Countdown to Christmas: 25 Days of Cards!

What is Countdown to Christmas? I share 25 different Christmas cards for you to make in time to send for Christmas.

Every year I send my Mom a handmade card every day of December leading up to Christmas. A couple of years ago I started sharing the cards I make on my blog. My goal is simple in doing so, I hope that my cards inspire you. Well, believe it or not, it’s that time of the year already. I’m starting now so that you have time to buy the products and make them in time to send them.

Well, today I’m sharing the last card for this year. I hope that you have enjoyed all of them! Merry Christmas!

Countdown To Christmas: Card 25 Shimmery Season Shaker Ornament

Every year for @SimonSaysStamp Stamptember, @GinaKrupsky from @GinaKDesigns creates the most amazing stamp and die set. And this year the “Shimmering Season” was no exception. And, my last card, or I guess I should say ornament, features it.

I’m hoping that you had the opportunity to get this set, but if not you can make a very similar ornament with the Princess Circle die and gold embossing powder.

Prep Work

To create the ornament, we’ll begin with heat embossing a Christmas sentiment onto heat-resistant acetate with gold embossing powder. HINT: be careful not to use too much heat or the acetate will warp. When the it has cooled down, use a 3″ circle die to die-cut the acetate. And while you’re at it, go ahead and die-cut another circle from the acetate.

Next, we’ll heat emboss the big ornamental stamp from the set. Or, if you’re using the Princess Circle, go ahead and die-cut it and then rub the edges over your watermark ink pad. And then heat emboss it with the gold powder. And then repeat this step all over again so that you have two.

Use the coordinating die to die-cut the image. And then, use a 2″ circle die to die cut the center from both of the images (I used the one from Lots of Dots). Next, use a tiny circle die or a punch to create a hole that you can run your twine through.

Lastly, we’ll need to die-cut a ring from a foam sheet with an opening, or smallest circle of 2 1/2″.

Shaker Assembly

Now that we have all our pieces ready, we can put create our shaker. We’ll begin by attaching one side of 1/4″ double-sided adhesive tape around the circle. Use a scissors to snip the tape on the outside edge every 3/4″ or so. Then, pull off the backing paper from the other side and attach the acetate and repeat.

With the sentiment facing down, pull the backing paper off one side of the foam ring and attach it so that it isn’t showing on the other side. Sprinkle some pretty, shiny sequins in the cavity. And then, remove the remaining backing paper and carefully lower the second ornament die-cut down over the first taking care to align the top hole and the shape.

The last thing to do is to add some twine or a ribbon so that you can hang your pretty ornament on a tree.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 24 Tree Pattern

This is a fun one. Each one of these cards is created using the Tree Pattern cover die from Hero Arts. And, as you can see it’s addictive.

Inspiration from these cards comes from the Hero Arts (@HEROARTS) Holiday Stamp-Along. It’s a super way to get your Christmas cards done and try out some new products and techniques at the same time. And, Hero Arts makes the replay available so that you can view the classes even if you missed them originally. You can sign up for them HERE.

Tree Pattern Card 1

Six of my projects originated from working on a card taught by Jessica Frost-Ballast (@JESSICAFROSTBALLAS).

My version of her card is this first card. You need to sign up for the Stamp-Along to learn how to make the card. As you can see it’s well worth it. But, what got me going with the other cards is that she had us use the cover die to die-but from white cardstock and also from gold glitter cardstock. I didn’t even use the glitter die-cuts for my card like hers because I used them for other cards.

Card 2 & 3

I thought that the tree die-cuts from Card 1 were so pretty, especially the told glitter ones. So, I decided to do something with them. For Card 2, I decided on dark green cardstock for the background because the little white and glitter stars and trees are so pretty with it. The next step was to move them around on the green cardstock until I had an arrangement that I liked and attached them using liquid glue.

I had placed my left over cardstock in a box that I use during events and it just so happened that they were laying in a way where the green was on the bottom, white was on the top and the gold glitter was peeking out from the left side on all of the trees. I thought it was so pretty that I decided to make Card 3 that way.

Tree Pattern 4 & 5

Jessica had us use glitter paste on card which gave me the idea of using it to look like snow. So for card 4 I brushed the paste like snowdrifts horizontally across a piece of vellum. When it was dry I used the cover plate to die-cut out the trees. And then, I attached the panel to a white piece of cardstock with liquid glue.

