Tag: Christmas

Christmas · Fun Folds

Magic of the Season

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If you have followed me for the last month or so, you probably will recall that I have mentioned how much I love the Winter Meadow designer series paper that Stampin’ Up! just launched in its Holiday Mini catalog. And you may have heard me talk about how much I love this particular sheet of paper from that paper pack. I come from a family of avid hunters, so I’m always drawn to well-designed craft products that lend themselves well to documenting a hunt or simply the majesty of wildlife.

What I love, in particular, about this sheet of paper is the repeating pattern of the deer in the forest. It feels like you’re seeing the deer through the fog of fall morning. Pairing this design with different background colors allows for many different moods and lends itself well to different occasions. A while back, I used this paper to make a birthday card. Today, I’m focusing on the muted colors of a snowy winter to make this holiday card. And I tried my hand at a variation on the two-flip fun fold.

I used Basic Gray as the base for the card design as a whole. I also pulled a sheet of shimmer white cardstock to serve as the base for the front flip and inside panels. The gorgeous scene of the deer standing in the grove of evergreens serve as the focal image on the front of the card. Although it’s difficult to capture in photographs, the shimmer of the white cardstock and the touch of Wink of Stella on the deer really give the feel of a cold winter morning.

When you flip up the front panel, a new scene is revealed. This view of the forest from the open prairie is created atop another sheet of paper from the Winter Meadow paper pack. On its own, this design looks like a gray wash, but to me, it still spoke to the feeling of a snowy morning. I simply stamped the forest scene and sentiment in Basic Gray using the Magical Meadow stamp set. The Basic Gray card base serves as the base for this panel and gives some depth to the snowy grays. The sentiment stamp itself is one long strip, but I wanted two lines for better symmetry so I masked portions of the sentiment stamp to create it across two stacked lines. I added a little sparkle with the glitter sequin.

When you flip down the center panel, you reveal the inside of the card. Since this section is intended for a message to your card recipient, it’s very simple with just a sentiment panel over the shimmer white cardstock. I added a few stars diecut from a sheet of the Snowflake Magic designer paper for a little visual interest and to carry the snow theme through to the inside message panel.

Overall, everything about this design is simple and muted because I wanted the beauty of winter and the pizzazz of the fun fold to be the stars of the show. How do you think it turned out? Would you like to see a video on how this card is made?

Products used:
Basic Gray, shimmer white (retired) cardstock
Winter Meadow, Snowflake Magic DSP
Magical Meadow stamps
Stars at Night dies
Whisper White, silver ribbon
Glitter sequins
Wink of Stella
Adhesives

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Christmas

Spirit of the Season

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We are finally beginning to get a break from the summer heat here in Texas, and things are beginning to feel a little more fall-like. And that always brings about more holiday spirit. I’m still working to prepare a holiday client order and for an upcoming craft show, which means lots of holiday-inspired designs.

Today’s card is relatively simple to put together but packs a lot of punch in the WOW department. The card base is a simple piece of white cardstock. A piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock provides the pops of red in this design and gives the patterned paper a bit of grounding against the dry embossed white panel. The sequins, ribbon, and heat embossed sentiment bring the pops of gold that really makes this card sparkle. I love this designer paper. It’s a new pack from Stampin’ Up! called Joy of Christmas. Each of the designs in the paper pack has a watercolor look and each one is eye-catching and easy to work with. Making a stunning card with this designer paper is a walk in the park for sure!

I really love the simplicity of this design. Are you a fan of simple or more intricate designs?

Products used:
Cherry Cobbler, Basic White cardstock
Joy of Christmas DSP
Merry Melody embossing folder
Merriest Trees stamps
Gold embossing powder
Vanilla & gold ribbon (retired)
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Christmas · Fun Folds

What Brings Us Together

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Happy Monday, everyone! I really love the various wintery/holiday paper designs that Stampin’ Up! has introduced lately. Have you had a chance to check them out? I just recently got the One Horse Open Sleigh DSP pack and I am loving all of the fun folds you can do to really show off these beautiful paper designs.

A week or so ago, I shared a video of how I made a barn fold card using a different set of designs from the One Horse Open Sleigh paper pack. In that video, I showed how you could vary the placement of pieces to make it work for what you have on hand. I loved this variation so much that I felt it was worthy of having its own post to show you how you can make stunning cards with just a few supplies and just moving things around, like the placement of a sentiment panel, can make it feel like a completely new design even when it’s the same fun fold.

For this design, I started with a base of Lost Lagoon cardstock. I chose two different designs from the One Horse Open Sleigh designer paper pack — a lovely snowy woods scene and a gorgeous cabin across a frozen pond scene. Because I wanted the cabins to remain a whole panel and not be separated, I decided to use this particular sheet of paper on the inside of the card. And as I began working with this sheet of paper, it naturally lent itself to being cut into a 4″ and 2″ panels with the cabin portion in the inside center and the trees on the smaller right inside panel. So the snowy woods cover the outside of the card design and really set the mood for this beautiful theme of Winter Wishes. The sparkly touches of gems, ribbon, and sequins complete the feel of the twinkle of freshly falling snow.

Interested in making this card? You can check out the video tutorial here or download the PDF here.

Products used:
Lost Lagoon, vellum cardstock
One Horse Open Sleigh DSP
Magical Meadow stamps
All That dies
Versamark
Clear embossing powder
Faceted gems
Adhesive-backed sequins
Silver & white sheer ribbon
Adhesives

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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

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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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