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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!)
I love penguins! I have quite a few of them in my stamp collection, but I’m always adding more ! Favorite carol? Good King Wenceslas.
I love these cards and your music is beautiful! My favorite Christmas songs are White Christmas and Christmas Eve (Sarajevo). Thanks for the chance to win 🙂
So pretty, I hope to make some Christmas cards soon too! You really got me thinking.
Thank you for sharing
Love them all! They are just adorable. 🙂 It’s hard to believe that you only took about 10-15 minutes to make each of them. It usually takes about an hour or more for me to make mine, ha! My favorite song is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
Such cute cards,
love the way you
made them. My
fave Christmas
song is Silver Bells.
Carla from Utah
I kinda hate to think about Christmas right now but I appreciate your great ideas. Looking forward to all. I love Christmas music, hard to choose a favorite. Maybe I can choose a favorite every day:) I’ll choose O Holy Night today.
Love the cute cards. My fav Chriistmas song is Silent Night.
Love your cards. And I love your music in the background…so gentle and serene. I like Silent Night and O Holy Night.
Very cute cards–I like the color variations. I really enjoyed the harp music. My favorite Christmas song is Silent Night.
Love the penguins…so cute. I like Hark the Heralds sung in harmony 🙂
Such cute cards I love the snowflakes on the ombré background. My favorite Christmas Carol is probably Have yourself a merry little Christmas, thank you for the chance to win.
Wow! Super cute cards and beautiful music!! Thanks so much for the inspiration! I love all Christmas music but one of my favorites is definitely Silent Night.. always the last song we sing at my church’s candlelight service ?❤️
I just love these little penguin guys! My favorite Christmas song is “Oh Holy Night”.
Your cards are so inspiring! You make them look so easy to do, thank you. My favourite song is silent night x
What a fantastic idea!! I reached Christmas with no where near enough cards so must start making some soon, and just purchased this penguin stamp at the weekend!! My favourite Xmas song is ‘Winter Wonderland’ and anything by Bing Crosby.
Oh wow! These little penguin guys are adorable just like your cards! Really beautiful!!! My favourite Christmas songs are “Oh Holy Night” and “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey,
I love penguins, and this card is sooo cute. I also love the sound of a harp. You play beautifully. My favorite Christmas song is White Christmas. I look forward to watching all your Christmas in July videos.
Absolutely fabulous, Jess! Your blending is gorgeous. And those penguins… So cute!! Can’t wait to see what else you have in store for this series!
Wonderful holiday cards! What a great idea to start Christmas cards in July! I live these. My favorite song would be Silent Night sung by Elvis.
Great idea for Christmas in July! Loved watching your process in the video. Beautiful harp music–I think your solo album should be included in your give-away!!! My favorite song is O Holy Night. Thanks for a chance to win! 2amscrapper
Fabulous holiday cards! One of my “kid” holiday songs is “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.” It makes me laugh every time I imagine a hippo wrapped up under the Christmas tree!
Jess, what a great video. And the music is so lovely and relaxing. I loved hearing Silent Night on the harp, that might be my fave. The cards are super cute. You make it look so easy. Great video! Can’t wait to see more.
I am so impressed by your talents! Not only are you a wonderful stamp artist but also a musician..wow! Christmas is my favorite time of year and one of my favorite songs is What Child is This.
Beautiful musc! My favorite Christmas song is “O Holy Night”. Your cards are so cute! I love penguins.
Love these cards! ‘Winter Wonderland” is my favorite.