Christmas Joy // Zenspired Holidays by Joanne Fink

Welcome back to my blog, where I hope to inspire you to pick up your paper, scissors, and adhesive to get crafty! 

I'd like to share a few projects I created with an older stamp and die set that I just discovered and love! Christmas Joy Stamp and Die set Zenspired Holidays by Joanne Fink was the perfect addition to my stash to create some fun and whimsical cards in a jiffy! 

Be sure to comment below to let me know which is your favorite. 

First up, we have a colorful Christmas tree card - I used a few colors from my Tim Holtz distress ink  markers to create a non-traditional Christmas tree with pinks, greens, and blues. Once the tree was dry and ready to go, I used the coordinating die to create a perfect focal image to go in front of the busy background. To make sure it stood out from the background, I popped the tree up on some foam tape, creating the perfect shadow and separation. The background reminds me of a twirling snowfall and was custom made by using the sentiment stamp included in the set. I placed the stamp on a stamping block and stamped a pattern in Versafine Onyx Black ink across the panel, making sure to change up where the start of the sentiment landed from line to line. Once the background was full, I trimmed to 5" x 3.75", then used a corner rounder along each edge. I layered this on a piece of pink glitter cardstock measured at 5.25" x 4", then adhered the panel to an A2 sized card base. Finishing touches just included a little bit of shimmer from a Wink of Stella glitter pen to pull out some of the designs in the tree and of course the star!

Next, we have an elegant, but simple green and gold Christmas tree card. I started out with heat embossing the Christmas tree image by using Versamark ink to stamp the  image on a panel die cut with a jagged edge die, then sprinkled Recollections gold detail embossing powder over the entire stamped image. I carefully removed any stray embossing powder with a dry paint brush, then used my heat gun to melt the powder. Next, I pressed the edges of the panel in to the Versamark ink and covered with the Recollections gold detail embossing powder to create a matching mat around the image. Once the powder was all melted and cooled down, I brought back some Tim Holtz distress marker in greens, browns, and yellows to create a simple colored image. Once this panel was dry, I added some fun foam to pop up on an A2 case base. I decided to leave the sentiment off of the front and just add a message on the inside. 

Lastly, my favorite, a quiet shaker card! 😊 This card starts off with a white A2 card base, where the tree was stamped with Memento Tuxedo ink and colored with alcohol markers. Next, I took a white card panel that was 4" x 5.25" and stamped the whimsical sentiment, "Wishing you Christmas Joy!", then centered the tree die to cut out from the panel. Once acetate and foam tape were added to the back of the card panel that had the tree cut out, this was placed over the stamped and colored tree to encase the glimmering sequins. To bring finish off this card, a few sequins were added to the top right and bottom left of the Christmas Tree.