Category: Christmas

Christmas

Happy Holidays

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We’re looking at another card design using the designer series paper called A Walk in the Forest by Stampin’ Up!, which is a part of the company’s Making a Difference Initiative. For each pack of paper sold, Stampin’ Up! contributes $3 to Toy for Tots in the U.S. and to the Salvation Army in other worldwide markets. I just love that I can not only brighten someone’s day through a handmade card but also through the purchase of the products I used to assemble it.

Yesterday, we used this sheet of paper as a backdrop for the focal image. But today, I wanted this lovely sheet of paper to stand on its own, so we’re keeping this card very simple. A sheet of Shaded Spruce serves as the backdrop for the designer paper. I really love how the Shaded Spruce helps bring each shade of green in the forest of evergreens to the forefront to shine. I wanted the sentiment panel to allow the designer paper to remain front and center, so I kept it narrow and matted the sentiment banner with vellum. The natural wavy trim reminds me of tree bark and carries the forest theme through the design.

Does this design keep you in the forest? Or does it make you wander?

Products used:
Shaded Spruce, Basic White, vellum cardstock
Shimmer vellum (retired)
Tis the Season (retired), Deckled Rectangles dies
Adhesive-backed sequins
Natural wavy trim
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Christmas

Love & Joy to You

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Today, I wanted to highlight the designer series paper called A Walk in the Forest. You may remember the series of posts I did several weeks ago using this fun set of papers. But I wanted to circle back and draw attention to the Stampin’ Up! Making a Difference Initiative. For each U.S. sale of A Walk in the Forest, Stampin’ Up! donates $3 to Toys for Tots. I love that I can support others during the holidays – not only through a handmade card but through my purchase of this pack of paper. Smiles all around in my book!

Now, down to the business of design. It was fun to mix and match patterns for this card to give a down-home Christmas kinda feel to the overall design. Crumb Cake serves as the card base. Using both sides of a sheet of the Joyful designer series paper provides the musical plaid backdrop for the forest of trees. To help the sheet of trees from A Walk in the Forest really stand out, a sheet of Shaded Spruce serves as the mat. The three trees taking center stage are stamped in various shades of green and diecut using Merriest Trees. Everything really ties together nicely with the sentiment flags tucked into the grove of trees.

Does this give you the warm and cozy feelings of a country Christmas? What are your go-to, homey holiday patterns?

Products used:
Crumb Cake, Shaded Spruce, Basic White cardstock
A Walk in the Forest, Joyful DSP
Merriest Trees stamps & dies
Tis the Season dies (retired)
Glitter sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Christmas

Snowy Greetings

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Have you had the chance to check out Stampin’ Up!’s Holiday Mini catalog yet? I’ve been giving you sneak peeks of many products from the catalog over the last month. I have to say that of all of the catalogs that have launched over my 15+ years of being a customer, I haven’t loved a catalog as much as I love this one! I think I dog-eared more than half of the catalog!

So today, we’re taking a look at the new designer series paper pack called Snowflake Magic. There are 3 different designs in this pack, and each one is a foiled design. What I love about these papers is that you can very quickly make a stunning card design with just the paper and a few embellishments!

For this card, Pretty Peacock serves as the card base. I had a hard time deciding on the base color but ultimately liked how Pretty Peacock makes the shimmery snowflakes stand out so beautifully. I kept the design very simple because I wanted the gorgeous paper to be center stage, so I heat embossed the sentiment in silver, added a strip of the silver & white sheer ribbon, and scattered silver pearls and glitter sequins across the design to move the eye across from top to bottom. For a little added drama, I popped up the whole panel on dimensionals. Simple yet stunning, don’t you think?

Products used:
Pretty Peacock cardstock
Snowflake Magic DSP
PTI Stylish Sentiments: Holiday (retired)
Silver & white sheer ribbon
Glitter sequins
Silver pearls
Silver embossing powder
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Christmas

Peace of the Season

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Have you enjoyed the sneak peek at the Magical Meadow designer series paper that launched this week in Stampin’ Up!’s Holiday Mini catalog? These watercolor designs are beautiful. Today’s focal pattern from the paper pack is one of those sheets of designer paper that you almost hate to cut! But with just the right design, you can showcase those really stunning sheets of designer paper and not feel quite so guilty about cutting them up.

