Wishing you a Merry Christmas - The Quest for Fast but Beautiful Christmas Cards

Since I did not have the opportunity to make Christmas cards early this year, I am trying to come up with cards that can be made quickly, can be made in multiples, and yet are still beautiful.

I got this great "Merry" stamp at Impress this summer, and it was on a very simple card, so knowing that I would need stamps like that, I bought it. It was on a wood base, which I quickly fixed by turning it into a cling. I have done this with all of my wood stamps, and consider it a must if you are doing multiples of one card.

Granted, I could have made this easier if I only used one embossing powder. There was the added complication that only the "Merry" stamp was rubber, and the others were clear.

I cut panels from red cardstock using the stitched rectangle die from Die-Namics MFT-463 Blueprints 13 die set. That die cuts a panel that is 4" x 5.25", and has a nice stitched edge.

I set up two stamp positioners to make it easier to make these by assembly line. I first stamped and embossed the "Merry" stamp; then I stamped and embossed the other text. The "Christmas" is from a Concord & 9th set, and the sentiments "wishing you a" & "and happy new year" are from a Simon Says Stamp set. The poinsettia is from the same Concord & 9th set that the "Christmas" sentiment is from. Unfortunately, I had to wait and stamp the poinsettia last. This is because I decided that I wanted to color the leaves green. 

I initially stamped the poinsettia image with white ink and left the stamp in the positioner. I then quickly colored the leaves with Prismacolor pencils. Since the stamp was still in place, I was then able to stamp the Poinsettia image again, right over the colored image (always use a powder bag or some sort of anti-static embossing tool first) using Versamark ink. I then embossed the flower in gold.

The above photo was taken before embossing the flower in gold. After embossing, I colored the petals with a Wink of Stella clear glitter pen. Actually, I had wanted to bleach out the petals, but not all cardstock can be bleached, and Hopsack Red is one of those.

To keep it simple, I elected not to mat my panel and mounted it straight onto a base card.

While I had all of these materials out, I decided to make tags as well. The "Christmas" sentiment would not fit on the size tag I chose, so I found a suitable one in a clear set that I got at Impress.

The white embossing powder I used on these is JudiKins White Diamond, and these are so sparkly in real life!

I hope you enjoyed! I would encourage you to look through the stamps you have, and put together a simple card or tags with different stamp sets.

Products used:

Impress 5716E Striped Merry

Impress Modern Sentiment Holiday clear set (for tag)

Concord & 9th Christmas Florals Stamp set (for card)

Simon Says Stamp Holiday Greetings Mix 1 (for card)

Versamark ink

JudiKins White Diamond embossing powder

Ranger Gold embossing powder

Prismacolor Pencils: PC1005 Limepeel, PC907 Peacock Green

Wink of Stella Clear Glitter pen

Hero Arts DI 197 Infinity Nesting Tag dies

The Paper Cut Hopsack Red cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock