Joyeux Noel

Hi friends….Michelle here sharing a Christmas card that could really work all winter long, just change the sentiment and you’re all good! I used the Noel Stamp Set from the Beautiful Blooms Collection for the main focus. I really love the greenery images included in this set.

Step 1: I started by stamping the large mistletoe image in black and brought it to life with some colour. I really love how in their florals, they have little black dots added into the designs….it’s a fun little touch! They are really hard to see here, as the darker green shades on the leaves kind of covered it up, but if you look close enough you can see the black dots. To add that interest back into the design, I added some dots with a white gel pen. A red glitter gel was added to the berries for some sparkle.

Once it was coloured I diecut it using the coordinating die, as well as 2 other black pieces to stack them together to add definition. This also makes it more sturdy than using foam adhesive alone. I also cut out a 4th using black cardstock to allow a black shadow to peek out from behind once they are all adhered together.

Step 2: For the background I used the large snowflake die from the Holiday Special Art Journal Kit, however instead of die cutting I dry embossed with it. To dry emboss with dies I use a silicone mat as a replacement for one of the hard plastic plates. This allows the pressure to emboss the image on my paper, but not enough so that it will cut through the cardstock. I love the texture this gives and the subtle background it makes as well.

Step 3: I added a little bit of very subtle blue ink blending in the middle and some flecks using a black gouache. The blue ink will give it a very soft halo effect once the image is placed back on the embossed cardstock. For the sentiment I white heat embossed the Joyeux Noel on black cardstock and cut it out using the coordinating dies.

Step 4: A strip of black and white striped paper from my paper scrap stash was added to the left side. The diecut image and sentiment were all added to the embossed background using a liquid adhesive and then to the cardbase with a piece of craft foam for an extra added bit of dimension.

This came together relatively quick. The longest part was waiting for the glitter gel on the berries to dry lol. I hope that this has helped to inspire you a bit and possibly get started on your Christmas/Holiday cards. This will be 1 less for me to this year!

I wish you all the most wonderful day and I hope you find sometime to sit down and create something wonderful!