Hedgehog Thank You Card

Hello and thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone had a very happy Christmas, however it was celebrated this year. I’m finding myself very much in need of some thank you cards at the moment, and luckily the Hedgehog with Gifts stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs has come to my rescue. There are so many great sentiments in this set, and I just couldn’t decide which ones to use, so I used them all! *Big grin*

I started my card by making two rows of sentiments in my stamp positioner and then stamped with Versamark ink onto my card front that I had used an anti-static powder bag on. I started at the top of my card, and then just shifted my card front up in my stamp positioner to stamp the next two lines. Once the whole card front was stamped, I added white embossing powder and heat set it. Then I ink blended the background with Distress Oxide inks in Rustic Wilderness, Evergreen Bough, Twisted Citron, and a little Speckled Egg. From white cardstock, I die cut a semi-circle and a strip of cardstock for my sentiment. I ink blended these with Speckled Egg and a little Rustic Wilderness around the edges.  I again, stamped and white heat embossed the sentiment on the strip of cardstock. 

I chose two of the three hedgehogs in this adorable stamp set and one of the gifts. When I googled hedgehogs, they have slightly darker markings around their noses, so I tried to be brave and added in some darker lines.  I have to confess, I’m a little undecided whether I like it better or not, but I wanted to give it a try.  I’ve listed the copic markers I used down below if you’re interested. I cut around the paw on the hedgehog holding the gift and then mounted the hedgehogs and sentiment on foam tape. Finally, I centered the semi-circle on the card front and attached the sentiment and hedgehogs. This was a quick and simple card to make, but those hedgehogs just steal the show!

Copic Markers used:

Hedgehogs: BODY - C1, E40, R00, N0.  BACK - W7, W5, W2, N4, E53.  FACE - W1, W3, N2

Gift - Y08, Y38, YR27 and a gold DecoColor pen for the ribbon.

Fun with Penguins!

Hello and thanks for stopping by! I’ve been having a little too much fun with a new stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs called Happy Holiday Penguin.  I’ve made three cards with it, and because we’re so close to Christmas, I’ve decided to share them all with you today.  So I hope you have your coffee at hand, as this is a rather long post!

I created the front of this card by ink blending in Distress Oxide ink in Squeezed Lemonade, Dried Marigold, and Worn Lipstick.  I placed a sunray stencil over top (mine was MFT Stamps Radiating Rays), dabbed on some Versamark ink and then brushed on some PearlEx powder which gave it a lot of shine and more colour.  Next, I die cut some snowbanks and dry embossed them (my folder was from Lifestyle Crafts but had no name on it).  I used a Nuvo shimmer pen over the raised edges of the embossing.  To get the individual penguin images, I masked off alternating penguins and filled in with a copic multiliner pen as needed. I only coloured in the top of the images as they would be hidden behind the snow. For the banner, I ink blended a scrap of cardstock in Dried Marigold and Worn Lipstick before white heat embossing the sentiment which is from the stamp set.  I added a few trees from Sunny Studios Woodland Borders die set that I had heat embossed with some Hero Arts Sparkle embossing powder.  On the inside, I stamped the “birthday” sentiment from the “Meerkats on the Lookout “ set from GSD Stamps before gluing my image above it.  I coloured in the “happy” with a gold DecoFoil pen so it has a lot of shine to it.  This card would be so easy to adapt to whatever holiday was being celebrated by just changing the inside sentiment.

In my second card, I’ve also got the adorable little Tangled Penguin with the other penguins.  I somehow had the idea that these penguins were floating by each other on icebergs, wishing each other a merry Christmas.  Weird, I know!

This is a Double Z fold card so the inside image is hidden from the front of the card when it’s closed.  I’ve made a video previously on how to make this style of card, so if you want more detailed instructions, here is the link to the video.