Next, I sprayed an A2 piece of white cardstock with Tone-on-Tone Metallic Spray. I let it dry and then splattered metallic watercolor paint on the card panel. I did so because I wanted to make them look like colorful ornaments. And, when it was all dry I die-cut it with the cover die.

To finish up card 4 I used liquid glue to attach the tree die-cuts inside of the pasted card panel. And then I placed that on a 5″ x 7″ purple card base.

Card 5 uses leftovers from card 1 and card 4.

Card 6

I had a few white tree die-cuts left so I decided to make a background with bright red cardstock. And, I love the Jingle Bells rubber stamp so much that I wanted to use it one more time. So I used the same technique for making the background as we did for Card 3 of the Countdown to Christmas cards. Then, I die-cut it with our cover die, and fastened it onto a green card base. And then I inlaid those white die-cuts.

Cover Die Card 7

The last card that I created with the Tree Pattern Cover die is the one that Cathy Zielske (@czdesign), the queen of clean and simple cards, taught during the Stamp-Along. Again, you’ll have to sign up for the replay to learn how but oh my this is a beautiful card isn’t it?

Countdown To Christmas: Card 23 Gingerbread House

I love to make gingerbread houses at this time of year. There’s something awesome about being able to make a house with cookies. And then, decorating it with candy is fun too. So, I am excited to play with the Gingerbread House die set from My Favorite Things Stamps. I don’t have a photo of it, but I stamped “Gingerbread Kisses and Christmas Wishes” on the inside. It is one of the stamps from the coordinating stamp set called Gingerbread Greetings.

I wish that you could see the glitter on this card! I used white glitter foam for the snow on the house. And, added a little glue to the tops of the snow banks and sprinkled glitter over them. The glitter is the perfect finishing touch for this sweet gingerbread card.

The majority of work on this card is selecting the cardstock to use. and then die-cutting it out. I’ve listed the ones that I’ve used in the Supply List if you want a similar look for your card. I suggest that you assemble the house, gingerbread man, and candy pops using liquid glue.

Card Assembly

Trim a piece of patterned paper to A2 size (4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″) and fasten it to a white A2 card base with a tape runner. Next, cut a snow slope across one of the long sides of a 2″ x 5 1/2″ piece of white cardstock. Add liquid glue at the snow slope edge and spread it with your fingers. Then sprinkle glitter over the glue and tap off any excess.

Glue the candy pops onto the patterned paper making sure that the bottoms of the stick will be below the snow tops. Then, add the snow over the top using liquid glue. All that is left is to pop up the gingerbread house and the gingerbread man with foam tape.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 22 Vintage Candy Box

This is such a fun project. I love the vintage boxes that you can create with the Honey Bee Stamps Vintage Gift Box Die Set. And then you use the Christmas Add-ons Holiday Treats Stamp and Die set to create this darling box that holds candy treats. It even has a window so that you can see them!

A trick that I learned (after two failed attempts) is to stamp the box’s front image (the one with the window) first. Then use the coordinating die to cut out the box. Another little hint is to make sure that the score lines on the sides of the “window” are parallel with the sides of the stamped design for the window before you die-cut it.

Next, go ahead and die-cut the rest of the pieces. And then stamp the rest of the images. I hand-stamped the smaller images with acrylic blocks. However, I used a stamp positioning tool and red ink to stamp the striped side pieces and black ink for the large homemade Christmas treats & sweets.

Then, you do simple coloring with colored pencils. Honey Bee Stamps make it easy because the stamps have shading on them. So you make your colors darker where the shading is and lighter where it’s not. And, it’s ok to leave some “white” space too. You can also color green between the red stitched lines on the side like I did if you want.

Now you can go ahead and die-cut the window, trim a piece of acetate to fit, and attach it on the back with double-sided adhesive tape. And, you’ll use the same tape to put the rest of the box together too. Now all that is left to do is fill your pretty vintage treat box with your favorite Christmas candy.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 21 Festive Flower

Oh my gosh! This is most definitely one of my favorite Christmas sets of all time. It is called Festive Flower from Concord & 9th. I sure hope that you picked it up during Simon Says Stamp September. It is layered stamping at its finest.

