I was so excited to receive my Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog preorder and get to play with my new products today! This card, stamped with the Father Christmas Stamp Set, has the monochromatic look, which means you don’t have to do all the coloring! I also think it has the old-time Christmas look which I love. I actually got the idea for this card from another Demo in a group I’m in, although hers was larger and a square card. I wouldn’t have bought this stamp set had I not seen her card! A few other things are different on my card, too.

The card base is Real Red cardstock with a layer of the new Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper.  One of the coordinating colors is Crumb Cake, so I used a thin border of Crumb Cake for a layer under the stamped piece. I stamped on Whisper White because that is the coordinating color with the designer paper, but I think you could get away with using Very Vanilla cardstock if you wanted to. I intended to sponge a little Soft Suede on the card front but I forgot until I had the card all put together! I was going to try to carefully sponge anyway and then I listened to the advice I often give people which is the recipient of this card is not going to throw it down in disgust and say, “Why didn’t she sponge this Whisper White cardstock?!” It looks fine the way it is and no one who gets this card will know there was another choice!  The images are stamped in Soft Suede ink.

I did use my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to get the top and bottom borders placed correctly. I don’t often use this tool, but sometimes it totally comes in handy. Today I was NOT getting that border stamped straight so it was just easier to take time to use the tool rather than waste my effort!

For the side of the card I decided to use a strip of Real Red 3/8″ Stitched Ribbon and tied on a piece of the new Candy Cane Lane Baker’s Twine, coming in the Holiday Catalog. This is Whisper White twine with red metallic thread twisted in.  Very pretty!

On the inside of the card I stamped a piece of Whisper White with the holly bough stamp in the set in two of the corners with the same Soft Suede ink.

I will also try stamping a coloring a card with this same Father Christmas Stamp Set to see what that would look like!

If you do not have a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator you are working with, I would be happy to help you with Stampin’ Up! products! Contact me and I will send you the new Holiday Catalog when it comes out and the new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog.

Here is another Christmas card using the Home For Christmas Designer Series Paper using the Santa and the Christmas tree on the paper. Two days ago I told you, in this post, how easy and basic this design was to just make a card with a strip of designer paper on the bottom portion of the card layer, stamp a greeting at the top, and maybe add some ribbon or embellishment across the middle. I did the same thing on this card except I cut out (by hand!) some of the designs on the paper.

The card base is Mossy Meadow cardstock with a Very Vanilla cardstock layer. The ribbon is the cute red stripe that comes with green stripe ribbon in the Real Red & Garden Green 1/8″ Striped Ribbon (on sale!!) The greeting is from the Embellished Ornaments Stamp Set.

I LOVE this vintage-look paper! If you have Paper Snips, it makes cutting by hand SO much easier. A regular scissors is just too big. The smaller Paper Snips with their sharp blade really make a difference and you can get into the curves and corners so much easier. You can see in the photo below that I don’t cut right on the line of the picture.  I leave a very slim border around the edge, or at least I try to! This is something I learned through Stampin’ Up! and you don’t have to worry about cutting absolutely exactly! Originally I was only going to cut out the Christmas tree – then I decided to add the cute Santa – and then I thought the little packages would add a great touch!  I popped each one up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

You could also use the poinsettias in the Home For Christmas paper to decorate a card or use as the designer paper.  Just have fun!  So many possibilities! Try the basic layout for this Home For Christmas Santa and Tree Card for a card or perhaps a gift card holder for a lucky recipient!