Merry Christmas everyone!

As you read this we’re in the final bit of driving to get to Orlando. It’s been a long drive and we’re all looking forward to not being in the car for a while. But before we get carried away with all the Disney Christmas fun I wanted to say Merry Christmas everyone!

On top of the cards I make for friends and family I also make cards for my customers. This is card I designed this year. I used Shaded Spruce cardstock for the card base to make this simple fun fold card. It’s just like two cards layered together, with one of them being a little smaller than the other. Plus this is a great way use what’s left of my Painted Christmas Designer Series Paper.

Most of the Painted Christmas DSP went on the outside, but I also added a little bit on the inside. And because of the design of the card base it was easy to use one piece of DSP. The sentiment is from the Joyful Flurry stamp set. I stamped it with Shaded Spruce ink. And I added a few snowflakes in Shaded Spruce ink to frame it.

Merry Christmas everyone!

To check out the cards I made for my friends and family you can find them here.

Things will be a little quiet around here for the next week or so. So you can follow our Disney adventures over on social! You can find me on Facebook and Instagram.

Merry Christmas everyone!

For My Team

This past weekend I had my holiday party for my direct team members. I always like to do a little something for my team to celebrate them throughout the year… birthdays… stampaversaries. But for Christmas I like to do a little more. And I try to make sure to do it before the craziness of the holiday season kicks in.

To get ready there were a few things I wanted to put together. Of course they each got a Christmas card! These ones I used either Evening Evergreen or Soft Succulent cardstock along with some coordinating Lights Aglow Designer Series Paper. I cut out a peep hole in the top layer using the Stitched Rectangles dies. And the phrase from the Joyful Flurry stamp set is on the middle layer with a piece of Basic White cardstock on the third inside layer. I also made a simple belly band using the Painted Christmas DSP and the Spruced Up dies around some chocolate.

For My Team

Then last but not least is the Triple Pocket Fold card I made to fill with some stamping goodies! For this I used some of the DSP and stamps from the upcoming mini and Sale-a-bration catalogues. I made a belly band for these as well using the same design of patterned paper and then die cut the sentiment with the Layering Circles dies.

We had such a great time crafting, listening to Christmas music, playing games and just chatting! I really appreciate my team members and I hope that comes across in what I made for my team.

For more information on my direct team as well as the larger team that I’m a part of, you can find that here. And if you’re all set to get in on all the crafting fun then you can join my team here. I’m happy to answer any questions you have. And I’m happy to support you no matter why you decide to join my team!

Spruced Up Christmas Cards

Last week I shared the first design from this year’s holiday cards. I always make 2 different designs. One for the side that celebrates Hannuakah and one for the side that celebrates Christmas. For this design I made some Spruced Up Christmas cards. I’ve made a few cards with the Spruced Up bundle, but I still haven’t managed to use all the stamps and dies yet. So I’m excited to use the 2 ornament dies for this card.

For the base I’m using Cherry Cobbler cardstock. Then I added a strip of Lights Aglow Designer Series Paper for part of the card mat/front. There’s two different Cherry Cobbler designs in this pack and they’re both really nice. I just love this pack of DSP and can’t believe that it’s not coming back next year!

The sentiment is actually 2 smooshed together on one block. Then I stamped it with Shaded Spruce ink to go with one of the die cut ornaments. To add a little something more to the card, I stamped a few Cherry Cobbler candy canes in the background. Then to add some depth to the design I popped up the ornaments with Stampin’ Dimensionals. I had to strategically place them though, so that the solid and outline of the ornaments stayed connected. It was a bit of a pain, but I really like how these Spruced Up Christmas cards turned out.

Spruced Up Christmas Cards

Check out my first card design using the Joyful Flurry bundle that I shared last week here.

Sadly this bundle is retiring and the dies are already sold out! You can still get the stamp set with a lot of other great products that won’t be available after January 4th. Or in some cases while supplies last! Find them all in my online shop, but don’t wait too long… things are already selling out!

Blue Handmade Christmas Cards

Although I’m a little behind schedule, I’m still doing better than previous years with my cards for friends and family! At least I have one of my two designs all cut and ready to assemble. The other design is almost there. I always do two different designs for the different sides of the family. This year for my husband’s side of the family they will be getting blue handmade Christmas cards. Actually the sentiment for these cards is a little more generic because while a lot of them celebrate Christmas, they’re Jewish and celebrate Hannukah. I often love using blues in my holiday crafting, but I chose blue for this card because of this.

For the card base and main colour of I’m using Pool Party. It’s such a pretty blue and works great with snowflakes… which I love to use this time of year! These snowflakes come from the Joyful Flurry stamp set. The designs on these snowflakes are so pretty and the variety in sizes is great. I also used one of the special coordinating dies for the central snowflake with Tahitian Tide cardstock. This gives the card an extra bit of pop without overpowering it.