I ink blended the background sky using the Cloud Edger stencil from A Colorful Life Designs, using Distress Oxide inks in Warm Honey, Worn Lipstick, Shaded Lilac, and Stormy Sky. I die cut a wave border from some blue cardstock I had in my stash and glued that to my card base.  I made the second wave border out of some Brusho crystals and Nuvo shimmer powders and then die cut another wave border.  I needed help with drawing the icebergs, so I pulled out my “Make a Splash” stamp set from Craft Consortium and copied the one there. After copic colouring all my images, I glued them to my card base, being careful to keep the inside iceberg and penguins hidden inside.  The sentiment on the front of the card is from MFT Stamps Bitty Holiday Wishes and I stamped it in Stormy Sky Distress Oxide ink.  Finally, I added some sparkle pen to the icebergs and glossy accents to the Christmas lights.

My final card is an 8 x 4” slimline pullout card and again has the Tangled Penguin with the other penguins, only he’s having a little more trouble now! I had intended to make a video for this card but just ran out of time, so I’m hoping the photos will be enough of an explanation.  

I used the Cloud Edger stencil and Stormy Sky Distress Oxide ink for the sky.  After die cutting the snowbanks, I used a snowflake stencil (mine is Snowflake Swirls from Echo Park) with Versamark ink, before heat embossing it with sparkle embossing powder. The trees are also embossed with the sparkle embossing powder and are again, from the Sunny Studios Woodland Borders die set. 

To create the pull tab, I stamped the “Holidays” sentiment next to the tangled Penguin and then drew some lights through the word in a very tangled pattern with a copic multiliner pen.  I also used the same stencil and embossing powder to add the snowflake swirls to the pull tab.  Next, I added two strips of scrap cardstock at the left hand edge to create a stopper.  Finally, I added the word “pull” on the right edge and corner rounded those edges.

I created a channel for the pull tab by applying foam tape along the bottom edge of the card, and above the upper edge of the stopper on the pull tab.  I also placed foam tape to the left of where the pull tab would stop (so it wouldn’t disappear into the card), and two small pieces of foam tape at the opening edge to prevent the tab from pulling all the way out.  

Next, I placed the tab inside the channel, removed the backing paper from the foam tape, and adhered the snowbanks over top to cover all the tape.  

I finished decorating the front of the card by adding the holiday penguins, the embossed trees and a little string of lights leading to the pull tab (this was my son’s idea and I loved it!).   

If you have managed to stay with me up to this point, huge kudos to you! I’m sorry for this being such a looooong post, but I wanted to share these ideas with you.  Thanks again for stopping by and I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!!

A Dog and a Bone Christmas

Hello again, I hope you’re having a great day.  I love these images from Anita Jerem of the Colorado Craft Company (Christmas Presents stamp set) and couldn’t wait to start playing with them. 

I copic coloured the image and fussy cut it out.  I also diecut the Merry from MFTStamps about 4 times and stacked them up.  I really like the look of tone on tone white, but I felt that something was still missing. So I used a CZ Designs stencil from Simon Says Stamp and added some Distress crackle paste in white. When it dries, it gives so much texture and interest to the background. The frame is from Poppy Stamps Double Stitched Rectangle Frames, and I die cut 3 of them.  I also cut an inner frame from foiled cardstock.  The ornaments are from a Gerda Steiner Designs stamp set called Reindeer and a Tree. 

This was such a fun, quick card to make and I absolutely love that image! I know there is no way at our house, that the bone shaped gift would remain under the tree to be admired!! *grin*

Sending Hugs Shaker Cards (from laminating pouches)

Hello and welcome back.  I’ve got a couple of shaker cards to share with you today made with the adorable, new Sending Hugs stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs. I’ve made both my cards into Christmas cards but this stamp set is so versatile and could be used year round to send a paper hug, especially during these difficult times!  I’ve made both my shaker fronts from laminated pouches and I have a video for you if you want to see how I made them. 

 PLEASE CLICK HERE to watch the video.

This is my first card and I have to say I love that sentiment! I actually made this into a Christmas card which I think will be totally appropriate this year as we all stay socially distanced (I added  a Christmas sentiment inside).  I’ve listed the copic marker colours I used down below.  The Double Stitch Rectangle Frame die is from Poppy Stamps and the little silver bush is die cut from the Sizzix Holiday Greens, mini die set. The shaker front is made from a laminating pouch with MFT’s Christmas Background stamp done in white ink. 

