How To Make A Special Christmas Card

A special Christmas card tells someone how much they mean to you. Learn how to make this one here in this article.

Isn’t this card gorgeous? And the swinging ornament just makes it even more stunning! Jennifer McGuire taught how to make it during this year’s Hero Holiday Stamp-Along. And, she really knocked it out of the park, didn’t she?

Special Christmas Card Background

To make the card for Day 13 of the 25 Days of Christmas we’ll begin by creating the background. And to do so we’ll set up our die-cutting and embossing machine for embossing. For example, we’ll create a sandwich with the embossing mat that comes with the machine, a folded piece of cardstock, and the platform on the bottom. HINT: The cardstock acts as a shim to make the sandwich the perfect height for embossing.

Next, we’ll put a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of light red cardstock on the embossing mat. And then we’ll ink the raised areas of the Ornament hot foil cover plate with dark red ink. Following that, we’ll carefully lay the inked plate over the top of the red cardstock with the ink side facing the cardstock. Finally, we’ll add the clear-cutting plate on top of the whole sandwich and run the whole thing through the machine.

What you end up with is a beautifully embossed background. The ink is very subtle. It’s hard to tell in the photos, but the end result kind of looks like it’s quilted.

We’ll attach the embossed panel centered onto a white A2 (4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″) card base using a glue runner. And lastly, we’ll stamp our sentiment (Have a joy-filled Christmas) in the center of the ornament with dark red ink.

Die-cutting

We’re going to do all of our die-cutting next. We’ll begin by using the largest ornament from the Bulb Ornament Infinity Dies. And we’ll cut out two ornaments, one from dark red cardstock and one from vellum. Following that, we’ll die-cut the smallest ornament from light red cardstock.

Next, using the smaller branch die we’ll cut it twice from green cardstock, and twice from gold glitter paper. And now, we’ll cut the holiday die from dark red cardstock and the shadow from light red cardstock. And lastly, we’ll cut the bow from gold glitter paper.

Special Christmas Card Assembly

Ornament Assembly

We’re going to add a topper to our ornament by trimming the dark red bulb from the topper. And then, we’ll attach the topper to the top of the vellum ornament using liquid glue.

Next, we’re going to make our branches look a little more realistic by adding some dimension to them. Therefore, we’ll use a stylus and something soft underneath (like a mousepad). And, we’ll press lines down the center of each of the leaves. Afterward, we’ll trim the berries from the glitter paper branches and attach them to the green branches with liquid glue.

For the next step, I like to arrange everything first and then attach them. Once we know where we want everything to be we can attach the branches to the vellum with liquid glue. HINT: I did not put glue on the berries or edges of the branches. As a result, they look a little more realistic with some dimension.

Now, we’ll cut off the “S” from both the word die and the shadow and then glue them together with liquid glue. And then, we’ll pop it up over the branches using foam strips or foam tape. And finally, we’ll stamp the sentiment greetings onto a scrap of light red cardstock, trim it, and pop it up with foam strips.

Swinger Assembly and Finishing

To give the card its unique swinging ornament feature, we’ll add a small foam circle to the background of the card. The positioning of the foam circle is important, so let’s use the ornament as a guide to attach it right in the center or the “eye” of the topper.

Now, leaving the ornament in place with the eye around the foam circle we’ll cut the ornament from the topper of the tiniest ornament die-cut. And then, we’ll attach the ornament over the foam circle. HINT: The vellum ornament should be able to swing back and forth.

Finally, to finish the card we’ll attach the glitter bow to the tiny red circle with liquid glue.

Supplies For the Special Christmas Card

The following list may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something by following a link on this page, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog.

• Cardstock: Card base – Neenah Classic Crest 110lb Solar White; Card panel – Hero Hues Premium Cherry; Color Accents Red – Hero Hues Premium Cranberry,; Green – Hero Arts Premium Shamrock; Vellum – Hero Arts Classic Vellum Layering Paper; Glitter Paper – Hero Arts Holiday Sparkle – Gold
• Stamps: Hero Arts Holly Berries
• Dies: Hero Arts Bulb Ornament Infinity; Hero Arts Holiday Words
• Hot Foil Plate: Hero Arts Ornament Border
• Ink: Hero Arts Cranberry Core
• Die-cutting and Embossing Machine: Spellbinders Platinum 6
• Adhesives: Gina K Designs Adhesive Dot Runner; liquid – Bearly Art Glue; foam strips – Scrapbook.com Double-Adhesive Foam Strips
• Stylus: Spellbinders Susan’s Garden Ultimate Tool Kit

Want More Christmas Inspiration?

Check out these articles:

• HOW TO ROCK A BLACK CHRISTMAS CARD – 12
• HOW TO MAKE CHRISTMAS SILHOUETTES CARD -11
• HOW TO MAKE AN ELEGANT CHRISTMAS CARD-10
• HOW TO MAKE A PURPLE CHRISTMAS CARD – 9
• LEARN HOW TO MAKE A SILENT NIGHT CARD – 8
• HOW TO MAKE MY FAV CHRISTMAS CARD – 7
• WHO DOESN’T LOVE AN ELF CARD? – DAY 6
• HOW TO MAKE A SCRAPBOOK CARD – DAY 5
• HOW TO MAKE A NOEL CHRISTMAS CARD – DAY 4
• DO YOU LOVE SANTA ON THE CHIMNEY? DAY 3
• HOW TO MAKE CHRISTMAS TREE CARD – DAY 2
• HOW TO MAKE FIRST SNOW CARD – DAY 1
• HOW TO CREATE A WINTER WONDERLAND
• HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW NORDIC SPELLBINDERS RELEASE?