Hello hello! It’s like 2 weeks ’til Christmas, and 2 days ’til Hanukkah – how’s your holiday crafting going?? A while ago, in the thick of my card-production haze, I decided that what I absolutely needed to do–at that very moment–was to make something different. And then the Power Poppy 12 Days of Christmas December Challenge rolled in with some fabulous not-the-usual-cards-and-stuff inspiration. (Seriously, if you haven’t checked it out–click that link!)
So I’ve been dying to play with the Under Glass: Christmas Traditions set from Power Poppy, and what I came up with were some little holiday-adjacent notes that can be used for post-holiday thank yous, or for tucking into a gift, or as just something to send when you get an unexpected card and need to reciprocate (!!) I love the little scenes that you can put into the cloches, to create your own little world in there…
I colored these cards with colored pencils, in that same color palette I’ve been working with lately (below).
I’ve really enjoyed working with a few select colors. It seems to streamline how I choose to color each element of my projects (limited choices!), and I’ve learned a lot about shading/under coloring, because I can’t go looking for more colors to add in. Bonus: I can be lazy and just leave the pencils out on my table for a few weeks 😉
Once these cards were colored, I added sparkle with Stickles and Wink of Stella, but these cards can also be colored very simply. I just like to get all extra sometimes.
Oh, and the “Holiday Hello” sentiment is from Power Poppy. The others are from a Waffle Flower set (“Heartfelt Thanks”) and Simon Says Stamp (“Thanking you for thanking me”). My notecards and envelopes came from Paper Source.
To contain and present my cards, I finally got to use my Gift Box die from Lawn Fawn. While I’m only showing off three card designs in this post, the completed box is sized to hold six 4 bar-sized notecards and envelopes (that’s 3-1/2″ x 4-7/8″ or 8.9 cm x 12.4 cm). What’s really ingenious about the die set is that you use one die for both the bottom of the box and the lid! That’s because you also cut some paper corners for assembling the top, and therefore ensure a perfect fit! If that sounds confusing, Lawn Fawn has a video demonstrating how to use the set, and it’s really much simpler than it sounds.
I stamped Flowering Santa onto some grey cardstock, and colored him in with that same color palette. Of course, I needed some more sparkle, so I sprayed the whole thing with some shimmer spray, as well as stenciled on shiny aqua embellishment mousse around my Santa. I also added some glittery Nuvo drops to the flower centers, and a glittery heat-embossed “Merry” sentiment. Then I assembled the box lid and bottom, and packed it with the note cards.
This was a fun project to put together. You can go as simple or as all-out as you want for decorating and coloring, and customize the contents for any recipient.
Because I was planning to mail these cards, I needed to figure out a way to get the lights to shine by pressing on the card, but not be too thick or fragile. I decided to place the battery in the center of the card, and build my circuit with a switch that got pressed at the bottom of the card. I also made a basic foam backing from 3mm fun foam. I figured that eliminating the usual many pieces of foam tape might help the card not get bent or creased in the mail.
I decorated the inside of the card too. Figured I sent so much time on the card front, might as well give the interior special treatment as well. I used a stencil and sponged some Deco mousse and then heat-embossed a sentiment from the Monstrous stamp set.
It’s time for another Instant Garden release from Power Poppy! Today, 
But for this post, I decided to take my inspiration from the Ben Franklin sentiment: “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy,” and make a fun sign of sorts. I put the Hops & Barley image into Pages, and then duplicated and flipped it, so the images surrounded the quote.
I used my little Minc to add gold foil to just the sentiment (this is Bristol paper), and then colored the hops, barley and background with distress inks and a water brush.
I mounted the panel onto woodgrain-embossed cardstock that I swiped with some gold Nuvo mousse. I also added some gold Perfect Pearls details to the barley kernels.
Before you head off today…LOOK AT WHAT IS COMING SOON FROM POWER POPPY! The Happiest Holiday clear stamp collection rolls out previews starting tomorrow, October 16th, and everything will be available for purchase on the 24th! There’s Santas, florals, confections…It’s gonna be epic!
The Saffron Kingfisher 