Light Up Nativity Cards & more

Today, unlike usual, I am not using Stampin' Up materials except for a bit of cardstock and ink.  I found a beautiful set of Nativity papers at Hobby Lobby that was 50% off, and I thought they'd be perfect for the nativity cards I wanted to make.  There are several pages that are great for backgrounds, and some pages that are great for fussy cutting to create scenes.  My niece and I shared them, and she has the cover, so I don't know who made them, but I thought in addition to a few nativity cards in general, they'd be great for trying out some lights I got from Pear Blossom Press.  They are SO MUCH fun!

I'll started with the lighted cards.  I got a package that had two types of lights.  They call one a halo light because it's forms a circle of light (that's the one I used on the card you see at the top of the page).  The other is called a "One Light".  I used that on the first lighted card I made.  The halo was second, and the remaining two cards were slimline cards that I did not use lights on.  Here's a look at each individually.

 Card #1: 

This is the first LIGHTED card I ever made.  It was made using a One Light.  I didn't remember to take a picture of this card before it went to its recipient, but thankfully my recipient took a picture and sent it to me!  

To create this card, I created a scene using fussy cut paper pieces on another piece of the patterned paper.  I then matted the whole on black paper - but before I did, I cut a hole in the black paper behind the star so the light would shine through there.  

Before adding the light to the card front itself, I figured out where I wanted the light so it would shine behind the star and ensured that the push button would be in a reasonable place.  After marking that placement, I used their cutting die to create a "trap door" in the card front that allows for replacing the battery. (You can save battery life by adding a slip of paper between the battery and its contacts - release paper works great, though isn't necessary. The recipient can simply pull that slip of paper before lighting up the card.)   They say that you can add the light mechanism with liquid glue or double-sided adhesive.  I chose multipurpose liquid glue because that seems to hold better in our climate.  I added the prepared card panel to the front of the card using two layers of double-sided foam tape - except where the light was - to allow room for the battery & light.  I also added a "press here" button that I glued to the front of the card where they need to press to turn on the light.   

Card #2:

This card uses the halo light around the manger scene.  I created my panel by gluing patterned paper to a piece of black cardstock for added stability.  I used an old Spellbinders die to frame that part of the scene (Ironworks Accents I think) on the front panel.  Then, I punched a 2" hole where I wanted the halo lights to show, and added 1/8" washi tape around it for a more finished look.  (The manger scene is actually glued to the card front itself.)  The sentiment was cut with an older die from Creative Expressions, and the "press here" button was made using the stamp and die bundle from Pearblossom Press.  

This time I struggled a bit with how to make a trap door that would allow me to access the battery because the mechanism is much larger than the one light.  I ended up creating the card with the top edge as the fold line so that I could make a trap door towards the bottom without worrying about the fold.  Instead of attaching the light to the card itself, I attached it to the back of the card panel.  Then I cut in from the corner of the card front and scored to allow proper access to the battery.  I added a double layer of foam tape to the panel so I could add it to the card front, but, of course I had to avoid the area around the light mechanism.  To support the corner, I DID add a narrow strip near the corner, but left the release paper on it so that it wouldn't attach to the access flap itself.  Because of the way this all lined up, the flap wanted to stay open, so I added a snippet of Velcro closure to keep it closed.  Here's a picture of what my flap looks like when open: 

The white strip you see hanging out from behind the battery is the pull tab that is protecting the battery life for now.

Here's a closeup of the nativity scene when lit:

And here's a picture of the inside of this card:

The angel was fussy cut from the papers.  I used a blending brush and Secret Sea ink to add soft color to the edges of the inside panel, and stamped a greeting using the same ink (greeting from Greetings of the Season - a discontinued Stampin' Up! set).

Card #3:

This time I used Stampin' Up! cardstock called Secret Sea - a beautifully versatile color - for matting the paper pieces used on this card.  As you can probably see, some pieces were glued directly to the background, and some were added with dimensionals.  I also added a strip of the cardstock to create a border effect.

Inside: 

I the same sorts of pieces to decorate the inside - along with a stamped greeting (from an old Divinity Designs stamp set called Christmas Card Scriptures).

Card #4: 

Again I used pieces of the paper to decorate the inside - and some older stamp sets from Divinity Designs for the verses inside.  In addition to the same Christmas Card Scriptures, I used a couple of other sets - a stamp/die duo called Great Joy, and stamp set called Our Savior's Birth.