Hi everyone!  Vicki here with you today using a few dies from the Memory Box Holiday 2019 Release.  I am in the midst of my first ever Holiday Card Series, "Twelve Days of Holiday Cards" so this post is doing double duty today.  I was not sure what to create for today's card, so as I often do when I don't have a set project in mind, I grabbed a few dies that I've been wanting to work with and sat down to see what happened when I played around a bit.  

Starting with a panel of Cougar Super Smooth Digital White Cardstock, I used the Starry Burst Die to cut and emboss the panel. I'm sorry it's so hard to see the embossed detail but you'll be able to see it below in the supplies list.  As you can see in the photo below, this cuts very small stars from the center of the embossed bursts.  Because I also wanted to combine it with the Holiday Heart Star from the most recent Holiday Release, I took the smallest die from the Shining Star Die Set and centering it carefully over each burst, I die cut these star openings to be larger.  I misted it all over with some clear shimmer mist and some gold shimmer mist, both from Imagine Crafts.

I like to use Frog Tape for Delicate Surfaces.  I know a lot of folks like to use Washi Tape, but in my experience, it tears my paper every time.  And purple tape I find to be too expensive for as much die cutting as I do. My roll is about an inch wide, so I tear off a piece and then tear that piece in half longways. Plus I can use the same piece about 20 times before I have to replace it.  As you can see, I'm not using too much at once.  I bought my roll about 3 years ago and still have more than half of it left.  It's easy to find on Amazon.  

So I have five larger star openings after I die cut all of the stars in this way onto my panel.  To create dimension, I put foam tape all over the backside, including all four sides and all the spaces in-between so it wouldn't sag in the middle. I added a gold glitter panel behind the stars which gave it instant dimension. 

Next, I started playing with the Holiday Heart Star and the middle-sized Shining Star Die to see if I wanted white to be the top or bottom layer.  I liked the white for the bottom layer, so I went all over the white star piece with my Spectrum Noir Shimmer Pen.  Then I die cut the top layer using the Holiday Heart Star in Gold Glitter Cardstock.

I love to take the fun little bits and pieces from the dies, which in this case are the little hearts, and see if I can find a way to use them on my card.  I added one of the little hearts to the center opening of the Holiday Heart Star.  I still had lots of little hearts left so I cut a few more of the white stars in the smallest size and one of the next size up from the same Gold Glitter.  I adhered a heart in the center of each star and to one of those, I added that third layer of gold glitter on one of the white stars.  

Next, I figured out the placement I wanted to use for this card and placed a double thickness of foam tape behind each one of them.  The upper right-hand star sits down in the opening of that star so it doesn't pop up as much as the others.  I played around until I had a placement I liked while not covering up too much of the background stars. 

When I finished all of that, I still had a few little gold glitter hearts, so I grouped three of them and glued them directly to the card panel.  I think this is a fun card that could be used for a birthday card or a New Year's card as well, so I opted not to put a sentiment on at this time.  

Each year for the last 18 years or so, some friends of ours in Dallas host a New Year's Party at their home, kids included.  I worked with both of them at the same telecommunications company and we were all working on Y2K stuff.  Bill now works at the same company as my husband.  While I was taking care of my grandson, Charlie, all the time before he started school, Andrea and Bill were having their first child whose birthday is just 10 days after Charlie's.  So Andrea and I spent a good deal of time together letting the boys play while we chatted.  Those boys turn 19 in January, and I worked with them a few years before that, so we have known each other for more than 20 years.  We really enjoy it!  We play Pictionary Guys vs. Girls and we girls always win!  There's a group of about 40 of us, maybe more.  I am planning on saving this card to give them on that occasion!

I hope you enjoyed this fun little change of pace card.  It was fun to sit down with a few dies in mind and see if I could figure out how to use them together.  Thank you so much for stopping by today.  Don't forget to stop over at my blog and leave a comment for your chance to win one of the 12 prizes up for grabs during my "Twelve Days of Holiday Cards" series!  

 

Supplies

 

94320 Holiday Heart Star craft die

94321 Shining Star Set craft die

30086 Rectangle Basics Set

94356 Starry Burst craft die

A bright felt Feathered Friend perched on a layered Jovial Wreath creates a lighthearted Thanksgiving card today.  Most Thanksgiving cards are quite serious - this one will make you smile!  Here's the message on the inside...

