Category Archives: Christmas

Merriest Trees Stenciled Christmas Card

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Merriest Trees Stenciled Christmas Card

You’ll find many ways to work with the Merriest Trees Bundle in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini Catalog. This Merriest Trees Stenciled Christmas Card was inspired by a scrap piece of cardstock from which I had diecut a tree for another card I made. That scrap laid around here and every time I saw it I thought of using it as a stencil.

Merriest Trees Stencil

My intention was to use several colors to give the tree kind of an ombre effect. I used Parakeet Party, Lemon Lime Twist, and Granny Apple Green. The Granny Apple Green stood out a little more against the other two and I also used it as a little bit of shading on each side. But in the end, it seemed all three colors blended together and the tree looked like one green! But it was still fun doing it. I used one of the Small Blending Brushes to add the color, starting with the lightest color. When I was finished, I just rinsed the Blending Brush under the faucet to rinse out the ink. Let it dry before you use that brush again. After you are finished with the stenciling, you can stamp with the detailed branch stamp in the Merriest Trees Stamp Set to add some interest to the tree. I stamped that using Granny Apple Green Ink.

To decorate the tree, I used the More Dazzle 6″ x 6″ Specialty Paper (or you may have some left of the Champagne color from Sale-A-Bration a little while ago). There is a die in the Merriest Trees Dies in the Bundle that cuts out these cute little chains. There are also several stars you can choose from for the top of the tree. The little red starry images are stamped with Real Red ink with one of the small Merriest Trees stamps. The gifts under the tree are cut from the Beary Christmas Designer Series Paper. I actually trimmed some of them smaller to make them fit under the tree better.

The colored circles on the tree that look like decorations are actually punched out pieces from the Festive Tags Kit in the Kits Collection after I made all the tags. They looked too cute to just trash so I saved them. Gluing a few to the tree seemed like a perfect idea!

For the greeting, I needed to choose something small. In fact, I considered not even adding a greeting to the front of the card since the card is pretty busy already. But the smallest die in the Countryside Corners Dies was the perfect size to make this little banner with the greeting that fit on the tree without being too big or distracting.

Here is the other card I made with the Merriest Tree Bundle.

Today is the last day to purchase on sale any of the kits in the Stampin’ Up! Kits Collection! If there is one you like be sure to get it and save a little bit of money. I especially like the Festive Tags Kit, as I have said before. It will be so useful in a couple of months!

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New Designer Papers Coming Sept. 6th!

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Special Release Papers Sept 2023 Online Exclusives Banner

Not only do we have the new Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini Catalog to look forward to on September 6th, but Stampin’ Up! just announced some new designer papers they are releasing on that date! They will be in the Online Exclusives category online and will only be available “while supplies last”.

These five new papers include fabulous holiday prints, gorgeous seasonal styles, and some spectacular timeless designs. Some you can use for the holidays and some you can save to use all year long. The Silver and Gold Glimmer Paper is even adhesive-backed so will be quick and easy to use!

Watch the video below to get a good overview of all the papers and see some sample projects!

If you like these papers, put them on your shopping list along with your Holiday Mini new products! Get your favorites as soon as you can to avoid any backorders!

Remember, all the new things begin Wednesday, September 6!

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Fa La La La La Christmas Card

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Fa La La La La Christmas Card

I often say sometimes all you have to do is get out your designer papers and you will be inspired with at least one idea for making a card. That’s what happened with this Fa La La La La Christmas Card. In just a little over a week, you will be able to order this Merry Bold & Bright Designer Series Paper (161945) in the September-December 2023 Mini Catalog, or the Holiday Mini as I prefer to call it (and type it!).

So far (so far!!) I have only ordered the paper in this cute Merry Bold & Bright Suite and I really love it! When you spread those papers out with their bold & bright colors and designs, it just brings joy to your heart! Except for the Christmas lights, it’s not exactly your traditional Christmas designs, but it’s fresh and new! I love working with it!

For this card, I chose a card base of Shady Spruce and the Fa La La La La pattern in the package of designer paper. I thought a layer of Basic White underneath helped it stand out a little bit. I made the Basic White layer a little smaller for a slightly wider card base margin. The designer paper piece is 3 1/2″ x 4 3/4″.

The greeting is stamped with Poppy Parade Ink on Basic White and then diecut with this label in the Something Fancy Dies. I used a larger die to cut out a piece of Shaded Spruce for a layer. The greeting is from the Brightest Glow Stamp Set, a carry-over set from last year’s holiday mini. You can find it online, still available, but not in a catalog. It’s a perfect set for holiday greetings.

