It's Christmas Season

Hello!  Hope you're having a great weekend so far.  I thought it was time to give the Christmas Season stamp set a little love.  I don't know why I've been ignoring it lately, but today is the day to change all that.  This set is a carryover from last Christmas and is found on page 44 in the current Annual Catalog.  It has a set of dies that coordinate with the stamps, but I didn't use them on the first card, just the second.  There is also a sentiment set called Christmas to Remember on the next page that works nicely with it.  In fact, it's the sentiment set that I used for both of these cards.  Yes, I have two versions of a simple card that feels like Christmas when I look at them.  Hope you like the ideas.

This is the first card done up in the traditional colors with a very traditional feel to it.  If you like the basic red & green of Christmas, this is for you.  I started with a card base of Crumb Cake cardstock cut to measure 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", then scored and folded in half.  There is a piece of Real Red cardstock cut at 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" to make a skinny frame around the Vanilla layer. There is a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock cut at 3 3/4" x 5" for the outside of the card.  Another piece of Very Vanilla was cut at 5 1/4" x 4" for the inside layer of the card.  

Let's get on to that stamping next.  I mentioned using the Christmas Season set.  The first part stamped was the larger branch of leaves.  It was stamped first up towards the left corner using Garden Green ink. It was stamped again downwards at an angle to the opposite corner with the stems overlapping a bit.  The third time the stamp was not re-inked but stamped pointed directly down.

The next piece to stamp was the pinecone solid stamp using Crumb Cake ink.  It was stamped just about in the middle of the green branches.  The detail pinecone was stamped over this with Soft Suede ink.  The small berry twig was stamped with Early Espresso ink.  Then the berries were added afterwards for placement using Real Red ink.

The pine branch was stamped next using Soft Succulent ink.  These were tucked in around the other stamped elements.  I stamped four with full strength ink, and another 3-4 times with off-stamped ink to give it more dimension.  Lastly, I tucked in some of the dots using Crumb Cake ink to fill out the look.  One last thing I couldn't resist adding was a spattering of Wink of Stella to add a touch of shimmer and glitz to the card.

This Vanilla piece was attached to the Real Red layer using adhesive.  Then it was attached to the folded card base also using adhesive.  Three Real Red Rhinestones were tucked in around the stamped images.

The sentiment is from the Christmas to Remember stamp set.  It's stamped on 3/4" strip of Very Vanilla cardstock using Early Espresso ink.  The ends were finished off with the Lovely Labels Pick A Punch.  Then it was attached to the card front using Dimensionals.  The bow is a sheer Real Red Ribbon that I believe is retired.  It's added with a Mini Glue Dot.

The inside of the card was finished to coordinate with the card front.  The sentiment is from Christmas to Remember and stamped with Early Espresso ink.  The berry stem was stamped with Early Espresso ink and the berries with Real Red ink.  The pine branch was stamped in multiple times using both full strength and off-stamped Soft Succulent ink.  I did add a skinny scrap of Real Red cardstock along the bottom edge to finish.

The second card I did with the same stamps and inks was turned on its side and is a top-fold.  This card version does not have the pinecone added but does have extra berries tucked in and around the design.  On this design, I moved all the stamping to be centered more in the middle of the layer.

This sentiment also comes from the Christmas to Remember set.  This time it's stamped with Real Red ink onto a label from the Seasonal Labels dies.  After die-cutting it out, I used a Sponge Dauber to lightly add a little Garden Green ink to the edges to make it stand out a little more.

I used another retired Real Red ribbon.  This time it's a ruffle-edged ribbon.  A few more of those cute little Real Red Rhinestones were added to this card also.

I didn't take a picture of the inside of the card as it's very closely resembled the first one.  I did use a different sentiment inside, but it's also from the same Christmas to Remember set.

Hope you liked these two versions of the card.  I do love the Real Red and Garden Green colors for a traditional style of Christmas card.  It's fun to get a little more modern sometimes, but I still prefer the old-fashioned basics.  Thanks for stopping by to see what's happening over here.  Let me know which style of card you prefer - modern or traditional?  And how about the card layout - which is better in your opinion?  I'll be looking forward to hearing from you.  😄

If you're placing an order soon, please consider using the current Host Code at the top corner of my blog page.  I really appreciate your orders and will be sending out thank-you cards as usual, in between the Thanksgiving and Christmas cards!  Thank goodness I love making cards!!

