2024 Holiday Series #6 | Sending Holiday Cheer

Hi friends!  For today’s holiday series installment, I decided to do some die cutting with a beautiful snowflake die set from Spellbinders called “Snowflake Card Creator” and an ornament from the Altenew “Lovely Ornaments” stamp and die set.   

The supplies used were:

Spellbinders Silver Treasured Cardstock – Glitter Metallic and Matte Metallic

Spellbinders “Snowflake Card Creator” Die Set

Altenew “Lovely Ornaments” Stamp and Die Set

Spellbinders “Festive Ornaments” Die Set (ornament topper)

Spellbinders / Simon Hurley 3D Embossing Folder “Sparkling Snow”

Simon Says Stamp “Christmas Wishes” Sentiment Strip

Pinkfresh Studios Navy Glitter Cardstock

Spellbinders Indigo Cardstock

Spellbinders Glimmer Foil – Silver

Nuvo Crystal Drops “Liquid Mercury”

Taylored Expressions Anti-Static Powder Tool

DMC Silver Diamant Thread

Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Ink

Brutus Monroe “Sterling” Embossing Powder

Heidi Swapp Mini Minc Machine (for foiling)

Wagner Heat Embossing Tool

Misti Original Stamp Positioning Tool

Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

I started today’s card by cutting a piece of Spellbinders Indigo cardstock to measure 5”x5” and cut a piece of Spellbinders Glitter Metallic cardstock from the Treasured Cardstock collection to measure 5-1/4” x 5-1/4”.  These two pieces will be used as my card front’s background.

Using the Spellbinders/Simon Hurley “Sparkling Snow” 3D Embossing Folder, I misted the 5”x5” Indigo cardstock with a little bit of water and placed it into the embossing folder and ran it through my Empress die cutting machine.  I removed the cardstock from the embossing folder and, once dry, I used tape runner to adhere the 3D embossed cardstock to the front of the Silver Glitter Metallic cardstock.

I created two snowflake die cuts using the large snowflake die from Spellbinders’ “Snowflake Card Creator” die set – one was cut from a previously splattered silver and white background piece of cardstock and the other was cut from Spellbinders Matte Silver cardstock from the Treasured Cardstock collection.  I placed liquid adhesive to the back side of the splattered cardstock snowflake and adhered it to the center of the embossed, indigo cardstock then placed liquid glue to the back of the matte silver metallic snowflake diecut and adhered it to the top of the last snowflake but twisted its orientation so they would be offset from one another. I carefully trimmed off any of the snowflake pieces that extended beyond my card front.

Next for the ornament.  I used my Misti and Altenew’s “Lovely Ornaments” stamp and die set and placed the stamp that looks like streamers on top of a scrap piece of gold matte cardstock and picked it up with my Misti door.  I inked the stamp with Simon Says Stamp’s clear embossing ink, applied a generous amount of anti-static powder to my cardstock, and stamped the impression onto the gold cardstock panel.  I used Brutus Monroe’s “Sterling” embossing powder and applied it to the embossing ink, tapped off the excess, and heat set it with my heat tool.  After the cardstock cooled, I used the circle die from the “Lovely Ornaments” die set to cut the gold, silver embossed cardstock with my die cutting machine.  Then I used a die from the “Lovely Ornaments” set that looked almost like dripping icing and die cut it from a piece of Pinkfresh Studios’ navy glitter cardstock.  I adhered the navy glitter die cut to the top of the gold ornament base using liquid glue.  I took a piece of silver DMC Diamant thread and tied it into a double bow (leave the tails long) and set that aside for the moment.  For the ornament topper, I wanted one that was more substantial than what came with the “Lovely Ornaments” die set, so I used the Spellbinders/Nichol Spohr “Festive Ornaments” dies and selected the two ornament topper pieces and cut the one with the base out of a scrap of silver metallic cardstock and the one with the hanger loop from some gold metallic cardstock.  I glued the metallic silver die cut on top of the metallic gold ornament topper die cut and held those two together with my reverse tweezers until they dried.  Once dried, I adhered the new ornament topper to the top of the navy/gold ornament and glued the silver thread bow to the top of the ornament hanger with liquid glue.  While the glue was drying on the bow, I decided to add some more texture to the ornament by adding Nuvo Crystal Drops “Liquid Mercury” to each of the little dots created with the embossing of the lower half of the ornament and set the ornament aside until all components were dry.

