Graphic 45 12 Days of Christmas Cards

 

Happy Christmas friends!  I hope you are having a beautiful season of warmth and love.  Today I have some cards to share with you featuring the beloved 12 Days of Christmas paper by Graphic 45.  I try not to share too many "throwbacks" with you, but my mom and dear friend bought this paper years ago and never quite found time to make cards together.  With last year's rerelease of some Graphic 45 collections from "the vault" I thought some of you might have this paper now and appreciate these cards.  We had a delightful day of making and ended up with all of these cards from one day together! 

 

We did A LOT of fussy cutting to maximize the paper, as it was all we had (no chipboard, cutouts, etc.) and I think the results are really beautiful.  I also think I need to ask dear old Santa for a Scan 'N Cut for Christmas!  Whew!  LOL!

 

 

 

 

 

We feed off of each other's ideas.  This gorgeous maids a-milking card and the beautiful calling birds were designed by my friend, Barbara.  She has such an elegant style!

I hope you've enjoyed these and are inspired to do a little paperwork of your own.  Merry Christmas, Autumn

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Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps Woodland Christmas Cards

 

 

Hello friends and happy December!  I'm delighted to be joining Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps as a guest designer in December.  I've had such fun playing with these stamps for some simple Christmas cards.  First, I used the Scene Silhouettes: Woodland set to stamp in white on a black cardstock panel, then rubbed over it with chalk for a chalkboard stamping effect.  I know there are other ways, but I find it easy just to use white EP and chalk, easy peasy.  I stamped the Texture Tiles plaid background set in black onto red cardstock for a bold look and added a sentiment from the Christmas Wordfetti set.  I ADORE this sentiment set and stamped the whole panel at once to have a stash of sentiments ready for my next project. 

 

 

I think I had the most fun stamping this background.  I've been drooling over the Pinecone Background stamp since it was first released.  It's a perfect 6x6 size.  I added it to my stamp platform and used Distress Ink Pads to stamp different colors at a time with a light spritz of water between stamping.  This way I was able to build up various shades of greens and browns.  When I was happy with the panel, I added some loose watercolor to the pine cones themselves for a richer look.  I paired with a sentiment from the Best Gift Ever set, I just love that phrase!

 

I'm so into plaids, y'all just don't know.  So I had to make one more buffalo check project.  I used the above mentioned Texture Tiles stamp set for my background.   I used a sentiment from the O Holy Night set and added some twine, and punched spray. 

 

 

For my final project I had fun with ink sponging to make a wintry nighttime scene.  I used torn paper as a mask to sponge the snowy hills I then gave everything a generous splash of water and blotted the droplets to remove some of the Distress Ink.  I stamped the images from the Scene Silhouettes: Woodland set and doodled in the branch with a "flowy" black ink pen.  I added a little shading beneath the creatures with watery black.  Then I went in with a white Posca paint pen and added highlights to the hills, snowy piles to the branch and dots of falling snow randomly across the entire panel.  I finished with one of my leftover stamped sentiments from the Christmas Wordfetti set.  I could sit all day and stamp these types of scenes.  It's really enjoyable!  I've been completely inspired by the work of Lisa Taggart on YouTube.  If you're interested, make sure to check her out.  And please take a moment to visit Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps to view the entire line of gorgeous stamps!  xx, Autumn