I recently scored some adorable Your Next Stamp stamp sets when they were having a fabulous 40% off flash sale (TIP: If there are certain stamp companies you love, sign up for their Instagram and\/or blog newsletters. Oftentimes sales are quick and announced just for followers!)<\/p>\n

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I decided to combine the adorable little hamster peeking out from an ornament from the “Hammie Holiday Fun” stamp set<\/a><\/span> with the Pine Branch Die<\/a><\/span> and the Swirly Flourish Die from Diemond Dies<\/a><\/span> to create mini close-up scenes of Christmas tree boughs with an ornament. For the tree boughs, I first added some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Mowed Lawn and Pine Needles to give the green card stock scraps I had a bit more interest and color variation. Then I used the dies and arranged the die cuts from the upper right or upper left sides of the card front. For the faux loops from which the ornaments would hang, I used a thick embroidery needle to punch holes in the card fronts so that the baker’s twine I looped through the front of the card front would look straight and taut. I added bows to the hangers for a decorative touch.<\/p>\n

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For the Hammies in the ornaments I used the following Copic colors along with highlights added with a Uniball Signo White Gel Pen<\/a><\/span> and shimmer with Clear Wink of Stella<\/a><\/span>:
\nOrnament hangers: YR31 and YR24
\nBlue ornament: B01, B12, B04, B16 and N3
\nBrown spotted Hammie: W0, E33, and R20
\nRed ornament: R22, R24, R27, R29 and N3
\nBlack spotted Hammie: W0, R20 and W5<\/p>\n

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Then because I thought the card front was looking too plain, I attempted to use dies to trim down the sides. However, because I had already added the ornaments and baker’s twine, there was too much dimension to safely run the dies through my die cutting machine. I decided to try a Martha Stewart Aspen Snowflake Punch Around the Page (retired)<\/a><\/span> to trim up the sides of the card front; however, due to the various layers of the die cuts I had trouble punching through the card front and bough dies. I ended up mangling a bit of the card front, but luckily I was able to trim off the troublesome areas and make non-standard sized cards. To layer behind the card fronts, I used some patterned papers from the “Moments” My Mind’s Eye paper pad for the blue plaid and “The Doodlin’ Around” stack from DCWV for the glittered green diamond paper. Then I mounted both onto navy and green card stock card bases.<\/p>\n

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I kept the insides of the cards simple. I just lined them with white card stock and used some of the scrap patterned papers from the front of the card to either make little banners or a pocket for a gift card. The sentiment is from the Hammie Holiday Fun stamp set<\/a><\/span> and is stamped with VersaFine Black Onyx Ink (my favorite ink for crisp clear sentiments)<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The following is a process video sharing how I made the cards:<\/p>\n