Hi, Jean Okimoto here with a fall card with a sense of humor.  The new Mini Vintage Varsity Alphabet set is perfectly-sized for the greeting.  Diecutting it is easy too.  There are 4 of each letter on this great die - you'll cut everything you need with a single run thru the machine.  That's a lot better than fidgeting with each letter - and having to cut additional repeating letters. 

Cut the bird and beak from felt and cut the wing from the stripes in the Dashing Holiday 6x6 set. Borrow the eye die from the Feathered Friends owl - cut it from dark brown cardstock.  Leave the tiny beak and eye diecuts in the die until you're ready to attach them.  

Cut Jovial Wreath twice from Candy Corn cardstock.  

Cut "thankful"  from green and metallic brown cardstock.  

Cut a 3-½" square of the dark green striped Dashing Stripes and Dots 6x6 sheet.  

Cut the accent strips - ¾" x 4" (Candy Corn) and ¾" x 3-¼" (lighter green dots from the Dashing Stripes and Dots 6x6 sheet).

Attach the diecuts to an A-6 (4-½" x 6-¼") recycled Kraft card.  Attach the Mini Vintage Varsity letters on the inside - start in the center of each line and work outwards.  Use a credit card or T-ruler to keep the letters in line.  

Create unique messages with the Mini Vintage Varsity Alphabet - it would be hard to find an "I am not a turkey" stamp!

Special thanks to everyone from Saturday's GRATEFUL - FALL GREETINGS class at Impress!  Hope you liked the origami maple leaf - and mix of colors, papers, dies and stamps. Thanks for the cute pumpkin spice lollipop treats Jan.   Thanks for the caramel/cheddar popcorn and cookies Jenny - and thanks for the imported candies Jacky!  Thanks for helping us fill those shopping baskets again Ann, Erin and Lynne.  Lots of thanks here - this card says it all!

If you're in the Seattle area - join us for the MERRY POP-INS class at Impress this Saturday afternoon.  We're making special cards with little extras on each design.  More like pop-ons than pop-ins, but I wanted a fun class title.

Thanks for visiting - see you again this weekend!

Supplies

 

30102 Feathered Friends craft die

94076 Thankful Jotted Script craft die

94305 Jovial Wreath craft die

94342 Mini Vintage Varsity Alphabet craft die

PP1002 Dashing Stripes and Dots 6x6 pack

PP1001 Dashing Holiday 6x6 pack

Hello everyone.  I made my very first nativity theme Christmas card to share today!  I actually set out to create a clean and simple (CAS) card, but as you can see, I failed miserably and the card just took on a life of its own. 😂

Started by die cutting a rectangle from light blue cardstock using Basics Rectangle. Dry embossed the Drop Nativity die to use the impression as a guide to die cut the Starry Burst background around it.

Ink blended Mermaid Lagoon and Blueprint Sketch distress inks (di) in circles around the stars.  Made sure to leave the stars/center area untouched to get that glow effect.  I should have stopped here to keep it CAS, but then decided to ink blend Chipped Sapphire di over a cloud edge stencil on the bottom.  For some texture and interest, added white gouache paint splatters.  Set aside to dry.

The Drop Nativity was then die cut from Bristol paper.  Keeping all the parts of the die-cut together, ink blended Squeezed Lemonade and Scattered Straw di to color the inside stitched ray area.  Didn’t matter that the image outline was inked too because it was going to be colored with a black Copic marker.  For some sparkle, inked the inside yellow portion with VersaMark and heat embossed with clear glitter embossing powder.  

To make the holy star at the top of the drop stand out, it was die cut from silver foil paper and added over top.  The custom sentiment was created with the Mini Vintage Varsity Alphabet.  It was die cut from Bristol paper and each letter was doubled up for some dimension.  Didn’t want them to compete with or get lost in the white splatters, so adhered the letters on a torn strip of vellum to finish.

That is all for today.  Thank you for stopping by.

Supplies

 

94313 Drop Nativity craft die

94356 Starry Burst craft die

94342 Mini Vintage Varsity Alphabet craft die

30086 Rectangle Basics Set

Hello everyone, today I have a simple card that's made with a few dies and a stamp.

