Hello crafty friends!
I’m so excited to be joining Concord & 9th as a Guest Designer for their September release, and today I’m sharing my first project featuring the gorgeous Peaceful Dove Bundle.
I wanted this card to have a really soft, peaceful feel, stepping away from the traditional reds and greens of Christmas and instead working with icy blue, crisp white and warm neutral tones. The layered dove immediately becomes the star of the card, while the subtle plaid background, vellum foliage and little touches of sparkle add plenty of detail without taking away from it.
Why You’ll Love the Peaceful Dove Bundle
The Peaceful Dove Bundle from Concord & 9th is one of those sets that can completely change depending on the colours and elements you pair it with. The beautiful dimensional dove works perfectly for Christmas and holiday cards, but the peaceful design also gives it plenty of possibilities beyond the festive season.
I particularly love the movement created by the layered wings. Even when working almost entirely in white, all those different shapes and layers give the dove so much dimension. Pairing it with softer foliage and a simple sentiment makes it really easy to create something elegant without the card feeling overly formal.
Card Inspiration: Soft & Peaceful Holiday Dove Card
For this card, I wanted the dove to look as though it was flying through a soft wintery arrangement. Keeping most of the embellishments within the same pale blue and white colour palette means the different textures do the work, rather than relying on lots of contrasting colours.
The warm neutral sentiment banner helps break up all those cooler tones and gives your eye somewhere to rest.
Step-by-step instructions:
- Cut and fold an A6 card base from pale blue cardstock.
- Cut a smaller panel of coordinating pale blue cardstock and stamp a simple plaid or linear background using a slightly deeper blue ink.
- Adhere the stamped panel centrally onto the card base using foam adhesive to create some subtle dimension.
- Die cut a selection of leafy branches from vellum and arrange them across the card, allowing some of the foliage to extend beyond the edges of the stamped panel.
- Use the Peaceful Dove Bundle to create the dove from white cardstock, layering the individual pieces together to build up the wings and body.
- Add the small details to the dove, including the black eye and a tiny touch of orange for the beak.
- Position the finished dove over the vellum foliage, using a combination of liquid adhesive and foam adhesive to keep plenty of dimension within the design.
- Stamp the sentiment onto warm neutral cardstock using a dark brown ink, then create a banner shape around it.
- Add a second, slightly larger banner layer behind the sentiment and adhere it across the lower portion of the dove.
- Tuck a loose bow of neutral thread behind the sentiment for another delicate layer of texture.
- Finish the card by scattering a selection of clear and silver sequins amongst the foliage for a little festive sparkle.
I really love how delicate this one turned out. There’s actually quite a lot going on, but because the palette is kept so restrained it still feels light and peaceful. And that oversized dove definitely deserves to be the centre of attention.
Shop the Supplies
If you’d like to recreate this card, you can find the Concord & 9th Peaceful Dove Bundle and the other supplies I’ve used through the links below.
Where affiliate links are included, shopping through them helps support my cardmaking and allows me to continue sharing new projects and inspiration with you, at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting Martin’s Mayhem.
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