Christmas Cards 2022

I have made a number of handmade Christmas cards this year and now that the recipients have hopefully received them (although with the recent postal strikes one can never tell) I thought I’d share some photos of them. This year I based all of my cards around three sets of nativity silhouette stamps by Lavinia Stamps – ‘Mary’, ‘Three Kings and a Star’ & ‘North Star Mini’.

[Image ID] A wintry scene with a blue starlit sky. The focal point is a window through which the star of Bethlehem can be seen. In the foreground is a black silhouette of Mary and Joseph. He is in front and she is sitting on the donkey nursing baby Jesus. [description end]

[Image ID] The card has been tilted to catch the light and show the golden glow of the star of Bethlehem and Jesus’ halo. [description end]

[Image ID] A similar card to the previous one but the sky is a lighter blue, and there is a yellow and green glow round the star of Bethlehem. [description end]

[Image ID] The card has been tilted to catch the light and show the golden glow of the star of Bethlehem and Jesus’ halo. [description end]

These first two cards are quite similar, differing only in the ink colours I chose for the sky. The first step in creating this card was ink-blending the background. I kept it quite simple by using one main colour for the sky, with a second tone for the highlight around the star, and a single colour for the land below. I used a piece of torn paper to mask off the sky or ground whilst blending the other one so the colours didn’t merge. The irregular undulating effect from torn paper is a very effective way to create a hill effect on a card, so is the technique I use most when I want that effect. The indented lines radiating out across the sky in the window-like frame meant that it was perfect for a Christmas card as they draw attention to the star. The fact that the die cut the sky section of the window was also handy as it meant I didn’t have to mask off the frame!

[Image ID] A landscape oriented card. A blue and white background with a white snowflake border round the edge and the whole thing is framed by a narrow border of kraft card. In the bottom left corner are 3 silhouettes of the Wise Men on camels. Above them are the words ‘Joy to the world’. In the top right hand corner is a golden Star of Bethlehem. [description end]

[Image ID] The design of this card is the same as the dark one. The only difference is that this one has a lighter, turquoise blue background. [description end]

I also played with colour variation for this pair of cards, and it was quite interesting to see how the same elements look different with the two colour schemes. I started by ink blending over a snowflake border stencil onto white, then stamped the wise men and the sentiment onto a piece of kraft card before cutting them out and gluing them onto the ink blended panel. I stamped the star outline from the wise men set directly onto the panel with the same blue ink as the wise men, then I filled it in with a gold glitter effect pen.

[Image ID] A large expanse of blue, starlit sky with the star of Bethlehem the focal point within that. The bottom part of the card is orange, yellow and brown tones to suggest sandy or dusty ground. The focal point here are the black silhouettes of the wise men on camels. [description end]

[Image ID] The card has been tilted so the shiny stars are more obvious. [description end]

This is the first of three cards where I didn’t make colour variations. I created the sky and land effect using the same technique as the first pair of cards, but this time I sprayed water onto the sky and blotted it off to create the ‘bleached’ speckles. 

[Image ID] A shaped border with a trefoil in each corner, surrounds the design. A curved, green banner, with Season’s Greetings on it is at the top. Six different shaped, green baubles hang below the banner. At the bottom of the card is a blue silhouette of Mary and Joseph. He is in front and she is sitting on the donkey nursing baby Jesus. [description end]

[Image ID] The card has been tilted to catch the light so the shimmer effects on the baubles can be seen clearly. [description end]

I started with the baubles stencil as I saw a card made with it in the magazine it came with and had wanted to make one similar ever since – interestingly, this card turned out nothing like the inspiration.

I ink blended through the stencil to colour the baubles, then outlined them with a black fineliner. I then coloured the areas of the bauble left blank by the stencil using a Nuvo Glitter marker, I used a different glitter pen to colour the bows and draw the strings up to the banner. The banner was die cut from white card and ink blended with the same colours as the baubles.

The corner design of the card panel was created with an old design of corner punch from Tonic Studios (I don’t think they make punches these days) and then coloured with the same Nuvo Glitter Marker as the baubles. Mary and Joseph, as well as the sentiment, were stamped with the same blue Versafine Clair ink I’ve used throughout.

[Image ID] The background is blue snowflakes, of varying designs, on a tessellating blue pattern. A large golden bauble featuring a winter church scene sits on top of the background. At the bottom, and partially covering the bottom of the bauble are the words ‘Peace on Earth’ above which is a dove in flight, with an olive branch in its beak. [description end]

[Image ID] The card has been tilted so that the shine of the gold bauble is more visible. [description end]

This card began with the peace sentiment as I’d seen it in a stamp set I’d had out for another card and decided to base this card around it. I stamped the sentiment in brown ink, and then outlined the words with a gold gel pen. After that I worked on the card background which was created by stamping a snowflake background stamp in blue ink and then inkblending various blue tones through a tessellating patterned stencil on top. Once the background was complete I glued the gold bauble die cut on top and drew a line for the string with a brown fineliner.

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Rounded window die: Memory Box Magazine (Craft Essentials Series 137)

Church circle scene die: Papercrafter Magazine issue 177

Banner die: from The Works a couple of years ago

Corner punch: Tonic Studios

Nativity silhouette & star stamps: ‘Mary’, ‘Three Kings and a Star’, & ‘North Star Mini’ by Lavinia stamps

Snowflake Background stamp: Hobbycraft

Sentiments: older freebies from Creative Stamping Magazine

Tesselating stencil: ‘Moroccan Screen’ by Pretty Quick

Baubles & snowflake border stencil: Tonic Studios official magazine (not the craft essential series kits) issue 4

Versafine Clair inks: Warm Breeze (blue), Acorn (brown), & Nocturne (black)

Distress Inks: Chipped sapphire, Peacock Feathers, Weathered Wood, Pumice Stone, Crushed Olive, & Peeled Paint

Distress Oxides: Prize Ribbon, Tumbled Glass, & Fossilised Amber

Gold gel pen: Uniball Signo (long design)

Glitter effect gel pens: Uniball

Nuvo Glitter Marker: Peppermint Cream

Nuvo Drops: Dream Drops (iridescent finish) in either Dragon Scales or Frosted Lake – don’t remember which.

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