I selected the “Sending holiday cheer” sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp’s “Christmas Wishes” sentiment strips and used silver Spellbinders Glimmer Foil to add a metallic shine to the toner sentiment strip.  Once foiled, I added small, thin foam squares to the back of the sentiment strip.

I added thin foam squares to the back of the now dry ornament and adhered it to the center of my card front.  I removed the release paper from the foam squares on the back of my sentiment strip and adhered it to the lower center of the card front and that completed today’s card.

I hope you enjoyed the card and found inspiration for some of your own holiday projects!  Until next time… happy making!

2024 Holiday Series #5 | Let It Snow

Hi friends!  For today’s holiday series installment, I created a Copic-colored snowman cutie from AALL & Create’s “Snow Good” stamp set.   This project can also be found on my YouTube channel so you can watch the step-by-step construction process at https://www.youtube.com/@VeehattInspired .

The supplies used were:

X-Press It Blending Cardstock

AALL & Create “Snow Good” Stamp Set

Copic Alcohol Markers (colors listed below)

Spellbinders “Perfect Touch Rectangles and Tag” Die Set

Snowflake Pattern Cardstock (from an older Simon Says Stamp card kit)

Memory Box Open Studio “Holiday Wishes” Stamp Set

Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink Pad

  Gelly Roll Glaze Pen - Black

Gelly Roll White Pen

Gelly Roll Glitter Pen #705 

Scrapbook.com 1” 1mm Foam Adhesive Roll

Ranger Heat It Craft Tool

Misti Original Stamp Positioning Tool

Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

To begin the card, I used the largest die from Spellbinders’ “Perfect Touch Rectangles and Tag” die set and die cut a piece of X-Press It Blending Cardstock to serve as the base of my card front.  I chose this cardstock for the base so it will match the same tone of white I used for the decorative cardstock that I used for the Copic coloring.  I added adhesive to the back of this card panel and adhered it to my side-opening, A2 card base.

Next, I pulled a piece of snowflake pattern paper that I had in my stash that was included in a winter-themed card kit that I had purchased from Simon Says Stamp – but any snowy pattern paper or even stamped or embossed would work fine.  I trimmed the pattern paper to be 2” x 5-1/2” and adhered it to the left side of my card front.  I have some spools of thin, glittered washi tape that I bought a couple years ago from Amazon – I think they were intended for people to use on their fingernails, but of course we crafters see beyond the intended use!  I used the gold glittered roll of washi tape and ran a strip of it down the edge of the patterned cardstock on my card front.

I used the fifth largest die from the Spellbinders’ “Perfect Touch Rectangles and Tag” die set and die cut a piece of X-Press It Blending Cardstock… this will be the panel that I stamp and color with the Copics.

Using the Misti stamp positioner and Simon Says Stamp’s Intense Black ink, I stamped the snowman from AALL & Create’s “Snow Good” stamp set and the “Let It Snow” stamp from Memory Box’s “Holiday Wishes” stamp set onto the small X-Press It cardstock rectangle.  I heat set the ink to ensure it wouldn’t bleed when I began the Copic coloring.

For the Copic coloring:

    Stick arms – E25, E27

    Carrot nose – YR16, YR18, E08

    Eye – B15, B000, White Gel Pen

    Sock Hat & Scarf – RV02, RV13, RV14 and BG07, BG15, BG32, Gelly Roll #705

    Body – B000, B00

Once the coloring was completed, I added two strips of Scrapbook.com’s 1” 1mm foam adhesive to the back of the colored panel and adhered it to the center of the card front.  My final touch was to add black Gelly Roll Glaze pen details to the snowman’s eyes and buttons and some random white Gelly Roll accents on the snowman’s hat and scarf.

I hope you enjoyed the card and found inspiration for some of your own holiday projects!  Until next time… happy making!

2024 Holiday Series #4 | Joyeux Noel

Hi friends!  For today’s holiday series installment, I will be creating a lovely holiday card that includes some water coloring, diecutting, and stamping and would be a great card for mass producing.   This project can also be found on my YouTube channel so you can see the step-by-step construction process at https://www.youtube.com/@VeehattInspired .