And, I have a bonus card for you too.

I used a wreath builder to make this clean and simple card that just might be one of the cards that I make for some of my friends and family this year.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 20 Silent Night

I love to make silhouette cards. And, the Silent Night stamp set from Gina K Designs is perfect for making one for Christmas.

Part of the reason that I like silhouette cards is because you get to blend rainbows or sunsets with them. For a card just like this, you’ll want to use dark brown ink on the bottom to ground the figures. And then blend orange, pink, teal, and dark blue to create an evening sky. Gina K’s inks are made for this kind of blending, so if you don’t already have them I urge to give them a try.

Once the background is done we can stamp on the focal point image with black ink. And, once that is dry we can determine where we want to stamp the sentiment. For it, I use dark gray ink.

To finish the card, trim down the card panel to 3 3/4″ x 5″ and a black accent panel to 3 7/8″ x 5 1/8″. You can do so manually with a trimmer, but I prefer to use a rectangle die set that helps to keep everything square. Oh, and I almost forgot, add a tiny gem to the center of the star to make it shine. All that is left is to center and attach both panels with a tape runner, and that is it.

Isn’t it amazing that you can create something that is this beautiful in just a matter of minutes? It’s perfect for mass producing to send your friends and family a special Christmas card this year.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 19 Postage Collage

I love this one so much! This is another card using Distress Oxides on a dark color. However, I add some bling on this one by using metallic pigment inks too.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 18 Happy Pawlidays

I have tons of people in my family who are dog lovers. So, the Happy Pawlidays stamp and die sets from My Favorite Things were must-haves for me this year.

You might want to create the background first so that it can dry while you are coloring. Take a piece of watercolor cardstock and give it a water wash across the two long edges with a 1/2″ square paintbrush. I used a full sheet (9″ x 12″) to get four card panels. Then, dilute the black watercolor paint with water and run the brush over the wash to create a snow drift on both sides. Dry the cardstock on the lowest setting of your heat tool.

Next, add a wash to the rest of the cardstock and then add light blue, medium blue, dark blue, and black to create a dramatic sky. Set aside to dry.

Stamping and Coloring

Stamp all of the figures on white cardstock using black waterproof ink. And then, color the images using alcohol markers. I colored mine to look like my dogs. Millie is a cream golden retriever and I used light tans to color her. Molly is a beagle and I used dark gray and darker tans for her. And, Jessica is a black toy shih-tzu and I used several tones of gray for her.

Once all the coloring is done you will want to cut out all the figures using the coordinating dies.

Assembly

Make sure that the paint is dry. Hit it with your heat tool (on the low setting) if it is not. Cut the watercolor cardstock in half in both directions to end up with four card panels, 4 1/2″ x 6″. Set aside three of the panels to use another time. Then, trim the panel that you will use for the card down to 4″ x 5 1/4″.

HINT: Run your card panel through a laminating foiling machine to flatten the warping.

At this point, you can create your arrangement so that you can heat emboss the sentiment on the card panel. Then, fasten the card panel to an A2 (4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″) card panel using double-sided adhesive tape. Use different thicknesses of foam squares and tape to create dimension between your dogs and the tree as you add them to the card front. And that’s it. Isn’t it cute?

Countdown To Christmas: Card 17 Woodland

This card makes you feel like you’re out in the woods with this cute little deer, doesn’t it? Ralph Tyndall taught how to make it at the Hero Arts Holiday Stamp-Along. And now, you can have access to the reruns of the class HERE. The card features the lovely Color Layering Seasonal Tree Bundle which comes with stamps and dies. Because the class was paid for, I’m going to defer you to the reruns to learn how to make it. But, I will share the supplies that you will need.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 16 Under The Mistletoe

I have two cards for card 16 because they are from the same set, Gina K Designs Under The Mistletoe stamp and coordinating die sets. I stamped and colored them all at the same time. And then I liked them all so well I just made two cards.

I used black mutli-media ink and white cardstock to stamp it on. Then I used alcohol markers to color with. I used the darker reds and green inks on the holly and the rest of the markers on the mistletoe.

Holly leaves and berries are glossy, so I used a glaze on both to make them look a little more realistic. And, I used glitter on the mistletoe and snowflakes.

