Hello Honey Bee friends! Today I’m sharing a holiday card featuring the gorgeous Good Tidings stamp set with the coordinating coloring stencils and dies. I really enjoy adding those little “extra” touches that make cards stand out, and will share those below! Keep reading for all the details.

First I put a 4-¼” x 5-½” piece of 80# Neenah Solar White into the Snowy Pines 3D Embossing Folder.  Run that through your die cutting machine with the recommended sandwich for your type of machine.  This gorgeous embossed white background will make the images pop!  I used Bee Creative glue to adhere it to a top-folding A2 card base.

I don’t know about you, but I have had several instances that I have smeared the black outline of the stamped image during stenciling, so I like to do all of the stenciling first.

The six stencils in the Good Tidings stencil set are numbered and fully etched with the entire image to make lining up each layer super easy!  I began with stencil Layer 1 and used small detail blending brushes to add the inks. I used a few Distress Inks in the colors of Gathered Twigs, Walnut Stain, Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness, Festive Berries, and Aged Mahagony.

After I finished with each Good Tidings stencil layer, I placed the panel into my MISTI.  Then I put the Good Tidings outline stamp over the colored image.  I only had to spend about a minute to line up the stamp with the stenciled image!  I picked up the stamp with the MISTI door and inked it up with a black pigment ink.  Using a pigment ink will give a beautiful crisp stamped image!  I cut the image out with the coordinating Good Tidings Honey Cut.

Of course, if you are not comfortable stamping after you have colored your image with the stencils, go ahead and stamp it first!  Just make sure that the ink is totally dry to avoid any smearing.

Another way I like to add details to a stamped image is to use a coloring medium, such as alcohol markers or colored pencils to add more depth to the shadowed areas of your image!  Since I used a pigment ink to stamp the image, I needed to use colored pencils.  (Pigment ink and alcohol markers are not compatible.)

I took a photo after I added the colored pencils to one pinecone so you can see the difference.  The difference is quite noticeable!

Next I added some pine sprigs from the Lovely Layers: Pinecone Honey Cuts.  I die cut them from white cardstock and blended on two shades of green ink. I used Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness Distress Inks.

Next I used a white pencil to highlight the edges of the pinecone layers.  Just use a very light hand with your pencil to get a subtle effect!

I rarely make a card without adding dimension and this card is no exception!  I added foam tape to the back of the colored image to adhere it to my card.  I played around with the arrangement of the pine sprigs by tucking them here and there under the Good Tidings image.  Once I was happy with the arrangement, I added dots of glue to adhere them in place.

My final tip for taking your card to the wow level is to add sparkle!  Now, I’m a sparkle-loving gal, so I used glue with a fine tip to place lines of glue in various spots on the branches and image.  Then I sprinkled Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter over the glue and tapped the excess into a coffee filter to funnel it back into the jar.  If glitter is not your thing, you can use a clear glitter pen to add that pretty sparkle to your card.

I chose one of the four sentiments in the Good Tidings stamp set (the fonts are beautiful!) and stamped it with black pigment ink.  I cut the sentiment out with one of the coordinating dies! I love having dies to cut out sentiments!

I hope I’ve inspired you to up the wow factor of your cards with these tips! Thank you so much for stopping by today!