This is my second card, and although it’s not a shaker card, there is some dimension to it as some of the trees are attached to the frame and sit off the background.  I added some Stampendous Shaved Ice flakes to a laminating pouch to just cover the outside edges of my card front, so it gives it a slightly frosty look.  The sentiment is the Snowy Merry Christmas die from Poppy Stamps and I’ve added some Nuvo Glitter Accents in Fresh Snowfall on the tops of the letters.  

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Copic Markers used:

Snowman - BG0000, C1, C0, Y38, YR16, B66, B63, BG57, BG18

Birds - N4, Y23, W4

Rabbit - W3, W2, W1, E40, C0, R20, R00, RV55, RV17

Squirrel - E13, E15, E17, E18, BG49, BG13

Stepped Up Snow Angels

Happy Wednesday everyone! I’ve got a step card to share with you that features the Snow Angel stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs.  How much fun is it that these guys are making snow angels! 

I wanted my card to look like the characters were out on some snowy hillsides on a frosty day, so I chose to make a step card.  If you’ve never made one before, they are very easy to do and I’ve got a video made for you to see how I did it.  To watch the video, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

I embossed my snowbanks with an embossing folder from Kaisercraft called Circles.  The background sky was made with a stencil from a company called A Colorful Life and is called Cloud Edger, and I used Distress Oxide ink in Speckled Egg, Tattered Rose and Spun Sugar.  I used the Woodland Borders die set from Sunny Studios to create my snowbanks and for the trees.  I added some Nuvo glimmer paste in Moonshine to the trees, and some glitter accents in Fresh Snowfall around the characters arms and legs.  I mounted Santa, Rudolph and the snowman on action wobblers so they can get busy making their snow angels! 

Since this card tends to flop open, I decided to add a belly band around it with a sentiment on it.  

I hope this card has given you a little inspiration.  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by! 

Double Z Fold Cards with *Video*

Hello, and welcome!  I’ve got a couple of fun Double Z fold cards to share with you today.  If you’re a fan of slimline cards, you may really enjoy these.  Like the hillside trifold cards, they give you a lot of space to add images and there is a hidden area on them to add a surprise. However, they fold down to the same dimensions as a typical A2 card and fit in the same size envelope.

My first card features the super fun and versatile Reindeer and a Tree stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs.  I absolutely love this set and I don’t think I’ve run out of ideas for how to use it yet. On this card, there’s trouble on the rooftop for Santa, and Rudolph, who looks so innocent, is keeping Santa’s sack away from all that mayhem! 

The card looks like this on the front when closed ...

The inside of the card looks like this ... 

My second card features the sweet Holiday Penguin set from MFT Stamps.  It’s got a fun, laminated sky in it which is very shiny but it’s hard to see that in the pictures.  

On the inside the rest of the penguins are busy decorating.  

If you would like to see how I made these cards, I have a video up on my YouTube channel for you.  To see it, PLEASE CLICK HERE.  There is also a list of the supplies I used listed below the video in the description.  

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Another Paper Roses Poinsettia card

 Hello again and thanks for stopping by!  I have really been trying to use my supplies repeatedly lately, so I have another card today featuring Paper Rose Studio’s Poinsettia Flower  die set. If you haven’t seen this die set yet, you should check it out - it’s beautiful! 

I die cut from gold cardstock, two of the outline flowers.  The red flower was cut from red cardstock and I used some copic markers to add some shading (R39 and R29).  I glued some gold seed beads to the center of the red flower.

The bottom border is from a Paper Rose Studio stencil called Holly.  I applied some Heidi Swapp clear texture paste to green cardstock.  When it was dry, I ran it through my laminator with some champagne foil.  I used my R39 copic marker on the berries and then added glossy accents on top. I cut a border from the gold foil cardstock using a MFT Ric Rac die.  

