Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Hello, crafty friends!  Today I'm sharing another holiday card featuring Honey Bee Stamps gorgeous Good Tidings stamp set with the coordinating coloring stencils and dies.  P.S.:  I also had the privilege of being a guest designer over on the blog of Scrapbook & Cards Today where I also featured this card!

This card includes two of my favorite trending crafty items:  coloring stencils and 3D embossing folders!  (I’m so happy that embossing folders have made a comeback!)  While this card may look complicated, I’m going to share my tips for easy ways to take your card from “very pretty” to “wow” by adding just a few extra details!

First I put a 4-¼” x 5-½” piece of 80# Neenah Solar White into the Snowy Pines 3D Embossing Folder.  Run that through your die cutting machine with the recommended sandwich for your type of machine.  This gorgeous embossed white background will make the images pop!  I used glue to adhere it to a top-folding A2 card base.

I don't know about you, but I have had several instances that I have smeared the black outline of the stamped image during stenciling, so I like to do all of the stenciling first.

The six stencils in the Good Tidings stencil set are numbered and fully etched with the entire image to make lining up each layer super easy!  I began with stencil Layer 1 and used small detail blending brushes to add the inks. I used a few Distress Inks in the colors of Gathered Twigs, Walnut Stain, Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness, Festive Berries, and Aged Mahogany.  For the pine branches of the stencils and the Lovely Layers: Pinecone I used some green inks from Simon Says Stamp (linked below).

After I finished with each Good Tidings stencil layer, I placed the panel into my MISTI.  Then I put the Good Tidings outline stamp over the colored image.  I only had to spend about a minute to line up the stamp with the stenciled image!  I picked up the stamp with the MISTI door and inked it up with a black pigment ink.  Using a pigment ink will give a beautiful crisp stamped image!  I cut the image out with the coordinating Good Tidings Honey Cut.

Of course, if you are not comfortable stamping after you have colored your image with the stencils, go ahead and stamp it first!  Just make sure that the ink is totally dry to avoid any smearing.

Another way I like to add details to a stamped image is to use a coloring medium, such as alcohol markers or colored pencils to add more depth to the shadowed areas of your image!  Since I used a pigment ink to stamp the image, I needed to use colored pencils.  (Pigment ink and alcohol markers are not compatible.)

I took a photo after I added the colored pencils to one pinecone so you can see the difference.  The difference is quite noticeable!

Another way to up the beauty of your card is to add more interest to your focal image with additional die cuts that coordinate with the theme of the card.   The pine sprigs I added from the Lovely Layers: Pinecone Honey Cuts are a good example.  I die cut them from white cardstock and used Picket Fence Studios Paper Pouncers to add two shades of green ink to the sprigs.  These Paper Pouncers make it so easy to quickly color die cuts like these!  After adding additional color to deepen the shadows, I used a white pencil to highlight the edges of the pinecone layers.  Just use a very light hand with your pencil to get a subtle effect!

I rarely make a card without adding dimension and this card is no exception!  I added foam tape to the back of the colored image to adhere it to my card.  I played around with the arrangement of the pine sprigs by tucking them here and there under the Good Tidings image.  Once I was happy with the arrangement, I added dots of glue to adhere them in place.

My final tip for taking your card to the wow level is to add sparkle!  Now, I’m a sparkle-loving gal, so I used glue with a  fine tip to place lines of glue in various spots on the branches and image.  Then I sprinkled Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter over the glue and tapped the excess into a coffee filter to funnel it back into the jar.  If glitter is not your thing, you can use a clear glitter pen to add that pretty sparkle to your card.

I chose one of the four sentiments in the Good Tidings stamp set (the fonts are beautiful!) and stamped it with black pigment ink.  I love how Honey Bee Stamps has coordinating dies for the sentiments!

I sure hope you’ve enjoyed my card making process today and have learned some new tips for taking your card to the next level!  Thank you so much for stopping by!  Have a wonderful and crafty day!

