Cricketleg Creative

Clean and Simple Christmas Cards

Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards, Quick Tips

This week’s video shows an easy way to create cute but clean and simple Christmas cards.

clean and simple Christmas cards

Well, hi!

Welcome to this week’s video post. I’m just barely getting this one in under the wire for my normal Wednesday video posts. I’ve been trying to get the voiceover and final edits done but between my alcohol inks adventure, lack of sleep, and a cold that keeps attempting to take me out, I’m only just getting this finished TOday.

But, hey, it’s done and it’s cute.

Have you heard of CAS cards? It just means Clean And Simple. They are usually pretty easy to crank out and are also usually fast. The Christmas cards in this video came together pretty quickly.

Products used in this video? Patterned paper, baker’s twine, embossing folders (on some of them), gift shaped dies (square and rectangle), a bow die (on some of them), and a few embellishments on some like metallic or glitter tape.

CAS cards are a good way to get into cardmaking. They usually don’t require many materials and, like I said, they come together quickly.

I still prefer a more complex design myself because I enjoy the process. But it’s nice to know that if you need a card in a hurry or if you need to make cards en masse, CAS cards can be a good go-to.

Watch the video below to see my clean and simple Christmas cards. And please visit my channel and subscribe. You can click on the little bell there to be notified when I upload new videos (currently on Wednesdays).

I hope you’re having a merry Christmas season so far!

Y’all take care!

Snowy Lamp Post Card

Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards

This card features a solitary lamp post against a snowy background

Yes. Yes, another Christmasy card. Sorry, I can’t help it. Plus, I haven’t used this die set since buying it and I really want to play with it.

I also wanted to try something just a little different than what I normally do for a snowy background. Typically, I try for something blended. I’m either using ink blending tools with stamp pads for a soft blended sky or I’m using Copic markers to make a more bold sky but still with a soft transition between colors.

For this Snowy Lamp Post Card I wanted to do something less realistic and that would draw the focus right to the lamp atop the post. I achieved this with a die cut circle as the “glow” for the lamp candle.

Watch the video to see how I made the snowy background as well as how I finished the glowing circle.

I’d love to hear from you so let me know what your favorite way to make snow for cards is. And feel free to check out my most recent Christmas card here.

Oh, and if you want to know how to get my hi-tech splatter and spray box, make sure you check out Simon Says Stamp’s monthly kit which comes with a free hi-tech splatter and spray box. (I’m being sarcastic…it’s just the box y’all, but you should still check out getting monthly kits.)

That’s it! Y’all take care!

Holiday Ice Skates Card

Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards

Lovely ice skates bordered by snowy greenery for a beautiful holiday card!

holiday ice skates card

My favorite cards to make are holiday cards, specifically Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. But my all-time favorite is Christmas. I’ve loved Christmas since I was a small child! Creating a whole mood with a Christmas card is just so satisfying!

When I thought up the design for this card, I got so excited to make it! I’m not an ice skater, but I love ice skating. In fact, one of my very favorite Christmas movies, The Bishop’s Wife, features an ice skating scene that I just adore! (I just tried to find a link to that scene, but no luck…sorry.)

Anyway, I love the look of ice skates hanging with greenery. So cozy and vintage feeling. So I was very excited to shoot a video featuring that on this card. Other than the tiny laces and berries, everything went together very quickly.

Another beautiful look for this card would be to switch the card base to kraft paper and the ice skates to white cardstock. That would be beautiful and the snowy splatter would show up even more. Hmmm….I think I have something to go do right now.

Enjoy the video, and please leave me a comment and let me know your favorite Christmas movie!

Check out some of my other Christmas cards here and here.

Y’all take care!

“Have A Sweet Day” Slider Card

Handcrafted Cards

This interactive “Have a Sweet Day” Slider Card is an easy way to add a fun element to an already cute card.

have a sweet day slider card

Well, hi!

Welcome to my second interactive card video posted to the blog! Interestingly enough, my first interactive card video uses stamps from the same company! You can view that card video here.

I finally got my hands on the Lawn Fawn slider dies! I definitely will be using the curvy one in the future. But for now, I just used the straight die which works perfectly for this cute donut truck.

Lawn Fawn has many interactive dies from simple to complex in nature. These are the simplest and can be used with a variety of images. I chose to use an adorable food truck.

The Cruisin’ Cuisine stamp set (and coordinating die set) has been burning a hole in my stamp supplies just waiting to be used for a cute card! Remembering that I have a good friend who is a donut fanatic, I thought a donut truck card would be fitting.

I first found this stamp set through Sandy Allnock, who is an artist and paper crafter on YouTube. Amazing videos! Go check her out! Her truck is an ice cream truck and she hand draws her background with Copic markers. I opted for an easier route and used stencils, but I love how that turned out!

Watch the video to see the whole card come together, as well as find out how I covered up a mistake! I tend to make those a lot. 😉

Sunny Studios has a ton of cute stamps. You can see the blog post of the other card I made using their stamps here.

Thanks for stopping by! Leave a comment and let me know what your favorite type of food truck is.

Y’all take care!