Twelve Days of Holiday Cards - Day Seven + Giveaway

Welcome to Day Seven of the Twelve Days of Holiday Card Series!  Today's project features a very simple but elegant card for you.  I'm also up on the Memory Box Blog today, so be sure to stop over there to see all the projects that my teammates and I have been sharing with dies from their Holiday 2019 Release.

This card uses the Scribble Holly Trio Outlines dies with some very old Creative Memories Patterned Paper.  I was a long time Creative Memories Consultant - like 20 years, so you know I have a lot of paper from back then. Most of it is not really suitable for card making because it isn't heavy enough and I'm normally not much for a patterned paper.  However, when I was looking through my scrap stash today, I came across this scrap that I've been saving and I thought it was just perfect for my card.  I'm pretty sure this was from a collection called Reminisce Noel but I don't know if I am remembering that correctly or not.   I would consider this a collage style of paper and I wish I had more of it, but I only have scraps left by now. You can see a little of the shimmer mist here, but I kept it very subtle. 

I started by die cutting the Scribble Holly from Gold Cardstock and an Olive Shimmer.  For Die Cut Inlay techniques, it doesn't get any simpler than this.  I just popped the green parts out and moved them to the inside of the gold ones.  I love how the gold outlines add so much without taking over the whole card.

There are dies that cut the whole inside of the leaves, but I don't have them and I don't feel that I need to have them.  As I said, it was simply a matter of popping out the gold and popping in the green.  I hope that when people receive my cards, their first thought is "oh, how pretty", but their second thought is that they really appreciate the details and thought that went into the card.

I used some deep red gems that I've also had for several years for the berry cluster. I have a zippy bag on my desk that contains all of my bling collected through the years.  Since I primarily use little crystals or pearls, I don't get into the bag often, but this was just the thing needed to give a little pop of color and dimension to this card.

I used the Brush Merry Christmas Die for my Sentiment.  This is one of my favorites as I really like dies that have the whole saying in them. I usually run my cardstock through my Xyron and then die cut it which is what I did here.  Once I place the sentiment down, I put the die over the sentiment and pop out the dot for the "i" (called the "tittle") with my craft pick so that I have it placed correctly.  This makes it super easy to get it in the correct spot.  As always, I used Rectangle Basics Dies to cut my layers for the backgrounds.  This is a super quick card to make if you want something that is fast that you can easily make multiples of.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  Be sure to leave a comment for your chance to win one of the Daily Prizes during this special series.  I'll be back tomorrow for Day Eight of the series.

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Twelve Days of Holiday Cards - Day Six + Giveaway

Welcome to Day Six of my first ever Holiday Card Series!  We are halfway through the Twelve Days of Holiday Cards Series!  I have something a bit different for you today.  I wanted to use a non-holiday die to create a Holiday Card.  This card is somewhat abstract, so I hope you'll enjoy it and I have extra cards to show the versatility of this die.

I have been eyeing the Prismatic Triangle for a while now because I knew it would be great for a guy card.  I'll have one to share later in this post.  But when you look at it with an "Outside the Box" perspective, in my mind's eye, it reminds me of Christmas Trees.  I know, call me kooky, but I'm telling you, that's what I see.  And anytime I can find a dual purpose for a die, that's a win-win in my book.

This die is one of the beautiful layering dies from Birch Press Designs.  I started by cutting a few of Layer C from Pine Feather Cardstock so that I could stack them and have a nice solid base to work from.  For the 2nd layer (Layer B) I die cut just one from Green Shimmer Cardstock and adhered that on top of the dark green layer.  This is the middle layer.  Then I cut a third layer (Layer A) from Gold Foil Cardstock.  Most of the time I use glue for this, but this layer is very fine so I ran this layer through my 5-inch wide Xyron Sticker Maker.

Whenever you use a Xyron, it's important to trace all around the design, inside and outside, before you removed the cellophane type layer so that when you pull that top piece off, you don't have a bunch of extra stringy adhesive stuff clinging to your die-cut.  I use an embossing stylus to do this.  Once that was done, I added that layer to the top of my die-cut embellishment.  Originally, I had planned to add green glitter cardstock inlay, but it just didn't look right when I tried it out.  I didn't have the right shade of green.  I tried several different cardstock colors and finally ended up with Gold Glitter looking the best. So rather than doing inlay on this card, I cut a background panel from the 2nd largest Rectangle Basics Die and the largest one in Pinefeather Cardstock for the double mat.  This is certainly eye-catching with all that glitter!

To bring this card to my idea of abstract Christmas Trees, I need to add the little stars to the top of the trees.  I have iridescent stars in two different sizes and tiny little gold stars as well.  For the tallest tree, I glued three of the largest star together to make it a bit thicker.  Then I added a single layer to the other two trees.  Next, I added a smaller iridescent star to the middle of the largest star and let that dry.  Finally, I added a tiny little gold star to the very center of the second layer which gives you a layered, dimensional effect. I got extra close in this photo so that hopefully you can see.

I have three other examples for you.  This first one is super abstract with Purple as the color scheme.  Since we're from Kansas, we have lots of K-State loving family members, so one of them will get this card!  Probably the one who actually still lives in Manhattan, Kansas.

Then because I wanted to show that this die could be used for men or women, I made some other examples of regular cards for you.

Guys love geometrics, so I tend to not really think about women liking them.  However, one of my sisters in law, used to cut the little flowers and rosettes off her underwear when she was little and still prefers non-flowery cards, so I think she could really appreciate this card style.  The background panel is just some textured cardstock that has been sprayed with shimmer mist.  The texture really traps and holds in the shimmer and makes it very visible.