Because I wanted the designer paper to be the show-stopping focal point of this design, I chose a cardstock color that complimented the DSP but basically disappeared into the background of the design. Lost Lagoon was just the ticket to help this beautiful sheet of paper really stand out. I chose the peek-through fun fold design again because it allowed the greatest use of the sheet of paper but also added a lot of visual interest to the overall card design. The sentiment is heat embossed on vellum and mounted atop a complimentary-shaped Lost Lagoon mat. A few carefully placed shimmery gems and the ribbon add a touch of sparkle.

TIP: When you want to color match a heat embossed element but don’t have the exact color embossing powder, you can make your own. Surprised? Wondering how? Before you ink your stamp, apply a heavy layer of Versamark and then cover the stamp with your preferred ink color before stamping. Then coat with clear embossing powder before heat embossing. This allows your ink color to shine through as your embossing color. Voila! Color-matched!

Products used:
Lost Lagoon, vellum cardstock
Winter Meadow DSP
Ornamental Pine stamps (retired)
Rose Garden (retired), Window Frames (retired) dies
Clear embossing powder
Fine sparkle gems
Silver & White shimmer ribbon
Dimensionals
Adhesive

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Christmas

Joy & Peace

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Are you getting excited about the upcoming launch of the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini catalog? I’ve been taking a tour of some of the wonderful products from this catalog over the course of the last month. If you’ve missed any of the product spotlights, I would encourage you to peruse through the posts from the last month to take advantage of all of the sneak peeks!

One of the designer paper packs that will be launching in the new catalog next week is called Winter Meadow. Each of the sheets has a watercolor look and each one is simply stunning. Today’s design uses the sheet with the deer in the snowy woods. This sheet can be used for so many different themes, but today’s design takes a holiday turn. The base of the card is Shaded Spruce and ties to the backing for the sentiment panel, which is the foiled green plaid sheet from the Joyful designer paper pack. The sentiment is heat embossed in gold on a sheet of vellum in order to allow the beautiful foiled background to show through. Just a few carefully placed gold sequins help the eye move across the design. Although not easily visible in the photo, the deer also has a touch of sparkle from Wink of Stella which really helps tie everything together nicely.

Products used:
Shaded Spruce, vellum cardstock
Winter Meadow, Joyful DSP
Magical Meadow stamps
Deckled Rectangle dies
Gold embossing powder
Wink of Stella
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesive

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Christmas · Fun Folds · Tutorials

Oh Deer

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We’re taking another tour of the One Horse Open Sleigh designer series paper pack. There are so many beautiful winter scenes in this 6×6 paper pack. I’ll be making a variety of fun fold cards to show you how you can take beautiful paper that you’re hesitant to use and turn it into gorgeous cards that really allow the paper designs to shine.

Today’s design focuses on the sheet of paper with the deer in the grove of snowy trees. The gate fold is the perfect design to allow you to look through the trees.

In this video, you’ll learn how to make this card design and how easily you can adapt it to showcase other vignette paper designs. So grab a cup of tea and let’s make a card!

Products used:
Balmy Blue, vellum cardstock
One Horse Open Sleigh DSP
All That dies
Magical Meadow stamps
Silver & white ribbon
Faceted gems
Adhesive-backed sequins
Adhesives

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Christmas

Beautiful Season

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Today we continue our tour of the Winter Meadow designer series paper pack. Many of the designs remind me of snowy mountains. The two patterns included in this design are a perfect example. Don’t you feel like you’re in the winter woods when you see these patterns together?

Lost Lagoon cardstock serves as the base for this card design. It coordinates well with the designer paper and brings out the finer details in each sheet. This is a peek-through fun fold design, where the card front is just a touch short allowing you to see through to the pattern inside the card. The overall design for this card is quite simple with the paper doing the heavy lifting. Just a few special details with the sprigs of greenery and shimmery ribbon underneath the simple sentiment panel bring it all together for a stunning design with a real WOW factor.