Blessings,

Sharon

Quick and Easy Card Layout

Hello Friends!  I know I've been mentioning Christmas and the need to plan out your Christmas card ideas.  I talked to a friend the other day that let me know her Christmas cards are finished.  She's very organized and planned her cards before her summer vacation and then took everything with her and got them finished.  I'll be honest, I don't think I'll ever get my cards done this soon!  But I am thinking and planning and making a card or two as possible prototypes at this time.  If you're looking for a super simple card layout that works with many different DSP prints, I've got just the card for you today.

Here's one layout with four different prints used.  The top two prints are from the new Boughs of Holly Designer Series Paper found on page 25 of the July - December Mini Catalog.  The bottom two prints are returning from last year and can be found on page 29 of that same catalog.  This was my favorite DSP last year and I used lots of it for my own personal cards.  In fact, I might have even used this layout or maybe something similar.

The card starts with your DSP print that you want to use.  If you're making multiples of the card, one piece of DSP will make you 16 cards.  So that really stretches your special DSP a long way.  The print is cut in strips that are 2 3/4" wide.  After the strips are cut, then you cut them cross-wise at 2 3/4" again.  You will have some skinny strips left over that I'll try to turn into some more lovely cards, so don't throw those strips away!

After you've cut your 2 3/4" square pieces, you need to decide on what color do you want to use to back the DSP print.  For these two prints from the returning DSP, I liked the look of Shaded Spruce.  The measurements for the Shaded Spruce cardstock are 3" x 3".  I attached the DSP squares to the cardstock pieces with adhesive.  If I were making a stack of cards, I would be doing all of these steps on the whole stack at once.  Like cut all the DSP squares, cut all the cardstock squares, attach them together, and so on.  It makes putting the cards together so much quicker than doing one full card at a time.

For these prints, I changed the green layering colors to match them better.  The poinsettia print has Garden Green behind it and the other print has Evening Evergreen to match.  As you can plainly see, two of my cards have Basic White as a base. but the other two looked nicer with Sahara Sand as the card base.  You need to remain flexible about the cardstock choices to get the best match for your DSP print.

Each card has a half sheet of cardstock folded in half for the card base.  Then there is a layer that measures 5 1/4" x 4".  These have the Christmas sentiment stamped on it with Real Red ink.  To keep things simple, the Stamparatus was used to line up the sentiment once and then stamp it multiple times.  The sentiment I chose is from the Christmas to Remember stamp set in the Annual Catalog on page 45.  I love the font and it fit so nicely across the card!  After the sentiments were stamped on the layer, they were attached to the folded card base with Dimensionals.  You could do some embossing on the layer before attaching if you wanted, but I was going for quick and easy here so no added steps.

Before attaching the DSP squares to the card front, each one of them were wrapped with either the Real Red or Garden Green Ribbon and tied into a pretty bow.  The ribbon combo is found on page 9 of the July - December Mini Catalog.  The poinsettia print looks so pretty with the green accent, and the Real Red works lovely on all the rest.  This is gorgeous ribbon to work with as it isn't stiff and hard to manipulate at all.  It ties up into soft bows so easily.  Of course, you could get fancier and use some form of gold or silver ribbon as an accent instead.

Now at this point I started looking around for bling for my cards.  I can't believe I decided to use none on these.  No matter what I tried, I ended up taking off again.  So I guess these really are quick and easy cards!  Hope you liked the idea and will give it a whirl.

Now that we've made the Christmas cards, I want you to stop and think about other pretty DSP prints that you might use for this layout.  How about some pretty florals to make birthday or anniversary cards?  Or some fun animal prints for some children's cards?  Or some masculine prints?  The ideas are pretty much endless when you start thinking outside the 3" square!

Make sure you check out the Perfect Partners dies that Stampin'Up! has brought us for the month of September.  I do love my dies, and I think you do too!  And don't forget to check out the weekly deals that are on sale this month too!  Sorry I haven't figured out how to get these things on my blog.  Please go to stampinup.com to see what's available.  Thank you!!

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon