In part one, I shared how one stamp could be conceptualized differently by several people and in part two, I demonstrated how one of my stamp concepts changed and improved over time. In this, the final Christmas 2013 post, I give you several different cards I made sporadically throughout the season.
I was inspired by a lot of amazing handmade cards on websites like Pinterest. In particular, I wanted to emulate ones that used 3D effects such as presents that look like real boxes. I came up with this:
I would have liked the presents to look more like boxes but I think they came out pretty good. The card as a whole didn’t have the finished look I wanted, but not bad for a first attempt.
The downside of a project like this was the time it took to make each little box. I actually got several orders for Christmas cards (thank you everyone who bought them!) and I needed to focus on the designs that I could duplicate easily.
However, I was also inspired by some Victorian postcards I found last year and I designed a few more one of a kind cards.
The golden snowflake was a woodcut that I painted and then heat embossed.
By this point, I felt pretty confident in what I wanted the finished products to look like. I revisited the Christmas tree stamp from the first card and gave it a new look.
I had the opportunity to make A LOT of cards in a short time and therefore improve my skills through practice. If you look back I think you can see the difference.
Some final thoughts: All of my cards are made by hand, but I do use some designer papers and store bought embellishments. My goal is to rely less and less on those things. At the moment, I do not own a Cricut or die cutting machine or anything like that. The cut-out the cherub and the bird with a hat images above were done with scissors. Yes, it was a pain in the butt – BUT, it was well worth it.
Thanks for reading,
Leann
Sowing Crafty Seeds 