Artful Angel DT - Kraftin' Kimmie - Holiday Bears

 Hello lovelies!  I am here to share some projects that I made for Artful Angel this week.  I was so inspired by a blog post by Norine Borys about using mini stamps on cards.  I don't know about you, but I struggle with knowing how to use my small images, so they tend to sit unused in the package. 

I decided to challenge myself to use the little itty-bitty stamps in the Kraftin' Kimmie Holiday Bears stamp set and to use the Norine's layouts as sketches for my cards.  It opened up a whole new world for me.   I wanted to share with you just how easy it was to make these cards in case this is a struggle for you, too!  Keep scrolling for a super fun bonus card at the end using this same stamp set. (I might have gone a little crazy, once I got going with these little cuties!)   I created 3 cards, each with one image from the stamp set as the focal point.  They were all relatively quick and easy to make and I can't believe how cute they turned out! 

To start, I stamped all of the images and colored them with alcohol markers.  I used a combination of Stampin' Blends from Stampin' Up (because I wanted the colors to coordinate with my card stock, and my selection of blue Copics is a bit limited) and Copic markers.  The colors will be listed below.  

For the first card, I used the Stitched Indented Rectangle Dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs to die-cut the panel for my image.  I then stamped my image and sentiment and then colored the image.  I die-cut another panel using the next largest die in the set.  I adhered them to a panel from the Echo Park Winter Magic 6 x 6 Paper Pad.  To finish, I added a bow made from silver metallic thread. 

For the second card, I stamped my image in the lower corner of a 3 3/4" x 5" panel of white card stock and colored it.  I stamped the sentiment on the panel.  I embossed the snowflakes from the stamp set in a mostly random fashion, using WOW Vintage Peacock Embossing Powder.  To finish, I layered it on a panel from the Carta Bella Winter Market 6 x 6 Paper Pad. 

For all of these images, I used the same color palette, so I didn't have to come up with different color blends.  I really wanted to keep it super simple. 

For the third card (which just might be my favorite), I embossed the sentiment in white on a scrap of Navy card stock and trimmed it down.  I had an extra die-cut from my "bonus card" that I layered behind the sentiment tag as a snow drift in order to ground my image and not have the little cutie "floating".  I used a piece from the Carta Bella Winter Market 6 x 6 Paper Pack for my background and then layered up my elements.  

Oh, yeah!  I said I had a bonus card for you!  I recently purchased the new Lawn Fawn Platform Pop Up Dies and had so much fun making a birthday card for my hubby that I wanted to try again, and I thought that these little bears would be PERFECT to create a scene with!   The fun thing about this die set is that after it is assembled and decorated, it folds flat and fits in an A2 envelope. 

When I stamped my images for the cards, I also stamped all of the images from the stamp set, as I knew I wanted to use them all for the Pop Up!  I colored them using the same colors, and then cut them all out.  I heat embossed some of the sentiments on blue card stocks and set them all aside. 

I used two sheets of the snowflake paper from the Carta Bella Winter Market 6 x 6 Paper Pack to die-cut the Platform Pop Up base.  I die-cut the remaining pieces from card stock and I assembled the Pop-Up.  Lawn Fawn has an excellent video tutorial for assembling the card here. 

Once I had my card assembled, I started playing with the placement of the images until I was happy and then I adhered them in place with liquid glue and embellished the outside of the card.  I love how it turned out!  

Colors Used:

Bears:  N2, N1, N0, R30, R000

Bear Outfits:  Stampin' Blends (all Dark and Light) - Night of Navy, Misty Moonlight, Seaside Spray, Balmy Blue

Sled/Snowshoes:  E18, E15

Birds:  E51, E51, YR04

Snowballs:  BG11, BG10, C1, C0, 0

Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen

This is all four of the cards together.  This was really a quick and easy effort and I now have 4 cards ready for winter!  I hope that you have found something that inspires you to get crafty and maybe try to tackle something that may have been a struggle for you!  

Thanks so much for hanging with me!  

Xoxo, Kim