Hi, Terri here! With the festive season fast approaching, I thought it would be a great time to explore ways to create lots of cards quickly. Batch-making is always my go-to when I’m short on time and need to produce a large number of cards. This year, I decided to have some fun with stencilling and die-cutting to speed up the process while still keeping things creative.
After a little digging in my crafty stash, I pulled out the Merry Mix Stencil Pack, plus the Classic Holiday Greetings and Holiday Sayings dies—some of my favorite Concord & 9th goodies. The Merry Mix stencil pack includes six versatile stencils that can be used in countless ways to create festive, seasonal patterns. I decided to design four coordinating cards using the set, each one crafted in a different colourway: teal, purple, green, and pink.
Teal Nordic
I created a tone-on-tone background panel using the Nordic stencil with teal ink on teal cardstock. Next, I die-cut a sentiment from the Holiday Sayings die set, cutting the shadow layer from white cardstock and the top layer from the same teal as the background. I trimmed the panel to 4" × 5.25" and adhered it to a white A2 card base. Before adding the sentiment, I used a white gel pen to add highlights to some of the stencilled images. Finally, I attached the sentiment near the top centre of the card using foam pads for dimension.
Purple Snowflake
For this card, I went with a purple colour theme to complement the snowflake stencil. The process was the same as the first card, but I changed two small details: I shifted the sentiment to a new spot and swapped the white gel-pen highlights for tiny AB gems placed in the centres of the snowflakes. The sentiment on this card is from the Classic Holiday Greetings set.
Pink Plaid
I had a great time putting together this pink plaid design. To form the pattern, I used both diagonal stripe stencils and chose a tone-on-tone colour scheme, though the design would work beautifully with a mix of colours as well. Once the stencilling was complete, I highlighted the thin lines with a sparkle gel pen and finished the piece with a centred sentiment from the Holiday Sayings set.
Green Foliage
Although my plan was to keep everything tone-on-tone, I couldn’t help sneaking in some pink berries on this card. I created the leafy background using the greenery stencil on a green panel, then added the berries with the dotty stencil and pink ink for a subtle pop of colour. A layer of glossy accents gives each berry dimension and shine. To finish, I added a sentiment from the Classic Holiday Greetings die set.
Top Tip: While you’ve got your stencil and ink out, go ahead and create several backgrounds in the same colour and pattern. I made four of each design—it was quick and effortless. When you move on to cutting the sentiments, cut all four in each colour. I trimmed my cardstock so all four sentiments fit on it at once, allowing me to cut them in a single pass. It saved me so much time!
