Although I can’t yet face making Christmas cards as
that feels like the end of summer – I like to wait until schools have
reopened at least – I knew the Happy Holly-Days stamp set in the new Stampin’
Up!® Mini Catalogue would be perfect for a friend’s 21st
birthday card. When your name is Robin, no other image will do! I’m a day early here but I don’t think anyone will see it until tomorrow; I won’t share this on social media until tomorrow, just in case!
When I saw this lovely Happy Holly-Days stamp set in the new Stampin’
Up!® Mini Catalogue, I may just have punched the air a little because we UK demonstrators have
been asking for a proper European robin for our Christmas cards ever
since Stampin’ Up’!® launched here in 2007.
I coloured the robin from Happy Holly-Days using Stampin’ Up!® Stampin’ Blends. I didn’t have quite the right shades so mixed them directly on the paper. I used Gray Granite with a hint of Ivory on the belly, Poppy Parade with a hint of Pumpkin Pie on the chest, and Crumb Cake with a hint of Bronze on the back. The beak and legs are just Gray Granite; they should really be black but I thought that would look a bit stark.
I fussy cut the image to pop up on Stampin’ Dimensionals. Did I fussy cut between the legs? Of course not. What do you take me for? I would have done if I’d been mounting it onto a different colour but as it’s white on white, it wasn’t worth the effort and risk of damage.
Study your greeting stamps carefully as you may be able to create new words from them. Here I have used this Christmas stamp set to create my greeting. I used tape to mask off the word “Christmas” to leave “Happy” and then cleaned it up and masked the same stamp to leave “st” within the word Christmas. Remember to remove the tape before stamping or you will just end up with a messy splodge!
I created the 21 using the Playful Alphabet Dies, which are a must-have addition to your craft stash in my opinion. I could have used Poppy Parade cardstock but as I already had some white cardstock mounted onto the oh-so-useful Foam Adhesive Sheets, I just used this and coloured the numbers with Stampin’ Blends.
This layer is mounted onto Granny Apple Green cardstock cut out with the also must-have Stitched So Sweetly Dies.
I covered my card front with this cheery Designer Series Paper which comes from the absolutely huge Pattern Party 12x12 pack which is exclusively available to hosts. You get 48 sheets so it’s the equivalent of four standard packs.
The designs are really cheery on one side, and black and white on the reverse so you can colour them in your chosen shade if you wish. I love this bright and cheerful rainbow effect, which meant I could pick out the Granny Apple Green for my layer and Poppy Parade for the numbers and colouring of the robin’s red breast.
For international readers, the robin redbreast is a traditional symbol of Christmas in Britain. Year-round visitors to our gardens, robins are much-loved because of their confidence around humans. They became synonymous with Christmas in Victorian times; postmen were nicknamed robins because they wore red waistcoats and were often depicted on Christmas cards.
In real life, robins have an orange chest rather than red, so why do we call them a robin redbreast? This is one of my favourite fun facts and it’s because they were named before the English language had developed enough to come up with a word for orange. Hence we also have the red squirrel, red deer and red kite.
Think this would make a great addition to your craft stash, Christmas or otherwise? If you’re in the UK, you can order Happy Holly-Days and any other current Stampin’ Up!® products from my store.
Does
your wish list come to more than £99? Please get in touch and I will
help you get more for your money and unlock discounts all year round.
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