“Sweet Christmas” Card Using Dies and a Stencil

Hey Krafty friends, it’s Tiffani from A Krafting Alley! Today I’m sharing a “Sweet Christmas” slimline card that combines die cutting with ink blending using a stencil.

Is it too early to start Christmas cards? I don’t think so — especially when you have such a fun die set to play with. This card features a gingerbread-style airplane pulling a “Sweet Christmas” banner across a cloud-filled sky.

Supplies Used

• Cardstock from CutCardStock.com
  
  • Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110 lb (card base)
    
  • Cougar White 80 lb (clouds, icing, banner base)
    
  • Discount Card Stock Natural White 100 lb (icing layer for mountains)
    
  • Pop-Tone Black Licorice 65 lb (banner string)
    
  • Lessebo Coffee Bean 83 lb (gingerbread mountains)
    
  • Discount Card Stock Twine 80 lb (airplane base)
    
  • Discount Card Stock Textured Japanese Maple 80 lb (sentiment & airplane pieces)
    
• Dies & Stencil
  
  • Spellbinders Sweet Borders Die Set for Stamperia
    
  • Spellbinders Gingerbread Plane and Banners Die Set for Stamperia
    
  • Honey Bee Stamps Outdoor Scene Builder Stencil (clouds)
    
• Inks & Tools
  
  • Ranger Distress Oxide Inks: Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Salty Ocean
    
  • Ink blending foams (Tim Holtz;Ranger) + handle (Scrapbook.com)
    
  • Foam tape
  • Nuvo liquid glue
  • Bone folder
  • Score board
  • Spellbinders Platinum Scout die cutting machine
    

Envelope: Slimline Brown Bag Envelope in Kraft (CutCardStock.com)

How I Made This Card

1. Build the slimline card base
I started by cutting an 8.5″ x 7″ piece of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110 lb cardstock. On the 7″ side, I scored it at 3.5″ to create a slimline base.

 Using the Honey Bee cloud stencil, I blended three layers of Distress Oxide inks directly onto the card base:

• Tumbled Glass (top/lightest)
  
• Broken China (middle)
  
• Salty Ocean (bottom)
  

This created a pretty ombré cloud background. I set it aside to dry while I worked on my die cuts.

3. Die cut the pieces

• Clouds & icing layers: Cougar White cardstock
  
• Banner sentiment & airplane accents: Japanese Maple cardstock
  
• Airplane base: Twine cardstock
  
• Banner string: Black Licorice cardstock
  
• Mountains: Coffee Bean cardstock for the base, Natural White for the icing layer

4. Assemble the die cuts
I glued the mountains and icing layers together, built the little airplane, and added the “Sweet Christmas” banner pieces.

5. Put the card together

• I laid out all my die cut pieces first to plan the scene.
  
• Next, I glued the mountains and clouds to the background.
  
• I used just a touch of foam tape behind the airplane and banner to give them some dimension before securing them to the card.

Final Thoughts

This card was such a fun project! I loved using the stencil and Distress Oxide inks to create soft, blended clouds — they turned out so pretty. The airplane die set is also great to work with since it’s simple to assemble and comes with multiple banner sentiments, so I’ll definitely be using it again for future cards.

I hope this inspires you to start your own holiday cardmaking — it’s never too early to get creative for Christmas!

Happy crafting,
Tiffani 💕