Quick Christmas cards with Classic Christmas Dies

I made the most holiday cards for the 2023 holiday season than perhaps ever!  But I didn't have the time to post them all. So over the next few days, I'll try to catch up and post at least some of them. Here are the ones created with the Classic Christmas Dies:

The DSP strip is from the Christmas Joy DSP pack and if you were wondering, I just used my standard paper hole punch for the berries...that was much easier! 

I misplaced my heat tool when we moved years ago and found it again earlier in 2023. But you know how it is when you "lose" a tool then find it again years later, you completely forget to use it! So I decided to heat emboss the greetings...love the look!

And these (below) were some really quick simple cards I created at the end of the season. You know how it is when you need just a few more cards to either send out or in your stash, in case...LOL:

The glimmer background in silvery blue and pink from the Supple Shimmer specialty card stock pack from a year or two back. The bottom two background DSPs are from the retired Heartwarming Hugs DSP pack. The greeting is from the Festive and Framed stamp set. 

Thanks for dropping by...have a wonderful day!

Beary Christmas with Northern Lights

I've *always* wanted to make a "northern lights" card. I've actually seen the aurora borealis a few times and they are mesmerizing and magical! So when I saw this card in the Beary Christmas Memories and More Cards pack, I knew I wanted to add the northern lights to it. 

This was a 4x6" printed panel so I cut it down slightly to 5.25x4" fit on a standard A2 card base (5.5" x 4.25").

First I cut apart the printed panel at the horizon line, along the water line and along the iceberg lines. The top part that I cut away had the sentiment so I saved that to add back later. I cut a piece of Basic White cardstock to 5.25x4" and started using blending brushes with my Parakeet Party ink pad and made a few fuzzy diagonal lines. Then I repeated with Pretty Peacock, brushing beside but not covering up the Parakeet Party areas. Finally, I filled in the night sky with Night of Navy ink. 

In retrospect, I wish I had used more Night of Navy and perhaps even a little Basic Gray to darken the night sky further. Well, maybe next time...! (and next time, more "in progress" photos!).

I adhered the ink brushed panel to the card front, added the bottom, propped it up with Dimensionals, then cut the sentiment in two...adding the first part on the front and the second part inside.

Last but not least, I used a white gel pen to the card front to add dots for stars...including a small rendition of the big dipper! (I didn't have the confidence to alter the star sizes...another detail to finesse the next time I try this technique.)

Hope you enjoyed the descriptive of how I created this card. This was my very first attempt so I didn't really expect it to turn out! LOL

Happy holidays!

Flowers For Every Season Poinsettia Overlay Panel card

This is an oldie I found in my stash, but I still love it and still use the same card sketch (layout). I've only ever seen it named once, as an Overlay Panel card. So here's the front of my Overlay Panel card:

It looks fancy but the card base is the usual 8.5 x 5.5" and scored at 4.25. Then the front of the card base is cut at 3.25" and the piece that is cut off is then rotated and adhered to the inside, as shown below:

Then I added embossed panels on the sides (totally optional), and some white panels as "mats" to the poinsettia DSP  panels and inside for writing a personal message. The DSP pieces measure 2 7/8x 2 7/8 and 5x.75" respectively.

The corresponding stamp set for this printed paper is called Four Season Floral and it has the exact poinsettia image from the paper as a clear stamp. So it was a natural to use it inside the card and again on the envelope.

Hope you liked my card and that it inspires you to create something too...whatever medium it may be!