This Joyous Noel Thinking of You Card is made with one of those basic, classic designs that works well almost any time. It’s just the card base, a layer or two perhaps wrapped with ribbon or a strip of paper across the card, and the greeting layered to the side.  So simple, just fine!

I only recently ordered this Joyous Noel Specialty Designer Series Paper. Honestly, I didn’t care for it just looking at it in the catalog.  Then I started seeing some samples of projects that other people made and I started to like it. And of course, we all know it is a fact that ALL designer series paper looks way better in person than it does in the catalog!  So I ordered it and  wow, was so pleased when I opened the package!  It is REALLY pretty paper!  These are the coordinating colors if that helps you to imagine:   Copper foil, Gray Granite, Merry Merlot, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Tranquil Tide, Whisper White.  This card is a little difficult to photograph because it has the copper foil accents on one side of the paper, plus I added some Copper Foil.

To make this card, I used a card base of Merry Merlot Cardstock.  The designer paper has a layer of Copper Foil underneath.  I have to admit, I cheated and cut out the center of the Copper Foil piece leaving about a 3/4″ margin so that I wouldn’t waste the copper underneath the paper that wasn’t going to show anyway.  I could also have punched or die cut some pieces out of it to use some of the foil.  The ribbon tied around is the Merry Merlot & Copper 5/8″ Reversible Ribbon.  It’s very pretty!

The greeting is stamped in Merry Merlot Ink on Whisper White Cardstock and die cut with a Layering Ovals Framelits Die.  The greeting is from the Winter Woods Stamp Set. It is layered on a scalloped oval from the same die set.  I adhered it over the ribbon with two Stampin’ Dimensionals. I finished off the card by just tying a knot with the ribbon on the left side of the card.  You could also do a bow.

Check out the pretty designer series paper in the Holiday Catalog!  All of it is beautiful!  And don’t forget the World Card Making Day Sale going on now through October 7 (Sunday!).  Save 10% on select products!  Even if you don’t have this Joyous Noel paper, you can use this basic design that I used on my Joyous Noel Thinking of You Card because it works with almost any paper and greeting!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE!

My 12 Weeks of Christmas holiday emails begin today, Wednesday, October 3 at 1:00 PM! Be sure you are signed up for my Stamping With Karen Mailing List TODAY before 1:00 PM so you don’t miss a single week!  Just add your name and email in the red box on the side of my blog or just below!

Each Wednesday from now until right before Christmas, I will send out a fun holiday project with a complete supply list and instructions. First we start with Christmas cards, then gifts, then ideas for wrapping – bags, tags, and wrapping ideas.  You may copy the idea or get inspired to make something of your own.  The holidays are the best time for stamping and crafting and we should enjoy it!

These holiday emails each week are my annual gift to my mailing list subscribers.  It is ONLY available to them so you MUST sign up for my Mailing List to get these exclusive ideas.  You won’t find them later on my blog or Instagram or Facebook.

Please join us and get inspired and in the mood for the holidays!  We’d love to have you!

Tomorrow is the first day of my 12 Weeks of Christmas holiday emails! Can you believe it?!

Once a week, for the 12 weeks leading up to Christmas, I’m going to be sending you an email with a wonderful holiday project that you can make or be inspired by to create something of your own. Each email will have one holiday project, the list of supplies and complete instructions to make it.  You can copy it or use the idea to create something of your own.

There will be cards, gifts, bags, tags, and wraps over the course of the 12 weeks. We will start with cards for the first few weeks. This is absolutely free and I love to share it with you!

This is a special gift to my mailing list subscribers, so in order to receive these holiday emails, you must be on my mailing list. Be sure to sign up by Wednesday, October 3 at 1:00 PM Central Time so you won’t miss the first one!  These projects won’t be shown anywhere else.

Just sign up in the box below or in the box in the upper-right corner of my blog.  You will get a free gift just for signing up!  We’d love to have you!

This Making Christmas Bright Christmas Card is one copied from a sample in the new Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog. Look at the sample on page 6.  Those cards on that page and this Making Christmas Bright Stamp Set were some that really caught my eye the first time I looked through the catalog!  One of the things that says “Christmas” the most are pretty Christmas lights!

Don’t let all those little bulbs scare you off!  It just took me a minute with my Stampin’ Blends markers to color those in. They practically only take a dot of marker!  I’m not sure what it is that is SO relaxing about coloring with those Stampin’ Blends but I love it!  You can also use the regular Stampin’ Write Markers, like Real Red and Crushed Curry.  The Stampin’ Up! sample colors in the white bulbs with the Wink of Stella Brush.  I colored with the Call Me Clover green.

