Layered and Stamped Geometric Christmas Cards

It seems like just a minute ago it was Christmas time. My kids were wearing their pajamas and opening presents and going nuts after eating way too many treats. NOW, here I am several months into 2017 and I am making Christmas cards?!

First off, I hardly ever send out cards because I always forget until it is to late (sorry friends and family…) and secondly I obviously never MAKE cards (see point number 1). So this was a big deal for me. I suppose if it were important to me then I could get started on holiday cards at this time of year and by the time winter rolls around I would have a bunch right?! Beautiful theory…

Now that I have informed you all that I might be a holiday slacker, let me introduce you to my super cute holiday themed stamps! I only have a few featured here but I will work on some more ASAP and get them put up for you.

I took a tip from Yana Smakula’s book of card making since I am a novice for sure. I made some backgrounds using the snowflakes and then built my way up – improvising as I went along.

I am absolutely in LOVE with Lene Lok‘s kaleidoscope dies and use them at every opportunity.  I was going for a more modern and elegant look for these. Especially since the stamps I illustrated have some of the same geometric properties. They pair beautifully together!

I used a super fun color palette; light aqua blue, deep rich teal blue, gold/silver, black/white, grey. I actually used some origami paper as well! I am living in Hawaii and Japanese culture is very prominent so our craft store has an abundance of origami paper to choose from. I fell in love with every single sheet! They have shine and metallic touches which were perfect for this project.

I made two cards with this same color and layout theme. I used the nativity stamp which would have looked lovely colored in but thought that given my color scheme and overall style of the project that it would look just as awesome as a black and white line drawing.

When I am illustrating for a tattoo or stamp I often like my simple outline drawings better before I shade them in or add dimension. I think that same concept can be applied to stamping. Let the images speak for themselves sometimes. Coloring is fun, but consider your palette when choosing to color. Maybe color it black and grey to make your other elements pop. Or monochromatic. Maybe metallic. Step out side of the obvious box where wood is brown and flowers are pink and trees are green. Have fun with it! Or don’t color it at all like I did!  Rebel!

I used a lot of gold and silver embossing powder because ever since I discovered it a few weeks ago it has made an appearance in just about every project I have made!  I cannot get enough!

I guess card making isn’t too bad – but I don’t foresee it becoming a habit for me.  I will stick to my mixed media shenanigans and home decor experiments; mostly!

Thanks for all of the love and support!

xo, Stephanie

Coming Soon Supplies:

SDS-089 Snowflakes
SDS-090 Happy Holidays 
SDS-091 Nativity

Available Now Supplies:

S5-280 Geo Flower
S4-698 Decagon View
S4-696 Optical Illusion

#CreateEveryday #NeverStopMaking