15th November, 2021

Cozy Christmas

Hello friends. The weather outside is frightful here today, which is perfect to get cozy inside and start sharing my Christmas makes. I made quite a few cards with the new Christmas stamps that Tim Holtz released a few months ago. You can see the launch replay and all the inspiration makes on Tim’s blog.

igirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmas
I was very taken with the Cozy Christmas CMS444 stamp set and couldn’t stop making with it. It really tapped into my love of coloring. I stamped onto distress watercolor cardstock with distress archival ink and used distress re-inkers and a water brush to watercolor. Each of the cards is mounted with the following layers: idea-ology kraft stock + idea-ology metallic kraft stock + distress kraft heavystock.

igirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmas
If you look closely you will see there is text underneath the stars and the paper looks wrinkled. I stamped onto the background and then regretted it as it was way too bold and overpowering. So I went about fixing it! I added a piece of torn plain collage paper over the stamped text with collage medium.

igirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmas
Once dry I covered with a white gesso wash and then dried and stenciled distress crackle texture paste through the falling stars stencil. Finally, I added vintage collage medium and once dry, rubbed walnut stain distress crayon into the cracks.

igirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmas
This card was also not as planned but the happy accident worked…

igirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmas
The brown mark was the happy accident. I had turned the card over to mount it onto the card and there was a a little wet distress ink on my media mat. I dried it with a heat tool and liked the look so went with it. The one time I tried to make a “clean” card though hey! The universe was trying to tell me something!

igirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmas
By just adding a little brown distress ink you can grunge the same card right up!

igirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmas
These stamps are so wonderful to watercolor. I used distress reinkers and dried with a heat tool and then picked up some frayed burlap distress spray drips from the non stick mat portion of my glass media mat.

igirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmas
For this card I used both the stamps and a little masking magic.

igirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmas
I stamped onto a piece of copy paper and fussy cut. It takes a minute but I enjoy fussy cutting, it relaxes me. The reason I use copy paper is that it’s thin and so you don’t get that ridge when you mask and stamp over the top.

igirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmasigirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmas
I flicked with a little white gesso.

igirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmas
Something else I love about the cozy christmas stamps is how well they work in parts and pieces.

igirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmas
I turned the stamp upside down and stamped a portion at the top of a #8 heavystock tag.

igirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmas
I stamped one of the sentiments from the set in hickory smoke distress archival ink. I love the sentiments in this set and plan to use them for my December Daily this year.

igirlzoe: tim holtz stampers anonymous cozy christmas
I LOVE this snowman with a pot for a hat. I’ll be back tomorrow with another make featuring that cute snowman. Change of plans… that cute snowman will be back later this week.

Thanks for stopping by.

Zoe


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17 Comments »

  1. JoJo says:

    I love the vintage look of these. Beautiful,thanks for sharing with us how you made this.❤️

  2. Sue says:

    Love these Zoe, the look is amazing and the “happy” accident really worked out well! I love your art!!!

  3. Lyn says:

    Simply gorgeous as always Zoe. I just adore your makes

  4. butterfly says:

    I love these – definitely cosy, but not cutesy!
    Alison x

  5. Jodi says:

    I love the grunginess of your pieces. Al of the coloring, layering, grunging looks amazing. I also am loving the Kugel ornaments. I’m a huge fan.

  6. Debra Dekock says:

    So amazing! Looking forward to your “week” of Christmas!

  7. Katie says:

    All the little details just ‘make’ the make! I am in awe of everything you create

  8. Henriëtte says:

    Awesome cards Zoe, totally love them.
    Thank you so much for sharing, stay safe and
    have a wonderful day.

  9. Boo says:

    Your work is amazing. I love how you embrace happy accidents.

  10. Monique says:

    Love these, thx for sharing

  11. Kathleen Stadler says:

    These are so warm and rich! Beautiful coloring and “aging.”
    Thank you for sharing your process, including your change of mind and happy accident. You give such great encouragement and inspiration!

  12. Lillian Fedak says:

    Thank you for sharing….love your work

  13. Anne R says:

    Now, that was one great happy accident, your cards are wonderful and I just adore the tag. It really is a very versatile stamp set. I really love those beautiful baubles you have too! xxx

  14. Jeannie says:

    beautiful vintage vibe! your fussy cutting skills are phenomenal! 🙂

  15. Linda Stenzel says:

    You have inspired me to embrace my mistakes and just go with it!

  16. Wendy Gunderson says:

    Oh my gosh, those stars are EVERYTHING!

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