I popped up the special snowflake with some Stampin’ Dimensionals. And behind it I have a strip of Snowflake Specialty Vellum along side the stamped snowflakes. The fuzzy designs are so soft and I love the effect you get with the iridescent designs! The sentiment is in Tahitian Tide to go with my special snowflake. And to finish it off I added a Rhinestone Basic Jewel to the centre of the it.

Handmade Blue Christmas Cards

Check out some other blue handmade Christmas cards I made previously here.

And sadly I have to report that the Joyful Flurry bundle is retiring! Along with the Snowflake Specialty Vellum. To get them while you still can head to my online shop before January 4th… retiring products are only available while supplies last!

Lights Aglow Christmas Cards

Only 26 more days til Christmas! I can’t believe it’s already almost December. I was hoping to have my Christmas cards ready to mail out by the end of this week, but I’m a little behind. I’ll share them here once they’re done. But in the meantime I thought I’d share some more cards from a recent team card swap. These Lights Aglow Christmas cards are just so pretty! I just love this pack of Designer Series Paper and am sad that it won’t be returning next year. Each of these cards features a different design from this pack of patterned paper.

The first is from my larger team leader, Jenn Tinline. She uses one of the Cherry Cobbler designs from the pack so it makes sense that she used Cherry Cobbler for her card base. It’s hard to see in the picture, but she used one of the Charming Landscapes embossing folders on the card base. She also added some more gold with the Brushed Metallic cardstock and heat embossing the sentiment from the Jingle Jingle Jingle stamp set.

Lights Aglow Christmas Cards

Julie MacIssac also used Cherry Cobbler for her card base. But she uses another piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock that she die cut with the Labels Aglow dies to create a patterned paper look. I love the touch of gold Shimmer Specialty Paper she used with the Gold and Vanilla Satin Edged Ribbon. The sentiment if from the Brightest Glow stamp set.

Lights Aglow Christmas Cards

This last card is from Kerry-Anne Pumphrey. She used the Lights Aglow DSP and a piece of Basic White that she embossed with the Timeworn Type 3D embossing folder for her background. The sentiment is also from the Brightest Glow stamp set. And she die cut a gold foil Christmas tree using the Twinkling Lights dies.

Lights Aglow Christmas Cards

These Lights Aglow Christmas cards are so pretty! I can’t pick a favourite.

Check out my card for this swap here using the Spruced Up stamp set. And if you need any holiday crafting supplies or gifts for the crafters in your life, then head over to my online shop!

Joyful Flurry Christmas Card

I’ve had this bundle on my wishlist for a while now! So I’m excited to finally have it and get crafting with it. This Joyful Flurry Christmas card is just the first of many to come! I’m definitely a big fan of snowflakes with my holiday crafting and cardmaking. So of course this is one of my favourites from the July-December mini catalogue. And since my main image is snowflakes I’m using blues for my first card.

For this card design I went with Pool Party and Night of Navy. Two nice shades of blue that contrast each other really well. And with just a little bit of Night of Navy, the Pool Party really stands out. I used Pool Party for the card base and Night of Navy for the card mat. And even with the stamping I stuck with Pool Party as my main colour. Stamping the larger snowflakes in Pool Party for the background and then surrounding the sentiment with Pool Party snowflakes.

For the banners I layered some Brushed Metallic cardstock with a piece of Pool Party cardstock that I stamped with Pool Party snowflakes. Then there’s the banner with the sentiment on top. No Stampin’ Dimensionals this time. Although that would look really nice too. Instead I kept it simple and just added a few of the small Rhinestone Basic Jewels to finish it off.

Joyful Flurry Christmas Card

I just love this Joyful Flurry Christmas card! And I can’t wait to see what I can really do with the coordinating dies!

Check out some other samples from a recent team card swap using this same bundle here. And if you’re looking to get this in time for some holiday crafting, then head over to my online store.

Dual Pop Up Card

Fancy Folds Design Team

I’m back with the Fancy Folds Design Team blog hop! And this month we’re making a Dual Pop Up Card. This card took a little longer to figure out, but in the end it wasn’t so hard. You definitely want to take your time with the two pieces for the mechanism! Jan B, a demonstrator from the UK, has a great video to walk you through step by step. She also has measurements for those of us in North America. Just look under the video in the comments for the A2/US measurements.

For my design I went with a holiday theme. Using the All Spruced Up bundle and Painted Christmas Designer Series Paper worked nicely for this. I used Soft Succulent for the card base and a lighter design throughout the inside and outside to keep it nice and subtle.

On the card front I added a few die cut tree outlines from the Spruced Up dies. One in Evening Evergreen, one in Soft Succulent and one in Basic White. Next I paired two phrases from the Spruced Up stamp set together to go on the outside and die cut them using one of the All That dies. Then I popped it up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals and added a few gold Festive Pearls.

The inside is also pretty simple. Just a couple more tree outlines on the doors. And I did add an extra piece of 3″ x 3″ Basic White cardstock on the inside to give room to write.

The Dual Pop Up card was definitely a little trickier than some of the other cards I’ve done with the Fancy Folds Design team. But still easier than I thought. Keep hopping around the world to see all the different designs. Next up is Mette Nording Shaw from Australia. Check out her card here.

And check out last month’s hop here where we made a Cascading Display card.

Christmas #SimpleStamping

November is here and there’s only 6 1/2 weeks until Christmas! Can you believe it?! I’m finally taking the full deep dive into my holiday crafting. I’d like to try and get my holiday cards out at the beginning of December this year. Fingers crossed! So when I saw this month’s #SimpleStamping challenge from Stampin’ Up! I was all in! This month the challenge is to do some Christmas #SimpleStamping, or something for the New Year. And this time we can add some embellishments to the usual stamps, ink and paper.

I haven’t done any crafting with the Penguin Place stamp set in a while so I decided to use that as my main stamp set. And to keep with the christmas/winter theme I’m using Pool Party as my main colour. The snowflakes I stamped in the background come from the Spruced Up stamp set. And I used Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Pale Papaya, Soft Suede and Pool Party to create the scene in the centre.

I framed the scene with a bit of Pool Party cardstock. Then popped up the scene with some Stampin’ Dimensionals and layered the phrase on top. The phrase comes from the Penguin Place stamp set. Then to finish it off I added a few of the silver Festive Pearls to the centres of the snowflakes in the background. I love this pack of pearls!

Christmas #SimpleStamping

Check out my Facebook live where I crafted this Christmas #SimpleStamping card here. I do live crafting there every Monday night, so be sure to like my page while you’re there so you don’t miss out!

And you can check out last month’s #SimpleStamping challenge here.

Cascading Display Fold Card

Fancy Folds Design Team

We’re back! And this month we’re making a Cascading Display fold card. This is a fun and simple card to make and it looks great! It’s funny… the more I make fancy fold cards the more I find them easier than they look. For measurements and tips to make your own check out my YouTube video here. Then post a pic in the comments. I’d love to see your designs!

Both of my designs for this fancy fold card are Christmas themed. I guess I’m really getting into my holiday crafting. Anyway… for one design I paired the Christmas Scottie stamp set and Lights Aglow Designer Series Paper. For the colour combination I used Smoky Slate and Mint Macaron. I just love the way the gold foil sparkles with this DSP! Don’t you?!

The other design uses the Spruced Up stamp set and the Painted Christmas DSP. This time with Evening Evergreen and Soft Succulent for my colours. I thought about popping up some elements or adding some bling, but decided the card didn’t need it. The simple mechanism that helps layer the different pieces really does the trick. It closes so nicely and when it’s open you can easily see all the different layers.

Cascading Display Fold Card

Make sure to keep hopping around the world to see all the different Cascading Display fold card designs! Up next is Mette Nordling Shaw from Australia. Check out her design here

And if you want to check out last month’s hop where we made a Triple Floating Diamond card, you can start that hop here.

12 Weeks of Christmas 2022

Fall is here! And that means we’re heading into the holiday season. Starting with Thanksgiving, then Hallowe’en, Hanukkah and of course Christmas. We also have a bunch of birthdays sprinkled in there too. So it’s a busy time of year! And to help make having a handmade Christmas easier I’m kicking off my 12 Weeks of Christmas 2022 later this week!

Each week I send out a newsletter filled with project ideas, stamping tip and first chance at my upcoming classes and events. And one of the perks of being on my mailing list is that you’ll automatically get my 12 Weeks of Christmas emails.

Every week from September 30th til December 16th you’ll get a Christmas project idea complete with pictures, measurements, step by step instructions and of course a list of everything you’ll need to make them. I’ll be starting off with cards to make sure you’ve got plenty of time to mail them no matter where they need to get to. Next up is gifts and then I’ll wrap it up (lol) with tags, bags and wraps. I love adding a little something special to my gifts!

You won’t find these projects anywhere else! So make sure to sign up for my 12 Weeks of Christmas 2022 before Friday! And if you know anyone who might enjoy these projects, please share this post with them.

Here’s the link to sign up for my mailing list. And here’s one of the projects I shared as part of one of my previous 12 Weeks of Christmas…

Contact Me - 12 Weeks of Christmas

Want more info? You can find that here. The countdown to Christmas is on! It’s less than 3 months away, so let me help you with your holiday crafting.

