Beautiful Toile Christmas Cards Made Easy

Hey there Craftin' Friends.

I am so loving the cardinal in the Toile Christmas Bundle. Truly I love anything with cardinals - tea towels, figurines, tea cups, you name it. I also love watching the real thing outside my home, especially during the bleak winter days here in Canada. We're still enjoying fall weather here, but those winter days are coming! So the Toile Christmas Stamp Set is a sure winner in my mind.

On Thursday evenings Facebook Live, I demonstrated 4 different ways of using the cardinal stamp. Today's blog post is about sharing the cards I created using the different cardinals.

Card One - Cardinal Stamped on Coloured Cardstock

The easiest way by far to use the cardinal stamp is to stamp him on coloured cardstock (I used Real Red) then die cut him out. I used my Stamparatus for the stamping so that I could stamp more than once for a darker image where desired. For the card below I used a Very Vanilla Thick Cardstock base. Next I cut a Garden Green layer (4 by 5 1/4"), and after die cuting a wreath from the co-ordinating All Around Wreath Dies,  I adhered it to the card front. Next came a Toile Christmas DSP layer (3 7/8 by 5 1/8"). I glued the die cut wreath onto the DSP and  topped it with a bow using the Garden Green Double Stitched Ribbon. I used dimensionals to pop up the cardinal and the May your days... sentiment which I stamped in Real Red ink on Very Vanilla Cardstock.

Card 2 - Cardinal stamped with coloured ink

For this card I used a Crumb Cake card base with a second Crumb Cake layer (4 by 5 1/4") embossed using the Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder. To this layer I added two circles using the largest of the Stitched Shapes circle dies, one in Mossy Meadow and one from Vellum cardstock. I die cut the leaves in Mossy Meadow and the swirls in Vellum and used glue dots to add these to the card near the bottom of the card. The sentiment was stamped in Memento on Crumb Cake Cardstock. Both the cardinal (see video below for stamping instructions) and the sentiment were adhered using Stampin' Dimensionals.

Card Three - Cardinal Stamped in Memento then coloured with watercolour pencils and a blender pen.

For this card I used a Whisper White card base (landscape style) and added a Whisper White cardstock layer (4 by 5 1/4") embossed with the Subtles 3D Embossing Folder on top. I die cut an oval from Old Olive cardstock using the largest Stitched Shapes oval and glued this in the centre of the card. Stamping and colouring instructions for the bird and the branch are in the video link below. I glued the cardinal and the branch  flat onto the oval. The sentiment was stamped in Old Olive on Whisper White Cardstock and again, adhered with dimensionals.

Card Four - Cardinal stamped in Memento and coloured with Stampin' Blends

This final card used a Whisper White card base topped with a skinny Cherry Cobbler mat (4 by 5 1/4") from which I die cut the circle (again, the largest circle from the Stitched Shapes dies). Next I added a Whisper White layer (3 7/8 by 5 1/8") embossed using the Woodland Embossing Folder. The circle was glued flay, as were the bird and the branch. (Again, see the video for stamping and colouring instructions.) The sentiment was stamped in Cherry Cobbler ink on Whisper White cardstock and popped up with Stampin' dimensionals.

These cards were fun to make and could easily be mass produced using the Stamparatus for stamping. I've even seen examples of cards where the Cardinal becomes a Blue Jay! Whether you enjoy colouring or not, this is an easy bundle to use to create quick and beautiful holiday cards.

Here's the video with stamping and colouring instructions.⇳

Thanks for stopping by today. If you like the cards, consider subscribing to my blog by email, and/or joining my Craftin' Granny's Stamping Friends Facebook Group to stay up to date on all of my classes, tutorials, and other events.

Happy Stamping!
Craftin' Granny