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Good morning! I’m excited to introduce a (hopefully) annual video series that I’ll be sharing over the month of July! It’s crazy to realize that we’re halfway through 2016 and only 175 days away from Christmas! Over the last few years I’ve realized that if I don’t start making holiday cards over the summer, I won’t get enough made. I had to slink into Hallmark two years ago to buy a few extra card sets in mid-December and I swore I would never do it again.
I love these adorable penguins from Mama Elephant and I thought they’d be perfect for a set of Christmas cards! You can watch the video below or in HD at my Youtube channel.
I started by stamping the background stamp onto a piece of white cardstock with versamark. Then I heat-embossed it with white embossing powder. Next I blended distress inks over the panel. For the card above I used tumbled glass, salty ocean, and chipped sapphire distress ink. For the next card I used spun sugar, abandoned coral, and picked raspberry distress ink:
And for my last card I used salty ocean, chipped sapphire, and seedless preserves distress ink:
Then I stamped the sentiment from Jingle Greetings onto a white cardstock panel cut to 2″ by 5.5″ and heat-embossed it with silver embossing powder. Next I adhered a strip of silver glitter paper cut to .5″ by 5.5″ behind that panel and adhered it to the distress inked background panel. I also adhered a piece of white cardstock cut to .75″ by 5.5″ to the top of the distress inked background panel to create a frame. I trimmed that panel down by an 1/8″ on each side and adhered it to a white card base.
Next I stamped my penguins with copic friendly ink Ranger archival black ink and cut them out using my ScanNCut. I also added a little spectrum clear sparkle to the ice skates of each penguin and then adhered them to the card with foam mounting tape. I thought the silver glitter paper could be the “ice” for my skating penguins! Each card is a little different with various sentiments, penguins, and background colors and each took about 10-15 minutes to make. However, if I did an assembly style production (all heat-embossing then all distress ink blending then all copic coloring, etc.) I could cut down the time needed to make each card and could mass-produce them easily. They were a lot of fun to create and I hope they inspired you to get started on your holiday cards! December will be here before you know it! 😉
P.S. Fun fact, the music on my video today is performed by yours truly on my harp! This month I’ll be using tracks off of my solo Christmas album on my holiday card tutorial videos and I hope you enjoy them! 🙂
To help get you in the holiday spirit I have a crafty package of a few supplies that I’ve used to create each card this month. The total contents of the package will be a surprise for the recipient but is valued over $30! To enter leave a comment on each of my Christmas in July posts and let me know your favorite Christmas song (or your favorite song if you don’t celebrate Christmas)! 😉 US and international entries welcome!
Thanks so much for visiting and have a fabulous day!
Interested in the products I used? To make them easy for you to find, I have listed them below. (Affiliate disclosure can be found here). Your purchases help keep my blog running and I thank you for the support!)
Love these sweet cards Jess! The ink resist snowflake backgrounds are gorgeous and I love the touches of bling you added with the glitter paper!
These are awesome and so quick to make! Love the backgrounds – great color choice and blending. Your music is lovely too, can’t wait to hear more. I’ve always loved Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman. 2 of my favs!
I really like simple cards. Especially when im on a budget. Great card and color choice. Any cards with lights in them. Thanks for sharing
I LOVE these, Jess! I think I might have to CASE you!!! So fun!
These cards are adorable! I love Silent Night.
Such fun cards! Love the backgrounds!
LOVE these super adorable Christmas cards, thanks for the inspiration to get my Christmas cards started. Thanks for the wonderful video too, I look forward to this weekly inspiration.
Forgot my fave Christmas song is All I Want for Christmas is You sung by Michael Buble.
Wow! Totally love the ombre look for BG, blending so well with great festive appealing! Love the cute penguins! I always love to hear O Silent Night!
I always start my holiday cards in July and August!! Love your work and your site! Follow you on Instagram as well!!
I am #janineorchard
I absolutely love Angels we have Heard on High!!
Such a great idea, I will be following for sure:-) Thanks for inspiration and thumbs up for your music. No favorite Christmas song for me, though.
These are gorgeous! Loving your Distress Ink background and they are great for fairly quick cards! Might have to CASE your design! I really enjoyed your music – it’s so beautiful and relaxing! My favourite since I was a child has always been Jingle Bells! I’m looking forward to your series because I like to get my cards done ahead of time too! Thanks so much! I enjoyed your video!
I love your harp playing in the background of your video! I love so many Christmas songs! “I Wonder as I Wander” and “I Saw Three Ships” “O Holy Night”…
Thanks for the reminder to get started on my Christmas cards!
Loved your harp music!! The cards are very festive and fun!! One of my favorite Christmas song is Silent Night.
Thought that harp in your voice over was you. Lovely for Christmas themed videos and sepecially because you’re the artist.
Three cards down…so, how many does that leave to do??? Doesn’t matter because you started off with a band. Your recipients are going to be so pleased with these.
Cute cards. Love the glitter ice! We wish you a merry Christmas
Delightful cards! I love the resist snowflake backgrounds and your color combos! Darling Mama Elephant penguins and a pretty detail with the silver glitter paper!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful harp music! My favorite Christmas song is O Holy Night.
Brilliant idea Jessica!!! I’m always scrambling at the last minute as well. My favorite Christmas song is ‘Silent Night’
I love the glitter paper strip and the cute penguin. I love Christmas music but if I had to pick one song it would be “Mary did you know?”
Wow!! You made this look so easy, Jessica!! I hope to get some Christmas cards started today as I’m always scrambling and feeling under pressure when November comes. I love the beautiful blending you did. Thank you for the detailed video – it makes me think I can actually do it myself! My favorite Christmas hymn is “O Come All Ye Faithful”.
Jess, they are super cute and festive Christmas cards. Cannot go wrong with silver, whitecamd snowflakes.
My all time favorite Christmas song is O Holy Night 🙂
These cards are SO adorable, Jess! Love them!
Also, I can’t wait to hear your songs on the videos :).
I don’t really have a fave Christmas song … #weird 😉
I love your card and those cute little penguins! I am also trying to create 31 Christmas cards this month so I will be coming by each day for inspiration. Thank you especially for listing the colors of the distress inks you used on your background. My favorite Christmas song is O Holy Night.
Hi Jess ~ Thanks so much for sharing a video along with this adorable card. I love watching your videos and always find them so inspiring. That sweet little penguin is absolutely precious skating on that sliver of silver sparkly paper. Thanks so much for sharing and reminding me that it’s time I start making my Christmas cards for my (HUGE) family! ~HUGS~
I love these cards! I really need to get started on my Christmas cards as well! Thank you for the inspiration! Loved your music in the video! My favourite Christmas carol is Jingle Bells.