Botanical Christmas Cards

I hope you aren't tired of seeing Christmas things from me. I am trying to get caught up, and I finally am! When I did this post with the Botanical Christmas tags, I said that I would probably use the same stamp set for Christmas cards, and I did! This Botanical Blocks IV is not a new set from Papertrey Ink. I've had it a while, and it's finally the year I use it in a big way!

The sentiment is from a Memory Box set, CL-5181 Scribble Christmas 

Instead of using color pencils on these cards, I decided to go with watercoloring them using Distress inks. I just pressed my ink pads onto an acrylic block, and added some water mixed with Perfect Pearls powder. These images have a beautiful shimmer in real life.

To stamp these cards, I put each of the two main stamp images in turn, into my MISTI stamping tool. Taking a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock 4.25" x 5.5" (I like the TH cardstock for cards like this because it's white and matches the rest of my card) I stamped the image using Versamark ink, first on one side, then turned it 180 degrees and stamped the image again. I embossed the images with JudiKins Detail Gold embossing powder. I stamped 5 pieces of cardstock this way for each image, giving me 10 of each image to paint.

I had a lot of fun painting these in the evenings while listening to podcasts, like I do when I color anything. 

To make the cards, I cut 20 pieces of Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock to 3.75" x 5". I die cut a rectangle from the upper center of the panel (leaving enough room at the bottom for the sentiment) using the Die-Namics MFT-847 Inside/Outside Stitched Rectangle die set. This leaves a window with a nice stitched edge. I stamped the sentiment from Memory Box CL5181 Scribble Christmas at the bottom of each white panel and embossed it with JudiKins Detail Gold embossing powder.

The colored panels needed to be cut as precisely as possible so that the openings in the centers would be in the right place; and I had to cut 20 of them. To do this, I used a jig that my husband made for me. A friend asked me what a jig is, and I found this description "A jig's primary purpose is to provide repeatability, accuracy, and interchangeability in the manufacturing of products" 

Here's a photo of my jig in use. This is how I lined up the die I used (from Hero Arts DI198 Infinity Stitched Rectangles)

First I put the red panel (cut to 4" x 5.25") in the corner formed by the 2 wood sticks (in the top left). Then I put the piece of chipboard down over the red panel. The chipboard piece was the same size as my red panel, and has a cutout that just fits my die, in just the right place. It also has little tabbed cutouts to allow me to tape the die in place. This helped me to cut all 20 colored panels (10 red, and 10 green) in exactly the same place each time.

To finish off the cards, I adhered the white panel with the sentiment onto the colored panel with the center cut out. I cut apart the watercolored pieces and adhered one each in the openings of the colored panels. The whole thing was adhered onto a white base card of 110# Neenah Solar White.

Do you see the pile of rectangles that were cut out of the centers of the colored panels? I have 10 each of green and red. I also have some very sweet white pieces with stitched edges that I cut out of the white panels. June is Christmas tag month for me, so I have a feeling you will be seeing those pieces as tags in the near future!

Products Used:

Both cards:

Papertrey Ink Botanical Blocks IV

Die-Namics MFT-847 Inside/Outside Stitched Rectangle die set

Hero Arts DI198 Infinity Rectangles die set

Memory Box CL5181 Scribble Christmas (for sentiment)

JudiKins Gold Detail embossing powder

Perfect Pearls Powder

Versamark Ink

Tim Holtz Watercolor cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

Poinsettia card:

Distress inks: Candied Apple, Worn Lipstick,  Mowed Lawn

Hopsack Red cardstock from The Paper Cut

Holly card:

Distress inks: Candied Apple, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn

Emerald Green cardstock from The Paper Cut