Favourite Christmas Cards of 2016

Now, normally this subject would not even arise, as up until this year, my Christmas Card making has involved panic-struck frantic card making of maybe 2 designs, usually starting mid-November.Then it gets packed away as fast as possible. For some unaccountable reason, last year I wasn't sick of the sight of Christmas stuff, and carried on making cards after Christmas. I also decided I'd do 4-6 of each design, no more. And that was mainly what allowed me to work on them all year- I wasn't done in by the mass production of 1 or 2 designs.

So again in no particular order, here are my favourites of the year.
This one used a sheet of copy paper torn as a mask to sponge ink through. When the ink was good & dry,I replaced the mask, and stamped the Christmas Word Background (Visible Image) through it, which I then heat embossed with Crystal EP. A Tim Holtz die cut tree, and a die cut white sentiment finished them off. I also did a pair in red & green.

The same Words Background stamp used here,then trimmed down to give me two squares. The image is also a VI stamp, and had double sided film added, then Glamourdust for a nice sparkle. The sentiment is also VI. A couple of die cut snowflakes finished them off

This was a sort of cheat, to be honest. I came across some sheets of these bears I must have stamped years ago, and forgotten about. I added some  Tumbled Glass & Faded Jeans ink with a soft brush for the sky, then used the same in markers to draw a line inside the images which I softened with a waterbrush.  Drew a line around the outside of the piece with a Versamark pen, and added Crystal EP and heat set. A few acrylic gems were added to the stars.As I used a different cardstock for the sentiment piece, the colours came out a little different. The sentiment is by Stamps Away.

 



  I've included these cards as one choice, as the creation of one gave me the pieces for the second. I'd die cut some baubles from a sheet of card, when I realised that if I embossed the cardstock first with an Embossing Folder, then arranged the die cuts carefully onto the cardstock, I could use the 'negative' version for one set of cards.

The 'positive' baubles made a second set. Which also helped make a small dent in my backing paper stash. A few scattered small acrylic gems added a bit of bling to the embossed ornaments.
 The dies are both by Spellbinders, Heirloom Ornaments 2010 for the long bauble, and 2011 for the flatter round one.

These cards came about from a card seen on Pinterest.
 Tim Holtz Mixed Media Dies,#1,and some patterned paper behind the cut out.








Added a die cut Poinsettia, and gold heat embossed sentiment, these were a lot quicker & easier than they look.

Final choice, and these were made using an Imagination Crafts stencil, Poinsettia Multi, and an assortment of Glitter Embossing Pastes.
 The sentiment is from Honey Doo, and was heat embossed with matching EP. Acrylic gems added to the centres of the flowers.

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There were plenty more made, and an image of them all can be seen on the Christmas Card Gallery Page, and there is a link to the relevant blog post for each design, if anyone wants product info.