Welcome to the Stampin’ Pretty Pals’ Blog Hop! This month, the theme is “Home for the Holidays”. We really hope that you enjoy and are inspired by them! As you hop from blog to blog, don’t forget to leave comments because we love hearing from you. You will find the lineup at the end of my post to help you “hop” along from Pal to Pal.
Do you make lots of Christmas cards? Today I would like to share a Christmas card that is both easy and quick to make. I chose to use the Perfectly Plaid stamps set and coordinating Pine Tree Punch. Combine those with a little watercolor wash and you have an on-trend Christmas card for the 2021 Home for the Holidays card.
SUPPLIES & MEASUREMENTS
- PAPER
- Thick Basic White cardstock: 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ scored at 4-1/4″ (Don’t forget to use the Bone Folder for a nice crease)
- Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper:
- 4-3/4″ x 3-1/2″ (card panel to be stamped)
- 1-5/8″ x 4-1/4″ for sentiment
- 2″ x 3″ for pine tree
- Evening Evergreen cardstock: 3-3/4″ x 5″
- Gold Foil scraps for stars
- STAMP SET
- Perfectly Plaid stamp set
- DIES / PUNCHES
- Pine Tree punch
- Christmas Tree dies (stars)
- INKS / MARKERS / REFILLS
- Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad
- Soft Succulent ink refill
- OTHER SUPPLIES
- red rhinestones
- Dimensionals & Multipurpose Liquid Glue
- Timber 3D embossing folder
- TOOLS
- Paper Trimmer & Snips
- Bone Folder
- Water Painter
- Cut & Emboss Machine
THE PROCESS
I drew a light pencil line about an inch from the lower edge of the Fluid 100 panel. Then stamped 2 pine trees using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. TIP: I lined the tree trunks up on the pencil line to make sure they were straight and about 2″ apart.
INKY DECISIONS: Do you ever get confused when to use what ink? The basic rule is that water and alcohol do not mix. That means that you can use water-based ink (our wonderful Stampin’ Ink Pads) and color the image with the alcohol-based Stampin’ Blends. But if you want to watercolor, you will need alcohol-based ink. The best one is Staz-On. However, I used the Memento Tuxedo Black. I did get a little smearing when I water-colored over the stamped image. For this project, I was fine with the smearing. But you might not. If not, use the Staz-On ink to stamp your image.
Here is a quick reference for Stampin’ Up! Inks.
I stamped another pine tree on a scrap of Fluid 100 watercolor paper and punched it out using the Pine Tree punch. Add Dimensionals behind the pine tree.
Use the Water Painter to do a quick color wash on all the trees with the Soft Succulent ink refill (add water and color until you are pleased with the color intensity).
Add a little Soft Succulent watercolor wash to ground the trees. TIP: Swoosh the color in from the outer edge toward the center on each side. This will help eliminate some of the color globbing.
Add red rhinestones to the center tree. Die-cut some stars from Gold Foil using the Christmas Tree dies and scatter them around the trees.
Stamp the sentiment and use the Banner Pick a Punch to ‘fish tail’ the ends.
Then layer everything up as shown in the picture. Add the completed panel to a card base. For extra texture, emboss the card base with the Timber 3D embossing folder. HIN: If you leave out the embossing, you don’t need the Cut & Emboss Machine. That makes this a perfect project if you are on the go.
ONWARD TO SEE MORE
More inspiration awaits, so use the lineup below to visit the rest of the Design Team. The Pals are excited to show you what they’ve created! Then, please mark your calendars for our next blog hop on December 8th. Our theme will be “My Favorite Things” with our design team showcasing some of their favorite products from any catalog they choose.
Until then, have fun in your craft space.