Products used:
Lost Lagoon, Basic White, Mossy Meadow, Soft Seafoam cardstock
Winter Meadow DSP
Peaceful Cabin stamps (retired)
All That, Magical Meadow dies
Fine sparkle gems
Silver & White sheer ribbon
Dimensionals
Adhesive

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Christmas · Fun Folds · Tutorials

Winter Cabin Fun Fold

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Have you seen the One Horse Open Sleigh designer series paper that is currently available in the Online Exclusives section of my online store? Every single sheet of paper in this 6×6 pack is gorgeous! It makes them so hard to cut and use! So I’m designing cards that use as much of each sheet in one card design as possible.

And I’m going to be bringing you a series of videos that show you how you can make stunning cards with the One Horse Open Sleigh paper pack, and your supply list will be pretty simple for each design because we’re going to have this beautiful paper take center stage in each design.

First up is this cozy cottage scene. We’ll be making a single panel z-fold card together using this sheet of designer paper. Won’t you join me?

Products used:
Early Espresso cardstock
One Horse Open Sleigh DSP
Magical Meadow stamps
Misty Moonlight ribbon
Wink of Stella
Adhesive-backed sequins
Adhesives

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Christmas

Season of Joy

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This week we are focusing on the additional design offerings in A Walk in the Forest designer series paper pack offered by Stampin’ Up! in the next Holiday Mini catalog which goes live next week. All of the designs are festive, but I especially love the holiday greenery designs because they are so versatile. I saw this fun fold design using a different designer paper and was inspired to create this card.

After seeing this fun z-fold design, I felt like it lent itself well to making a card that felt like a beautiful double door with a holiday wreath hanging on the front. A sheet of Crumb Cake serves as the card base and helps the lighter elements of the paper, like the branches and music notes, really stand out. The gold glimmer vellum keeps things festive and draws out the gold embossing and foiling on the outer portion of the card. I kept the interior of the card light and bright with a sheet of the white foiled holly design from the Joyful specialty paper pack.

This z-fold design also works really with designer series paper sheets that I like to call story sheets. They’re the designs that really look best when you can use larger portions because they have a scene that encompasses a much larger footprint of the sheet of paper. I’ll be showcasing a story sheet design with this fun fold in a few days and that post will include a video tutorial.

Products used:
Crumb Cake, Basic White cardstock
Shimmer vellum (retired)
A Walk in the Forest, Joyful DSP
Welcome Christmas (retired), Christmas Messages (retired) stamps
Magical Meadow, Seasonal Labels (retired) dies
Gold embossing powder
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Christmas

Halls Bedecked

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Our winter walk takes us under the pines today as we’re checking out another design in the paper pack called A Walk in the Forest by the Stampin’ Up!, which will release next week. This sheet is the perfect backdrop of freshly dropped pine needles and pairs perfectly with the winter foliage stamps and dies you may have in your stash. When I saw this particular sheet of designer paper, I knew that I had to pair it with the Christmas Season stamp/die set, which is one of my favorite foliage sets. Although this SU! set happens to be retired, there is a beautiful bundle of winter foliage in the Holiday Mini catalog called Joy of Noel and it would make the perfect substitute in this design!

I decided to compliment the sheet of pine needles with a card base of Mossy Meadow. I used Shaded Spruce and Mossy Meadow to make pine bough elements because I wanted to some realism to the age of the dropped branches. I love how the two-step stamps in Christmas Season add so much detail to the pinecones. I didn’t want to completely cover the beautiful background paper, so I chose a sheet of green shimmer vellum for the sentiment panel. To bring in the woody element of the branches, I used the natural wavy trim. The touch of gold in the sequins and sentiment help the eye move easily across the design. A super simple design with a lot of impact!

Products used:
Mossy Meadow, Basic White cardstock
Shimmer vellum (retired)
Christmas Season stamps & dies (retired)
Gold embossing powder
Natural wavy trim
Twine
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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