Finally, I used foam sheets and squares to add some dimension.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 15 Ice Holiday

You can’t help but fall in love with these darling little mice from the House Mouse Holiday Collection called Hold On!

It’s just a little bit of coloring using ink blending and alcohol markers.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 14 Sunny Snowman

This card makes you smile. And, the beauty of it is that you can send it any time from the beginning of fall until late spring. You can make it with the same stamp set that you use for Card 4, Calm Christmas from Whimsy Stamps

Just like with the Santa card, we’ll start by blending the background. Sometimes we have pink clouds as the sun begins to go down in Florida. That is what I tried to capture in my background. And, of course, it’s a beach setting so you want to lay in some sand and water above it. And when we’re done blending we’ll die-cut it with a fun deckled rectangle die.

Next, we’ll stamp our cut little snowman on a piece of white cardstock with black multi-media ink. And, we’ll go ahead and stamp the sentiment on the background too. Make sure that the ink is good and dry before going on to the next step. And that is to color the image with alcohol markers. And then we’ll add some sparkle to his snow with glue and glitter.

At this point, we will die-cut the sun from yellow cardstock scraps. And, when the glue is dry we’ll fussy cut the snowman. All that is left is to trim a piece of pink cardstock to A2 size (4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″) and attach it to the card front with a tape runner. Then, we’ll center the background on top and fasten it with the tape runner too.

To finish it off, glue the sun pieces together with liquid glue and then attach it in the upper right-hand corner. And finally, we’ll pop up the focal point, our snowman, with foam tape.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 13 Peace & Love Polar Bears

This darling card features Northern Lights Polar Bears stamp and die sets, Snowflake Transfers and Rounded Rectangle Dies from Hero Arts. This is another card from their Holiday Stamp-Along and it is designed by Ilina Crouse.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 12 Holiday Front Porch

This front porch is amazingly similar to mine. My sidelights are white but I may reconsider because this is so dang cute! This card is all die-cutting using two new sets from Honey Bee Stamps: Lovely Layers Front Porch, and Front Porch Holiday Add-On. I encourage you to use scraps in your stash, but here is a list of the cardstock that I used:

• Bows: Mahogany, pomegranate, Red Hot
• Swags: Red Hot
• Lights: Mahogany, Red Hot, Green Grass, alabaster
• Doors and Side Panels: Red Hot
• Hat Strap, Scarf, Arms, and Mittens: Red Hot, Black Onyx, pomegranate, Warm Cocoa
• Tree: Red Hot, Green Grass, Warm Cocoa
• Windows, Lamps: alabaster, Fog, Black Onyx
• Nose: Persimmon
• Framing: Warm Cocoa, Chocolate Truffle, Timber
• Stone: Dove
• Snowman: Solar White

You can add a little depth and dimension by using the ink that is already on your brown and gray blending brushes on the doors and the porch frame. And, you may want to use your yellow brush on the windows and the lamps. After that, you can add shading to the snowman and I’d use a gray marker for that.

Fasten all the pieces together using liquid glue.

To finish the card, we’ll create a simple snowy background by spraying pale blue and iridescent ink sprays right on the front of a white top-folding A2 card base. And then blue your cute front porch on top and that’s it for this lovely card.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 11 Snowflake Magic!

I am super duper excited! Want to know why? Well, it’s because I am using a bunch of my new favorite things to make this card with and we’ll talk about all of them in a minute. But first, let’s talk about a new discovery I’ve made that will rock your world!

See those pretty snowflakes on the card? I created them with a stamp set and then I foiled them! I have been enamored with my new Fuse Foiling System ever since it arrived. It is the newest hot foil (laminating type) tool from Gina K Designs and it is wonderful! They sold out in 3 hours, but Gina’s ordering more. So, if you haven’t already, be sure to click notify me HERE so that you can get one too.

So now all I want to do is foil everything. And guess what? I can and you can too! Here’s how. I find that it’s helpful to do your stamping in a stamp positioning tool. This way you can stamp your images more than once to ensure your images are inked well.

I’m using a very light blue cardstock to set my snowy scene. And, I’ll strategically set my snowflakes on an A2 (4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″) piece of it and then pick them up with the lid of my Misti. In this case, I’m using the snowflakes in Gina K Designs Snowflake Builder stamp set.