I used Call Me Clover Cardstock for the card base and used Real Red plus Whisper White and a piece of Sparkle Glimmer Paper.  The circle around the greeting is Crushed Curry.

There are lots of possibilities with this stamp set.  You can purchase the Bundle, which adds the Christmas Bulb Builder Punch.  Bundles save you 10% over the full price!

When you are stamping the strings of lights, if one is too long and going to run into an area where you don’t want it, just put down a piece of scrap paper where you do not want it to stamp.  If you don’t want to do the coloring of the bulbs, you could make a monochromatic card by just stamping everything in red or green.  I might try that!

This is a good time to get started on holiday cards while we are so enthused with the new products and stamping will be so much fun, instead of rushing at the last minute!  But I say that every year!  Maybe this year I will really get an earlier start!

Remember to use your Bonus Coupon Codes if you have one or more!  Directions are in this post of how to add your Coupon Codes.

If you are a kid at heart with Christmas lights, I think you will enjoy this stamp set or Bundle when you make a card like my Making Christmas Bright Card!

I thought this Cookie Cutter Christmas Gingerbread Man Card would be appropriate today since it is just four months until Christmas! We better get busy making our cards and projects!  Hard to believe, isn’t it, especially while it is still nearly 100 degrees outside here in Houston.

I thought I would just use a set from last year, which is in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. It’s the Cookie Cutter Christmas Stamp Set and has the coordinating Cookie Cutter Builder Punch.  The green print paper is new in the Holiday Catalog, though, the All Is Bright Designer Series Paper.  One side of the paper has those photographic images, really pretty!  The card base is Crumb Cake.  The red designer paper is just the background for the card for the photo, not part of the card although I originally planned to use half green and half red.  The red ribbon on this card is retired, but I have the new stuff on the way (I think!).

Of course, I also used the Big Shot and the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies for the background of the gingerbread man. And then the scalloped dies in the Layering Circle Framelits Dies are always nice to finish off the Stitched Shapes Dies as a layer.

I had planned to put the Gingerbread Man and circle over to the right side of the card, but somehow I put him in the center and thought that was just right!

The Cookie Cutter Christmas Stamp Set was a fun one last year and can be used even for baby cards with the bear!  Here are some bear Christmas cards I made last year.

Don’t forget that Bonus Days are going on during August at Stampin’ Up! For every $50 you spend in August, you will get a $5 coupon code to use on your order(s) in September!  As soon as you place your order, you will receive an email from Stampin’ Up! with your code(s). I printed mine out right away in case something happens to my email.  Stampin’ Up! cannot replace lost coupon codes. And you know how technology is!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE DURING AUGUST BONUS DAYS!

And Merry Christmas from the Cookie Cutter Christmas Gingerbread Man in four months!

My Holiday Catalog preorder arrived very late Friday night (sometimes UPS must like to tease us knowing how impatiently we are waiting for our Stampin’ Up! order to arrive!) and then with my birthday festivities this weekend I barely had time to even look at all the new goodies! However, here is an easy to make All Is Bright Merry Christmas Card!  It just takes a few minutes and would be a good layout if you are making a lot of similar cards for the holidays.

The designer paper, All Is Bright, has those photographic images plus other festive designs and some a little more plain.  It is the perfect paper for making traditional Christmas cards.  You will enjoy the entire All Is Bright Suite of products!

I used Real Red for the card base and just cut a piece of the designer paper to fit on the front.  I thought Gold Foil would look great on the front of this card so I die cut a piece with the Stitched Labels Framelits Die and layered a greeting from the set Merry Christmas to All.  You can make your own greetings with the individual words so it’s very useful.

For a little bling, I added some Mini Gold Sequin Trim.  You can see on the photo below how I saved maybe an inch or so of the trim but using two pieces and adhering them with SNAIL adhesive plus Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The Holiday Catalogs have probably been mailed from Stampin’ Up! so if you are a regular customer of mine, yours is most likely on the way!  If you are interested in Stampin’ Up! products, particularly holiday products, please email me at Karen@Karenstamps.com and I’d be happy to send a Holiday Catalog or even an Annual Stampin’ Up! Catalog if you would like one.

This Holiday Catalog, I believe, is going to be very popular!  Once you start seeing samples of cards and projects, you will want even more products!  I already want more and I got a lot of things just the other night!  The Holiday Catalog goes live Sept. 5th.

Keep this simple design in mind for your Christmas cards.  It works pretty well as you can see from this All Is Bright Merry Christmas Card!