To jazz things up, I added two folded bits of the White Iridescent Ribbon (161955) which you will find on page 9 of the Holiday Mini, and adhered them under the greeting on each side, then popped up the greeting on Stampin’ Dimensionals. And I love the Iridescent Adhesive-Backed Discs (161954) in the Holiday Mini. I added three of the different colors to the greeting. They’re very cute and shiny.

Turn that Christmas paper pattern over to the other side and see what you can make! I’ll have an example in my Tuesday newsletter later today! If you want to see it, sign up in the red box here on my blog! You’ll be glad you did because before we know it, I’ll be sending out my exclusive 12 Weeks of Christmas newsletter with a holiday idea every week.

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! HERE!

Penguin Punch Christmas Gift Tags

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Penguin Punch Christmas Gift Tags

If you don’t already own the Penguin Builder Punch, run and get it on the Stampin’ Up! Clearance Rack so you can make these Penguin Punch Christmas Gift Tags! I can’t believe it is still available but it is marked down to $4.50 instead of $19.00! You may as well buy one for that price! Or you may already have one from a previous catalog so dig it out and make something fun for Christmas!

I thought it would be fun to make a couple of gift tags using the Penguin Punch and some new designer series paper. You can use a tag die that you have or cut your own rectangle and then cut the top corners at an angle. I intended to use the tag die in the new Merriest Trees Dies (coming soon!) but then I came across the Tailor Made Tags Dies. If you have those, just use either of the die shapes.

I cut out a piece of designer series paper and cardstock for each of the tags. That makes them both the same size so you can’t layer them, but I just trimmed off inside the stitched marks on the designer paper, which made it fit just inside the stitched lines of the cardstock tag.

The Penguin tag on the left is made with Poppy Parade Cardstock and the Fa La La La La pattern in the Merry Bold & Bright Designer Series Paper (161945). This paper is so bright and happy, you will love it! I adhered the designer paper onto the cardstock tag and popped the penguin up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. For a finishing touch, I got the idea to just cut out a short strand of the Christmas lights on another of the papers and put it on the tag up at the top. If you want, you can put a piece of Basic White on the back of the tag if you think you need something to write your “To & From” on or a personal message.

The penguin tag on the right is made with Misty Moonlight cardstock and the snowflake paper in the Beary Christmas Designer Series Paper (162015). Before I adhered the penguin with Stampin’ Dimensionals, I got the idea to cut out some trees from the A Walk in the Forest Designer Series Paper (162377). It’s the paper at the top of page 5 in the Holiday Mini so don’t miss it. Maybe some dies would have cut out some of these little trees but I didn’t look! (Actually, some dies will cut out the fuller trees, not the skinny straight ones.) For a greeting, I used one in the Brightest Glow Stamp Set but cut the words apart and cut them smaller so they would fit on the tag.

The penguins are super easy to make with the punch. Just cut the two pieces out of black and white and the little feet out of Pumpkin Pie cardstock or something similar. I do not have the coordinating stamp set so I just drew in the little black eyes with a marker and the little beak with a Pumpkin Pie Stampin’ Write Marker. If you want, you could add a scarf around his neck or make a little hat.

The die punches out the hole in the tag so you don’t have to do that. Just pick a ribbon you like to tie through the hole so your tag is ready to go when you start wrapping gifts!

Remember to check out the Clearance Rack and see what other bargains you need plus the Penguin Punch!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! HERE!

Beary Christmas Spirit of the Season Card

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Beary Christmas Spirit of the Season Card

I didn’t even know what card I was going to make when I started, but when I saw my package of this designer paper, I had an idea right away. I decided to use this bear and Christmas tree and came up with this Beary Christmas Spirit of the Season Card.

This Beary Christmas Designer Series Paper (162015) is a fun one for holiday cards with all the cute polar bears and other animals! For this card, I chose to use this one piece with the bear and bunny decorating the Christmas tree in the forest. If you want to cut out just a piece of this designer paper, you will have to figure out how to cut out that area properly. I used a ruler to see about how wide and tall the bear and tree were. Then I used my Paper Trimmer to cut out that image while trying not to get any neighboring images. I had to cut it down pretty close.

After I had my image cut out of the designer paper, I layered it on a piece of Real Red and then on a larger layer of Balmy Blue.

