Joy To All

Hi Creative Friends,

Papertrey Ink has a brand new holiday release out (yay!) and I grabbed a few stamps and dies to create this card design. I used the charming Festive Birds and Very Merry Mistletoe. Learn all the ins and outs below.

I started by creating the basics. First, I made a 5 1/2″ square (when folded) white cardstock card base, 1 – 5″ square white card stock panel, and another white cardstock panel measuring 5 1/4″ square.

To make the background, I lightly blended Antique Linen onto the 5″ square panel and splattered Wild Honey distress ink droplets onto the panel. I added a 2″ green and white plaid strip to the bottom. Since I didn’t have any patterned paper, I made my own by stamping a 2″ x 5″ piece of cardstock using Pine Needles distress ink and a plaid stamp. Once done, I mounted it to the bottom of the 5″ panel and added a narrow 1/4″ strip of gold glitter paper along the top.

I cut out all the Very Merry Mistletoe pieces from watercolor paper using the coordinating die, then mounted all the stamps in my stamp positioner. I used a few inks to color them. I have listed the colors below and you can find them all in the supply list too. by the way, whenever I use a few colors together, I use watercolor paper, then once the stamps are inked, I spritz them with water before stamping. This ensures even blending.

• Mistletoe leaves: Ocean Tides and a little Pinefeather
• Berries and stems: Cocoa Bean for the branch and Dried Marigold and Candied Apple distress ink for the berries, with a dash of Autumn Rose for the shading
• Little foliage pieces: Evergreen Bough distress ink

Next, using a very dark forest green cardstock (Noble Fir), I cut out the pine branches from the Penny Black Pine Branch die set then added a little Glitz Gel to the ends, and sprinkled a little Chunky Glitter for a more frosted look.

I can’t forget the star of the show, the adorable bird. I cut the pieces out from white cardstock then blended on Saltwater Taffy (love this color!) and a little Festive Berries for the body and Wild Honey for the beak and a tiny bit of accent on the body.

Before I put everything together, I cut out a few snowflakes. Papertrey Ink just released a trio of fabulous snowflake dies. I used Layered Snowflakes: Drift and Layered Snowflakes: Crystal.

With all the pieces ready to assemble, I arranged the mistletoe, pine branches, snowflakes, and berries and glued them in place. The bird was added next with a little foam tape. The sentiment (from the Very Berry Mistletoe stamp set) was stamped with Candied Apple distress ink.

Now that the panel was done, I mounted it onto the 5 1/4″ white square panel cut earlier. The red cardstock panel was placed on top the card base, then the top bird and mistletoe panel was added. To complete the card, I added a few tiny droplets of Stickles for an extra festive look.

My holiday card is done, and I think the bird looks very festive indeed! I hope you did too! ♥

Goodies Used: