handmade holiday cards Archives - Inkspiration Cards

One Horse Open Sleigh

Posted on August 1, 2023August 1, 2023 by inkspirationwithteresa

I realize there’s still 146 more days til Christmas, but I just had to share a Christmas card. The One Horse Open Sleigh Designer Series Paper is just too pretty to wait! There’s a lot of great winter scenes in this pack of patterned paper. And there are some more ‘plain’ designs that you can use for lots of different occasions not just Christmas.

For this card I’m using one of the wintery designs and I wanted to spotlight the fox in this design. I went nice and dark for the card base; Early Espresso. And then I used the DSP design for my card front. The dark card base really makes the snowy scene stand out, don’t you think?!

To highlight the fox I punched him out using the 2 3/8″ Circle Punch. Next I pulled out my recently retired Layering Circles dies to cut out a larger circle using the flipside of the same design. Or at least that’s what I meant to do; catch the replay and you’ll know what I mean. Then I popped it up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The “Merry Christmas” is from the Cottage Wreaths stamp set. And I stamped it with Early Espresso ink and then layered a piece of Early Espresso cardstock behind that. Then I popped that up and added a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

This DSP is so pretty and makes it super easy to make beautiful cards! Catch the replay of how this card came to be over on my Facebook page.

You can find the One Horse Open Sleigh DSP with the other online exclusives in my online shop.

I’m also loving crafting with one of the other online exclusive DSP packs; Hello Irresistible. Check out a card I made using that pack of patterned paper here.

Spruced Up Christmas Cards

Posted on December 9, 2022December 9, 2022 by inkspirationwithteresa

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.

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

Posted on December 2, 2022December 2, 2022 by inkspirationwithteresa

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.

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

Posted on November 29, 2022November 29, 2022 by inkspirationwithteresa

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.

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.

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.

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

Posted on November 25, 2022November 25, 2022 by inkspirationwithteresa

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.

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

Posted on November 18, 2022November 19, 2022 by inkspirationwithteresa

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

Posted on November 9, 2022November 9, 2022 by inkspirationwithteresa

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!

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.

Joyful Flurry

Posted on November 1, 2022November 1, 2022 by inkspirationwithteresa

The Joyful Flurry bundle is one of my favourites from the July-December Mini catalogue! It’s next on my list to get for my holiday crafting! In the meantime I wanted to share two cards from a recent team card swap that use snowflakes as their featured image.

The first card is made by Laura Seki and uses more traditional winter colours. She creates a pretty monochromatic card using Balmy Blue. First she stamped and die cut using the Joyful Flurry bundle. Then she used paper tearing on that same piece of Basic White cardstock. I love that this bundle has a mix of dies that fully cut out images and only partially cut them out. Laura’s used a bit of both on this card. She also added a bit of Balmy Blue ink to the snowflake centres using Sponge Daubers. And then finished off the card with some of the White Crinkled Seam binding ribbon and a few different pearls and sequins.

This other card is made by Joanne Wilke and uses Fresh Freesia as it’s main colour. To make this card she heat embossed the large snowflake image first in white. Then she used a Sponge Dauber or Blending Brushes to add Fresh Freesia all around the snowflake. The “Merry Christmas” come from the Regal Reindeer stamp set. And to finish is off she added a few sequins.

I can’t wait to get my hands on the Joyful Flurry bundle so I can make some beautiful snowflake cards like these! Check out my card for this team card swap here! And if you want to get your hands of the Joyful Flurry bundle like me, then head over to my online shop!

Paper Pumpkin Ho Ho Ho

Posted on October 28, 2022October 28, 2022 by inkspirationwithteresa

I’m excited to join the Paper Pumpkin blog hop again this month! Probably because I’m loving this month’s Paper Pumpkin Ho Ho Ho. This is definitely my favourite holiday themed Paper Pumpkin ever! The stamp set has so many great images and phrases. And the envelopes and dies cut pieces are great too.

For this alternative project I’m making a card and I’m using some non-traditional colours; Bermuda Bay and Crumb Cake. It all started with me wanting to use Bermuda Bay to stamp some snowflakes. Then when I was looking at the pieces in the kit and I had the idea to cut up one of the intricate die cut pieces. I layered that on top of one of the pieces left over from the frame and popped it up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. But not before I did some tone on tone stamping and added a snowflake to the centre of each of the die cut snowflakes.

Underneath that layer I took a strip of Bermuda Bay cardstock and did some more tone on tone stamping using the “ho ho ho” stamp. For my other phrase I combined “holly jolly” and “Christmas”. It’s one of my favourite holiday songs! I used both Bermuda Bay and Crumb Cake ink to stamp this phrase. Then to finish it off I added an Iridescent Pearl Basic Jewels to the centre of each of the “snowflakes”.

I just LOVE the October Paper Pumpkin Ho Ho Ho kit! Don’t you?!

Check out the other projects on this month’s hop with the link below. And to check out last month’s hop with the September Paper Pumpkin kit, start with my alternative project here.