The card base is Balmy Blue with a layer of Basic White. It almost looked fine and simple with just the plain white layer, but I decided to emboss it with the Quatrefoil Tile Embossing Folder. Another good choice would be the Snowflake Sky 3D Embossing Folder.

The greeting is in the Merriest Trees Stamp Set and is stamped in Real Red ink just on a narrow strip of Basic White. I added two Iridescent Adhesive-Backed Discs (161954). They are red (really Poppy Parade) but they appear very dark in the photo. You definitely want this Discs for fun additions to your cards!

The Holiday Mini Catalog is coming next week! Woohoo!

Joy of Christmas Merry & Bright Christmas Card

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Joy of Christmas Merry & Bright Christmas Card

This Joy of Christmas Merry & Bright Christmas Card idea came to me and I followed through on it and made the card. Something about this designer paper made me think of wrapping paper, and I got the idea to make the card front look like a wrapped package for Christmas. It’s an easy card to create so it might be good if you are looking for ideas for making multiple Christmas cards to send.

The card base is Real Red cardstock. The layer is one of the patterns in the Joy of Christmas Designer Series Paper (161958). You’ll find it in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini Catalog on page 29 in the Joy of Christmas Suite. This whole Suite is beautiful and you get two different stamp sets and two sets of dies plus the paper and embellishments. I only bought the paper and ribbon at this point, but we’ll see how long I can resist the rest!

The ribbon I used is one of the Online Exclusives that you will find in the online store. It is the Real Red & Gold 3/8″ Dotted Ribbon. It is a very nice ribbon, a little heavier and stiffer than some, but it worked fine on this card. Since I love red, I had to have it and I really like the gold dots on it for something different. I added two pieces of ribbon, one horizontal and one vertical. I even applied a little Stampin’ Seal to the back of the pieces so it would lay flat and stay in place. The bow is tied separately and adhered with a few Glue Dots. To make sure the bow stayed on, I even added a glue dot under each loop of the bow and under each tail. Since the ribbon is a little heavy, the glue dots don’t show at all.

The greeting is in the Brightest Glow Stamp Set (159542), which was carried over from last year’s Holiday Mini catalog. This is a great stamp set for holiday greetings. I stamped this sentiment in Real Red ink and die-cut it with the new Deckled Circles Dies. I also cut a larger Deckled Circle out of Real Red for the layer. You will be AMAZED to open this package of Deckled Circle Dies and see the size and the number of dies you get! They are in the Holiday Mini on page 63 in the upper right corner. It’s not a small picture but I think it’s not very noticeable. I didn’t notice it until I heard about “Deckled Circles” from other Demonstrators! Of course, with so many new beautiful products it’s hard to take it all in!

You could add a little bling to the greeting or on the card if you wanted, maybe some Iridescent Rhinestones or sequins, but I left this card as is. I’m pretty sure I will be making more of this card to send in December! Once you have the idea, it’s easy to make more cards assembly-line style. Get an early start!

Remember to spend your July Bonus Coupons if you have some. Check your email for the codes if you ordered $50 or more in one order in July. The codes expire August 31 and that is coming up soon!

The September-December 2023 Mini Catalog (the Holiday Mini) goes LIVE on Wednesday, September 6th! Make your Shopping List!

Merriest Trees Decorated Christmas Card

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Merriest Trees Decorated Christmas Card

This Merriest Trees Decorated Christmas Card is the first card I’ve made with this Merriest Trees Bundle (162048) in the upcoming Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini Catalog! You can make all kinds of cards with this Bundle from simple to fancy. I think I started with fancy on this one! This card is for someone who likes “little bitty” things. I’ll explain as I go along in this blog post!

This Merriest Trees Bundle comes with the Merriest Trees Stamp Set and the Merriest Trees Dies. (Do you like how they are now naming the stamp set and dies the SAME?!) If you buy them both together in the Bundle, you will save 10% on the price. The stamp set has a tree that you can ink up and stamp as is, or you can use the second tree stamp for some added highlights on that tree. There are some nice sentiments to use and several accessories. There is a tree trunk, gifts, bows, ornaments, a star, and some little twinkles I suppose you would call them! The trees are actually pretty large so you will need Clear Block E for sure!

