Saturday Step X Step - Christmas Card

Hello everyone, it is Cec here and it is my turn to present the Saturday Step X Step and I decided to show you how you can make a shabby Christmas card that is still flat enough to go in the mail and not cost an extra arm and a leg for postage.  So here is how I went about it.

I started by stamping this Tim Holtz blueprint stamp on water colour paper with Black Archival ink.  After I trimmed it down to the size I wanted, I decided to try my hand at colouring it with Distress Inks using a water brush.  I normally colour with Prismacolor pencils and blend with odorless mineral spirits so this technique was a bit of a stretch for me.

I am happy with results (you will see it in the finished card below) but wish I could have gotten a bit more shading.  I did learn that you need to grab as much colour from the pad on the first pass because if you have to go back too often, the brush has too much water in it.  I also realized that I had to use a couple colours to get the shading as I would have using any other medium.

Here are the colours I used:

Body - Pumice Stone
Arms - Walnut Stain
Scarf & Band on Hat - Festive Berries and Aged Mahogany
Hat - Black Soot
Holly Leaves - Peeled Paint and Forest Moss
Nose - Spiced Marmalade and Rusty Hinge

I also added some Xmas Red Stickles to the berries on the hat.

Next I started preparing my papers. I decided to stick with traditional colours so the first thing I did was to emboss a piece of red card stock.  I also cut a piece of striped Bo Bunny paper that I found in my stash and a backing piece from the Mistletoe collection by Memory Box that I have had for ages.  Next I distressed the edges of each piece with my scissors and then curled and tore them more with my fingers.

Once the papers were distressed, I took a makeup sponge and some white craft paint to the edges and to the raised areas of the embossed piece (a tip from my friend Pamellia).

The next step was to make the two snowflakes.  These were kraft corrugated cardboard and were a little gift from Linda at The Funkie Junkie Boutique but I wanted to make them white so I sprayed them with some White Linen Dylusions spray.  There really was no need to lay the colour on quite that heavily because I knew I was going to do more with them but the spray nossle wanted to spit rather than spray.  This seems to happen after the bottles sit for a while because this isn't the first time it has happened to one of my sprays.  Good thing I was wearing an apron - lesson learned once before.

Once the snowflakes were dry, I sponged a wee bit of paint on them and then hit them with some crystal glitter while they were still wet.

I created a simple tag with a stamped sentiment and added a loopy bow of burlap string.  When I put the card together I also added a little piece of burlap and some white buttons from my stash (the flattest ones I could find).

 

So you can see that with some texture and just a few simple embellishments you can make a great card that will go in the mail. I know in some countries a square card costs extra to mail but not here in Canada - thickness and weight are the determining factor. So if your country charges extra for square, make a rectangle - it will be just as gorgeous.

The following products used in the creation of this card came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique (and don't forget, the Distress Ink pads are on special offer right now!):