Technique Tuesday - Christmas

Hello again, this week I am using several random stamp sets to show that you can use any set to replicate one of the cards that I make as you can with most peoples. Today is the Be Jolly stamp set. I love the simplicity of the Be Jolly, not just because of the drawings but for the simple sentiments. The technique however, is slightly a different one. The other week I used the technique of mats, lots of layers. Today is very similar but I used a card base in Coastal Cabana card and cut off a large section on the front to just give a 4cm wide strip all the way down. Inside, instead of a mat, I added a slightly smaller card base

. Using the cut off piece of Coastal Cabana, I cut it to 6.5cm by 10cm. I then cut a white mat 0.5cm smaller on 2 edges, stamped Santa and coloured him in using my Stampin' Blends. A simple sentiment to the bottom and that part is mostly complete. I cut a mat 0.5cm smaller than the 4cm front of the card and embossed it with the gorgeous Wintry embossing folder. It has 2 folders in the set, one has snowflakes and the other Conifer branches. Once embossed, the mat was added to the front of the card and the Coastal Cabana mat with Santa on was then added to the left hand panel on the front of the card.

I then stamped another image, the tree onto another mat of white and Coastal Cabana and placed that in position on the inside of the white card base. The sleigh is on the next level with another sentiment and a few robins which completes this card.

 

For more information on today's stamp set, plese click HERE for the link to the product.

Watercolour Wednesday Be Jolly

 Well today I have no watercolour card to share 🙄 instead I have a quandary! I have made 2 versions of one card and can't decide which I prefer.  Now they both use the  cute Be Jolly stamp set and some of the fun Gingerbread and Peppermint pattern paper.

But the quandary arises around which colour version 🤔  Now I'm not really into traditional red and green for Christmas  especially in cards but sometimes you just have to challenge yourself to work out side your own box!

So which is better the green version...

Or the red....

I think the design of the card is fab, it was inspired by one I saw on Pinterest but sadly didn't save so can't give named credit to sorry 😐.  

I think I'm  leaning toward the red version.... but then again the green has its merits.... oh I don't know!! What do you think? Red ? Or Green? 

Make it Simple Monday Be Jolly

 Wow what a weekend was that??? We held an all day class on Saturday,  our monthly Christmas Craft-a-long and I attended an all day training session on Sunday!!! So I'm  all zoomed out and grateful that today's Make it Simple Monday here at 2 Big Girls Crafting. So as always we'll start the weeks inspiration with some #simplestamping projects. But the best thing about today is that I get to share with you a fun cute Christmas stamp set called Be Jolly 

These cute line drawn images are perfect for colouring with all types of colouring tools . For today's inspiration I've chosen to use watercolour pencils.  Watercolour pencils have a nice creaminess to them that makes colouring with them a real treat. To help smooth out the colour I've used a blender pen rather than a water painter as it's less messy 😉

So I started by creating 4 A6 card bases in basic white thick card.  I then cut 4 mats each 10cm x 14.4cm. Next I stamped the images, one per mat, in black ink.

Then the fun began the colouring in!! Do you find colouring soothing? I believe that all crafting is good for our mental health.  It is a great way to promote mindfulness.  And allowing ourselves to let our creative side out is good for us all!

Sooo back to the colouring after colouring all 4 images I used a light blue colour to go around the images to help create the illusion that they are grounded on the page. It also helps the image to pop off the page too.

Whilst the first 2 cards are traditional Santa's, the second 2 images are a fun Christmas tree with a star on top...

...and a cute sled with parcels. I topped the parcels with the bird image and coloured him as a Robin redbreast a traditional Christmas image here in the UK. 

The fun cards are both traditional and contemporary at the same time. The images are traditional subjects but the designs have a contemporary twist which I like a lot.

As always on a Monday I shall be doing a Facebook Live at 4pm BST over on our page and would love to have you join us. If you can't I'll  post a link to it here once I've been live.