Merriest Trees Bundle

As you can see in the set of dies, there are LOTS of extra pieces! On the one hand, that is extra-fun and on the other hand, there are some LITTLE pieces there to work with! One great thing is that when you stamp the little ornaments, they are on one stamp and there is a die that matches that arrangement so the die will cut out all three ornaments at one time! The other great thing is that there are THREE ornament dies so you can stamp three sets of three ornaments and die-cut them all in one fell swoop with your machine! You can cut out chains or garlands for the tree with the one die that makes all the different lengths of garlands from that one die. It would be good if you used Adhesive Sheets on the back of the paper before you cut those out! I don’t know how you would get glue on the back of those except with the teeniest drop of glue. Even with the Adhesive Sheets on the back to turn them into stickers, they are very fragile although even if you accidentally tear them apart you can match the ends back up again.

If you stamp the solid tree, it may work better to lay the stamp and block face up on the table and then apply the ink rather than try to ink up the tree by patting it on the ink pad. Even better if you have the retired Stamparatus. Be sure to use a cushion underneath your stamp. It’s often a little difficult to get a perfect impression the first time with a large solid image like this tree.

This card has a card base of Shaded Spruce. I added a layer of Gold Foil underneath this interesting red pattern of designer paper in the Joy of Christmas Designer Series Paper (161958). This designer paper has all kinds of different patterns that can be for Christmas or for other occasions.

The Christmas tree is die-cut from Shaded Spruce. I used the other tree piece with Versamark Ink to stamp and embossed with white embossing powder using a Heat Tool. This makes it look like a little bit of snow on the Christmas tree! Then I used Adhesive Sheets on the back of a small piece of gold More Dazzle 6″ x 6″ Specialty Paper. It’s in the Annual Catalog but you may already have some from a previous catalog. Then I used the die to cut out several different lengths of garlands. If you have the Take a Pick Tool or some other piercing tool it makes it easier to pry off the backing sheet. As I said before, these little diecut garlands are very delicate and fragile.

The little ornaments are stamped in Real Red on Basic White and then diecut. They just need a tiny drop of glue on the back to adhere to the tree however you would like to place them. Use different colors of ornaments if you like. There are two different styles of stars to choose from to put at the top of the tree.

No Christmas tree would be complete without packages! You can stamp little gift boxes and bows and die-cut them, or you could die-cut the presents out of solid cardstock or scraps of designer paper.

The greeting is one in the Merriest Trees Stamp Set. It is stamped in Real Red Ink and die cut with a small banner in the Stylish Shapes Dies. I cut off the banner end on the right so it would line up with the edge of the designer paper background. Once again I will point out that this greeting is very small.

If you like lots of detail when you make a card, this card might be for you. If you want to make a few of these cards to send for Christmas, I say go for it! Once you have your design and make everything in an assembly-line fashion it will be easier than it looks. But if you are making 50 Christmas cards to send, maybe you want a simpler design with fewer little pieces! This exact card takes more than a few minutes to make, so plan ahead!

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A Walk in the Forest Christmas Card

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A Walk in the Forest Christmas Card

It’s the first Christmas card of the season! It’s the A Walk in the Forest Christmas Card! One of the perks of being a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator is getting to preorder new products coming up in the next catalog so that we can become acquainted with the new things and make samples to show our customers. I’m not usually into animals, but there are brown bears and polar bears in this upcoming Holiday Mini Catalog. For some reason, this time I had to have them! The designer paper, anyway!

For this card, I used the new A Walk in the Forest Designer Series Paper (162377), which you will find at the top of page 5. You might miss it even though there are many samples across the two-page spread, but this paper stands alone. It is not part of a suite or bundle or anything. It’s just paper.

However, if you read the Stampin’ Up! Making a Difference box on page 5, you will find that with each purchase of this designer paper, Stampin’ Up! will donate $3 to support organizations dedicated to spreading cheer and providing support to those in need. So with your fun purchase, you will be helping others during this holiday season.

This A Walk in the Forest Designer Series Paper has bears, trees, snowflakes, stripes, evergreen branches and red berries. Some of the images work with the Merriest Trees Dies and some of the bears can be punched with the Beary Cute Punch.

For this card, I decided to use Pecan Pie cardstock although I was tempted to use Real Red or Cherry Cobbler. I decided Pecan Pie would go better with the outdoor, rustic theme of the card. The “other side” of this paper with the trees and the bears, is this Garden Green with tiny little triangle trees all over it. I chose that side of the paper for the layer on the Pecan Pie card base.

