Vellum window Christmas card

 

Here's a simple little card that gives a sense of winter's chill - and the cosiness that awaits inside! It's a 4"x3" window card, with the image stamped and coloured on cardstock inside.

Here's what I used (as ever, swap in what you have on hand):

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

And here's what I did:

1. Cut a piece of red cardstock using the larger of the Project Life Label framelits (or cut a piece to 6"x4"). Score the middle of the 6" side at 3" to form the card base. 
2. Ink up the Dots for Days background stamp with white pigment ink, and carefully stamp what will be the front side of the card. Blast it with a heat gun or set it aside for a little while to dry, so that it doesn't smudge.
3. Take the 1 3/4" circle punch and punch a hole in the upper middle section of the front of the card. I just eyeball it, but for more precise punching, punch a piece from scrap card & glue it to the place on the card you want the hole to appear. Then position your punch upside down over it (so you can see what you're about to punch) & punch!
4. For the card inner, select paper or cardstock that will withstand watercolouring without starting to "pill" - Whisper White Shimmer cardstock is perfect. Cut a piece using the smaller Project Life Framelits die (or to a fraction smaller than 4"x3"). 
5. Place the liner inside the card, where you want it to appear, & close it. Take a pencil & very lightly trace the outline of the circle you just punched onto the card underneath. Remove the liner from the card.
6. Ink up the house and tree stamp from Cozy Christmas with Tuxedo Black ink. Carefully hold the stamp over the circle, trying to position it so that the bottom of the house will stamp about 2/3 of the way down the circle. Take a deep breath and stamp! Set with a heat gun or put aside to dry for a little while. Once dry, take a rubber and lightly rub out your pencil lines.
7. To colour in, scribble the Pool Party marker onto a plastic surface & pick up a little colour with the Aqua Marker (or a paint brush). Blend the colour lightly, so that it's darker at the top of the sky and lighter towards the house. Colour the trees and the window with the other two inks. Allow to dry.
8. Take some Dazzling Details gitter glue and dot it anywhere you want the snow to shimmer - the roof, some of the boughs, along the ground. Set aside to dry. Once dry, attach the liner to the inside of the card with glue or double sided tape, so that the house appears through the window.
9. To decorate the window, punch out a piece of vellum with the 2 3/8" scallop punch. Dot the vellum with a few dots of glitter glue if wanted, or you could stamp tiny snowflakes and emboss with the Iridescent Ice embossing powder.
10. Use the 1 3/4" circle punch to punch a piece out of the blue paper from the Home for the Holidays paper pack. Position the 2 3/8" scallop punch over the hole in the paper you just punched and punch again - this will give you a scalloped frame. 
11. Trace a thin line of glue round the back side of the outer edge of the scalloped vellum & stick it to the front of the card, so it covers the punched hole evenly. Do the same for the scalloped frame, line up and stick over the vellum, so that it masks the scalloped edges and the sides of the red punched hole are not visible.
12. Stamp Have a Cozy Christmas on white card. Punch out with the Word Window punch. Cut a strip of red card that is a fraction wider &  longer than the Word Window punched piece. Round the corners with scissors or a corner rounder and mount the stamped sentiment onto it. Mount onto the front of the card & you're done!
13. (If you have an envelope punch board you can make an envelope using the 6th set of measurements & a 6"x6" piece of paper).