The season of holiday cards and gift giving is almost upon us and I’m always looking for a way to use my scrapbooking supplies in a way to put a smile on the faces of my friends, family and other special people like my son’s teachers each year. So I thought I’d challenge myself today to create and share a project using minimal supplies that is relatively easy and fun to do!
So grab yourself a cup of something warm and come along with me as I take simple cardstock and make it into 4 simple, yet beautiful cards to mail to someone special or give as a gift set.
Here is the list of supplies you will need for this project:
- 4 sheets of Smooth 8 ½ x 11 White Cardstock (2 for card bases, 2 for decorating)
- Holiday Themed Stamps (I used Flourishes’ “Christmas Music” & “Handmade Snowflakes”)
- Die Cut Shapes
- Scoring Tool
- Heat Tool for Embossing
- Versamark Ink
- Coloured Inks & an Ink Blending Tool
- Clear, Clear Glittered or White Embossing Powder
- OPTIONAL: Silhouette machine or Scissors, Embossing Folder(s), ribbon or other embellishments
With 2 pieces of the cardstock, I cut them in half and scored each one and then folded each one to measure for an A2 sized card (finished 4¼ x 5½). Two cards have the fold at the top and the remaining cards have the fold on left side for variety of opening options.
With a goal of only using minimal supplies, I wanted to create a design where one created focal paper would work for two cards. I started off by cutting two panels of 4 x 5¼ of white cardstock.
For the first panel, I stamped it with a fun music sheet stamp, “Christmas Music” from Flourishes in a dark coordinating ink for my back ground.
Then I prepared my cardstock for embossing. I passed my anti-static powder pillow over my cardstock to remove any oils or static from my cardstock. This helps the excess embossing powder to slip off the areas where you don’t want it to stick.
Then I took some of the delicate snow flake stamps from the “Handmade Snowflakes” stamp set, also from Flourishes, and inked them up with Versamark ink and stamped them all over the music stamped panel. With Versamark ink being clear, you won’t be able to see the placement of your images very well but the effect with be amazing.
Next I poured some clear glittery embossing powder all over my stamped panel. I made sure to put down a scrap piece of copy paper to catch all of the excess powder so I could return it to the bottle. I tapped the back of the panel with my fingers a few times to remove any remaining powder and then I used my heat tool to melt my embossing powder to make it shiny and hard.
Next I took my ink blending tool and applied some Ranger “Broken China” Distress Ink in a circular motion to begin to reveal the embossed snowflakes. You can use a make-up sponge to do this job but experiment on a scrap piece of paper before applying your sponge to your project to ensure you are not getting lines from the edge of your sponge first.
Then I took some Ranger “Peacock Feathers” Distress Ink, a darker, richer teal blue ink and darkened the ink in the centers of each snowflake.
I left some of the space between my snowflakes lighter so they would stand out nicely against the back ground. With the embossing powder on the snowflakes being clear, you can still see the musical stamp subtly in the back ground.
Then I took the stamped panel and temporarily adhered a custom cutting die to the front of my panel using a Post-It Note. The Post-It Note prevents the die from slipping and die cutting a place where you don’t want it to. This particular die, the Flourishes’ “Classic Hourglass Template Die” has a pretty little piercing detail when cut. With cutting the panel into two pieces, we now have a frame with a negative die shaped window for one card and then a shaped die cut panel for a second card. Two panels for the price of one!!
Next I began creating the panels for behind my window shape and die cut shapes. I took my leftover half of the third cardstock piece and cut it into 2 panels, each measuring 3¾ x 5. For the first one I decided to make a very simple embossed framed panel for behind my die cut shape. I grabbed my Scor-Buddy tool and I quickly added a simple double embossed lined frame right around the edge of my cardstock. A quick and easy way to add interest to your cards!
Here is a look at the finished die cut card…
To add one final element, I used the corresponding Silhouette Cut File for my “Handmade Snowflakes” stamp set from Flourishes and stamped and adhered the “Joy” greeting to my card front. It’s super easy to use your scraps of paper when using a digital cutting machines – saves money for supplies and saves you from hand cutting! If you don’t have a digital cutting machine, you can always stamp your image or greeting on a scrap piece of cardstock and then hand cut them out leaving a white border around them; also known as fussy cutting.
Here‘s the second card created from our stamped panel…
Once again, I used my Silhouette and cut out the snowflake shape and stamped the snowflake image using the same ink as our card frame. I added a little metallic silver bow to the top. The embossed panel behind the die cut snowflake was created using the Scor-Buddy tool to create the diamond embossing lines.
And finally, here are two more cards created using the same techniques and steps as our first two cards.
For this card, I decided to use a snowflake embossing folder on my window panel for a change instead of creating one; another option to create drama in your card’s window. I also used a darker ink for my musical stamped back ground and I stamped some coloured snowflakes over top of the embossed snowflakes for my focal panel.
For the final card, I created an embossed frame with random embossed diagonal lines for a back ground using my Scor-Buddy tool.
So if you are thinking of creating your own holiday cards this season or you need a quick and easy gift for a Secret Santa or a teacher, take some of the techniques and tips from my card tutorial and make a beautiful set of handmade today! It’s so simple and easy to do and you only need a few supplies. Happy stamping and creating everyone!
~ Ally Cope ~
Summer and Anabelle's LOs are both so pretty! I love the little brads and embellishments in the circles. How cute is that!!! And the big burgundy coloured bow to go with the pink is so pretty. I think these would be lovely colours to scrap with. Very inspiring. The pretty BG collection is quite inspiring too. I just ordered some from my LSS. I can't wait to get my scissors into it! :) Thanks for sharing the fun inspiration! :) Posted by: auntie em | November 15, 2013 at 08:05 PM