I took a piece of patterned paper from the new 6"x 6" paper pad, and die cut the Holly Double Arch in the center of the card front. I glued this to a slightly smaller piece of white cardstock and adhered it to a black cardstock mat. I used foam adhesive to glue that to a white card base.

Next I die cut the word "merry" from red cardstock and glued this in the center of the card.

I masked off the word merry from a sentiment stamp, and stamped the remainder of the sentiment onto black cardstock.  I white heat embossed the sentiment and adhered it to my card front using foam adhesive.  

To finish the card, I added some red rhinestones to the die cut. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

 

Supplies

 

94307 Holly Double Arch craft die

PP1001 Dashing Holiday 6x6 pack

94331 Merry Airy Script craft die

I found a lovely new plastic-wrapped shadowbox on the white elephant table at a holiday fair this past weekend and decided to use it for my post today incorporating lots of patterned papers and die cuts.  I wanted to use the Twas the Night washi tape to set the theme and came up with this Christmas Eve scene.

Patterned Papers

• Cranberry Gingham
• Licorice Distressed Dots
• Gray Stripe from Dashing Stripes and Dots
• Red/Black Plaid from Dashing Holiday

Washi Tape

• Twas the Night Wide Washi Tape WT501

Dies

• Pine Tree Hill 94295
• Snowy Cabin Circle 94332
• Sparkling Snowflake Trio 94287
• Scalloped Stocking 94327

My shadowbox measures 8 X 8 so I cut a piece of the Cranberry Gingham that size and used Scor-Tape to attach it to the cardboard backing that came with the shadowbox.  Then I took some heavy white cardstock and cut the Pine Tree Hill several times.  I used dimensional foam tape to attach the trees to the bottom edge of the backing, staggering them, cutting them apart, and stacking them for a forest effect.

I cut the Snowy Cabin Circle from more of the white cardstock.  I also cut it from Licorice Distressed Dots paper and from gray striped paper.  I also cut a small piece of black paper to go behind the windows once I punched them out.  You can see in this next photo how I put the cabin pieces together on the gingham backing and added the three white cardstock snowflakes.

I put some of the Twas the Night washi tape on a piece of white cardstock and cut it with the Scalloped Stocking die.  I added a cuff and toe cut from the red/black plaid paper.  I placed that on the left with two stacked layers of foam tape, tucking the toe just a bit behind the trees.

Here's the piece before popping it in the shadowbox behind the glass.

Now that I have placed this piece inside the frame under the glass I can see how much more room I have for adding other embellishments. 

I'm hoping to find a small silhouette of Santa and the reindeer-driven sleigh to place in the sky above the cabin.  I'm pretty sure I have a tiny sleeping mouse to tuck into the lower righthand corner.  (One of my tabletop Christmas trees just has mice on it.)  Because I doubled the foam tape behind the stocking I can add a candy cane and maybe a small toy, and I think I will stack some little gift-wrapped presents on the bottom ledge.  Guess I'll have to put this by the fireplace with Santa's cookies and milk on Christmas Eve!

Happy Crafting!

 

 

Hello there! Michelle here, sharing an autumn card.  Today I focused on the stamp set Grateful Autumn.

Acorns are my most favorite fall item!  I started on the base of the card.  I embossed kraft cardstock background with

Wow embossing powder in metallic copper sparkle powder.  Than I splattered some white diluted paint.

I embossed several leaves and acorns and colored them with Copic Markers.  I added the Copic shades on my blog.

Trim up your leaf/ acorn combos and adhere them with foam tape.

Lastly, I embossed the sentiments with black embossing powder, trimmed them up and adhered them with foam tape.

For a finishing touch I scattered some gems.

Hope you enjoy! Thanks for stopping by!

 

Supplies

 

CL5243 Grateful Autumn clear stamp set

Hello fellow papercrafters!

Recently I have been obsessed with Distress Oxide Sprays and found time to make a video using them! 

I can't get enough color and texture on my backgrounds as of late and these sprays create such an eye catching look. I am using some favorites from the Holiday 2019 Collection to make a collage style card - and the sprays helped pull things together in a flash.

(Watch this video in HD by clicking here)

The key is to experiment and add LOTS of layer s of sponged ink, oxide sprays and some metallic splatter. Have fun!

