Sharing a Christmas card that I made for my husband this year using Penny Black – Nose to Nose – 30-521 and Gina K. Designs – Peaceful Christmas for the trees. Bears have a special place in our hearts, so this was the perfect image to celebrate our Christmas with.

Hammermill – Premium Colour 100 lb. cardstock was used to create a 5.5″ x 4.25″ card base. I cut American Crafts Vicki Boutin Mixed Media Foundations Paper to be the same as as the base. I went out of my comfort zone and attempted to create Northern Lights in the sky by applying a combination of Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks – Prize Ribbon, Twisted Citron, Villainous Potion and Black Soot with blending brushes after watching several YouTube videos. Once I was satisfied with the colours, I spritzed the paper with water and allowed it to dry. Once again, I did some ink blending with the same colours. I used some water and a small paint brush and applied Cosmic Shimmer – Opal Glaze Polish – Gilded Avocado over the entire sky. I set this aside to dry. Wasn’t quite what I expected it to be, but I still liked it and hope that you do too!

Using my MISTI and Memento – Tuxedo Black ink, I stamped the image onto Copic Marker X-Press It Blending Card. I coloured in the image and then fussy cut it out. By now the background was dry. I put the background back into my MISTI and this time, using Color Hue – Remarkable Ink Pad Eclipse Black, I stamped the trees. I mixed together a combination of FolkArt – Extreme Glitter Acrylic Paint and Delta Ceramcoat – White. With a small paint brush and some water, I applied this to the bottom below the trees and onto the small heart. I love the way some of the blue and purples came through onto the snow giving it some natural shadows. I also added in some stars by putting some of the mixture onto the brush once again and then tapping it to create a small splatter in the sky. This dried fairly quickly. I attached the finished background to my base card using double-sided tape. U-Line double-sided tape was applied to the image and heart and then they were both popped up onto card. Stickles – Diamond was applied to create the snow on the ground to give a cast shadow below the bears. Lastly, I cut the sentiment out of Recollection – Christmas Vellum. This was put through my Xyron Create a Sticker to make it lay flat and not show any glue marks.

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Nose to Nose – 30521 – Penny Black, Peaceful Christmas – Gina K. Designs

Inks: Memento – Tuxedo Black, Color Hue – Remarkable Ink Pad Eclipse Black, Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks – Prize Ribbon, Twisted Citron, Villainous Potion and Black Soot

Paper: Copic Marker X-Press It Blending Card, Hammermill – Premium Colour 100 lb., American Crafts Vicki Boutin Mixed Media Foundations Paper 12″X12

Paint: Delta Ceramcoat – White, FolkArt – Extreme Glitter Acrylic Paint

Miscellaneous: U-Line double-sided tape, Stickles – Diamond, MISTI – Most Incredible Stamping Tool, Cosmic Shimmer – Opal Glaze Polish – Gilded Avocado, Xyron Create a Sticker, Blending brushes

Image coloured with Copic Markers:

Bears: BV23, BV20, E51, E50, R30, R02, R00, Colorless Blender

Scarf: R59, R37, R35, R22

Heart: BV20, B000, Colorless Blender

Hope you like it!

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to everyone!