Penguins and Presents Handmade Christmas CardsNovember 8, 2016 |
Hey there crafters! After my blog post last week introducing my Penguins and Presents range of craft goodies (which, ahem, had been out a month already and I hadn’t got round to blogging about it) I’m now going to show you some of the Penguins and Presents handmade Christmas cards I’ve put together. I’ve kept the designs pretty simple as I do like a nice quick make, and if you’re making all your Christmas cards it helps to have straightforward designs that don’t take long to do!
For this card I’ve used the scripty calligraphy paper as the background pattern and then layered up some strips of polka dot and boken paper on top. I added a die cut circle and then cut out three little penguins from the penguin paper and attached them in the centre with foam squares. Finally I added a little red bow (from Hobbycraft) and some gems.
Penguins look good in threes! There are different designs of penguins on the paper – some with santa hats, some with scarves in different colours; some with their little flippers held out and some with their flippers behind their backs; some with round eyes and some with happy eyes.
Don’t forget to create some pretty snowy surfaces for your penguins to stand on! Here I have used iridescent glitter glue to create the look of snow. You could also use some Snow-tex (available from DecoArt) or texture paste.
I love using die cuts on my cards and for this one I have used a medium sized star die from the docrafts nesting star die set. The ‘Christmas’ sentiment is cut out from the scripty background paper.
Here I used the pretty strings of fairy lights paper for the background and added a strip of bokeh patterned paper along the bottom for four little penguins to sit on.
For this card I wanted a bow as the statement piece on the front. I’ve used a bow die that came with my Xcut gift bag die set. It cuts in one piece and then you fold it round to make the bow loops and tails. It’s perhaps not the most practical if you’re designing your cards to goo through the post as the bow pops forward quite a bit, but it does look pretty at least!
On this card I had a go at cutting out a section of fairy lights from the fairy light paper and added it in the corner as an extra embellishment. It looks fiddly to cut but if you have the patience you can do the inner bits with a craft knife and the rest with scissors so it doesn’t take tooooo long (and you know I’m a pretty impatient crafter! Thought I do like cutting things out). I think I’ll try this again with a longer strip as it does look nice. You can attach it with small foam squares to make it stand forwards on the card and enhance the illusion of strings of fairy lights!
I created this card with a bit more of a pastel vibe to it, using the soft coloured polka dot patterned paper. Like my first design I layered up some strips on the left and then added a die cut star and some presents cut from the present patterned paper. I used my Xcut snowflake punch to punch out some snowflakes and added three along the left hand side with a silver gem in the centre of each one.
And finally here’s a little pile of cards all packaged up and ready to be popped out on the stand at my next craft fair. If you’re local to me (or willing to travel!) you can drop in and see me at Pineapple Palace Christmas Market on Saturday 26th November and City Arts Newbury Arts and Craft Fair on Saturday 3rd December.