The top, see-through part of the card is made with a laminating pouch that I sprinkled some embossing powder in as well as some silver stars, before running it through my laminator.  Jennifer McGuire has a video on how to do this and here is the link if you want to check it out.  It’s a fantastic idea!  I scored and folded this see-through panel, and then sandwiched it between pieces of white cardstock on the front and back of my card.  Finally, I cut my sentiment from red foil cardstock and glued it to the inside of my card. 

Thanks so much for joining me today and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Reindeer Holiday

Hello, I’m back with another Christmas card featuring these adorable  “Reindeer and a Tree” stamps from Gerda Steiner Designs.  I couldn’t resist making just one more card with them and I had so much fun with my last Hillside trifold card, I made this one into one too. 

So, in my mind, this card tells the story of  Christmas Eve on the front of the card with the reindeer and Santa hard at work as shown here.  I stamped and added the date as if it was a page on the calendar and drew the chimney and rooftop as well as the sack.  I used the Woodland Border die set from Sunny Studios to create the hills and trees, and an embossing folder from Taylored Expressions called Snowfall. The little house is from a Memory Box die set called Cabin Snowglobe. 

What I really love about these trifold cards is that you can have another hidden story on the inside pages.  So for mine, the inside is Christmas Day when Santa and the reindeer are able to have a holiday, or in this case, a snowball fight! 

Now, I’m fairly sure these reindeer weren’t meant to be throwing snowballs, but my imagination just kind of got away from me.  The snowballs are made from Snow-Tex and I just cut rough circles for the fort walls, and used a paper punch for the snowballs once it was dry.  That see-through sky idea is from the amazing Jennifer McGuire who used laminating folders and stamping to create see-through elements.  Here is a link to her video:  https://youtu.be/xpneNLweV9w.  I love that these cards feel extra sturdy due to the layers of embossed hills and they stand upright very easily.

I made a video that I posted on my YouTube channel last week showing how I made this style of card.  There are actually two cards on that video so if you want to jump ahead to the second card that features this same stamp set, it starts around the 9:00 minute mark. Here’s the LINK TO MY VIDEO if you missed it.  And here’s what the card on the video looks like if you missed it.

I hope that these cards may have inspired you to give this card style a try.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are having a great day! 

Paper Roses Poinsettia Flowers

 Hello, I’ve got three cards today made with this beautiful Poinsettia Flowers die set from Paper Roses and one of them isn’t even a Christmas card! Shocking, right?!  Honestly, the last one started off in my mind as a Christmas card, but I wanted to make them pink poinsettias.  However, once I coloured them up, they didn’t look too Christmassy so they’re a thank you card now.  Just the way things go ...

Anyway, here’s the first card and it is a Christmas card. 

This is the front of the card but it’s a trifold card, so when you open up the card the poinsettias are actually on the middle layer and look like this ...

The sentiment on the front of the card is from Poppy Stamps and is called Christmas Quotes. The holly on the inside is also from Poppy Stamps and is from their Mistletoe and Holly die set. I die cut the poinsettias from white cardstock and then copic coloured them with R39, R29 and R35. 

Here is my second card ...

This one is a shaker card and has a lot of shiny stuff on it! It was very hard to photograph as a result.  The background is a Gina K foiled toner card and the “peace” sentiment is from Crafter’s Companion.  It’s meant to be cut out of an opening so I did some partial die cutting to get the arched circle and then die cut the “peace” again from foiled cardstock to place over top.  I used a “Mini Poinsettia” embossing folder from Couture Creations on the front.  I copic coloured these poinsettias in the same way as the first card.

And for the third card ...

I die cut the flowers from Bristol cardstock and coloured them with Zig Clean Color watercolour brushes, which I’m really not as comfortable using.  They were just so bright and pink when I was done that I just didn’t see them as Christmas flowers at all. The background is made from a Paper Roses stencil called Flowy Leaves and I used some Decofoil Metallix gel in Champagne. The sentiment is from MFT’s More Essential Sentiments set. 

Thank you so much for joining me today and I hope I’ve given you a little inspiration!  Have a great day! 

How to Make a Hillside Trifold Card *Video*

 Hello and thanks for stopping by!  I’ve got a couple of cards for you today that use a similar technique but they have very different looks. They are both hillside trifold cards and are both Christmas cards. 

