Holiday Card - Make a Scene -

Hi friends! I’m back with another holiday card. I just finished the Seasonal Scene Building class with Nichol Spohr over at Altenew. In the class, she talks about using windows to make scenes. Well, why create a window when Altenew has done the work for me? This was a great opportunity to use my Through the Window die set. I LOVE assembling die cuts so let’s get to it!

As I was thinking about what I wanted to do with my window scene, I remembered my Cardinal Love layering die set. I thought it would be perfect to have a cardinal on a branch outside the window. For the branch, I grabbed my Berry Branch die set because that branch would fill my window perfectly. I die cut my window, branch and cardinal from various colors of cardstock.

For the window, I wanted it to feel like you were looking through an actual window. I decided to set the card front up like a shaker card without the shaker bits. I used an A2 panel of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb cardstock. Placing my window die cut onto that panel, I got an idea for where my window opening needed to be and then traced the top, bottom and sides with a pencil. That gave me a guide for placing my die.

Next, I die cut the window from that A2 panel to create the opening that would become my window. I adhered a piece of acetate behind that opening and then glued my double stacked window die cut onto the front of the acetate right into the space I die cut from my A2 panel. It fits in just like a puzzle piece. I glued my shutter pieces to the sides of my window and my top panel was ready to go.

Next, I needed to create the scene outside the window. I created that scene directly on my A2 card base. I started by ink blending the area that would be behind my window with Iceberg Fresh Dye Ink making it darker at the top and blending more lightly toward the bottom. Then I took my assembled die cut cardinal and branch and temporarily placed it on my background. I placed the window panel over my card base and repositioned the die cuts until I was happy with the placement. Once I had them where I wanted them, I adhered them to the card base with liquid glue.

I realized after adhering those die cuts that I wanted to add snow. I used Titanium White Gouache mixed with a small amount of water to create white splatter on my background and branch. Not wanting to get the splatter on my cardinal, I covered it with an extra die cut. Still, I felt like it needed something extra so I added some snowflake sequins adhered with liquid glue. And yet…..it still felt incomplete. So I used the snow detail die, cut from white cardstock and then adhered that behind my acetate at the bottom of my window. That’s exactly what it needed.

With the background scene finished, I used some Instant Dimension foam tape to adhere the window panel to my card base. Once adhered, I thought my shutters could use a little love. I went back to my die set and chose the greenery and cones to make a couple holiday swags. You might wonder where the bow came from. Well, I knew there was a bow in my Globe Builder die set so I cut that twice from red cardstock and trimmed it down to fit on my swags. How cute is that little bow?

For my sentiment, I wanted something very simple and basic that wouldn’t distract too much from my window scene. I had a stash of holiday sentiments I prepared a few months ago from the Spellbinders Merry and Bright Sentiment Strips press plate and dies. I chose one that fit nicely across my window and adhered with foam squares.

For the inside, I wanted a simple font to match the front of my card. I chose the Merry Christmas sentiment in the Sentiment Suite Christmas Stamp set from the Greetery and stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink. To tie it in with the card front, I added another swag to the bottom right corner.

I hope this inspires you to mix and match your stamp and die sets to create a beautiful scene card. Just grab some supplies and have some fun. To see my process video, click the link to my YouTube channel below. Thanks for stopping by today. Now go get creative!

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