Vintage Style Christmas Cards – it’s almost December!

Hi everybody! Can you believe tomorrow is December 1st? Now Christmas is gonna be here like in a blink of an eye!! We decorated the house over the weekend and switched everything from Fall to Christmas. It looks really pretty and happy at our house and I like it!! I got down the bins (yes, bins) of Christmas apparel so I can be festive all December long! Yeah, I'm the crazy lady who wears Christmas sweaters!! I have gathered quite a collection over the years. I have one sweater still that's about 25 years old now. Tomorrow I'm going to be doing gift wrapping at the mall with our church and I cannot wait. I LOOOOVE wrapping presents! I signed up for a couple of shifts of wrapping. I'm thinking about Christmas cooking and it's like Santa's workshop here in the craft room. The entire floor is covered in Christmas stuff. Ha. I hope you are doing great this week. Sending a big holiday hug your way today!

On Sunday I had a 'free' day in the craft room to make whatever I wanted – no rules or assignments. I had some cool Tim Holtz products on my list to use and decided to make some vintage style Christmas cards to share with you. These are 'all day' cards. Hahaha. Waiting for layers to dry and adding more and more stuff to everything. Love it. I don't do this kind of crafting enough!! Both of these cards are big fat squares – more room for stuff. Let's get started.

The focal point of this card is Mr. Winston the Snowman!! Isn't he dapper in his top hat?? This is a Tim Holtz Die set called Winston – Colorize! There are tons of pieces and layers and coolness. There were a lot of different routes to go with this die set… I decided to die cut out all the pieces from Watercolor paper and then I used Distress Inks to color all the pieces. For the card I layered kraft and plaid papers and then stamped and inked another watercolor panel for the top.

 

The sentiment is from the Labels Sticker Pack – I thought he was Holly Jolly!! The die set comes with a broom for Winston. I didn't really want to use the broom so I started rummaging through all my die sets. BAM! I found it – the Tattered Florals set has a perfect branch to make Winston some arms! What do you think?? And in his hand he's holding a big fat heart!

 

Here's a close up of the snowman – you can see the die cut layers…. Everything is colored with Distress Inks. When I watercolor with my Distress Inks I used my minis and I smush some ink onto a big stamping block. I keep some water nearby and add water as I go. This is a great way to watercolor!! The ink is super forgiving and easy to layer.  I also die cut two holly branches to make some greenery behind him. Lots of Rock Candy Glitter!! I made some snow too! I improvised and mixed together some Embossing Paste and some white Nuvo drops to make a paste to look snowy. Then of course, I covered it in more glitter!! 

 

For the background, I stamped some postmarks and some snowflakes. The snowflakes are so funky – from the Snarky Cats stamp set!! In this photo you can see the scarf – it's four pieces!!!! Nice and thick.

 

The heart is an OLLLLLLD handheld punch from my stash. 

 

I love how the snow came out on his hat. He needs some cocoa!!

 

 

 

This next card is classic vintage Christmas with a big bold beautiful poinsettia!! I bought the Tim Holtz Mica Sprays and the first idea that came to mind was using them on my favorite poinsettia dies!! Guess what?? It came out so nice! I layered kraft and black paper, then Tim Holtz patterned paper. The plaid portion I stenciled with the TH Plaid Stencil onto watercolor paper in Evergreen Bough Ink.

 

The pieces for the poinsettia were die cut from watercolor paper to be nice and sturdy for lots of ink! I sprayed the petals and leaves using only the Holiday Mica Spray Stains. I let them dry for quite a while. I used Icicle Crackle Paste on top of the colors…. It's more subtle than I was hoping…. I would have done it again but it took a really long time to dry. I was looking for bigger cracks – but I don't think I put on a thick enough layer. I splattered some white paint onto the pieces….and glitter….and snow…. 

 

For the sentiment I used a Christmas word charm with some twine…..  I added some stickers from the TH Sticker Book for some more color…

 

Here's a close up of the flower. You can see the crackle effect on the petals. It's very pretty (and vivid) in person!! I love how it came out.

 

I stenciled the plaid stencil using a blender brush and Evergreen Bough ink. Then I used Vintage Photo Ink and a sponge dauber to go around the edges of the plaid panel. I splashed on some ink splatters too, to make it look aged. 

 

I used Doodlebug Sprinkles in gold for the center of the flower.

 

 

 

Close up of the pretty vintage stickers!!

That's it for my vintage inspired cards! I hope I've inspired you to use something new and/or try a new technique! What are you making lately? Do you have something on your desk calling your name?? I hope you have a blessed, happy and creative day! XOXO

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