SNOWFLAKE GATEFOLD CARD

 

My most favorite EVER Paper Pumpkin kit from Stampin' Up! has been the "Simply Snowflake" kit from November 2014 (see the projects HERE).  I liked it so much that I bought a refill--probably more than one since I still have one on hand.  A few years ago, I was fortunate that Shannon Allen designed a Cricut cut file for a similar card, and I have enjoyed making a few of these through the years--almost always make a few to send each year at Christmas.  

It's a great card, isn't it?!?!  I fall in love with the design every time I make one of these cards.  Of course, there are so many other card designs that are over-the-top and/or really special in a multitude of ways, but my love for this one seems to grow and grow.  

Above is a closer view of the interior.  Some of the sentiment layers had stamped snowflakes, others did not.  All of the cards that I made this year (and in years past) were tied closed with silver trim, and I think that probably makes the card even more fun to receive.

"TREES FOR SALE" CHRISTMAS CARD

Of all the Christmas cards that I made this year, I made the most of this design.  I don't know why, though, because this one had the most pieces to assemble.  It took the better part of FOUR DAYS to do all of the cutting, assembly, and foiling.  BTW, the foiled sentiments were created with Spellbinders "Mini Christmas Sentiment Strips" hot foil plate, Silver foil, and my Go Press & Foil machine.  All of the other images are from Stampin' Up!'s "Trees for Sale" bundle.  Cardstock colors are Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Pool Party, and White.  Vellum cardstock was used behind the die-cut camper for the windows.

The card folded on the left side and, as you can tell, I used a distressing tool on the strip of white cardstock behind the sentiment.

From the above photo, you can get a tiny glimpse of the greenery that was stamped inside the card.  It wouldn't be right to have all that fun on the front and a boring interior!  The foiled background paper is "Silver & Gold 6x6 Specialty Paper" from Stampin' Up!, and I'm fairly certain that it's retired.  

These cards may have been a lot of trouble, but I loved everything about them . . . the design, the images that I had to work with, the colors  . . . all of it!  

EASY SNOWGLOBE CHRISTMAS CARD

 

I have been wanting to share photos of this year's Christmas cards, and I finally had a chance today to process the pics I've taken.  I didn't have as much variety this year--maybe five designs--but I was quite pleased with each of them.  That matters!  This first one that I'm sharing is an easy-to-create snowglobe, which I learned from Tina Wardell's video.  In a nutshell . . . 

(1) Die-cut a circle from a scrap of cardstock that is the same size as my Crumb Cake layer.  The die-cut aperture will be used as a stencil.

(2) Take a sponge, dauber, or blending brush to lightly color the circle opening from the die-cut stencil that you created.  Before removing the stencil, draw around the opening with a white gel pen.

(3) Stamp the image of your choice inside the "globe".  Use the white gel pen to add snowy accents and falling snow.

(4) Use a Soft Suede Stampin' Write Marker to draw an ornament topper (if desired), and draw over it with a gold marker.  This card would have looked better without an ornament topper, but adding the die-cut base beneath the snowglobe was something that I decided to do AFTER I had already drawn the ornament tops.  😕  And just so you know . . . Tina's snowglobe was made as a hanging ornament and not something with a base.  FYI . . . For my snowglobe base, I used dies from Stampin' Up!'s retired "Still Scenes" bundle.  Isn't that die-cut base gorgeous cut from gold foil?

As you can see from the above photo, I did different things with the winter scene that I stamped inside the snowglobe. 

I'll bet you're wanting to try making a snowglobe, huh?  Go for it!  It's so easy, and you probably have on hand everything that is needed to make one.

BRINGING HOME THE CHRISTMAS TREE

 

While working on Christmas cards a few weeks ago, I remembered that I had a Cricut cut file for one of my most favorite cards.  As I went to Cricut Design Space to find the cut file, I came across the cutest wood-sided "Station Wagon Holiday Card" that I just had to make.  I changed nothing about it because it was just perfectly adorable already.  I am such a sucker for shaped cards (try saying that fast just for fun)!

Of course, the card was designed to fold flat for mailing, and the cut file even included an envelope!  If you often make Cricut projects, you already know that a lot of them call for lots of different colored cardstock or have lots of little cuts to be assembled, which means it's easy to make a bit of a mess just to make one card.  This card wasn't like that.  I think I used six different colors of cardstock/paper, and the cuts were designed in a way that was EASY to assemble.  This truly was a quick card to make!  Cutting the "wood" siding took the most time because of all those intricate cuts, but still . . . a quick project. The designer even included some stacked gifts to decorate the inside of the card:

Pretty cute design, huh?  I'll bet that you, too, would have gotten side-tracked and had to make one (or a lot) of these cards.  In case you're wondering, I did eventually locate the cut file for the card that I set out to make, and I'll share photos of that one soon.