This is the first card and it features the beautiful Hero Arts Tri-fold Edge Village die set.  I’ve kept the colours very simple - just white and gold, which gives the card a classic, elegant look.  

The second card features The Reindeer and a Tree stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs, as well as Sunny Studios Woodland Border die set.  This is a fun, whimsical card and has the added surprise that from the front of the card, you don’t see all the reindeer decorating inside. You only see them when the card is opened.  

I’ve got a video if you would like to see how I made these cards.  To see the video PLEASE CLICK HERE.

I hope these cards will give you a little inspiration or help jumpstart your creativity.   Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Who Let the Reindeer Out?!

Hello, and welcome!  I’ve got two Christmas cards to share with you today featuring the Reindeer and a Tree stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs.  We’ve had our Thanksgiving here in Canada, and Halloween is almost over, so I’ve been on a roll making Christmas cards lately - I hope that’s not too early for you!  I’m trying very hard to use my stamps and dies more frequently but in different ways, so since I had two cards made with this set, I thought I’d share both of them with you. 

I stamped all the adorable reindeer and the Santa images and copic coloured them in (copic markers used are listed below), and then cut out my images.  I used a snow marker (Marvy Embellishing Snow Marker) on Santa’s hat trim and pompom to give them some dimension. I also added some Glossy Accents to Rudolph’s nose and the collars.

For my background, I cut from white cardstock, 3 layers of the Simply Diamonds die from PinkFresh Studios and saved one layer of the inner die cut pieces.  I ink blended these smaller, inset pieces with a mix of Distress Oxide inks in Festive Berries, Barn Door, Candied Apple, Lucky Clover, Mowed Lawn and Crushed Olive. After gluing together the die cut panels, I adhered them to my card base and then inset the ink blended pieces.  

Then I adhered the reindeer and Santa with foam tape inside the diamonds on the panel.  The sentiment is from Picket Fence Studios Santa’s Sleigh Ride and I just thought it went well with all these somewhat mischievous looking reindeer. Finally, I added some Studio Katia Icy Sparkle crystals. 

And for the second card ...

For this card, I copic coloured the images which are all from the same stamp set.  I added the ornaments, lights, and candy cane from the set because I wanted to make it look like the reindeer were having a little too much fun with the decorating.  I added some black cord around the reindeer with the lights, and glued it behind his back. Then I glued the lights around and under the cord.

I made the strip of patterned paper from various papers I had in my stash.  I cut them into strips and then used a tape gun to adhere them to a piece of cardstock on the diagonal. I embossed a piece of white cardstock for the bottom half.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set too - bonus! - and I just embossed it with gold embossing powder. I added a little ink blending behind the patterned strip with Distress Ink Festive Berries, and popped the reindeer up on foam tape. 

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you’re having a great day!

Copic markers used:

Reindeer - E51, E53, E25, E33, N6, N4, R20, R00, YR23 and R29

Santa - R39, R29, R35, N6, N4, YR23, C0, C1, C2, E000, R20, R00

Hero Arts Christmas Village Bridge Card *Video*

Hello and welcome!  I’ve made a bridge style card using the new Tri-fold Edge Village die from Hero Arts. I think this die set is such a great Christmas one because it’s very versatile and oh, so Christmassy!  

I think the easiest way to see how I made this card is to watch the video, so I haven’t done a traditional blog post today.  I do hope you’ll follow along with the video, and I hope I’ve inspired you to give this card a try. It stands up so well that it doubles as a Christmas decoration too!  To see this video, PLEASE CLICK HERE.  

Thanks for joining me! 

Slimline Christmas Carol Kittens Card and a Bonus Card!

Hello and welcome! I’ve got a slimline card today that features the Carol Kittens stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs as well as one of the puppies from the Howl are You set and one of the kittens from the Christmas Kittens set. My card took a bit of a left turn along the way, and I ended up with a second bonus card for you, so you can see that card at the end of this post. 

