Scrapping by Design

Those Christmas cards from the CST group are still coming.

This beautiful silver and blue card features snowflake embossing on the metallic blue paper and a swirly embossing on the silver paper.

The star at the card top is a punched shape, I think, and the Merry Christmas is stamped in blue ink.

Another interesting feature of this card was the gorgeous envelope it came in. The envelope is hand made out of a calendar. The outside has an attractive design that could be any kind of paper, but when you open it you can see the calendar boxes inside.

I plan to save calendar pictures to make envelopes from now on. What a great idea.

Thanks to Melanie Wortman for making and sending this lovely Christmas card.

This morning’s mail brought this lovely snowflake Holiday card from another member of the CST (Canadian Stamp Talk) group.

This card is done on navy card stock. The outer snowflakes are stamped.

The medallion shape in the middle is a type of paper cutting. I’m not familiar with it — perhaps this is a die cut, or perhaps it is hand cut. Either way, it is intricate and lovely.

Tiny silver star stickers appear around the edges of the circle.

Thanks so much for this lovely hand made Christmas card.

Yesterday, I received this lovely Christmas card from Ardelle McFarland, a member of the Canadian Stamp Talk (CST) Yahoo group. We are participating in a Holiday card exchange.

As always, Ardelle’s card is perfection. It combines  Cuttlebug embossing, a Spellbinder Nestability shape, stamped images, a small punch art flower with a beaded center and striped ribbon. The inside is just as lovely.

All elements in this card are perfectly color coordinated. Even the gray and maroon striped ribbon is an exact match of the card stock and the stamping ink.

Thank you Ardelle! Yours was the first card to arrive.

I made this snowman card for the Holidays at a Make N’ Take at Making Memories with Scrapbooking in Burnaby on Friday.

It’s quite a delightful little card. The scan does not do it justice.

The snowman shape is a punch, and the paper is a lovely blue shade — not black as it appears here.

The white border is also a punch.  The scalloped circle is cut with a  Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Circles Die Template.

The words “Merry Christmas” and the tiny silver stars are silver  Outlines stickers.

This Snowman card is already in the mail for a certain young man to accompany his Christmas present

We made this Thomas Kincaid Christmas Card with Burnished Velvet Glitter at Clipper Street Scrapbook Company open house. The scene is one of the Thomas Kincaid Christmas scenes, stamped in black ink.

We covered the stamped image with burnished velvet glitter. If you aren’t familiar with this technique, please refer to my video demonstration of Burnished Velvet Glitter.

We didn’t color any part of the stamped scene, but some of the demo cards in the store had been spot colored with  Copic Sketch Markers.  They were stunning.

I didn’t buy the Thomas Kincaid stamp because last year I made about 35 holiday cards featuring a snow covered house. Still, the stamps are lovely.

These Christmas cards (0r Holiday) cards are easy to make, eco-friendly and economical. They can be quite attractive too, depending of course on your choice of papers and embellishments. They can also be considered “altered art” since essentially I altered an existing object to make them.

I used a box of Christmas cards from the Dollar Store, but recycled cards from last year would work well. Naturally, you can make from scratch if you want to cut card stock and fold it in half.

The papers I used are scraps from my stash, left over gift wrapping paper from last year and scraps of attractive paper that arrived in the mail.

Embellishments are stamped images, ribbon (gift wrap ribbon from last year), stickers, bits of lace and rick rack, buttons, paper flowers cut with a craft punch, hand journaling and pretty much anything else you want to use.

Here are seven cards made from the same design:

Here is a video demonstrating how to make the card. If you’re an experienced paper crafter, I doubt if you will find anything new in it, but if you are new to card making and crafting, perhaps you’ll be interested.

This season,  I plan on saving my Christmas cards that I receive and recycling them next year, as well as any salvageable gift wrap, stickers and ribbons that come into my home over the holiday season.

I made these two holiday cards using 3-layer clear acrylic stamps. Its the Snowscape package from the Autumn Leaves collection from Stampology.

I made the first one at a make and take at Making Memories with Scrapbooking in Vancouver. I purchased the stamp set there as well.

The stamp set contains 12 acrylic stamps, which can be layered to create four individual stamped images. One set creates the tree tag that you see in the card above. The second creates a scalloped circle with a bird, the third set makes a layered snowflake and the last set creates a founded rectangle forming the word snow against a background of snowflakes.

