIC Intensity Ultra Fine Tip Markers.  The tip on these makers is perfect for coloring images like this with small detailed areas.
• Then I fussy cut the image because I am going to layer it on my background. 
• For my background, I cut a piece of white cardstock, 3.25" x 8.25".  Then I blended the sky using 5 distress inks from Ranger.  I started at the bottom with antique linen.  Then, working my way up, I used victorian velvet, then seedless preserves, then chipped sapphire, and finally, black soot.
• I adhered my image at the bottom.  I used a 1" circle punch to cut another piece of white cardstock, for the moon, which I adhered to the card front.  
• I stamped Santa and the Sleigh (retired/Brasilian company) over the moon and embossed with black embossing powder.  
• Then I die cut the Merry Christmas sentiment (Elizabeth Craft) from white cardstock and adhered it to the card front. 
• Lastly, I adhered this to a piece of black cardstock and then to my slimline card base. 

Card No. 2

I got the idea for this card after watching THIS video of Ann Melvin, of Positively Papercraft, showing different ways to use shapes on cards.  She made a card like this with a circle die and I changed it up by going with a square inside a rectangle.  

• I made a top-folding A2 card base of white cardstock.
• Using a 4" x 5.25" stitched rectangle die, I die-cut a piece of gold mirror cardstock and a piece of red cardstock.  
• I adhered the gold mirror cardstock to the card front.  
• Then I cut the red piece into 4 pieces and then went back and removed an additional 1/8" from each side.
• I adhered the red pieces to the gold.  The 1/8" leaves a small space for the gold to show thru.  
• I printed the "joy square" from THIS sentiment set I purchased on Etsy, layered it on a piece of red cardstock, and then adhered it to the center of the card using foam tape.
• Lastly, I added 6 crystals to the card front.

Card No. 3

Believe it or not but I have had this die - Layered Snowflakes from Reverse Confetti for years!  YEARS!  And this is my first time using it.  I cannot tell you how many times I have pulled this die out to use it only to get distracted with something else and it goes back into the box.  Although this die is retired (sadly) you could use the Snowflake Magic Confetti Cuts, also from Reverse Confetti, to do a card just like this one.    

• I started with a top-folding A2 card base of white cardstock. 
• I cut another piece of white cardstock using a stitched rectangle die which I then embossed using an embossing folder from Sunlit (Brasilian brand), which I then adhered to the card front.
• Using Red, Gold, and Green Mirri mirror cardstock, all from Anthony's Paper Craft, I die-cut the different layers of the Layered Snowflake.  Then I adhered each of the layers using small foam tape.  Once finished, I adhered the whole snowflake to the card front.
• I printed out the Merry Christmas sentiment on a piece of white cardstock, layered on a piece of the Red Mirri mirror cardstock, and then to the card front.

Card No. 4

I really love how this card turned out and how quick it is to make.  I've wanted to use this Ornament Set 2 from Anthony's Paper Craft for so long and it feels good to finally get this idea out of my head too.

• I started with a top-folding A2 card base of white cardstock.  
• Next, I used 3 of the dies from the Stitched Rectangle Set 1 Dies from Pink & Main.  I cut a piece of red cardstock and a piece of striped decorative paper from the Dear Santa 6x6 pad from PhotoPlay.  Then a piece of white cardstock which I embossed with the Swiss Dots folder from Cuttlebug/Provocraft, which I then adhered to the card front.
• I die cut the Snow Globe die (IO Stamps) - the base using Gold Mirri mirror cardstock (Anthony's Paper Craft) and the globe part using white cardstock.
• Using Ornament Set 2 (Anthony's Paper Craft) and Jet Black Archival Ink, I stamped 3 of the images on the white globe section to form my scene.  
• Then I masked off the bottom section and distressed the sky with spun sugar, scattered straw, and spiced marmalade distress inks (Ranger).
• I adhered the globe to the card front using foam tape.  Then I used some Frosted Lace Stickles (Ranger) along the scene edge to imitate snow.  
• Lastly, I cut my sentiment and adhered it over the snow globe base. 

Done!  

Another month under my belt.  4 new Christmas cards for my stash this year.  Do you have a favorite?

Please remember to visit the other Crafty Elves as well as our Guest Crafty Elf. Each of them has even more amazing card ideas for the holiday season and it's never too early to start making some.  Just click on their links to go right to their May 2021 creations! 

Debra's Blog Post - Meticulosity

Debra's IG Page - djdavison814

Lisa's Blog Post - Life of a BZscrapper

Lisa's IG Page - bzscrapper

My IG Page - worldofmichaeltrent

My YouTube Page - World of Michael Trent

Until next time...hugs from Brasil!

~Michael