I’ve made a video showing how I made this card, so if you would like to see the video in HD, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

I started my card by cutting a piece of Strathmore watercolour paper to be about 9 x 4”, slightly larger than my rectangular die, and I taped it down to an old cutting board. After wetting it, I dropped in some Distress Ink reinkers in Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet and Dusty Concord. Once this was dry, I spattered it with some Kuretake Starry Colors paint in gold and let it dry. 

I used a Trinity Stamps die called Wonky Stitched Wilderness slimline series to cut out my background. I also embossed some of the stars that come with this die set.  I coloured all my images with Copic markers and have listed them below, and then cut them out. I applied some glossy accents to the dogs’ collar and the ornaments. I also die cut a snowbank from white cardstock using the Lawn Fawn Hillside border dies. 

When I went to assemble my card, things took a left turn.  I felt that the puppy was rather lost amongst all the kittens, but he was meant to be the singing star of the card.  So I removed the Christmas kitten in the tree (who I thought was looking very startled by the dogs’ singing), and he shows up later in the bonus card.  I die cut some trees from Sunny Studios Woodland Borders die set and covered them with Nuvo Moonstone glimmer paste.  

I embossed and heat set the words “Joy”, “The World” and the musical symbols (all from the Carol Kittens stamp set), using some Stampendous Pearlustre Moonstone embossing powder onto my snowbank border.  I also used the word stamp “To Youuuuuuuu!!!” from the Howl are You set and changed it to “Tooooooooo” by masking and rotating the stamp to only stamp and emboss the bottom of the u’s.  I then cut this out to make a speech bubble. 

To assemble my card, I foam mounted the snowbank and adhered it to the background.  I added some Nuvo shimmer pen just along the edge of the snowbank and then adhered the rest of my images. Finally, I glued the speech bubble in place to complete my card.  

And for the Bonus Card ...

So even though I had this card done, I still had that kitten in the tree image coloured and cut, so I decided to make a second card with it.  I coloured one of the other kittens in the Christmas Kittens set, as well as the tree branches.  

I die cut a panel of white cardstock with a wonky stitched rectangle die, and cut a lift the flap circle on this.  I heat embossed the “naughty or nice” sentiment around the flap in Stampendous Pearlustre Moonstone embossing powder.  I did the same for the word “Lift” on the flap.  I die cut a frame of gold foil cardstock and adhered this to my card base.  I glued the kitten in the tree in place so he would show up behind the flap, and then adhered my white rectangle panel to the card base.  I added the second kitten below the flap, and glued the tree branches over the flap itself.  I added glossy accents to all the ornaments. On the inside, I stamped the sentiment and added the broken ornament.  

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Copic Markers used:

Dog - E59, E57, E53, E51, E35, E33,  Collar - R39, R29, R35

Black cat - N6, N4, N2, N0, R20, R00,  Scarf - G99, G94, G82

Tabby cats - E34, E53, E51, YR27, R20, R00 Scarf - B66, B63

Grey cat - C3, C2, C1, C0, R20, R00, Tree/ ornaments - G67, RV13, RV04, RV02, YR16, Y38, YR21.

Hats - R39, R29, R35

Music sheets - E51, Y23

Theater Fold Meerkat Birthday Card with Video

Hello and welcome! Today I’ve made an interactive card featuring Meerkats on the Lookout from Gerda Steiner Designs.  I don’t usually make Halloween cards but wanted to do a fall colours card so this is what I came up with.  

I’ve made a video of how to construct this card and it’s probably the easiest way to figure it out.  If you would like to see the video in HD, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Here’s a list of the pieces of cardstock used and a diagram of where to crease the curtains.

I started by assembling the front first.  I die cut a rectangle from two of the white 4 1/4 x 5 1/2” pieces of cardstock as well as a black piece and then glued these together.  I cut a notch out of the side edges, using a small circle die and partial cutting.  I white heat embossed the sentiment and added the three dots with a white gel pen.  I folded and creased the two sleeve pieces so they fit along the side edges and glued them in place on the back, making sure they weren’t too tight.  I trimmed the sleeves around the notches so it would be easier to grasp the curtains.

