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.

Joyful Flurry

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.

Joyful Flurry

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.

Joyful Flurry

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

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”.

Paper Pumpkin Ho Ho Ho

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.

<!-- start Blog Carousel script -->
<script src="https://blogcarousel.com/?11Y9=embed&mode=js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<noscript><p><a href = "https://blogcarousel.com/?11Y9&showBloghop" title = "View all blog hop posts">Blog Hop Index</a></p></noscript>
<!-- end Blog Carousel script -->

Spruced Up

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…

All Spruced Up

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

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.

Window Accordion Fold

It’s time for another Fancy Fold design team blog hop! And this month we’re making cards using the Window Accordion Fold. This fold took me a little bit to wrap my head around. Kylie Bertucci’s video does a great job of walking you through it. For measurements I’ve posted them at the end of this post so make sure to keep reading.

When I was thinking of what to use for my card my first thought was Christmas, of course! Then I remembered my Butterfly Beauty dies and thought that would look great. So I decided to make both! For the first card I used Rich Razzleberry and Purple Posy for my colours. Then I used Beauty Abounds and Butterfly Wishes for the stamped images and phrase.

Window Accordion Fold

I decided to keep it simple with this one and used cardstock and stamped images instead of Designer Series Paper. And it was really easy to adhere the butterfly die cuts to each other and the window sheet with the adhesive sheets. I love how it turned out!

Window Accordion Fold

For my holiday version I used Mossy Meadow cardstock and the Heartwarming Hugs DSP for the base. The images and phrase came from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set. This is one of my favourite sets right now! And I used Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Pear Pizzazz and Early Espresso for my ink colours. On my window sheet I used the Poinsettia dies and layered the flowers and leaves on both sides using Glue Dots. I also added some Pearl Basic Jewels to the centre of the outer poinsettias.

Window Accordion Fold

Once I wrapped my head around this card it was pretty easy to put together. I love how both of my Window Accordion Fold cards turned out! As promised here are the measurements I used for this card…

Window and cardstock for base: 4 1/4″ x 11″, scored at 5 1/2″

Cardstock/Patterned Paper mats: 4″ x 5 1/4″

Cardstock for stamping: 3 3/4″ x 5″

You can check out my project from last month`s hop here. And to keep going with this month`s blog hop check out Nadine Schweda`s post here!