Magical

This is where it gets magical. We’re going to heat emboss with embossing powder that is foil-reactive!

What does that mean? Well, we’re going to follow the regular steps for heat embossing by brushing on some anti-static powder. Next, we’ll stamp our images with watermark ink. And then we’ll sprinkle the foil-reactive embossing powder over the images. Let it sit there for a minute and then pour it off and give the panel a tap. Now, we’re going to use a heat tool to heat the embossing powder until it’s melted.

When that is done, we’ll lay a piece of sparkly toner-type foil pretty side up and run it through the Fuse. And wallah, we have sparkly, foiled snowflakes! Isn’t it awesome? Now, you can foil with any stamp in your stash. I think that’s magical.

Finishing the Card

Shimmer spray makes beautiful snow, so we’ll use two different colors, white iridescent and teal, to give the card some depth and a little more bling. We’re going to use another new toy. Mermaid Lagoon Embossing Glaze is the perfect color for the sentiment and a couple more little swirly stamps.

I like to use Gina K’s Master Layouts 1 to trim my card panels to make sure that they are square. But, if you don’t have the die set you’ll want to trim your card panel to 3 3/4″ x 5″. And, cut out a pretty teal color panel to 3 7/8″ x 5 1/8″.

Fasten down the color panel centered on a white A2 card base with a tape runner. Do the same with the card panel and that is it.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 10+ The Magic of Christmas

These cards feature the Tim Holtz Stamptember stamp set. Hopefully, you have it. But, let’s talk about Stamptember, because you need to know about it. Stamptember is an event that Simon Says Stamps holds every year during September. They feature an exclusive item most days of the year from crafting companies that we all know and love. I’m sorry if you missed it this year, but be sure to check it out next year.

I’ve made four cards using rubber stamps because the images are just so cute. They kind of remind me of the way advertising was when I was a kid. I want to emphasize the techniques for these cards rather than the stamps though. These cards a quick to put together and are great for mass production.

Just find a stamp set that you love. Stamp the images onto kraft cardstock with red and green Distress Oxide ink. After that, trim them with a deckle rectangle die. And then, distress them by blending brown ink around the edges. You want to use a hybrid like the Distress Oxides or a pigment ink because the ink stands up on top of the cardstock.

All that is left to do is assemble. Trim Christmasy patterned paper to A2 size (4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″) and fasten it to an A2 card base with a tape runner. Follow that by centering your card panel on top and fasten it down with a tape runner too. And that’s all there is to these fun cards.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 9 Peace On Earth

I love this card. It is different than most of the cards that I make, but I achieved the peaceful feel of a snowy afternoon in a forest of evergreens. I posted this card earlier in the year. But it seems even more appropriate now.

The article it is in features this and five additional Christmas cards created using BetterPress plates. Lots of fun! Click HERE for the article.

Countdown To Christmas: Card 8 Candy Canes

This card featuring Candy Canes die set, Jingle Bells Script cling stamp and the Holiday Season Messages bundle from Hero Arts has so much to love! Glittery candy canes, a realistic red bow, and the words to jingle bells in the background – how fun!

It’s another card from Hero Arts Holiday Stamp-Along. This one was taught by Michelle Lupton who is so fun to watch. And she not only designed this beautiful card but she also taught how to color the bow so beautifully.

Countdown to Christmas: Card 7 Feeling Frosty

These darling cards feature Feeling Frosty Stamp and Die sets, Festive Phrases stamp set, Sweater Weather Stencil, and Master Layouts 13 Die Set from Gina K Designs.

Gina made a card like this one during one of her lives recently. And, it is so cute that I had to try it out myself. You can watch the video from her live here:

Countdown to Christmas: Card 6 Christmas Before n After

Don’t you just love interactive cards? I just think it’s fun to have cards that do things. I always tell myself that my Grandkids would love this interactive card, but to be honest, it’s me who does.

The interactive component of this card is a pull tab. When you pull it up the little picture in the center of the card changes. This card features Lawn Fawn’s Christmas Before n After stamp and die sets. And, to create the interactive component, you will also need the Magic Picture Changer die set.

Lawn Fawn has many before n after sets, but this new one for Christmas is so darling!

