Christmas cards with Cardio stamps

So, on a Fb group I'm part of, a lady had posted pics of some simple Christmas cards she'd made.  I asked if she'd mind me CASE-ing them, as the idea was great, and she very kindly said I could.
 I mixed it up a little, and created a Deckle edged oval, using my Silhouette Portait 2 to cut it out of  125 micron mylar. This is perfectly thick enough for inking through, but I'd suggest a thicker one if you wanted to use pastes/paints through.
 You can also die cut mylar, so you can create stencils that way too. I just didn't have a deckle edge oval die. I also cut deckle edged stencils in rectangles, circle & square for later use.


These were the cards created by Andrea Turner that inspired me.



Having taped my stencil down with Purple tape, I used a couple of the makeup style brushes to add colour.  In every case, I used 3 shades of Distress ink, a light over almost all the oval, a medium about an inch in all round,both using the larger brush, and finally the darkest shade just around the outer edge, using the small brush.

 All together, I made 15 backgrounds.
These are sized to fit 'notecard' size, made by folding an A5 piece of cardstock.

These are some of the Cardio/Majestix  stamps I used, and I ordered another couple with stockings and ornaments in, called Great Expectations (Stockings)  and Christmas Hang-ups.
 I did the stamping using various Memento inks, in the Dew Drop pad range. I also used my stamping platform for this, wisely as it turned out, as most needed to be double stamped. I left the drawing in of the strings till I'd finished them all, and used a fine micron pen for that.
 For a few I decided to stamp a swag across the panel, and I used a Lavinia £1 holly stamp for that.
For the holly I used Versafine Clair in Shady Lane, and sprinkled on a little sparkly EP and heat set.I'd added a small patch of yellow for the lantern light using a small round make up brush, then added Liquid Pearls for the holly berries.


 Next up, I stamped the greeting in Gold Encore Pigment ink, and heat set with Detail Gold Embossing powder. The sentiment comes from a Phill Martin set called Stately Christmas Sentiments.


All the images were matted onto a toning cardstock, leaving a narrow border.
 The final step was to add Glossy Accents to all of the ornaments, lanterns and stockings.

The Cardio/Majestix sets used were:
(Baubles) Zendangles,Bells & Baubles,Elegant Baubles, and one older Rubber Stamp Tapestry set called Embellished Holiday Wreath.

Then Christmas Hang ups, Great Expectations ( Stockings), Vintage Lights, and the smallest lantern from Christmas Scenery 3. There are two others in this pack, each slightly larger.