Traditional Christmas Stampin’ Up!® projects using Christmas Season stamps

 

When it comes to Christmas cards, you cannot beat the traditional Stampin’ Up!® colours of Garden Green and Real Red.

Today I have two Christmas projects which use these fabulously festive colours and the gorgeous Christmas Season stamp set, while showing a couple of fun tips to take your projects to the next level. 

Mix It Up Monday: Pretty Pines dies

I’m rattling through the Dapper Denim sheet of my latest set of In Color charts - I knew it would end up being my favourite colour from the new collection. Must hold back, I only have three left to do!

Yes, it’s Mix It Up Monday again and time for another project made with a colour combination from my latest set of In Color charts.

I couldn’t wait to play with my new Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies and they actually exceed expectations. They are so delicate but also very easy to use. I’ve stuck to pine sprigs so far, and went for an Old Olive (obviously), Always Artichoke and Soft Sky combination… I wanted to give the impression of a blue spruce, although I’m not sure I quite pulled that off. 

The background is the Softly Falling textured impressions embossing folder - a winner at any time of year but really comes into its own at Christmas. Remember to stamp your greeting before embossing! 

Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies [141851] £23.50	Tin Of Tags Photopolymer Stamp Set [142180] £19.00	Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [139672] £7.75	Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock [141419] £7.25	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky [131292] £7.25
Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock [106550] £8.25	Old Olive A4 Card Stock [106576] £7.25	Always Artichoke A4 Card Stock [108610] £7.25	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [126953] £6.00	Dapper Denim 3/8" (1 Cm) Ruched Ribbon [141424] £7.25

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

What a guy masculine card

This image from Guy Greetings really cracks me up, it’s so silly. For this card I decided to keep things easy… well, easy in one respect. I grabbed the stamp set, along with Gorgeous Grunge, a couple of brown ink pads, my Adventure Bound DSP stack (LOVE this) and my box of Neutrals scraps. The ribbons were already out. 

So it may seem remarkable that this card features punching and embossing, too… but it’s amazing what you find in your scraps box when you start digging! 

I’ve used my Baked Brown Sugar ink pad rather a lot and it’s beginning to lose its colour so I decided to reink it. 

In case you’ve never done this, it’s really easy. All you do is ‘scribble’ over the pad with your reinker. I like to go diagonally across the pad, then do the same the opposite way. Then you take your bone folder, or a palette knife (be careful you don’t slice the foam!) and smooth it over the pad, as if you were icing a cake. Your bone folder may stain (as mine has) so if you have a non-SU plastic one, you may prefer to use that instead. 

137178	130517	137780	121695
121686	133674	127749	119882
131174	122332	132140	126974

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Visions of Santa, CASEd from the catty

As a demonstrator, I get a useful bi-monthly newsletter from Stampin’ Up!®, full of business and craft ideas. In it, we are urged to CASE (Copy And Share Everything) other projects, and an example was given of a card inspired by the one on page 30 of the Autumn/Winter catalogue. 

So I thought I’d have a go myself and dug out Visions of Santa, a stamp set which is dividing opinion, to put it mildly! But I love it and had fun colouring it with my new Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities. 

What have I copied and what’s the same?

• I copied the angled layer, but it seems I’ve flipped the angle (that was an accident!)
• I’ve copied the embossed background but used a different embossing folder
• I’ve copied the layering style, with the rounded corners and angles, but added a layer
• I’ve copied the washi tape element but used DSP and cut it into a flag
• I’ve copied the button and thread embellishment but used different products

Why don’t you have a go? It’s a great way of kickstarting your creativity when your mojo has taken a walk. Just flick through any of our catalogues and find a card design you like, then CASE it!

135167	133520	135821	132708	130995
129370	127554	132975	106578	106549

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

More dry embossing

Another simple card using the dry embossing technique – click here for longer explanation. This time I stamped the tree from Trendy Trees and added my own line and some doodling using markers. But you know what this card needs?

Glitter.

Too late, it's gone in the post without it.

Stamps: Trendy Trees, A Bit of Birthday Cheer
Cardstock: A5 Greeting Cards
Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip markers, Stamp-a-ma-jig®

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the link on the right to view it online.

Clean and simple... but a bit tricky

So... even demonstrators who have been placing orders for two years make mistakes sometimes. Which is how I ended up with these Whisper White card blanks when I meant to order just the envelopes. I could have returned them but I thought I’d have a go at some one layer cards.

I saw this idea in Blogland and I’m really sorry to say I cannot remember on whose blog it appeared so if anyone knows, please shout out and I’ll give credit where it’s due. But the idea is to make your own dry embossing template using scrap cardstock such as cereal packet. You cut it to exactly the same size as your card front and then cut out a shape – in this case, a rectangle. Lay your card front over the top of the template and, using an embossing stylus, press all the way round to create an embossed rectangle. The blog I was reading said a light box wasn’t necessary but it’s so blooming dark in this house that I felt the need to make my own, using a clear-ish plastic box containing a torch!

Next I used the template again as a mask and sponged chalk around the raised rectangle, leaving a white area in the centre. I coloured the scarf and mittens using a marker and stamped the greeting. Simple to look at but not particularly quick to produce! Still, you can’t have everything, can you?

Stamps: A Tree For All Seasons, A Bit of Birthday Cheer
Cardstock: A5 Greeting Cards
Ink: Real Red, Basic Grey
Accessories: Real Red, Creamy Caramel markers, Stampin’ Pastels, sponge dauber

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the link on the right to view it online.