Quick and Easy Christmas Cards

How to make a pile of cards in less than an hour!

Hey everyone! If you are in need of a bunch of cards, I'll show you how to make them real quick and easy. Most of my cards took between 5 to 10 minutes to make!

Sometimes we might want to spend a whole day making just one elaborated card, but now that December is here for real, some of us are running out of time ... It's better to send a simple card than none at all, right?

Most of my cards were made using stamps from the Rubber Dance set called Watercolour Xmas. If you don't have that one, look in your stash and see what you can find that would work for the easy technique I've used. I bet you have some stamps that will work! (Or order them here - you should have them within a week if you live in Europe, unless the postal service is really slow right now).

You will need watercolour paper for this technique. It doesn't have to be an expensive brand.
If you don't have any watercolour paper, you can add a thin layer of gesso (primer) to white cardstock and it will work beautifully! Another paper that works really well is Strathmore Mixed Media paper. Use what you have - experiment. No need to buy more schtuff right now ...

TECHNIQUE ONE

Step One: Fold several cards at once to get ready! The size of my cards (11 x 14 cm, when folded) were made to fit some envelopes I happen to have in my stash.

Step Two: Stamp the images using a water based ink. I have used Distress Oxides for my cards, but any water based ink should work. I use Oxides because the ink stays wet for a while.

Side note: The colours I have used match those of the Rubber Dance challenge this month. One lucky winner will run away with 50 Euro worth of stamps from Rubber Dance! You will find the challenge here.

Step Three: Use a waterbrush or regular paint brush and pull the ink towards the centre of the stamped images, like this: 

Step Four: Add strings to the ornaments with a thin pen (I used a glitter pen). Add some stars and a sentiment and you're done! Once you've made the first card, the next 10 will go even faster. It doesn't matter if all your cards are identical.

Hot Tip: If you are really happy with one of your cards, scan it and print it out to make all the rest! Just remember that many stamp companies don't allow such mechanical reproductions, so check their policies first! You may do so with cards you've made using stamps from Rubber Dance. 

Here's another idea:  Same technique as the card above, only this time the ornaments are hanging down from the stamped sentiment:

Or how about a simple winter scene like the one below? Branch from Pines Fir Yew, stars and tiny trees from Watercolour Xmas.

If you want to spend as much as 15 minutes on one card, splatter some ink around for interest.

Make a background panel that matches the colours you've used (set aside to dry while you work on other quick cards): 

Detail: Draw a tiny bow to "tie up" the ornaments: 

TECHNIQUE TWO

After having stamped your ornaments and coloured their centres with a waterbased ink or marker, spray water on top and see what happens! Either you love this look or you think it's too crazy ... 

   

Same technique, only less water this time:

Here are three more easy cards, just stamped and coloured in real quick:

The bird is from Whimsical Summer. By adding some red to its chest, I think it can pass as a robin.
All the Christmas sentiments are from Rubber Dance as well, and you can find them on various sets here.

I hope my cards will inspire you to make some quick and easy ones yourself. If you are not comfortable with this Less is More kind of cards, you can always throw some embellishments on them - a bow here, some flowers there, and bling. Bling's good!

Have fun!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

If you have read this far, I'll let you in on a little secret .... It's my birthday today! I can't believe it's been a whole year already since I turned the Big Five O! Turning 50 was fine and fun, but 51 is just another number, nothing special about that. But YOU are special - and so am I, 'cause Rubber Dance is MY stamp company and I can do whatever I want! :-) So I've decided, since it's my birthday and I'm in a particularly happy mood today, to give away a whole sheet of stamps to someone lucky!  All you have to do to be in the draw is to leave a comment below, wish me a happy birthday and let me know which sheet of stamps you want if you win! Easy peasy, right? (You can see them all here). I'll put all the names in a hat and pick a random winner on Monday 11th of December. The winner will be announced right here - at the end of this post - so remember to come back and see if you won! (Unclaimed prize will go to another lucky winner after one week). This giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere in the world - I will of course pay for the shipping if you win!

Thanks for playing,

and good luck!

Biiiig Hugs

from the Birthday Girl!

♥ ♥ ♥

Bibi

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UPDATE 11. DEC. - WE HAVE A WINNER!

Thank you for all your lovely comments!

I drew a name out of a hat.... this one:

and the winner is..... 

Congratulations, Sandy!

Please email me (stamplist@gmail.com) your shipping address 

so I can send you the Take the Plunge stamp sheet you wanted :-) 

Thanks again, everyone! I really appreciate you taking the time!

For those who played along but didn't win,

email me if you'd like a discount coupon code.

 BIG HUGS,

Bibi

♥ ♥ ♥

Remember to join our challenge!