Penny Black - Merry Christmas

Work was very busy for me this past week, which left me no time to get crafty, or even post much otherwise. But now that it's the weekend, I'm hoping to change that and get a good start on my holiday cards.

One of the things I'd like to do this year is make a couple of sets of cards for a few friends and family. Of course, making sets is only efficient if I don't end up spending an hour or five per card. So, I had to come up with something that was both simple and easy to do.

I pulled out another Penny Black acrylic stamp set from my stash - Christmas Outdoors. This set features several really cute images that seemed quick and easy to color. Since there were no sentiments in the set, I decided to pair it with Hero Arts' Snowman Christmas set.

I cut the base out of kraft cardstock, scoring and folding it into a top-folding A2 base (4 1/4 by 5 1/2"). While I had my trimmer out, I also cut a piece of red cardstock to measure 4 by 5 1/4, and a piece of white cardstock to measure 3 3/4 by 5".

I stamped the image from Christmas Outdoors with black ink, then colored it in with my Copics. I kept the coloring very simple, choosing only 2 shades per color. I liked the simplicity of using just the two colors, as I think it goes really well with the cartoon-y design of the stamp. After the coloring was done, I added a few small highlights with my white gel pen.

I stamped the sentiment in Onyx Black ink. And that's all there was to it! It's simple, easy to replicate and can be made slightly different with different coloring and by switching out the red cardstock with another color.

Supplies:
Penny Black Christmas Outdoors acrylic stamp set
Hero Arts Snowman Christmas stamp set
Neenah Desert Storm environmental cardstock in #110lbs
Simon Says Stamp Heavyweight cardstock in Lipstick Red
Stampin' Up Whisper White cardstock
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Black Licorice
Tsukineko Versafine in Onyx Black
Copics (E00, E11, R20, E35, E37, R05, R46, B02, B05, BG10, BG32, R81, R85, BV25, YR15, E35, E37)
Sakura Gellyroll White Gel Pen