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Scenic 3D Holiday Lantern | Honey Bee Stamps

Happy Thursday friends!  I want to share with you how I've used the Honey Bee Stamps Lantern Builder A2 Honey Cuts to make a decorative 3D lantern!  I love the decorative lanterns that you see in shops with scenes inside them and was inspired to give this project a try.  This was so much fun to make!  I have detailed directions on how to create the lantern, so keep reading!

Here are the directions for creating the four-sided lantern:

• Die cut eight lanterns from the Lantern Builder A2 dies with black card stock.
• Adhere acetate and vellum to the back of the lantern window openings.
• Adhere the extra lantern die cuts to the back of these to hide the edges of the acetate and vellum.
• Cut four ½" x 4-¼" strips of black card stock.  Score in the center and fold.  Add 1/8" Scor-Tape to each side of the tab.  These will be the tabs to join the lantern die cuts into a four-sided lantern.  Adhere one tab strip to the left side of each lantern side.
• Add ½" Scor-Tape to the inside of the lantern sides just below the window openings.
• I die cut eight decorative lantern top pieces and four of the bottom leg pieces from THIS silver card stock. I adhered four of the tops to the inside of the lantern sides with BEE Creative glue.  I popped up the remaining tops and leg pieces with thin foam squares and adhered them to the outside of the lantern sides.
• Cut a piece of black card stock to 4-9/16".  (I know that's an odd size but it will fit inside the lantern as a base for the scene.)  Note:  Cut white card stock to fit the top of this now and adhere.  I forgot and had to piece some on the base.
• Score each side of the base at ¼".  Trim out the square screwed by the score lines at each corner.  (see photo)

Before assembling the lantern, I need to create my images for the inside and decorations for the outside of the lantern:  (all products are linked at the end of this post.)

• Die cut tree pieces from green card stock.  Die cut double the amount of layers for the number of trees you want in order to make them double sided.  The trees I used are from the Toy Store House Builder Add-on Honey Cuts.  I added shading with two Copic markers, white gel pen dots for snow, and Nuvo White Crystal Drops for the snow on the edges.  Let dry.
• I adhered the tree layers with glue at the tops and thin foam squares at the bottom edge of the layers for dimension.  Take two trees of the same size and place them back to back.  Add glue just to the top to adhere them together for a two-sided tree.
• I die cut enough pinecone layers for four with the Lovely Layers: Pinecone and each pine sprig four times.    I die cut four bow pieces each from silver glitter paper in my stash.  After adding white paint splatters, I assembled the pinecones and adhered them and the pine sprigs to the lantern sides.  I glued the assembled bows to the top of the pinecones.  Then I added them to the lantern with foam squares.
• Using the Hill Border Honey Cuts, die cut the hills.  I used THIS specialty paper and backed the hills with white card stock for more stability.
• Score the hills horizontally along the bottom to create a flap and adhered to the lantern base.  Where you score them depends on how high you want your hills.
• Take the trees, add glue to the bottom inside, and slip them over the hills to adhere.  You should have one on both sides of the hill.
• I stamped two snowmen from the Toy Store House Builder Add-on stamp set, Copic colored, and die cut them with the coordinating Honey Cut.  I attached them to the hills with foam squares.
• The photo above shows all of the pieces and parts just before assembling.

To assemble the lantern I removed the Scor-Tape from the lantern side tabs and began joining the sides.  When I had two sides joined, I began adhering the lantern base by removing the Scor-Tape that is just below the windows.

When I finished assembling the lantern, I sprinkled in some iridescent "snow" to complete the scene.  Here are more photos for you to see.

I know this was a long post, but I tried to keep it as succinct as I could.  If you have any questions at all about creating this, please use the "contact me" box in the left column of this blog.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:

Lantern Builder A2 Honey Cuts

Lovely Layers: Pinecone

Hill Border Honey Cuts

Toy Store House Builder Add-on stamps & Honey Cuts

¼" Scor-Tape

1/8" Scor-Tape

Snowdrop Meadow Cotton Paper

Silver Pinstripe Embossed Card