"Winter Cardinal" Rocky Mountain Christmas Luminary Card by Leigh

Happy New Year Creative Friends

 

  

Winter Cardinal

Rocky Mountain Christmas

Luminary Card by Leigh

 

In celebration of Winter and the New Year I've got a fabulous luminary card to share today featuring the elegant Winter Cardinal and magical Sunlight Through the Pines from my new "Rocky Mountain Christmas" collection.

 

Top photo the light is on, photo above the light is off

  

 

Beautiful by day, magical by night when the card glows prettily in the evenings!

 

 

 

I coloured the Winter Cardinal digitally in Adobe Fresco, printed it out then fussy cut it out leaving a narrow white border around the image.

 

 

See the launch post HERE

Shop at LeighSBDesigns.com

 

 

I painted all the pine sprigs and the Cardinal with Spectrum Noir clear sparkle paint and applied Crystal Stickles glitter to the all the pine cones for lots of pretty sparkle.

 

 

To make the luminary card I first made a 5 x 7 inch top fold card from heavy weight white cardstock.  Then embossed the red cardstock mat layer with Crafter's Companion's Pretty Poinsettia 3D embossing folder.  To give the background layer a nice rustic organic look to go with my nature theme I distressed the edges with the Tim Holtz distress tool then applied Spectrum Noir metallic gold pigment ink directly to the distressed edges for a touch of elegant metallic gold shimmer then adhered the layer to the card with wet glue.

 

  

To make the luminary frame I used the large Poinsettia Mini Background frame die by Creative Expressions and die cut it out of Crafter's Companion's heavy weight Gold Glitter card.  To give the luminary some nice depth and to also accommodate the wire dew drop lights I applied 1/8" inch high white foam tape strips to the back of the frame.  Before removing the foam tape backing I determined the frame and light placement and punched a hole through the red background and the white card with a Tim Holtz pick.  For this card I only needed 2 dew drop light bulbs closest to the battery box and cut off the rest.  I then threaded the lights through the hole from the inside of the card, secured the wire in place with tape and then adhered the die cut frame to the card front.

 

 

I decorated the inside of the card with another gold glitter die cut frame and tucked in a portion of the fussy cut "Sunlight Through the Pines" pine cone sprig behind the top left corner.  For even more pretty sparkle I also added Crystal Stickles glitter to the pine cones.

 

 

 

I used Scrapbook.com's "Happy New Year" die for the inside of the card which I die cut twice from the same red cardstock to make a nice chunky sentiment and added magical shimmer with the Spectrum Noir clear sparkle paint pen.

 

 

 Here you can see I attached the battery light switch to the back of the card front on the inside of the card.  I used tape to wrap the wire around the side of the battery box and adhered it to the card with glue dots.

  

 

I then completed my luminary card by adhering the Winter Cardinal to the card front with low profile foam tape squares for even more fun dimension.

   

 

Also check out the beautiful luminary card I made HERE featuring Sunlight Through the Pines and Aspenglow digi stamps from my new "Rocky Mountain Christmas" collection as well as Pastel Blizzard decorative paper from the Poinsettia and Holly Christmas 2023 Collection.

 

 

 

I used the light to achieve the "aspenglow" effect on the Rocky Mountains and shine prettily through the pines.

 

 

 

 Come play in our January Challenge with your Winter themed or Anything Goes makes through January 30 at 11:55pm pacific time!

 

 

 

Happy Creating!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

LeighSBDesigns Inspirational Challenges: Challenge #48 WINTER or Anything Goes!

Happy New Year Creative Friends

Welcome to LeighSBDesigns Inspirational Challenges

 

January CREATivities

We hope you had a most joyous Christmas and New Year!

Here's to 2026, we wish you good health, happiness and lots of crafty good fun!

 

Our January 2026 CREATivities kick off today with our new Challenge and then starting on January 19th you've got our 11th annual Edgar Allan Poe Mini Hop to look forward to in celebration of Poe Appreciation Day!

 

My wonderful Rocky Mountain Christmas collection of nature themed digi stamps is perfect for our January theme too so do check out the release here if you missed it!

 

    

See the launch for all the details HERE

 Shop the collection at LeighSBDesigns.com

 

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Now for our new Challenge and the winners of our December Challenge!

Thanks for playing along with us last month!

 

Winter

or

Anything Goes

 

Our January Inspirational Theme is Winter!

