Modern Holiday Magic: Minimalist Christmas Cards with Style

Hi there my Spellbinders’ friends!  My name is Jaycee Gaspar and I’m so excited to share three cards featuring the Simon Hurley Christmas Collection.   This collection features coordinating stamps and dies with a fun sketched feel.  As an added bonus, I used one of Simon Hurley’s Astro Pastes to complement the design of these cards.

My main focus on these card projects was balancing the sketched and illustrated feeling of the images with modern and sleek details.  I hope that you can use these design techniques in your holiday cards and see how easy it is to keep things simple and stylish.

For this first card technique, I wanted to showcase some spotlight coloring.  I stamped two of the snowmen images in an alcohol marker-safe black ink and use the coordinating dies to cut them out.  Then I stamped three of the snowflake images in light grey ink and also used the coordinating dies to cut them.  Before I foam-mounted the scene together, I colored the gift that the taller snowman is holding.  This way the eyes of your card recipient are drawn to the gift and the stamped sentiment below it.  I think it’s fun to play with a scene and see what you can color to highlight the mood or theme of the card.

In addition to adding some spotlight coloring, I wanted to use another design element to create some interesting focus on the scene.  For this Sketched Santas stamp set, I stamped two of the gift images, this opened armed Santa and one of the sentiments.  For this card, I used texture to highlight the focal Santa.  I used Sprinkled Confetti Press Plate to create an interesting textured background.  Then to bring the attention back to the Sketched Santa, I highlighted the high points of the scene with some Simon Hurley Astro Paste in Frost Bite.  I used a palette knife to add this paste to Santa’s hands, the top of his head and hat, shoes, and to the tops of the gifts.  This way your recipient not only notices the scene but is able to touch and feel textural elements of this card.

Finally, for this last card, I wanted to use color in an even lighter manner.  First I stamped the Brick rubber stamp in light grey ink.  This is the same light grey ink as the snowflakes in Sketched Snowmen.  After trimming off a margin of this grey panel I began arranging the scene.  I stamped the front door, the bunny sleigh images, and one of the sentiments from an alcohol marker-safe black ink and used the coordinating dies to cut them out.  I wanted to play around with the sentiment, “sometimes the little things bring the most joy,” by highlighting the little bunnies on the sleigh of this scene.  I used a light pink alcohol marker to add a little touch of blush to the bunnies.  I thought this complemented the image and the sentiment to set the mood of this card.  I also made sure that my sentiment stood out with foam tape from the rest of this card.  I wanted to make sure that the sentiment did not get lost in this greyscale scene.

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Huge thanks to the Spellbinders team for letting me share these three Simon Hurley Christmas projects with you all!  You can find more of my card projects over at YouTube, Instagram, and at my blog.  I hope to see you all again very soon!