Quick Christmas Cards with Tim Holtz and Stamperia For The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog

Hello and welcome! Today we start a new challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog and this time super talented Maggi is our hostess. She titles her challenge 'It's the Holidays' and here's how she describes it:

This is such a busy time of the year that it's hard to find anytime to pursue our paper passion! With that in mind, I designed a challenge that will hopefully give you some needed crafting time, while making something useful for the holiday season that is upon us! For this challenge, create a vintage or shabby chic card, tag, gift box, bag, anything holiday related, that you can use over the holidays.

As always, the winner will earn a chance to be a Guest Designer at a future date at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will go into the draw for the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. There are also Top 3 Badges for three additional outstanding entries, chosen by the Design Team. Please see the blog for details.

Like everyone else,  as we move closer to Christmas I find my time to craft grows more and more limited. So I needed to do some 'assembly line' type cards. I wanted them to be flat for easy and more economical posting. Some gorgeous card backgrounds from Stamperia's 12 x 12 Blue Stars paper pack make fast work of these respectably sized cards--each measures approximately 4 x 6 inches.

Using limited products and following a central theme makes the making go faster; not much thinking involved. I trimmed the cards and added various mediums and stencil work. Most of the mixed media work is already done on the paper, even some stitching. That's such a bonus, because threading my sewing machine is never fun for me. In the closeups, I'll describe what's been added to each.

After that, it's just a matter of sticking the backgrounds down to card blanks and embellishing them with Tim Holtz Christmas Paper Dolls, snowflake die cuts (Flurry #1, Flurry #2 and Mini Paper Snowflakes Thinlits dies by Tim Holtz) and Christmas Clippings Stickers. Each of the Paper Dolls has been swiped with Vintage Photo crayon and a damp finger to age them further.

Here are close ups of each of the cards. The first one has  monoprint stencil work done to the background. I used Tim Holtz Holiday Knit Layering stencil with Tumbled Glass and Broken China Oxides. The two Mini Paper Snowflakes were embossed with Versamark ink and Ranger Flurries Speckles Powder. I smeared Grit Paste at the bottom to give the boy a snowy drift to stand in.

Click on the photos to enlarge.

This second card is so simple and is my favorite. The Flurry # 2 die cut was smeared with Prima White Gold Metallique Wax and then sprinkled with Flurries powder and heated. I did the same to make the icy ground. I love the effect of the speckles melting into the vintage gold wax; a second dip into the powder adds more texture. A Paper Snowflake gives some contrast. I popped up the Paper Doll and Clippings sticker and with foam adhesive.

For this card, I scraped Grit Paste through the Starry stencil, removed and washed the stencil immediately--this stuff dries like cement. I sprinkled with Flurries powder and allowed the paste to dry. Once dry I heated with my heat tool. A few embossed mini snowflakes and a simple greeting complete the scene.

Isn't this girl so sweet? She looks like she's having so much fun playing in the snow! You can just barely see the snow under the runners of her vintage sled, but you can't miss that stunning Flurry cut from Metallic Confections card tucked behind her.

I did some more stencil work on this card. This time I smeared Transparent Texture Paste through the Snowflakes stencil and sprinkled it with Distress Clear Rock Candy dry glitter. When it dried, I blended with Frayed Burlap and wiped the ink from the flakes. I die cut Flurry #1  from more metallic card and this time used some of the waste 'confetti' that looked like stars to make more flurries.

For the final card, I laid down more Grit Paste at the skier's feet, this time sprinkling with Flurries powder while it was still wet.  The photos don't pick up the sparkles, but they are there. More sparkle and texture on the Mini Paper Snowflakes blended with Tumbled Glass ink comes from more of the powder.

My cards gather together once again, never to be seen together again in real life, as they are off to their destinations to wish friends and family a Merry Christmas.

Please pop over to The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog where It's the Holidays! My teammates have created some wonderful Christmas makes to inspire you! Then I hope you will play along for a chance to win one of the wonderful prizes! Happy crafting! Hugs! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Lets Sparkle

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes

Country View Challenges December 2019 - Stars third card only- "Merry Christmas"

We Love 2 Create at Polkadoodles Challenge #12 - Anything Goes Mixed Media

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #61 Anything Christmas Goes

 Do-Al (1) Creative # 36 - Shabby Chic / Vintage
Scrapy Land Challenge #127 Anything Goes I used 3 Sizzix dies - all snowflakes.
Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge #248 3,2,1: You Choose 3 die cuts (or 3 embellishments), 2 colors, 1 designer paper.
Simon Says Stamp Christmas Card Day

The following products were used and can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:
Stamperia - Blue Stars 12x12 Paper Pack
Tim Holtz Idea-ology 8 x 8 Metallic Confections Kraft Stock
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set Paper Snowflakes, Mini by Tim Holtz
Sizzix Thinlits Die - Flurry #1 by Tim Holtz
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Flurry #2 by Tim Holtz
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper Dolls, Christmas
Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Holiday Knit, Snowflakes, Starry
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Grit Paste
Ranger Embossing Speckle Powders - Flurries
Ranger Distress Transparent Texture Paste
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayon - Vintage Photo
Distress Ink Pads - Frayed Burlap, Tumbled Glass
Distress Oxide Pads - Broken China, Tumbled Glass
Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Dry Glitter Clear Rock Candy
VersaMark Watermark Ink Stamp Pad
Prima Art Alchemy by Finnabair-Metallique Wax - White Gold