Collage Candle Card

Memory Box Dies
94336 Bauble Snowflake Corner 
94338 Mini Vintage Varsity Peace 
94288 Gilded Taper Candle
94340 Antique Greenery Label 

Distress Oxide Sprays
Broken China 
Mowed Lawn 
Peacock Feathers 
Twisted Citron 

Distress Oxide Ink
Peacock Feathers
Wild Honey

Distress Ink
Vintage Photo

Embellishments
Gansai Tambi Watercolors 
Starry Color paints 

 

Hi friends and visitors! I am here with a post featuring just a couple of Memory Box Dies for a variety of holiday cards. These are very simple cards that you can put together if you're still needing more for your Holiday Greeting Card Stash. They are simple but elegant and very easy to make. I have lots of photos of examples for you as well.

I started by die cutting several of the Ornate Holly Swirls from Gold Foiled Cardstock and a few silver as well. I also cut an equal number of the Joy Airy Script die-cut words for these cards. I added the berries using some Glossy Pearls from Little Things From Lucy's Cards in Watermelon (pink) and Berry, and Ranger Liquid Pearls in the color "Juniper". Just by changing up the cardstock and placement of the die-cuts, it gave me a wide variety of looks.

This card uses Gold Foiled Cardstock, Red Satin Cardstock and a white card base. The berries are Glossy Berry Mix from Lucy's Pearls.

My next card uses a gold shimmer cardstock for the card base with a Red Satin Mat and Moss Green Shimmer Metallic Cardstock front panel. The placement of the dies is pretty much the same as in the first card.

This card also uses the Glossy Berry Pearls from Lucy's. One thing you have to be very careful of when working with die cut is the glue. Especially on the satin cardstock that I like to use, the glue can be visible if you get a little too much. I use Ranger Multi Medium Matte or Gina K Connect Glue.

Next up is a card that uses a Blue Satin Cardstock for the front panel, but white cardstock for the card base. This particular card uses Silver Foiled Cardstock for the die cut word and the Ranger Liquid Pearls in Juniper for the berries. I use the Memory Box Rectangle Basics Dies to cut all of my panels.

With the change in the placement of the die cuts, it looks very different than it would with gold. While you know how much I love gold if you've been here before, you know I don't use a lot of silver. But sometimes its just what looks best to my eye.

This card features a pale aqua card front panel on a pink card base and Gold Foiled Cardstock. The Pink is Pale Peony from Papertrey Ink. The aqua is Stardream Metallic in Aquamarine from PaperPapers.com. I get nearly all of my shimmer cardstock from them.

The pearls are Glossy Watermelon from Little Things from Lucy's Cards. I love to use this color combination at Christmas Time. I finally gave in a got myself a Crystal Katana because my Jewel Picker only works a few times before it quits picking up jewels or pearls. So that makes this go a lot faster than using tweezers or a Jewel Picker. I just put a dot of liquid adhesive and then apply the pearl or jewel on top for a couple of seconds and then it releases very easily without moving it.

I have a lot of friends that I know because of the industry I work in and I love sending them a personal Holiday Card that is meant for them and not necessarily for their family in those cases where I don't know the rest of the family or if they happen to be single.

This particular card is done on Curious Metallic Lagoon Cardstock on a Rose Quartz Shimmer Cardstock. I had to buy the Rose Quartz in an enormous quantity (100 Sheets) to get it as no one had the specific color I was looking for on a special project I did. I found it somewhere on Amazon, but I couldn't tell where and its no longer available. Simon Says Stamp has some Tonic Papers that look similar in color if you want that really specific Mauve-y color. I again used Silver for this card with Ranger Liquid Pearls in Juniper.

Next up is this card done in three shades of shimmer metallic cardstock; Aquamarine, Lagoon and Peacock with gold Foiled Cardstock die-cuts. Glossy Watermelon Pearls make for a Beautiful combination.

Many of the Memory Box dies have lots of details in the die cuts like the ones in these holly leaves.

This card style would work for a variety of seasonal cards. I have a few people in my life who don't celebrate Christmas but do celebrate the season and this type of card works great for those folks. You can change up the colors for mail or female versions of this card.

