A Tim Holtz-Inspired Holiday Card

Hello! Mixed media isn’t my usual cardmaking style, but it’s always fun to step outside my comfort zone and experiment. For this Christmas card, I used a variety of Tim Holtz products including stenciling and alcohol inking. The variety of mediums adds character and depth to the design—each layer contributing its own texture and visual interest. It’s a festive project full of wintery sparkle and creative play.

• • To begin, create a card base 3 3/4″ x 6 7/8″ from woodgrain cardstock. Ink the sides of the cardstock with Gathered Twigs.
  • Next, create a monoprint on watercolor paper with the Pinecones stencil using Antique Linen Distress Spray and water. There are several of the Tim Holtz makers who regularly use this technique. Once dry, stencil in the pinecones and greenery. Apply the Sparkle paste through the panel and set aside to dry. Tim Holtz recently created a video discussing the many pastes available.; it proved to be an invaluable resource.
  • Once dry, you can add Antique Linen ink to the cardstock since the areas covered by the paste resist the ink. This can help fill in bare spots from the monoprint method.
  • Cut the bird from alcohol-inked black cardstock. I used the same formula as on this card.
  • Cut the greenery, from cardstock to which Distress ink has been applied, with dies in the Holiday Greens set. Add a snow effect by applying Snowfall Grit paste and Rock Candy glitter.
  • Stamp the Festive Overlay sentiment on to cardstock and cut with a circle die. Cut a vellum circle slightly larger. Adhere the two.
  • Trim the stenciled panel and add to the card base. Add sentiment circle, greenery, and bird.

It’s a bit more involved than my usual clean and simple cards, but worth every step for the texture and sparkle it brings to the finished design.