The supplies used were:

Paul Rubens Hot Press Watercolor Paper

Masha’s Watercolor Paint “Dark Planet” (Etsy)

Silver Black Velvet ¾” Oval Watercolor Brush

Spellbinders “Festive Ornaments” Die Set

Gold and Silver Mirror Cardstock (small scraps will be sufficient)

Honey Bee Stamps “Lovely Layers: Party Frames” Die Set

Hero Arts “Nested Circle Infinity Dies”

Altenew Citrine Glitter Cardstock

Sizzix / Tim Holtz “Festive Gatherings” Die Set

Spellbinders “Fern” Cardstock

Spellbinders “Fog” Cardstock

Copic Marker – E27 (Milk Chocolate)

Spellbinders “Scored and Pierced Rectangles” Dies

Pinkfresh Studios “Day and Night” Gem Embellishments

Picket Fence Studios “Swanky Christmas Sentiments” Stamp Set

VersaFine Clair “Nocturne” Pigment Ink Pad

DMC Diamant Gold Cord/Thread

Scrapbook.com 1” 1mm Foam Adhesive Roll

Misti Original Stamp Positioning Tool

Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

To get started, I taped a piece of Paul Rubens hot press watercolor paper to a hard board using blue masking tape.  I used a Silver Black Velvet ¾” oval watercolor brush and applied clean water liberally across the watercolor paper.  I added a few drops of water to a pan of Masha’s Watercolors “Dark Planet” granulating watercolor paint and used a smaller watercolor brush to add the paint to my watercolor palette.  I used the ¾” oval brush to absorb some of the watercolor paint and began using a left-to-right method to the brush to apply the paint to the wet watercolor paper.  I used my heat tool to mostly dry the panel, then repeated the process to add another layer of the Dark Planet paint.  You could set this aside to dry, but I chose to use the heat tool to dry the panel again (since I’m inpatient!).

Once the watercolor panel was dry, I used the eighth smallest circle die from the Hero Arts “Nested Circle Infinity Dies” die set and diecut a circle from the watercolored panel.  This will be the base of my Christmas ornament.  I also used the two ornament topper dies from Spellbinders’ “Festive Ornaments” die set and cut one from gold mirror cardstock and one from silver mirror cardstock.  I glued the two topper pieces together and then glued them to the top of the watercolored ornament die cut.

For decorating the ornament, I used the Honey Bee Stamps “Lovely Layers: Party Frames” die set and die cut the star from Altenew Citrine glitter cardstock and glued the star to the center of my ornament die cut.  To add a touch of bling, I glued eleven clear gems from Pinkfresh Studios’ “Day and Night” gemstones to the outer ring of the ornament.

For the fir branches, I used the Sizzix/Tim Holtz “Festive Gatherings” die set and die cut the fir branch twice from Spellbinders “Fern” cardstock.  I colored the actual branch (wood) piece of this die with my Copic E27 (Milk Chocolate) alcohol marker.  I adhered the branch die cut to the fir die cut using liquid adhesive.

I created the card front panel using the largest die from Spellbinders’ “Scored and Pierce Rectangles” die set and die cut it from Spellbinders “Fog” cardstock.  I placed the Fog panel into my Misti stamp positioning tool and stamped the “joyeux noel” sentiment from Picket Fence Studios’ “Swanky Christmas Sentiments” onto the lower center of the card front using VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink.  I adhered the Fog cardstock panel to a white, A2, side folding card base using Scrapbook.com’s 1mm foam adhesive roll strips. 

After positioning the fir branches and ornament in the locations I chose for the layout, I used a piece of Glad Press ‘n Seal to pick up the arrangement and began applying glue to the back sides of the fir branches.  Once the glue was applied, I turned over the Press ‘n Seal and hovered it above my card front until I reached the proper placement and glued the fir branches to the card front and trimmed off any that extended beyond the card base.

I placed pieces of 1mm foam adhesive to the back of the ornament, ran a small piece of gold cord from the ornament hanger to the fir branches and then removed the release paper from the foam adhesive to adhere the ornament in the center of the card.  I tacked the free ends of the gold cording to the branches using glue and held it in place with a pair of reverse tweezers until dry.  Lastly, I tied a bow out of the same gold cord and glued it onto the top of the ornament hanger (holding it in place with reverse tweezers until dry). Finished!

I hope you enjoyed the card and found inspiration for some of your own holiday projects!  Until next time… happy making!