My last card for this post is the same dies with a different type of variation to share. As I was doing all of my die cutting, I lost track of how many pieces of Gold Ornate Holly that I had cut, so having an extra, I changed it up and made a 4 x 8.5 inch card. I really like how this card turned out and hope to have time for a few more.

For this card, I used Lavender Moon Cardstock from Papertrey Ink along with White Linen Cardstock for the front panel, also from Papertrey Ink. I popped it up on a layer of Foam Tape and stacked the die cut word for a thicker embellishment.

I hope I gave you lots of ideas for how to do a quick change up so that if you want to use the same elements but have your cards each look slightly different you can easily achieve that. Change the color, change the size or orientation, or the embellishments. By doing this, each card still keeps that handmade uniqueness for the recipient.

 

 

Supplies

 

94285 Ornate Holly craft die

94325 Joy Airy Script craft die

30086 Rectangle Basics Set

 

Looking for another way to use the new wide washi tapes?  Layer Twas the Night Wide Washi Tape over soft pink for a holiday card in frosty winter pastels.   Add a pair of Shining Stars cut from the Dashing Holiday 6x6 Set - then make it a trio with a star cut from silver glittered craft foam.  Hello, Jean Okimoto here with a quick card in pinks and grays.  

Attach Twas the Night tape to medium pink cardstock and cut a  3" square.  The Square Basics set is temporarily unavailable from Memory Box - but your Retailer may have some.  

Cut the stars from the gray prints in the Dashing Holiday 6x6 Set and glittered craft foam.  

Cut Joy Airy Script from light pink cardstock and white cardstock.  

Score, cut and fold a 5-½" square card of textured gray cardstock.  Assemble the card and add clear gem stickers.

Create a simple, versatile layout like this design - then experiment with different colors, prints, greetings and accents. You'll be surprised at how easy it is to make a stash of cards for the holidays.

Big thanks to everyone from Monday's MERRY+QUICK class at Impress - and thank you for the turkey-shaped pumpkin bars Robin!  Hope you liked the easy cards - and that super-easy folded tree.  Thanks for helping everyone fill their shopping baskets Ann and Shari.  We're having another MERRY+QUICK class on November 30 - join us if you're in the Seattle area on Thanksgiving weekend.

Two new classes on the 16th - GRATEFUL - FALL GREETINGS and MERRY POP-INS. Noticed new names on the class list - looking forward to meeting our new Memory Box/Poppystamps/Birch Press Designs fans - and seeing everyone on Satuday!

Thanks for visiting - see you again next week...

 

Supplies

 

PP1001 Dashing Holiday 6x6 pack

94321 Shining Star Set craft die

WT501 Twas the Night Wide Washi Tape

94325 Joy Airy Script craft die

30087 Circle Basics Set

Hello there.  I have a clean and simple Christmas card to share today.  I’m a big fan of alphabet dies and as I mentioned in my last post, I love the Vintage Varsity Alphabet die.  They are a good size with beautiful stitching details.  I especially love pairing it with the Merry Christmas Noted Script die as I’ve done here.

Started by die cutting a light gray piece of cardstock with the second largest die from Rectangle Basics.  Took the necessary letter dies to spell “merry” and lined them up on a piece of painter’s tape sticky side up.  For the second “r”, used the letter “p” to help with the spacing... but removed it before die cutting from the gray panel.  Repeated the die cutting for the second “r”.

Adhered the panel to a white top folding card base then die cut all letters again from Bristol paper.  Applied Blueprint Sketch distress ink with a blender brush to the tops of the letters, then covered them with VersaMark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  Inlaid the letters into the gray panel.  Oh, forgot to mention to keep the gray centers of the “r’s” for this step.  

The Christmas script sentiment was die cut three times.  Twice from Bristol paper, once from blue foil cardstock, and then all were stacked for dimension.  Added the three snowflakes die cut from Bristol paper to finish.

I love blue and non-traditional colour Christmas cards so I think this would look great in other fun colours.  That’s it for today.  Thank you for dropping by.  Have a wonderful week.

 

Supplies

 

94341 Vintage Varsity Alphabet craft die

94357 Merry Christmas Noted Script craft die

94287 Sparkling Snowflake Trio craft die

30086 Rectangle Basics Set