North Pole cards

It was a cool, rainy day here yesterday – perfect for holing up in my craft room and designing cards.  I think I made about 20 of them yesterday LOL!  Designing cards is hit and miss with me, it either comes to me in a flash or I have to tease it out slowly.  Luckily, these two came quickly.

My brother was in the Air Force and I had the opportunity to visit him when he was stationed in Alaska some years ago.  Instead of living on base, he opted to live near a town called North Pole.  It of course had a huge Christmas village in it but what struck me more was how quaint the town itself was.  That was the inspiration for these cards.

They both start out exactly the same.  I cut Whisper White cardstock to 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″, scored at 4-1/4″ and folded.  I pulled out the Hearts Come Home stamp set and arranged the three houses and two trees on a stamp platform until I had the layout I wanted.  This was stamped using Garden Green ink straight onto the card base.  I wanted more trees, so re-positioned them and stamped again in Garden Green ink.  Once I was happy with the number of trees, I added the sentiment, again from Hearts Come Home this time stamping with Cherry Cobbler ink.

I was happy with the design but felt it could be stepped up a notch.  Hmm, what to do?  Thought about die cutting some trees to add but really wanted to keep this simple.  Luckily, we have the Card Front Builders dies which will really add some pop to your cards.  But which of the dies to use?   Well I had two cards so why not try two different ones?  I love how clean and simple the frame die looks so that went on one.  And then those poinsettia flowers were perfect for the upper corners of the other one.  Once I ran each card through the Big Shot with the appropriate dies, I added a panel of Cherry Cobbler cardstock to the back of the front panel with Tombow Liquid Glue for drama and WOW did I love how that made each of them pop!  Lastly, I went over the roofs and trees with a little Wink of Stella.  A girl’s gotta have a little glitter!

So there you have it, two completely different looks using the exact same stamps.  I hope you have enjoyed today’s cards and will look through your stash to see what dies you can use to bring a little drama to your cards.

As always, if you have any questions about the card please drop me a comment below.    And if you are looking for a demonstrator, I would love to have you as a customer!  You can shop for supplies by clicking the shopping icon in the upper right corner.

Ta for now!