Non-Traditional Christmas Colours

I usually used lots of reds and greens for my Christmas cards. Sometimes I even use blues and silvers. But once in a while I like to use non-traditional Christmas colours. This card design came from a colour challenge. The colours we were given were Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Blackberry Bliss and Basic White.

I don’t know why I went with a Christmas card design, but that’s where my inkspiration took me. Something told me that the Poinsettia Petals stamp set would look nice with this colour combination. So I used Basic Back for my card base. I figured that would be the best option. Then Basic White was pretty obvious… I used it to stamp on. And the Bermuda Bay and Blackberry Bliss I used for the poinsettias, berries and leaves.

On the inside of the card I stamped a simple “Merry Christmas” with Blackberry Bliss and a few berries with Bermuda Bay. For the outside of the card I created a kind of background using the stamped images. Then I added a Basic Black framed piece of stamped cardstock on top with a few Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Non-Traditional Christmas Colours

I still wanted something more the for the card, but decided not to add a phrase on the outside like I ususally do. Instead I added a large Blackberry Bliss poinsettia and a medium sized one in Bermuda Bay using the coordinating dies. For each one I used two layers to make them look more full. Then I added a few Pearl Basic Jewels to the centres.

To finish it off I decided to add some of the Glittery Organza ribbon. This is where I would have usually put the phrase and I think it adds a nice touch.

Non-Traditional Christmas Colours

I really like this pairing of non-traditional Christmas colours. And I’m going to have to remember it for future projects.

Check out one of my other card designs using the Poinsettia Petals stamp set here. And if you’d like to try this card design for yourself, you can get everything you need in my online shop. Be sure to post your finished card here if you do!

#SimpleStamping for Christmas

Now that Thanksgiving is done I can start planning for the upcoming holidays! Not to mention all the birthdays in between. This time of year is pretty busy for me. So I’m loving this month’s #SimpleStamping for Christmas challenge from Stampin’ Up! because it’s a great way to spark some inkspiration. I’ve got a lot of holiday cards to make and so I like to keep my designs fairly simple. For this month’s challenge we’ve been asked to create a Christmas or New Year’s card using just stamps, ink and paper. Plus this month we can add an embellishment.

I was so excited when I found out that the Poinsettia Petals stamp set and dies were being carried over into the Annual Catalogue. This is one of my go-to stamp sets for the holidays. And so when I saw this challenge I immediately thought of using this stamp set. There’s a lot of images in this set that work so well together. And I love the phrases! Then since I was using the poinsettia as my main image I went with a traditional colour combination; red and green. For the red I used Real Red, not just because it’s a good colour for the poinsettia but because I had a couple of embellishment options that would work really well. As for the green, I went dark and used Evening Evergreen. There’s also a little splash of Crumb Cake.

#SimpleStamping for Christmas

Most of the images I stamped with full strength ink. But to fill in the leaves I wanted to be able to still see the lines, so I stamped off on a scrap piece of paper first and then on to the cardstock. I love the effect it gives when I do this!

For my embellishment I added some of the Real Red Sheer ribbon that is back in the July-December Mini catalogue. I just wrapped a bit around the cardstock and then added a bow on top with a Mini Glue Dot. Then I popped up the phrase using some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

#SimpleStamping for Christmas

To step this up a level or two, you can use the Stitched Rectangles dies to cut out the phrase. The Stitched So Sweetly dies are a new favourite of mine that would also look really nice. You can also add some Wink of Stella to the images. I love adding bling to my cards and this is a great way to do it.

I hope you like my #SimpleStamping for Christmas card! You can check out one of my past #SimpleStamping challenge cards here. And you can stock up for your holiday card making in my online shop. Now to get to planning out my holiday cards!

Poinsettia Petals and Heartwarming Hugs

December is here and we’ve got about 3 weeks til Christmas! I’m almost ready, how about you? I’m hoping to start crafting with some goodies from the new catalogues soon. So this week I thought I’d share one more holiday themed card. For this card I combined Poinsettia Petals and Heartwarming Hugs Designer Series Paper. This design is another from a recent team crafting playdate. You can check out the other design I created for this playdate here.

For the card base I used Mossy Meadow cardstock. I kept this simple, although the Subtle 3D Embossing folder would look nice with this card design too. Then I layered on some different designs from the Heartwarming Hugs DSP pack.

Poinsettia Petals and Heartwarming Hugs

To add a little something more I stamped a phrase from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set and cut it out with the Stitched Shapes dies. I stamped the phrase with Pear Pizzazz ink. For the poinsettia and leaves I used Real Red, Pear Pizzazz and Mossy Meadow. I also stamped a poinsettia on the inside of the card using Real Red ink.

Poinsettia Petals and Heartwarming Hugs

Then I put a small Real Red poinsettia on top and added a small Pearl Basic Jewel in the centre. I love the Poinsettia dies! I’ve been using them for a lot of different projects. Here’s the full card…

Poinsettia Petals and Heartwarming Hugs

Next time around I would probably emboss the front part of the card base. Even with that though I really like this card. It’s nice and simple and looks great! The Poinsettia Petals and Heartwarming Hugs DSP really work nicely together.

Brightly Gleaming Holiday

I was so glad when Stampin’ Up! brought back the Brightly Gleaming Designer Series Paper this year. It has such pretty designs and I love the foil elements in some of them! So of course I had to make a Brightly Gleaming holiday card. This card design came from a team card sketch challenge. I really like doing sketch challenges because it usually gives me a design I haven’t thought of.

For this card I started with the Brightly Gleaming DSP to figure out my colour combination. I kept it simple because I wanted the DSP to really stand out, so I chose Night of Navy and Whisper White. And with the gold foil in one of the DSP designs I used some of the Gold Metallic Trim from the Forever Greenery Trim Combo pack.

Brightly Gleaming Holiday card

The phrase came from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set, which is one of my favourites from this year’s holiday catalogue. I stamped it with Night of Navy ink and cut it out with the largest squares from the Stitched Shapes dies. I also cut out some Night of Navy cardstock with one of the circle dies for that piece of the sketch design. Then I popped up the phrase using some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

I like how simple all the layers are in this sketch design, it really helps the DSP stand out. Here’s the full card…

Brightly Gleaming Holiday card

I’ve still got a lot to do for the upcoming holidays. So it was nice to not have to think about a design for this card. I really like how it turned out too.

If you liked this Brightly Gleaming holiday card then you might want to check out this card. This card is a bit fancier because it was made for a Fancy Fold Design Team Blog Hop, but was a lot of fun to make.