To begin the card, you’ll want to stencil a brick wall onto two A2 size (4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″) pieces of white cardstock. If you like a stitched edge you can use a stitched rectangle die to cut one of them out. We’re making the card look like you’re looking into a window from outside a brick house. So, we’ll use cream-colored ink to blend through the stencil over both pieces of cardstock. But, before you move the stencil off of the one with the stitching, blend a little light brown around the edges.

And, I recommend that you watch the Lawn Fawn video on how to use the Magic Picture Changer and the one for the Christmas Before n After. They will help you with coloring the little mice and the functional part of the card.

I don’t have the greenery or the window dies that are used in the video, so I use the new Merry Mistletoe die set to decorate the window. The card is so cute!

Countdown to Christmas: Card 5 Nightlights

This is another card that I made during the Hero Arts Stamp-A-Long. Lydia Fiedler (@understandblue) taught us how to make a lovely representation of the aurora Borealis. A little side note – Lydia is a really great teacher. She is fun to watch and listen to, she is extremely creative, and she gives a lot of great tips along the way.

This card features Hero Arts Northern Lights Polar Bears Bundle. The bundle is sold out right now, however you can still get the stamp set. Or, the other option is to check back often. Hero Arts is really good about restocking so this is the right option for you if you want the dies.

Let’s start by spreading a thin layer of glitter paste over a piece of white cardstock with a palette knife. Then, set it aside to dry. Next, stamp the sentiment and the bears onto white cardstock. And then, either die-cut them or fussy cut them out.

Ink Blending

Now, we’re going to create the sky. We’ll begin by stamping the northern lights about a third of the way from the top. The stamp doesn’t reach clear across a card panel. If you’re cool with that, cool! But, you can extend it with an embossing pen if you want them to extend all the way. We’re heat embossing the northern lights with clear embossing powder.

Once that is done, we’re going to do some blending. This is where I took some creative liberty from what Lydia taught in her class. She had us create a mask by stamping the northern lights on mask paper and then cutting at the bottom edge. That way you create a very clean line between the dark sky below them and the beautiful colors of the lights.

I chose to let the heat embossing resist the colors I put down instead. It looks a little more realistic to me that way. The ink blending for the darker portion of the sky uses bright blue in the lower left corner. Then, purple above that reaching all the way up to the downward dip of the lights. And then, dark blue up to the bottom of the lights.

Northern Lights Blending

Then, for the lights about I used a photo of northern lights to help decide where to place the brighrer colors. And, I laid in bright green along the bottom edge in the center. Then, I added hot pink that kind of spread out and blended with bright blue on the left and purple on the right. And then I finished off the sky with dark blue again.

All that is left is to assemble the card. Being that it’s exactly how Lydia taught it I will defer you to the replay. You can find links to how to get it down under Card 3.

Countdown to Christmas: Card 4 Calm Christmas Santa

Being from Florida it is a given that I have to make a card like this. There is something about Santa on the beach that gets me every time! The card features the Calm Christmas stamp set from Whimsy Stamps.

We’re doing some ink blending for the background. Use mini blending brushes to achieve a mottled, uneven application of color. We’ll start with a medium tone brown ink for the sand. Following that we’ll add a thin layer of water with blue ink right on top of the sand. Then, we’ll use pink and blend it into the water to achieve dark purple where the water meets the sky. And finally, we’ll layer in a couple of tones of orange on top.

Coloring Countdown To Christmas Card #4

Next, we’ll do some stamping. I like to use a stamp positioning tool to ensure that I end up with crisp black lines. And, we’ll use my fav black ink, Obsidian pigment ink from Altenew. I use a combination of OLO markers and Copics to achieve the coloring that I am happy with.

I have listed all of the markers that I used on this card in the supplies list for this card. Just remember that you can get the best results by putting a piece of scrap cardstock underneath the panel that you are working on. You want to do this because it will keep the ink from bleeding. And, it’s also helpful to being with your darkest color and then pull it out with lighter tones in the same family.

For example, I use my darkest red marker right where santa’s little but is touching his chair. Then, I use little flicking motions with the next darkest red. And, repeat with the second lightest. Then, you will want to blend over all of the shorts with the lightest red.

Assembly

At this point, you will want to figure out how you are going to arrange everything on your card. You do this because you need to determine where to stamp your sentiment. Go ahead and stamp it. And now we can assemble the card.