The top layer with the tree in the forest was strategically cut out of the designer paper so that I would have that big tree but not part of a bear along the edge. It worked out to cut it a little smaller than a normal layer which was fine because then a larger margin of the green paper would show. The tree layer is 3 1/2″ x 4. Out of another section of the paper, I cut out the brown bear. You can purchase the Beary Cute Punch, on page 67. It is actually part of a Bundle with the Beary Cute Stamp Set. But for this card, I just used my Paper Snips to cut out the bear by hand. I used a LOT of Stampin’ Dimensionals on the back of the bear because I wanted him popped up but sturdy! It was easy enough with my mostly used-up Dimensionals because I cut along the edges and cut itty bitty pieces for on his legs.

The greeting is in the Merriest Trees Stamp Set on page 12 of the Holiday Mini. I stamped it with Garden Green ink on Pecan Pie cardstock. I wasn’t sure if it would show up well enough but it does. It was diecut with a banner in the Stylish Shapes Dies. It just barely fit but I like it. I popped it up on Stampin’ Dimensionals also.

I have to be honest and say it took everything in me to NOT put any rhinestones or jewels or bling of any kind on this card! I really wanted to add some sparkle to the tree, but I also liked the rustic look of the trees and the bear and didn’t want to spoil that.

The Holiday Mini (officially known as the September – December 2023 Mini Catalog) goes live on September 6 for you to order from. It ends on January 3 (which right now we can’t imagine!). Be sure to order your very favorite things as soon as you can so you don’t have to wait for a backorder situation.

If you liked this A Walk in the Forest Christmas Card just know that it is an easy card to make although you couldn’t make a ton of the same card because you need to work with the trees and the bears on the paper. But otherwise, you just have to glue the layers to the card, punch or cut out the bear and add a greeting. That’s it!

Shop the Holiday Mini Sept. 6th!

Kits Collection Festive Tags Kit

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Kits Collection Festive Tags Kit Contents

A great kit to purchase on the Stampin’ Up! Kits Collection Sale during August is this Festive Tags Kit! It is an easy kit to make, no stamping, only takes about an hour total, and you will be using the tags for sure for holiday gifts! It’s a win win!

Inside the box, you get all the supplies you need to make the project, all wrapped up with the easy directions.

Kits Collection Festive Tags Kit Contents2

It’s so fun to open up the package of supplies and see what goodies you got in there! Besides the basic pieces to make the tags, you get some goldish jewels and a roll of twine, plus Dimensionals, which are the only adhesive you need.

Kits Collection Festive Tags Kit Pieces

Here’s a tip that usually works! As you punch out the pieces of any kit, if you keep the stack of the same pieces lined up and together, you can usually punch out all three pieces in the stack at the same time. You don’t necessarily have to do each one on each sheet. Just stack them up perfectly and punch them out! Once you have all the pieces and embellishments laid out on the table, you are in good shape to start assembling the project!

Kits Collection Festive Tags Kit Tags

This Festive Tags Kit makes 15 tags for your holiday gifts! Three each of five designs! That really gives you a good variety! And just stick on the greeting (in another language, if you choose!) instead of stamping! Tied the decorated tag onto a backing tag and you have a cute tag with space to write on the back who the gift is to and from. Once you add those gold-colored self-adhesive jewels, it really makes those cute tags pop!

Watch Sara’s video below and see how she puts the tags together!

You’ll save a little bit of money if you purchase this kit before August 31 while this Kits Collection Sale is on! I would recommend buying more than one kit, maybe even two extra kits! You will enjoy putting the tags together and knowing that you have plenty when you go to gift wrap your packages. Or add the tag you made to the front of a card, perhaps with an extra layer or something to make up the card, and you’ll have an easy card ready to go!

Check out the other holiday tag kits from past years as well!

Shop the Kits Collection Sale HERE!

Last Minute Christmas Gift Wrap Ideas

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Gift Wrap Ideas

It’s Christmas Eve and if you don’t have your packages wrapped yet or ran out of wrapping paper, you might need these last-minute Christmas gift wrap ideas! I was afraid we might run out of wrapping paper so I did several presents without the fancy stuff just in case!

For the first one, I just used a plain white shopping bag, tied on a nice tag from either a Paper Pumpkin Kit or a Stampin’ Up! Kit from a previous Christmas. So handy to have those gift tags already made up! Put that on your summertime list and you’ll be ready! I just tied on a nice tag and with the colored tissue paper inside the bag it looks great!

