Hello, crafty friends! It’s Carol here, and I am thrilled to be here on the SCT blog! I have been making handmade cards for close to 20 years and love the creative process it provides!

Today I’m sharing a holiday card that features awesome, new Honey Bee Stamps products and 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!

Supplies | Honey Bee Stamps: Good Tidings 4×5 stamp set, Good Tidings – Honey Cuts, Good Tidings – Set of 6 Coordinating Stencils, Snowy Pines – 3D Embossing Folder, Lovely Layers: Pinecone – Honey Cuts, Bee Creative Easy Squeeze Precision Tip Glue – Dries Clear; Simon Says Stamp: Positively Saturated Ink Trio 14; Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Gathered Twigs, Walnut Stain, Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness, Festive Berries, Aged Mahogany; Picket Fence Studios: Paper Pouncers; Waffle Flower: Shader Brush 1 – 10 pk; Ranger: Distress Glitter Clear Rock Candy; Altenew: Obsidian Pigment Ink; Spellbinders: Original Platinum Die Cutting and Embossing Machine-8.5” Platform; Bearly Art: Precision Craft Glue; My Sweet Petunia: Original MISTI Laser Etched; Neenah: Classic Crest Solar White 80# Cover 8.5”x11”; Prismacolor Premier Pencils: black, dark green, olive green, espresso, dark umber, white

First, 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 Honey Bee Stamps’ Bee Creative glue to adhere to a top-folding A2 card base.

Now let’s get started on our main image! Because I have had several instances where I have smeared the black outline of the stamped image during stenciling, I like to do all of the stenciling first.

The six stencils in the Honey Bee Stamps 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 Waffle Flower Shader Brushes 1 to add the inks. Using small blending brushes allows you to get more depth to the image by adding darker shades of ink where the shadows might fall.

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 black pigment ink. Using 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 dry to avoid any smearing.

Here is my second tip for taking your card to the next level. 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 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 card’s theme. 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. 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 Bearly Art 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 Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue with a fine tip to place lines of glue in various spots on the branches and image. Then, I sprinkled Ranger 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!  Here’s a recap of the techniques I used today to enhance the gorgeous Good Tidings image:

  • add a white textured background;
  • tuck additional die cuts behind your main image;
  • pop up your main image with foam tape to make it stand out;
  • use a white pencil to add detail to lighter-colored areas of your image, and finally;
  • add touches of subtle sparkle with clear glitter or a glitter pen!

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope I’ve inspired you to look at your stash for ways to give your next card that “wow” factor!  Have a wonderful and crafty day!

Find more of Carol’s creations here: Instagram | Blog