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Spruced Up

Posted on October 21, 2022October 21, 2022 by inkspirationwithteresa

With every new catalogue our larger team always does a card swap. And the July-December mini catalogue is no different. For my swap I wanted to step it up a little while keeping it simple. I especially like to keep it simple when I have to make a lot of cards at once. So I made a book fold card using the Spruced Up bundle.

I have a few different elements to this card so I wanted to have a neutral card base. Crumb Cake works nicely for this and is probably my favourite brown to craft with. On the “spine” of my card front I have a strip of one of the designs from the Painted Christmas Designer Series Paper. I love the colours and patterns in this DSP pack, don’t you?! For the main part of my card front I embossed a piece of Basic White cardstock using the snowy mountain range from the Charming Landscapes embossing folders. I thought it makes a really nice background for the other elements.

I stamped the large tree with Evening Evergreen and then cut it out with the coordinating die. And the phrase is actually 2 phrases from the Spruced Up stamp set. I really love these two together! To stamp them I place them as close together on the block as I can. I stamped the phrase in Evening Evergreen too. Then I die cut it with one of the All That dies and popped it up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. To finish it off I added a few Festive Pearls. These are another favourite of mine from the July-December mini catalogue. And apparently a lot of people agree… I’ve seen it out of stock a couple of times already.

Here’s my card…

Check out some of the cards I got from this recent card swap here. I’ll be sharing more here in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned! And you can check out the Spruced Up bundle in my online shop.

Cascading Display Fold Card

Posted on October 14, 2022October 14, 2022 by inkspirationwithteresa

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.

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…

https://stampingmette.blogspot.com/2022/10/cascading-display-card-with-fancy-folds.html?fbclid=IwAR0pDR-jWdAX51pEb8WPvtCjo_CXQXKr6bekIk_roShWEYCOs2zcSeeMD5Q

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

Posted on September 27, 2022September 27, 2022 by inkspirationwithteresa

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…

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

Posted on August 19, 2022August 19, 2022 by inkspirationwithteresa

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.

Bay Window Card

Posted on December 17, 2021December 17, 2021 by inkspirationwithteresa

It’s time for the last Fancy Folds Design Team blog hop of 2021! I have so much fun participating in these blog hops. Even when I’m pushing myself to get it done in time. This month we’re making a Bay Window card. I’ve seen these before and they look so neat! And as usual I’m finding that it’s easier to make than you think. This one especially. You can check out LeeAnn Greff’s video here if you want to try it out yourself.

For my card design I immediately thought of the soon to be released stamp set, In the Moment. One of the images is perfect to set up so that the woman is looking out of bay window. So of course I had to use it! The next piece to my design was the Designer Series Paper. I was using the Beauty of Earth DSP for another project and one of the designs caught my eye as I was about to put it away. It’s the blue design with what looks like trees and splotches (aka snowflakes possibly).

From here I decided to use Misty Moonlight for my card base and I stamped the image and inner phrase using Tuxedo Black Memento ink. For a bit I debated about colouring the image, but decided I liked it better as is. I did add a few Misty Moonlight snowflakes from the Snowflake Wishes to prop up my window. I die cut it using one of the Meadows dies and the image using the Stitched So Sweetly dies.

If you wanted to add a little something more to this, you could add a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels. This is one time for me where I decided to not add some bling to my card. I know hard to believe right?! Here’s the card…

The Bay Window card is such a simple fun fold to make! Remember to keep hopping and check out all the cards. Up next is Mette Nordling Shaw’s card which you can check out here.

And if you want to check out last month’s blog hop where we made a Pinwheel Tower card, you can start that hop here!

Peaceful Place

Posted on December 14, 2021December 14, 2021 by inkspirationwithteresa

I wasn’t sure if I would do another Paper Craft Crew challenge before the end of this year. But when I saw this vertical sketch challenge (PCC450) it sparked some inkspiration. I’m in the middle of crafting my holiday cards for friends, family and my customers. I was thinking of doing something simple with some Designer Series Paper and this sketch is perfect for my customer holiday cards. Here’s the sketch…

For my design I immediately thought of the Peaceful Place Specialty Designer Series Paper. (I’m a little sad that this suite is retiring soon) From there I decided to create a monochromatic card. So I used Smoky Slate for my card base and ink. The phrase and image comes from the Snowflake Wishes stamp set in the Annual catalogue. Then to emphasize the silver in the DSP I heat embossed the phrase in silver. And to add a little bit more sparkle I added a Rhinestone Basic Jewel and used the Frayed ribbon from the upcoming new January-June Mini catalogue. It’s so soft and there’s a little bit of shimmer to it.

Check out the other designs for this week’s Paper Craft Crew challenge here.

I also wanted to share a couple more projects featuring the Peaceful Place suite. These are two cards that I got in a team card swap. They both feature the Peaceful Cabin stamp set. The Just Jade and cork card was created by Tracey Holz. And the Basic Gray and pink card was created by Laura Seki. Laura also used the Whimsy & Wonder DSP in her design. These are two of my favourite cards from this card swap!

Keep looking for more projects featuring retiring products. Next week I’ll be sharing some projects using the Sweet Treats bundle. In the meantime you can check out some projects using Frosted Gingerbread bundle here.