Gingerbread Man Christmas Cards

Last last year, I asked our local scrapbook store (The Scrap Yard) to order me the Tim Holtz Gingerbread Man die. I had so many ideas for it that I didn't get to do last Christmas. Hopefully I can use it more for this holiday season!

One of my ideas, was to cut it out of patterned paper, instead of a gingerbread coloured solid card stock - and not add the icing and other traditional gingerbread man details. I think he turned out so cute!

I actually made three cards, using the latest sketch at the Freshly Made Sketch blog:

I had to eliminate the top layer of the sketch in order to use the gingerbread man die, just because of the size. The cards are 6.5 x 5" as it is, and I didn't want to go all the way up to a 5x7" card. I didn't put the ribbon on the cards either - it just seemed to take away from the popped up gingerbread man.

The patterned paper has glitter embedded in the pattern, which is hard to capture in a photo.  I cut a strip of the new tulle (Stampin' Up), cut the strip in half horizontally so I had two less bulky 'ribbons', then tied them around two of the patterned gingerbread men. I really like the tulle - it is far less bulky than ribbon for mailing!

The words were stamped on scrap white card stock, punched out and I outlined the punched label with a Sakura gel pen for some sparkle.  The card below is nearly identical except for the patterned paper strip at the bottom of the sketch. Rather than cut into a brand new 12 x 12" sheet, I used a scrap I had from the same paper stack.

This third card doesn't qualify as "Fresh & Clean", as the edges of everything are inked with brown so it is more 'grungy'. I really wanted to use this brown snowflake printed paper for a gingerbread man though, so went with it.

There is so much sparkle in these papers!  I used a narrow ribbon for this card, adhering the ends with sticky dots.

I think I'd like to take this idea a step further, still using a patterned paper for the die cut, then layering a pleated rosette on his belly.   :-)

I haven't been updating my blog too much this week - I've been trying to finish a couple of loom knit projects & I'm just not getting in the studio as much. The darn chores and errands are taking up the rest of my time. 

Thanks for stopping by today!