We want to see all your Winter themed Nature and Christmas makes this month or simply play along with your Anything Goes makes too, we do love to see whatever you're busy creating!

 

Challenge ends January 30 at 11:55pm pacific time!

 

Follow our Challenges via Inlinkz

 Get notified when LeighSBDesigns' Challenges start by following us via Inlinkz!

 Click the "Following host to get notified for new link parties" box when you submit your entry and you'll never miss the start of a new challenge or when our annual events begin!

 

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Check out our Inspirational Makes to get you in the creative spirit of Winter!

Click on the photos for more info on each make!

 

Made by Leigh

 Featuring Sunlight Through the Pines and Aspenglow digi stamps and Pastel Blizzard decorative paper.

Click the photo to go to my tutorial for this fabulous luminary card!

 

 

 

Made by Leigh

 Featuring the Winter Cardinal

Click the photo to see how I made this elegant luminary card!

 

Made by Leigh

Featuring Party Puss Loveleigh Kitty and New Year Cat Senties

   

Made by Val

Featuring Aspenglow

 

 

Made by Val

Featuring Sunlight Through the Pines

 

 

  

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#9 Susan R

 

Congrats, you're our December main prize Winner with your wonderful make featuring Aspenglow by LeighSBDesigns.

 

Grab your snazzy Winner badge above then email me at LeighSBDesigns@yahoo.com to claim your LeighSBDesigns.com prize valued $3.95 or less before the end of January with "December Challenge" as the email's subject.

You are also invited to be a Fan Feature guest using your prize, click the link for all the details.

 

 

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#1 Tee

 

  

#6 Kelly S

 

 

#7 Leona B

  

 

Congrats to you all!

You've all won 30% off a regular price purchase at LeighSBDesigns.com.

Grab your snazzy Top Pick badge above and email me at LeighSBDesigns@yahoo.com to claim your prize before the end of January with "December Challenge" as the email's subject.

You are also invited to be a Fan Feature guest using your prize, click the link for all the details.

 

💜 💜 💜 💜

 

 

Please read over the rules before linking up!

• LeighSBDesigns Challenges start on the first Friday of each month at 1am pacific, unless stated otherwise.
  
• Our Challenges are open to everyone using any company products!
• Anything Goes makes are welcome or play along with our monthly Themes! 
• Cute and Creepy makes welcome!
  
• Your blog posts and social media posts must include the LeighSBDesigns Challenge details with a link back to the current challenge post.
• Displaying the current Challenge Badge in your posts and sidebars is appreciated!
• No limit on entries or how many other challenges you can combine with ours!
• Challenge entries must be new, posted on or after the Challenge start date - no back linking!
• We do love hearing from you, please leave us some love when you play in our Challenges!
  
• Please link directly to your entry (use your post permalink) and put your name in the description!
• FYI:  If you play in our annual Hops then your Challenge entries must be different!
• Social media entries from public sites like Flickr, Instagram, YouTube, etc are welcome.  Use hashtag #LeighSBDesignsChallenges
• Problems linking up?  Leave a comment letting me know your issue and include the link to your make and I will try to add it for you.
  
• We do our best to comment on your entries and apologize in advance if we're unable to for whatever reason!
  
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• Help tell the crafting world about LeighSBDesigns products and fun CREATivities by including LeighSBDesigns product links and hashtags #LeighSBDesignsChallenges and #LeighSBDesigns with your make shares.  Every little thing helps my small business and means so much to me!  Thx!

   WINNERS and PRIZES

LeighSBDesigns Prizes are awarded based on your participation therefore the more you play the better the prize and if you use any of LeighSBDesigns products then you're in the running for my Main Prize too!  Please do encourage your friends to come and join the fun!

• Use a LeighSBDesigns product on your make and include the relevant info and links in your post for the chance to win my Main Prize even if the Challenge only has one entry. 
• For "other company" makes the Challenge must have a minimum of 4 entries for the prize to be awarded - preferably by different makers but I'll decide that per challenge!
• One Winner has the chance to win a Prize and our snazzy Winner Badge!
  
• Top Pick winners also have the chance to win discount coupons off a purchase at LeighSBDesigns and our snazzy Top Pick Badge!
  
• Winner and Top Picks are invited to send me makes using your LeighSBDesigns prizes to be featured as a LeighSBDesigns Fan Feature!  All Fan Features receive a personalized Fan Feature badge featuring a photo of your make, see HERE for all the FAN FEATURE info.

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 Happy Creating!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

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Click here to enter