I started out thinking I should use some of the brown paper we have from Amazon and other packages. One Etsy gal I have ordered from wraps her customers’ purchases in this paper and ties yarn around! Such a nice presentation, especially for a purchase! I didn’t have yarn handy, but I just added, again, one of my fancy Stampin’ Up! tags I already had ready and a stick-on bow! It’s fine!

Then late last night my daughter came out with one of her wrapped gifts. She used some of my retired designer paper taking up space in her bedroom and tied some retired ribbon around it! She was thrilled that it was such a pretty package!

Hope these last-minute ideas help you if you need it! But you probably have had all your packages wrapped since December 1st!

Merry Christmas! Stay warm!

Christmas Tree Triangle Box in Neutral

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Christmas Tree Triangle Box in Neutral

It’s time to be wrapping packages this close to Christmas! If you need something cute for a small gift or treat, this easy triangle box might be just the thing for you! I’ve made a lot of them and they really are easy. Then you decorate however you like.

These are the basic instructions for how to make a Triangle Box:

  • Cut card stock in half lengthwise:  4 1/4″ x 11″
  • Score at 5 1/2″.
  • Mark the center of the strip on both ends at 2 1/8″ with a pencil mark.
  • Score with the Paper Trimmer at an angle, putting that center pencil mark on the track on the Paper Trimmer while also lining up the middle score line on that track.
  • Score both sides of the paper and both ends of the paper. That will make two triangles, one on each half of the paper.
  • Fold all the score lines and put the box together.
  • At the top point of the box punch holes for the ribbon to go through.
Christmas Tree Triangle Box scored

Somewhere I saw an idea like this: using a neutral color and a white pen to make the triangle box look like a Christmas tree. Of course, I couldn’t find it again, but I’m happy with my own version!

I chose Crumb Cake Cardstock for the neutral-colored tree. Before assembling, I just drew little white lines with a white gel pen to make it look like tree needles, I suppose. To tie the top closed I used a Gold & Vanilla 3/8″ Satin Edged Ribbon.

For the top of the tree, I found a retired star punch and some retired gold glitter paper (you could use Gold Foil Sheets, too). I punched a couple of extra gold stars and decided to use them on the front of the tree. It still needed a little more, so I used the Adhesive Backed Season Sequins in gold to fill in the tree.

Now the triangle box is ready to put a gift or treat inside and then tie up the bow at the top! Try one and see how easy it is! You could emboss the cardstock before assembling it if you like. Decorate one for any occasion!

Christmas tree triangle box

Framed & Festive Painted Christmas Cards

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Framed & Festive Painted Christmas Cards

If you are looking for some more fairly easy ideas for Christmas cards, these Framed & Festive Painted Christmas Cards might be the ones. You can make yours even easier by leaving off the diecut greenery and berries. How about just designer paper, a greeting, and some ribbon?

This is the Painted Christmas Designer Series Paper. It was around last year and was carried over this year which I was happy about! I still had some from last year so I was happy to have another chance to use it, and I did use it a lot. I think I only have a little bit of paper left! It is on the Last Chance Sale so you can grab some at a bargain price! I especially loved the two patterns of paper I used on these two cards.

Both greetings are in the Framed & Festive Stamp Set. I loved using these this season. Stampin’ Up! released this stamp set in the Fitting Florets Collection, but this stamp set will not continue on into the Spring Mini Catalog. I loved the font of the greetings and they were ones I would actually use on my Chritsmas cards, either on the card front or maybe inside the card. If you want this stamp set, be sure to get it by January 4th.

The top card has a Garden Green card base. I had to use two patterns of designer paper because I only had this one strip with the evergreens and red berries left, not enough for a full card so I used another pattern for the bottom portion. I used this Real Red Ribbon (retired) to cover up that seam of the two papers, plus for decoration.

The greeting is stamped in Real Red ink and diecut with a one in the Painted Labels Dies. It almost looks like the die is too small for this greeting but it does actually fit.

The second card has a Real Red card base and uses a full front layer of designer paper. I just added a bow to the bottom of the greeting. The greetings are popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals on both cards.

Now if you have time and energy, use whatever dies or punches you have to cut out some greenery and maybe some Red Glimmer Paper berries! I used the leafy dies in the Christmas Banner Dies and the berry die is in the Organic Beauty Dies. Just stick a few in under the greeting. On the second card, I used that really sparkly paper from the previous Sale-A-Bration! You can’t get any more sparkly than that paper!