Stampin’ Pretty Pals Blog Hop
- Mary Fish at Stampin’ Pretty
- Su Mohr at Aromas And Art
- Deb Walker at Deb Stamps Life
- Tricia Chuba at ButterDish Designs
- Peggy Noe at Pretty Paper Cards
- Lori Pinto at LollyPop Paper and Ink
- Annette Elliott at AESTAMPS A LATTE
- Debbie Mageed at Secrets to Stamping
- Amanda Howard at Papercrafting With Amanda
- Mary Hanson at Up North Stampin’
- Rae Harper Burnet at Wild West Paper Arts
- Ann Murray at Murray Stamps, INK ** YOU ARE HERE **
- Jackie Beers at Blue Line Stamping
- Megan Cooper at Lazy Daze Stampin’
- Stesha Bloodhart at Stampin’ Hoot!
- Karen Hallam at Karen’s Stamping Habit
- Beth McCullough at Stamping Mom
- Pamela Sadler at Stampin Pink Rose
- Melissa Seplowitz at The Stamping Ninja
- Windy Ellard at Windy’s Wonderful Creations
- Sue Jackson at Just Peachy Stamping
- Lisa Ann Bernard at Queen B Creations
- Lori Webb at Clever Copies
- Jill Loveland at Simple Stamping
SUPPLIES
Thank you for visiting. I hope you enjoyed our Home for the Holidays projects. Here are the supply links for my card. If you don’t have a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, I would love to be your resource. During the month of November, you can join for $75 and receive $125 in Stampin’ Up! products of your choice with FREE shipping PLUS receive a 20% discount on future purchases. Contact me for more information.
Ann, I just love the simple elegance of this card! Thank you for hopping along with us this month too!
Thank you for your kind comment. I enjoyed all the hop-along projects too.
Such a wonderful holiday card, Ann! Your trees are perfect as the focal image and love the gold stars. Thanks for joining the blog hop this month.
Thank you so very much, Debbie. I love using this card-map. It is very versatile. I think I will call it the power of 3. LOL
Your water coloring is so perfect! I love this stamp set and will have to try water coloring the trees. It’s so wonderful that the effect is perfectly imperfect!
Thanks, Sue. I love perfectly imperfect.
A beautiful card! I love all the tips you gave to help us out.
You are very welcome. I always hope that some tip will give an ah-ha moment. I have had so many that I am glad I am not a head-smacker. lol!
Love the watercolor detail!
Thanks!
What a fun scene. I love the gold stars you added. Reminds me of Charlie Brown Christmas. Too cute.
Yeah, you get it. I still love the Charlie Brown Christmas.
Such a pretty card Ann. I love all the little details!
Thank you so much.
Sweet trees and love the gold stars!
Yep, I felt I need some gold stars. I used to be very competitive with gold stars in school. This make me chuckle when I was placing them.
Ann, your card is simply beautiful!
Thank you so very much. I feel like I just got a rock star accolade. 🙂
Very pretty!
Thank you, Pamela.
Great fun to see how you put your own stamp on our hop Pal!
I get a smile every time I read your comment… ‘put your own stamp on ..’ It just tickles my funny bone. Thank you!
Your card is stunning and I want to make one just like yours! I’m going to try…. Hopefully it will be as beautiful as your card. Thank you for sharing your creativity with me! Hugs!
Rosemarie
I am very honored that you are going to make this card. As I look at it, I think putting it on a Soft Succulent cardstock card base would be even better.
Really pretty card, Ann! Love the watercoloring!
Glad you like the card and the watercoloring. Super quick swooshy watercolor is my fav.
I love this stamp set, but forget to pull it out! Thanks for showcasing it this morning. I do love your watercolor swooshes behind the trees. Beautiful!
Thank you for your kind comment. It is so easy to forget about stamp sets that have been around because we always seem to focus on the new shiny stuff. Pull out your Perfectly Plaid ss and Pine Tree punch for some quick projects.
This is a favorite stamp set of mine. I love the trees as the focal. Very pretty!
Thank you. This is one of my favorite stamp sets too. It’s all about the punch. LOL