First we’ll attach our card panel to a white A2 card base with a tape runner. Next, we’ll fussy cut out all of our images. And then, to give some dimension to our card we’ll glue the wind sock and the Do Not Disturb sign directly to the card front.

Then, we’ll pop up Santa in his chair with some foam tape. And we’ll use a double layer of foam tape for the drink.

Countdown to Christmas: Card 3 Peeking Elf

This is one of the cards that I created while attending the Hero Arts Holiday Stamp-Along November 4-5. If you haven’t ever attended a Stamp-Along I strongly recommend that you so. They have fantastic classes. And, Hero Arts offer the the actual events separate from products so that you can attend at a fantastic price point. And, they encourage you to find things in your stash that you can use to make the cards that are taught. However, they also offer a Stamp-Along Bundle with most of the products at a reduced price.

The event is over, but Hero Arts usually offers replays, so check back HERE if you are interested. And, you will find the bundle HERE.

This card was designed by @NicoleSpohrLLC who is extremely talented as you can tell from the card. Because I made this card just as it was taught in class I will defer you to the replay to learn how to make it. However, I am including the supply list that I used to make it for you.

Countdown to Christmas: Card 2 Bold Poinsettia Bloom

Surprise! Card 2 is actually a two-fer. The feature products are Lisa Horton’s Bold Poinsettia Bloom Layering Stencil set and her Christmas 3D Embossing Folder.

I love these cards so much! The image is huge and provides a soft, beautiful poinsettia with it’s greenery. And, the cards are so easy to make!

To make them, let’s start with a big square piece of white cardstock. Six inches square works perfectly because the embossing folder is 6″ x 6″. And, let’s put the cardstock inside of the embossing folder and run it through our die-cutting and embossing machine.

Next, we’re going to set up our Ulti-mate Making Tool. If you haven’t seen a tool like this before you should check it out. It helps with scoring and inking, but what is really special about it is how you use it for stenciling. For example, It has pegs built into it. And, the Lisa Horton stencils have holes in them that match up with the tool. As a result, you will get perfect results every time when you use them together.

We are using Gina K Designs carnation and spruce ink series to do our stenciling. And, we begin with the lightest color, blend in the medium color, and finish with the darkest.

Two-fer

Once the coloring is done, we’ll use the coordinating die to cut around the beautiful poinsettia.

At this point you can choose to make a large square card. However, I decide to go with two mini-slimlines. So, we’ll cut the poinsettia in half and then trim off any pieces that we don’t need on the card.

Then, we’ll fasten the two pieces to white mini-slimline (3 1/2″ x 6″) card bases with liquid glue.

And, to finish the card, we’ll heat emboss the pretty sentiment with silver embossing powder. And, to make the cards extra special, we’ll stamp “May the true spirit of Christmas shine in your heart and light your path” on the inside with a crisp black ink.

Countdown to Christmas: Card 1 Happy Holidays Wreath

The first card is a pretty 4 1/4″ x 4 1/4″ wreath card with poinsettias and festive greenery.

I find that small stamps work well on wreaths. And I like to use the Wreath Builder Template when making them. If you are new to wreath building, I strongly recommend that you check out Gina Krupsky’s YouTube channel. She has many videos that she has done on the topic.

You are welcome to copy my design if you like. But, the beauty of making a wreath this way is the personality that you bring to your cards. So I recommend that you try doing it on your own.

A couple of things that I like to do to keep the design interesting are:

• Introducing different tones of the same color, and;
• Stamp some stamps all eight times and others just stamp four times.

That is what I did on this card. For example, I just stamped the large poinsettia four times by stamping every other point on the wreath builder. Then you’ll note that I stamped the red circle all eight times.

Then, I like to stamp the sentiment in a different color to make it stand out. I use black for my card. And then, I use a tiny black border like Gina does to finish off the card.

Unfortunatly, I just discovered that the stamp set that I use for my first card isn’t available any more. But no worries, I’ve put a couple of great substitutes in the supply list that you can try.

Are You Interested In Seeing Some Of The Cards From Last Year?

Check out:

• HOW TO MAKE WISHING YOU PEACE CARD -23
• HOW TO MAKE AN ELEGANT DIE-CUT CARD – 19