It does take a little bit of time to die-cut that greenery and berries so if you are down to the wire (as I am!), just skip that part and make the cards without it!

Snowman Magic Christmas Card

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Snowman Magic Christmas Card

Back in July, I saw a card on the Stampin’ Pretty blog by Mary Fish using the Snowman Magic Bundle and I just loved it! I didn’t even own this Bundle so after a while I order just the Snowman Dies. At any moment, I was going to copy Mary’s card, but it didn’t happen until now! I guess it’s now or never now that it is just a week until Christmas.

My card isn’t “exactly” like hers because I didn’t buy the stamp set and I used a different background. But it is pretty close! I used Tahitian Tide for this card. It’s one of the “new” In Colors that came out in the Annual Catalog. Such a pretty blue to use with a snow scene!

It has turned cold here in Houston and will get even colder for Christmas so I’m hoping for snow, but I don’t think my wish will come true! It did snow many years ago here on Christmas Eve and we went out and played in the snow a bit on Christmas morning! I even made a tiny snowman that I kept in the freezer for months! It probably wasn’t much bigger than the snowman on this card!

Even without the Snowman Magic Stamp Set, I knew I could use the diecut snowman and make him look okay! I added a bit of the Light Gray Granite Stampin’ Blend on the edges of the snowman plus diecut the scarf and hat and added my own stripes and color with the Dark Real Red Stampin’ Blend. The snowman carrot nose is the smallest thing I have ever seen as a diecut! I just colored it with the Pumpkin Pie Stampin’ Blend and somehow managed to glue it down on the snowman’s face. Then I drew in the eyes and mouth with the Gray Granite marker. The arms are the next smallest things I’ve ever die cut! I had a brown scrap of cardstock handy.

The frame of snowflakes is a diecut that does all that work for you! Before adhering to the card base, I embossed a piece of vellum using the Whimsical Woodland 3D Embossing Folder. You can see the trees in the background. I also diecut the two green trees on each side of the snowman and three white snowflakes that I added.

I adhered the vellum to the back of this frame piece and since the snowflakes aren’t adhered except to the edges, I just cut a piece of snow for the base by hand and slipped it down into the frame. The snowman and trees are adhered flat to the vellum. Just slip them in where you want them. Then adhere the whole thing with Stampin’ Dimensionals to the card base.

The greeting is stamped in Tahitian Tide ink and die cut with a narrow banner shape in the Stylish Shapes Dies. It is popped up on Dimensionals also.

This was a fun card to make, maybe a little too much for multiples, but there are many things you can do creatively with this set of dies!

Make Your Own Stamped Gift Wrap

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Cottage Wreath Stamped Gift Wrapped Package

It’s that time of year! Time for wrapping presents! But what if you run out of store-bought wrapping paper? Or do you only have Christmas wrapping paper and you need to wrap a birthday gift? Just stamp your own paper! Now, this may only work for small gifts, although if you have some of that brown paper they use inside boxes to protect something being mailed you might be able to use that for larger packages. Anyway, keep this idea in mind for someday when you might need it!

I just used a sheet of computer paper to make the beautiful Cottage Wreath gift wrap in the photo above. You could also use cardstock, but it would be heavier and possibly not as easy to wrap around something. This is actually a fun thing to do because random stamping is fun!

I just stamped one of the wreaths in the Cottage Wreaths Stamp Set randomly on the computer paper. I happened to use three different colors of green ink for fun – Granny Apple Green, Soft Succulent, and Pear Pizzazz. Then I stamped the bows on the wreaths in different colors, too – Real Red, Gorgeous Grape, Bermuda Bay, and Daffodil Delight. For the finishing touch, I stamped the “Merry Christmas” greeting in the stamp set in between some of the wreaths. I think it turned out pretty cute! You could make your own gift wrap with almost any of your stamp sets, even words, actually.

I was going to wrap an empty box just to show what my new wrapping paper looked like, but then I thought, I have a ton of family gifts to wrap, I should wrap a REAL gift! So this is a real gift going to my daughter with my homemade gift wrap. I tied on some Real Red Ribbon in a bow and now I have one gift wrapped! I could actually make a tag out of a stamped or diecut wreath that would be cute also.

Cottage Wreath Stamped Gift Wrapped Package

Whether or not you need wrapping paper, just for fun stamp a sheet of your own gift wrap! It’s good for the soul! Make it for Christmas, a birthday, or something crazy! It’s a good way to get even more uses out of your stamps!