Hey everyone, how are you? You know what I love? Making Christmas cards. And you know what else I love? Christmas cards that come together super quickly (but still look great). Enter Taylored Expressions’ Create in Quad stencils! I only have a couple because they are a little pricey BUT you get 4 card backgrounds in one go, and they’re so easy to make!

This set is the Peaceful Pines, and it’s 4 layering stencils. I placed my first stencil down onto a sheet of white card and held it in place (I use the Make Art Stay-tion for my crafting, which is a metal craft mat that comes with magnets that hold your card in place – super handy). The stencils have little squares cut out along the side that I trace with a pencil, then you know when you add the next one, you’ll be lining it up in the right place.

I chose some soft pastel colours from Concord and 9th for a non-traditional Christmas colour scheme – I used Lilac and Ballet Slipper for the trees, Wheat for the trunks and Nuvo shimmer paste for the snow. When I got to my 4th stencil (the snowy layer), I used a spatula to spread the shimmer paste across the stencil, then washed the stencil straight away to stop it welding itself permanently!

Once the ink blending was done and the glimmer paste dry, I trimmed the card down to four panels, and matted them on to co-ordinating C9 card (lilac and ballet slipper). Then, for the sentiments, I stamped out the Taylored Expressions Winter Wishes stamp set in embossing ink, and heat set it in silver. I trimmed down four of the sentiments, and added them to my cards with foam squares. On one of my cards, I ink blended the sentiment strip with Ballet Slipper.

I hope you like today’s cards! I loved making them and I think I’ll do some more sets in different colours!