Here is a video tutorial showing how I made the card using the layered acrylic stamps.

I made several different versions of these cards, all featuring the same layered acrylic stamped element. It’s a great way for using up scraps of paper and card stock as well.

This hand made holiday card uses three-dimensional (3-D) stamped elements — one of my favorite looks. I also like the old fashioned winter scene with the house surrounded by snowbanks and trees.

The house and two trees are three-dimensional, created by layering stamped elements.

Shopping List

Chestnut Lane stamp by GCS Artstamps

Wishing You Joy stamp by Kolette Hall

Santa Silhouette by A Muse Artstamps

Red and Green Glaze Pens

Diamond or Clear Glitter Glue

Blue Glitter Glue

White dimensional glue

Art Brown dye ink from Memories

Powder Blue Chalk Ink

Blue ribbon

3-D dots or adhesive

Trimming Scissors

White Paper

Here is the Video Tutorial for this stamped Holiday Card.

I have named this card White Christmas.

This snowman holiday card is stamped on acetate and layered over blue scrapbook paper and three shades of blue card stock. It’s a Make and Take from Making Memories craft store in Burnaby, BC. Thanks gals! I love this card.

Here’s how to make one similar:

Shopping List:

• Acetate
  Medium blue card stock
  Dark blue card stock
  Light Blue Card Stock
  Blue scrapbook paper, perhaps with a snowy design
  Snowman stamp
  Snowflake stamps
  Sentiment Stamp for the inside
  Black Stazon ink
  Opaque White Stazon ink
  Blue Stazon Ink
  Sponge dabber (optional)

Method

1. Cut a rectangle of acetate (or page protector) that is 8 3/8 inches by 3 5/8 inches.  Fold this in half using a bone folder to make the crease.  This is your card.

2. On the front of the acetate card, stamp a snowman using Stazon Black ink. Note that you must use a solvent ink like Stazon. Pigment inks or die inks will not stick to acetate. Position the snowman off center, towards the right edge of the card, and up from the bottom about an inch.

3. Cut a piece of medium blue card stock that is 3 7/8 inches by 3 3/8 inches. Using adhesive or tape, affix this to the BACK of the back of the acetate card. The right side of the card stock should be facing out, if it has a right side.

4. Cut a piece of blue scrapbook paper that is slightly smaller than the blue card stock. Using tape of adhesive, tape it down on the INSIDE of the acetate card, on the right side of the middle crease.

5. Cut a rectangle of dark blue cardstock that is 4 1/4 by 1 1/4 inches long. Tear along one of the lengths unevenly, representing snow piled up. Tape or glue this to the BACK of the acetate card front.  From the front, it will appear that the snowman is OVER the dark snow.

6. Cut a rectangle of light blue card stock, the same size as the dark blue strip that you cut in step five. Tear along the long edge to represent snow.  Tear this so it is less tall than the dark blue cardstock. Affix it to the FRONT of the acetate card, positioning it so it does not cover the snowman.

6. Using Opaque White Stazon ink, and using a sponge dabber, dab white ink over the snowman. Dab white opaque ink along the outside edges of the acetate.

7. Using small snowflake stamps and blue Stazon, stamp a few snow flakes on the front of the acetate card.

8. Using the same blue Stazon, stamp a sentiment on the inside of the card, over the blue scrapbook paper. The one on this card reads, “Let it Snow.”

This hand made Christmas card is sooo much nicer in real life than it is in this picture. The real thing is stunning.

Excuse the lack of modesty, but I have to say, this is my all-time favorite card that I have ever made. It wasn’t easy to get it right. I made several trial runs before I decided I was happy with the end result.

The Little Drummer Boy Card makes full use of three-dimensional layering, stamping, heat embossing, precision cutting and glitter.   When you make it with richly colored card stock, then heat emboss with gold embossing power and then trim with ultra fine red glitter and green glitter, and then assemble with 3-D adhesives  — you truly have something to brag about.

It’s made with one of those amazing stamps from Holly Berry House. This is Stamp Number 1568. Holly Berry House sells it from their online store if your local stamp shop doesn’t carry it.

A few years ago, I took a class to learn how to work with Holly Berry House stamps. They’re challenging until you see how to go about it. If you’re interested, I have a video tutorial for this Drummer Boy Christmas card at this link.