Here’s a quick and easy Christmas card made in the trendy colors of green and black.  What do you think? Often there are different colors and combinations of colors that pop up to use for Christmas just to get away from the traditional red and green. Sometimes there are really different colors like pink and light blue or purples, etc. So I think ultimately almost any colors CAN be used and can be very pretty and holiday-like, but maybe are just not what we are used to!

The Stampin’ Up! suite in the new Holiday Catalog is called Merry Little Christmas that has these colors in the designer papers. If you look closely at many of the patterns in the Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper you will see that they can be used outside of Christmas.  For example, the Basic Black and Old Olive plaid on the card above could be used for birthdays, invitations, masculine cards, and more.

The greeting is from the Snowflake Sentiments Stamp Set.  This stamp set is not in the Merry Little Christmas Suite but certainly can be used on any cards.  It is die cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies and layered on the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies.

For a little pizzazz, I added some Gold Mini Sequin Trim underneath the greeting as well as some Metallic Enamel Shapes in Gold adhered to the greeting.

If you need to make a lot of Christmas cards, you might consider just a basic card like this – a card base, a layer of designer paper and a nice die cut greeting!  Very quick and easy to make!

Take a look at the Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper!  Some of the patterns are more clearly for the holidays, but take a look at the stripes and the plaid, the polka dots and the leaves!  Those leaves can be used on spring cards with flowers!

Check out the entire Merry Little Christmas Suite!  There are so many fun products and embellishments to use on your projects!

In September, the much anticipated Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog will go live!  In the meantime, the Carols of Christmas stamp set and dies have been released early for customers beginning today! When you saw information about this bundle last month, it was because the stamp set was part of a bonus offer for new Demonstrators who joined during July.

But now, the Carols of Christmas Stamp Set and the Card Front Builder Thinlits Dies are available separately AND as a Carols of Christmas Bundle if you would like both and want to save 10%!

Here are samples of the beautiful cards you can make with this set! These are samples from Stampin’ Up! but I have seen many other samples from Demonstrators and everyone agrees this is a beautiful set. You will want to order yours as soon as possible!  Get an early start on Christmas cards!

This card is fairly simple, using the die cut trees and deer and coloring the stamp with markers to get a multi-colored effect on the greeting.

I love the red on this card paired with the green and a bit of Copper Trim Ribbon behind the greeting.

If you want a different color scheme, these blues are beautiful using silver ribbon and sequin trim. This card uses the negative piece of paper after the trees are die cut.

A lot of young families like to send photo cards at Christmas. Here is an example of dressing up the photo with a piece of die cut vellum and Christmasy greeting and ribbon on the top.

This is my favorite sample because of the red and gold! So elegant and festive!

If you are wondering how you can make Christmas cards in August without Christmas paper, look in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog on page 188 and check out the Be Merry Designer Series Paper!  This is very cute paper that will get you started until you have more choices in the Holiday Catalog!

It’s too hot in some places, like here in Houston, to do much of anything, so go ahead and treat yourself to this new Carols of Christmas Bundle and get a head start on Christmas! Put on some holiday music and pretend like it is snowing outside, as you run the a/c and wear your swimsuit or shorts!!

Remember to use your Bonus Coupons that you earned in July!  You should have received an email immediately after you ordered from Stampin’ Up! with your codes.  When you place your August order(s), you will see prompts on how to use your codes.

Shop for the Carols of Christmas Bundle at Stampin’ Up! Today!