This month I'm featuring a Christmas in July series to help you get a head start on your handmade Christmas cards. Each week, I'll share a simple card, that's easy to reproduce. Consider using it as inspiration for creating a batch of Christmas cards to help you put some "handmade" into your Christmas this year! Look for the printable project sheet below!
I'm kicking off the Christmas in July card series with a fun, easy card that uses the snowflake dies from the Chic dies set. This beautiful set of high-quality steel cut dies and the corresponding stamp set are a great, year-round stable for your craft room. I also used the Brightest Glow stamp set for the sentiment. Both products are available in the 2023-24 Stampin' Up! catalog.
For some extra fun, I used the Artistic Mix Decorative Masks, a blending brush and some Pool Party ink to create an interesting backdrop for those gold snowflakes, which I cut out of the Distressed Gold 12x12 Specialty Paper. The luster on this paper is so festive!
You can watch the video HERE, to see how I created that stenciled background panel using the decorative mask and to see how this card came together.
At the end of the video I also share a card I made using the same basic layout, but instead of the stenciled background, I use a piece of the One Horse Open Sleigh 6x6 Desigenr Series Paper, which is one of the new Stampin' Up! ONLINE EXCLUSIVES. This gorgeous DSP is not only great for wintery, Christmas cards, but the neutral patterns on the reverse side are AMAZING for year-round card-making. The patterns are soft, subtle and just the right scale for the front of the card when you want to add a little pattern, but not too much.
Here is a look at that alternative card using the DSP instead of the stenciled panel. I love the wintery fox looking up at the falling snow. It feels so quiet and peaceful to me. I swapped out the red Designer Paper in the background for a Pool Party pattern because the red of the paper was competing with the rusty fox. I added a circle die cut for the sentiment because it fit better on a circle and the mat behind the fox layer is crumb cake, for a little interest. The gems I used in both cards are called the Opaque Adhesive-backed Gems and they are now retired, (which I didn't realize as I was crafting this up), however any of the current gems offered by Stampin' Up! would work just as well so feel free to substitute and enjoy your results!
I know personally, I'm going to make an effort to get 10 cards created in this design, using the stenciled background, and that will put me on the way to reaching my 50 card goal by November 1.
I hope these cards have inspired you in some way, even if you aren't into the whole "Christmas in July" theme! Please feel free to comment or reach out with any questions!
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SHOP HERE during the Bonus Days event this month, and start earning those $5 coupons!!
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