Handmade Christmas Cards and Tree Ornaments

Hiya folks

I finally started making my Christmas cards!  Yes I know I really need to hustle my butt and make more so I can get them posted in time but I wanted to show you what I’ve created so far.

I decided to use up this tan cardstock as it was part of Kaszazz’s Heritage pack that has now been discontinued.  At first I really didn’t know what to do to make this colour work for Christmas but a little gold embossing powder and ta-da!  Embossing really does work wonders and can be used with any colours or stamps designs.  And there is just so many combinations you can create like using coloured embossing powder with a clear ink like perfect medium or using a clear ep on a coloured pigment ink for a totally different look.

I’ve used some frayed burlap distress ink on the edges to soften the starkness of the ivory card and I applied some in the middle too using my ink blending tool.

These two tag ornaments were created for my handmade ornament swap I hosted on swap-bot.  I took the lead from the scallop ornaments I’d made earlier on.  I am loving the distress crackle paint at the moment.  I had quite a few tubs left from my prize at conference back in March so it was great to finally be able to put them to use.

Oh and here’s a great tip for anyone out there with gluggy, dried up tubs of crackle paint: grab a wooden stick (paddle pop style) and add a couple drops of water to your tub and get whippy.  Mix, mix, mix ’til your paint comes back to life.  Make sure to only start with a few drops of water at a time – you don’t want it too thin.  I did this to all my tubs even the ones I thought were destined for the rubbish bin and now they are smooth and lovely once again.

If you need some more ideas for Christmas cards have a look here, here and here!  Oh and I’ve finally started adding photos to my Flickr account so feel free to take a peek.

Kris