Polar Express Quick and Easy

As a teacher, I loved reading to my students, and I especially loved it around Christmas time because Christmas stories are all so special and touching. One of my favourites to read was The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. It's the magical story of a young boy just starting to question his belief in Santa Claus. He gets picked up Christmas Eve by the Polar Express for a ride to the North Pole to see Santa and to be the symbolic recipient of the First Wish of Christmas!  His first wish is to have one of the sleigh bells on Santa's sleigh!

As soon as I saw the stamp set Christmas Magic in the Holiday catalogue, it reminded me of this story with the steam engine and the North Pole sign and the Sleigh Bell. I needed a sample for an up-coming Christmas Stamper's Dozen, which had to be relatively quick and easy to complete, so I reached for this set and came up with this design:

•  I stamped the engine and the bell (and sentiment) in Basic Black Archival Ink on Whisper White, then used Stampin' Write Markers in Real Red, Old Olive and Smoky Slate to add little touched of colour, just to give a hint, not to colour in completely. You can't tell from the photo, but I also added quite a heavy coat of clear Wink of Stella on the bell as a quick way of giving it some extra sparkle and shine without taking up too much time.
• I used the Layering Squares and Layering Circle Framelits to die cut the train and the whistle images and to provide frames for them. I am so glad I went ahead and purchased all those sets! I have used them constantly.
• The striped paper is from the Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper, one of the sets that is part of the Buy 3, Get 1 Free Promotion on from now until the end of October with Stampin' Up! Take advantage of that today!
• I used the Banners Framelits to die cut the sentiment and its two banner backgrounds. It's been awhile so it was good to air them out and let them see the light of day again.

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.

Product List

Christmas Magic Wood-Mount Stamp Set [142116]	Christmas Magic Clear-Mount Stamp Set [142119]	Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper [141981]	Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [120953]	Real Red 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [102482]
Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad [140931]	Brights Stampin' Write Markers [131259]	Neutrals Stampin' Write Markers [131261]	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897]
Layering Squares Framelits Dies [141708]	Layering Circle Framelits Dies [141705]	Banners Framelits Die [132173]	Big Shot [143263]	Big Shot Magnetic Platform [130658]
Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]