Moonlight magic for Visible Image

 This week’s theme for our Visible Image design team makes is "Moonlight Magic". I’ve used it as inspiration to get a head start on my Christmas cards and made this card.

Here’s how I created my moonlit festive scene: 

Start by stamping the sentiment from the Christmas Robin set in the bottom right-hand corner of a 5¼-inch square piece of smooth white card. 

Next, onto scrap pieces of white card, stamp the large robin, several single holly leaves, berries, and the branch using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. You can make the branch longer by repeat stamping it. Once stamped, clear heat emboss all the images. This makes colouring much easier. Cut everything out, you don't need the legs of the robin as they will get reinstated later. Whenever I make cards, I like to stamp a few extra images and store them with the stamp set—this is a great time-saver for future projects. 

To create the moon, use the circle mask which come with the Bubbles and Fizz stencil as a guide. Place a piece of masking tape on the back to hold it in position, then place it onto your card where you want the moon to be. 

Select four Distress Inks—I used lost shadow, iced spruce, evergreen bough, and prize ribbon—to blend the night sky background. Using a blending tool and foam, begin blending around the masked circle, starting with lost shadow closest to the moon, then iced spruce, followed by evergreen bough, and finally prize ribbon around the outer edges. Blend from light to dark, working away from the moon for a glowing effect. 

Once the background is blended, remove the circle mask and replace it with the matching stencil. Then overlay the Lava stencil on top.

Using Lost Shadow again, gently blend to create texture and crater-like detail within the moon.

After that, place the circle mask back over the moon to protect it and lightly spritz the background with water. Blot with a paper towel to lift some ink and add soft texture. Dry with a heat tool or allow it to air dry naturally. 

Remove the mask. Now, stamp Santa and his sleigh from the Christmas Eve stamp set, flying across the moon for a magical, festive touch. 

Watercolour the holly leaves, berries, branch, and robin using your Distress Inks (or your choice of colouring medium) . Once dry, stamp the robin directly onto the background in the desired position—this serves as a guide for perfect placement. Then, decoupage your coloured robin over the top to add dimension.

Cut the coloured branch to length and arrange and adhere it with the holly leaves, and berries around the robin to complete the scene. For a touch of festive sparkle, add some shimmer to the holly using a glitter brush pen. 

To finish, mat the design onto black card and then mount it onto a 5¾-inch white square card blank. 

Here it is once more

This design works well in a variety of colour palettes, but for best results, always work from light to dark around the moon. It's also a great design for batch-making—I created several at once and have made a strong start on my 2025 Christmas cards. 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x