Curvy Pop-Up Card

Fancy Folds Design Team

This month the Fancy Folds Design Team is making a Curvy Pop-Up card. I saw this fun fold a while ago and am glad to finally get the chance to make one of my own. This is such a cute card and I love that it’s so easy to make! To make your own, check out the video I shared on my YouTube channel here. In that version I used the Penguin Place bundle from the July-December Mini and the Silver & Gold Designer Series Paper from the Sale-a-bration catalogues. It includes the measurements and you can follow along with me step by step.

In my first version I used the All Spruced Up bundle. It’s such a fun set of stamps and dies to craft with! Then to keep with the Christmas theme I decided to use the Painted Christmas Designer Series Paper. It’s so pretty and I used it to choose my colour combination for the card. I used Evening Evergreen as the main colour with a splash of Soft Succulent.

For the pop-up in the centre I used a combination of stamped images that I cut out using the coordinating dies along with some simple cardstock cut outs. The larger ones in the back I added using Stampin’ SEAL and the smaller ones with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The phrase I cut out using the Stitched Rectangles dies. Then added a few of the Festive Pearls to add a bit of bling. You can also add a little bit of Wink of Stella Glitterbrush to the die cut trees if you want a little more. To have somewhere to add a note, just add some Basic White cardstock on the back.

Such a cute fun fold card right?! Make sure to keep hopping around the world. Up next is the Curvy Pop-Up card from Mette Nordling-Shaw. Check that out here.

And check out last month’s hop here, where we made a Mirror Fold card.

Gold Foil Christmas

It’s been a while since I’ve shared some cards from a now not so recent card swap with my team. This card swap was to show off products from the August-December Mini Catalogue. This time around I’m sharing some of the gold foil Christmas cards that were made. I love all the foil and metallic papers! And for the upcoming holidays using foil is a no-brainer.

This first card was made by Moira Sands. She used the Gift Wrapped bundle to create this card that looks just like a present. Along with the foil she used Pretty Peacock. I really like how these colours go together.

Gold Foil Christmas

One of my other favourite things to do is heat embossing. It’s such an easy way to add something special! Like Moira’s card this card uses foil and heat embossing. Except this time it’s with gold and the Sweetest Time bundle. This card was made by Eileen McAuliffe and I always love her cards. Along with the foil she used some Garden Green cardstock to create some more layers. I really like how she only used a piece of Basic Black for the card. It really make the gold stand out.

Now, last but not least is my favourite of these three cards! It was made by Vicki Howie. Even though you need a die cutting machine to create the layers, this is a pretty simple card. I’m a big fan of simple cards which could be why I like this one so much. I love how she paired the Tis the Season Designer Series Paper (on the left) with the Plaid Tidings DSP (on the right). Plus she included some Gilded Gems “on the side” so we could decide if and where we wanted to use them.

If you liked these gold foil Christmas cards you should check out some of the other cards from this card swap.

I’m also in the final weeks of my 12 Weeks of Christmas! This is where my email newsletter subscribers receive exclusive holiday themed projects to help get ready for the now not so far away holidays. You won’t find these projects anywhere else! If you live in Canada, contact me to find out how you can join my mailing list.

Handmade Blue Christmas Cards

When I’m looking at cards for the holidays, I always love blue Christmas cards! I know lots of people love the combination of read and green for Christmas cards. And while I do love that combination too, there’s just something about blue that gets me. So when I saw these cards from my recent team swap I had to share them with you.

This first one was made by one of my best friends, who is also my upline, Stephanie Nash. I love adding bling to my cards so of course this is one of my favourites! The swirl of Balmy Blue glimmer paper using the Painted Labels dies looks really pretty and hides the phrase on the inside of this Z-fold card. I also love the Blue Adhesive-Backed Gems.

Blue Christmas Glimmer

The next card, made by Sandra Paul, uses of my favourite new In Colours… Misty Moonlight. I didn’t really notice the In the Pines stamp set until I saw this card. Just by stamping the same tree image on the Whisper White cardstock three times without reinking, she was able to create some depth. I also never would have thought to use the Birds & Branches dies to create a frame for one of the trees from the Pine Woods dies. This is why I love doing card swaps with my team… it gives me the chance to see things I wouldn’t have noticed on my own.

Blue Christmas Trees

The last blue Christmas card I want to share with you is this one made by Laura Seki. This one is also a Z-fold, but the fold is tucked inside a regular card base. The stamp set she used, Poinsettia Petals, is one of my favourites from the Augsut-December Mini catalogue. I’ve been having a lot of fun creating with it! Here’s one I did using silver embossing like Laura did with her card. I also really like how she “splattered” some silver embossing powder on the card front.

Blue Christmas Poinsettia

I still have a few more cards from my team swap that I plan on sharing so stay tuned. And if you like these projects and want to get a jump on the upcoming holidays make sure to sign up for my weekly email newsletter! I’m kicking off my 12 Weeks of Christmas later this week.

I hope you enjoyed these handmade blue Christmas cards as much as I do!