And last, but not least, a traditional guy card how I envisioned it from the beginning when I first saw the die. I used some foiled background paper, making sure my Rectangle Basic Die was lined up on all four sides. 

I used a special paper for the black called Curious Skin in black.  This cardstock is absolutely matte black.  It would be a great one to use for a Chalkboard look.  Since guys are into metallics, but so much into sparkle, I wanted it to be very black.

And a final view of the guy card.  I have a couple of birthdays coming up and I plan to make another 1 or 2 of this style in other colors.  I definitely have to make one for my grandson in January using some kind of red, black, and silver combination!  I had some stickers from a card kit that I got some time last year.  I put foam tape on the back to pop the sentiment up a bit for the extra dimension.

Thanks for stopping by today to check out my Holiday card using a non-holiday die.  Be sure to leave a comment to be eligible for today's prize drawing.  Be sure to come back for all Twelve Days of Holiday Cards that will be featured from November 18th - November 29th, 2019.

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Twelve Days of Holiday Cards - Day Five + Giveaway

Hello and welcome to Day Five of the Twelve Days of Holiday Cards!  This is my first year doing a series and I'll just share with you that is is a somewhat daunting task to blog every day!  I probably wouldn't make it if I still had kids at home, so be sure to leave some blog love when you visit other folks' blogs and I hope you'll leave some for me as well!  If you do, then you'll be entered into the drawings for that day's winner.  All the winners will be posted on November 30th.

Today's post is doing double duty as I am also up on the Memory Box Blog today.  Comments there won't count toward today's giveaway, so be sure to comment here for your chance to win!

I was not sure what to create for today's card, so as I often do when I don't have a set project in mind, I grabbed a few dies that I've been wanting to work with and sat down to see what happened when I played around a bit.  This card is a bit more complex, so I'll have a few pictures along the way to show you as well as tell you how I came up with this card.


Starting with a panel of Cougar Super Smooth Digital White Cardstock, I used the Starry Burst Die to cut and emboss the panel.  As you can see in the photo on the left, this cuts very small stars from the center of the bursts.  Because I also wanted to combine it with one of the Stars from the most recent Holiday Release, I took the smallest die from the Shining Star Die Set and centering it carefully over each burst, I die cut these star openings to be larger.  I like to use Frog Tape for Delicate Surfaces.  A lot of folks like to use Washi Tape, but in my experience, it tears my paper every time.  I find Purple Tape to be too expensive for as much die cutting as I do. My roll is about an inch wide, so I tear off a piece and then tear that piece in half longways. Plus I can use the same piece about 20 times before I have to replace it.  As you can see, I'm not using too much at once.  I bought my roll about 3 years ago and still have more than half of it left.  It's easy to find on Amazon.

So I have five larger star openings after I die cut all of the stars in this way onto my panel.  I misted it all over with some clear shimmer mist and some gold shimmer mist, both from Imagine Crafts.  To create dimension, I put foam tape all over the backside, including all four sides and all the spaces in-between so it wouldn't sag in the middle. I added a gold glitter panel behind the stars which gave it instant dimension.

Next, I started playing with the Holiday Heart Star and the middle-sized Shining Star Die to see if I wanted white to be the top or bottom layer.  I liked the white for the bottom layer, so I went all over the white star piece with my Spectrum Noir Shimmer Pen.  This is quick and less messy than misting all over although that has never stopped me. *Ü*  Thankfully I have a large piece of glass that sits on top of and is slightly bigger than my craft mat which is 18 x 24, so I keep rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle for quick clean up.  Then I die cut the top layer using the Holiday Heart Star in Gold Glitter Cardstock.

I love to take the fun little bits and pieces from the dies, which in this case are the little hearts, and see if I can find a way to use them on my card or another card.  I added one of the little hearts to the center opening of the Holiday Heart Star.  I still had lots of little hearts left so I cut a few more of the white stars in the smallest size and one of the next size up from the same Gold Glitter.  I adhered a heart in the center of each star and to one of those, I added that third layer of gold glitter on one of the white stars.  The Crystal Katana Tool is very handy for this.

Next, I figured out the placement I wanted to use for this card and placed a double thickness of foam tape behind each one of them.  The upper right-hand star actually sits down in the opening of that star so it doesn't pop up as much as the others.  I played around until I had a placement I liked while not covering up too much of the background stars and embossing detail.

When I finished all of that, I still had a few little gold glitter hearts, so I grouped three of them and glued them directly to the card panel.  I think this is a fun card that could be used for a birthday card or a New Year's card as well, so I opted not to put a sentiment on at this time.

Each year for the last 18 years or so, some friends of ours in Dallas host a New Year's Party at their home, kids included.  I worked with both of them at the same telecommunications company and we were all working on Y2K stuff.  Bill now works at the same company as my husband.  While I was taking care of my grandson, Charlie, all the time before he started school, Andrea and Bill were having their first child whose birthday is just 10 days after Charlie's.  So Andrea and I spent a good deal of time together letting the boys play while we chatted.  Those boys turn 19 in January, and I worked with them a few years before that, so we have known each other for more than 20 years.  We really enjoy it!  We play Pictionary Guys vs. Girls and we girls always win!  There's a group of about 40 of us, maybe more.  I am planning on saving this card to give them on that occasion!

I hope you enjoyed this fun little change of pace card.  It was fun to sit down with a few dies in mind and see if I could figure out how to use them together.  Thank you so much for stopping by today.  Don't forget to comment for your chance to win one of the 12 prizes up for grabs during the Twelve Days of Holiday Cards!

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