Tidings of Christmas Cheer

Hello!

Sometimes you have to add in some of those non-traditional colors into your Christmas cards. Today, I went with pink! The pink I chose for this card really brings out the reds and compliments the entire card quite nicely.

The adorable little hedgehogs are from the Penny Black “Jolly Friends”  stamp set… I just love how they are holding the little umbrella and the snow is piled up on top! So cozy! :) The sentiment was created with my Silhouette Cameo, using the fonts “Caviar Dreams” and “Contribute“.

I used distress inks to color everything in….my top-favorite way to add color to stamped images! I love how easily you can make the colors vivid and bright, or soft and pastel-like, just by varying the ink and water amounts. The distress inks are also fantastic when blended on top of each other to create shadows and depth.

I purposely chose not to color the entire sky on the card because I wanted the hedgehogs to be my focal point; adding the sky only around the hedgehogs allowed them to stand out and be the life of the card. I created the sky and the snow-shadows by hand cutting a snowy slope from scrap paper and masking off the areas while I brushed on distress inks. The snowflakes you see in the background are heat embossed with white embossing powder.

Because I really wanted to have the hedgehogs stand out, I chose to add some glitter to certain parts of the stamped image. I chose red and green glitters for the presents, and clear glitter for the top of the snowy hill, the umbrella and on the edges of the snow piled on the umbrella. Some sheer ribbon finished off the sparkly look of the card.

And of course, Simon Says Stamp is having its weekly Wednesday Challenge over on their blog! This week’s theme is “Bling it On”… Time to whip out all those sparkly products in your stash and add some shimmer and shine to your projects!

Supplies

• Penny Black Clear Stamps Jolly Friends clear stamp set
• Silhouette Cameo cutting mat and pen holder
• Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Peeled Paint, Fired Brick, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Broken China, Milled Lavender, Worn Lipstick and Tattered Rose
• Ranger Watercolor Paper Inkssentials Surfaces
• Tim Holtz Detailer Waterbrush
• Copic Black Multiliner pen 0.3mm
• My Mind’s Eye “Merry Little Christmas” 6×6 paper pad (discontinued; good replacement would be the Chickaniddy Crafts “Jolly Good“: 6×6 paper pad)
• Recollection’s White Cardstock Paper
• clear, red and green glitter glue