Christmas Card Set

My Mother-In-Law loves Nativity sets. She has several small ones she sets out during Christmas. When I saw these gorgeous cards that Betsy Veldman made for a Papertrey Ink Make-It-Monday, I knew they would be perfect for her!!!!  I'm pretty new to stamping so this was a huge undertaking and it started off a bit shakey, but it turned out AMAZING. I was able to finish a small set and package them beautifully using PTI's All Boxed Up Template. When all is said and done, she will have FIFTY, yes, fifty, beautiful cards to send this Christmas. And I will be passed out from all that stamping! =)

I had a hard time learning to use the ink blending tool to antique the edges of the die cuts and I messed up several before I got the hang of it. After the fact, I found this great youtube video from Two Peas In A Bucket that shows how to use it. So hopefully that will help the rest of you out there who haven't used that tool yet. I didn't use the green ink in the antiquing process like on the Make-It-Monday video. I tried it but I didn't like how it looked. I think it didn't look good because I was mounting it on green cardstock and it really pulled the green out of the die cut. So I only used the tea dye and walnut stain.  I also lined up my sentiments a little differently on the die cuts because I wanted to be able to read more of the words in the background than in the Make-It-Monday versions.

I also had a frustrating time with the inks. I ordered Smokey Shadow ink from PTI to so I could stamp the silhouettes to match the cardstock strip that runs under the die cuts. However, their ink dries to a dark brown...not a light black/deep gray tone. There is even a discussion about it on the forum. So I had to find something else. I tried black pigment ink from Colorbox but it took FOREVER to get good coverage on the stamp and, even if I heat set the ink, it still would smudge on my finished product. I had to trash several finished die cuts because of that. I finally found Ranger's Pitch Black pigment ink that didn't smear after it was dried, and gave a quick good coverage on the stamp. The "shade" of black also went well with the smokey shadow cardstock strip.

Here is the All Boxed up "box" I made from the template. It really made my project something special and I'll be using it many more times. It packages any card set to beautifully.  The stamped scene on the front was heavily influenced by this lovely nativity card stamped on craft card stock by Nichole Heady.

Here is the box all closed up and tied shut with the ribbon.

They cards turned out gorgeous, but they took a lot of supplies and the cost really added up. For the most part, I had to buy three stamp sets that can only be used for Christmas and pretty much for people who are Christian since it is Jesus and Bible verses (so it can be limiting). Though the Silent Night sentiment set had a beautiful flourish you can use for pretty much anything...and I have been. =)

Materials


(all papertrey ink brand unless noted):


Cardstock for cards: Simply Chartreuse, Smokey Shadow, Vintage Cream,
Carstock for Box: True Black , Vintage Cream, Simply  Chartreuse , Spring Moss


Dies: Fillable Frames #1


Stamp Sets: Nativity Silhouettes, Nativity Silhouettes Additions, Silent Night,  *for the "Christmas Greetings" sentiment on the side of the card box I used a sentiment from each of these two sets: Big & Bold Holiday Wishes, Wonderful Words Holiday, Background Basics Text Style (for box cover scene)


Cardbox Ink: 
Card Ink: Ranger Distress Ink in Walnut Stain and Tea Dye, Ranger Adirondack Earthtones Pigment in Pitch Black, Versamark Watermark for flourishes on grey strip


Ribbon: Random ribbon from my craft supplies.


Other: 3M foam tape, gems