For the back and curtains, I ink blended using Distress Oxide inks in Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, and Candied Apple.  I used a die from Find IT Media called Amy Designs Wild Animals Outback, and partially die cut this from black cardstock to fit along the lengths of all 3 pieces of cardstock.  

I trimmed the two curtains just slightly along the 5 1/2” edge so they would slide more easily through the sleeves on the front.  Then I creased and folded the curtains at 2 3/4” and 4 1/8” for the left curtain, and at 1 3/8” and 2 3/4” for the right one.  Finally, I glued the black die-cut silhouette pieces to the curtains and back and creased along the fold lines.  

I used glue to attach the curtains to the back piece, being careful to only apply glue to the first folded area on the curtains and to try to keep the center fold of the curtains together. Really, the glued area of the curtains should line up along the side edges of the back, but I found it more important for the folded curtains to match in the center. 

I cut a second platform piece from black cardstock and glued the two pieces together.  I cut slits in both curtains at the same distance, wide enough for the platform piece to pull through.  I made stoppers by using pieces of narrow scrap cardstock and gluing these to the ends of the platform so it couldn’t pull through.  Next, I stamped the inside sentiment and clear heat embossed it.

To assemble the card, slide the left curtain through the sleeve on the back of the front piece, and the right curtain through the other sleeve.  I added pull tabs to the curtains by folding a small strip of black cardstock and used the same circle die to cut them out.  Now all that’s left is to just add your images.  Oh, and to play repeatedly with opening and closing the curtains!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day!

Z Fold Merry Wishes Christmas Card

 Hello and welcome! I’ve got a Z fold Christmas card to share with you today, that features the Merry Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things. This is an adorable stamp set! 

K

I started by cutting my card base from navy blue cardstock (dimensions are 4 1/4” x 11” long).  I creased this at the 5 1/2” mark to make a regular A2 size card.  Then I creased the left hand side again at the halfway mark or 2 1/8”. I splattered the sky with some gold and silver paint and let it dry. 

Next, I die cut a snowbank by using Lawn Fawn border dies and doing some partial die cutting to extend the length so that the snow bank would extend fully across the scene.  The height on mine extends about a third of the way up the background.  I creased this the same way I had done the card base, and then adhered it with glue to the card base, leaving the top border free of glue to later insert my figures.   I cut a second snowbank  in the same way to use along the bottom border.  I creased this one at the 5 1/2” mark, and again at the 7 5/8” mark on the right and then creased and folded this in the opposite direction from the base.  This snowbank only extends about a quarter of the way up the background to allow the snowbank behind to be seen.  I also used a Lawn Fawn stitched heart die to add some detail to the snowbank.  

I adhered the second snowbank by glueing it to the short left hand card base and also on the short right hand side of the snowbank.  

The white trees were cut from white cardstock using the Alpine Trees from Memory Box and then inserted and glued in place just below the left hand snowbank.  The Merry Christmas die is one I had in my stash, and I cut it from a red glitter cardstock, and glued it to the snowbank on the left.

I stamped all my images with Copic friendly ink, and then coloured them in with Copic markers. After fussy cutting them out, I arranged them on my card base.  I wanted it to be a surprise when the card was opened and the whole scene was revealed, so I was careful to place most of the images in the middle of the card.  From the front, only the bird and the cabin are visible when the card is closed.  I added sparkle pen to the tree decorations and lights, as well as the star the bird is carrying.  I also added a Nuvo shimmer pen along the edges of all the snowbanks.  

I added a piece of white cardstock on the back as I felt the card needed a place to write a message.  This truly is a fun card and I hope you’ll give it a try! 

Embossed Christmas Card With Video

 Hello and welcome! I’ve got a very textured, embossed Christmas card to share with you today. This card was completely inspired by my recent re-organization of my embossing folders!

I’ve got a YouTube video of how I made this card, so to see it in HD please CLICK HERE

I stamped the Santa image from the “Peeking Friends” stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs and pencilled in the rest of his beard.  I used a Copic multiliner pen to go over it and erased the pencil marks.  Then I coloured my image with Copic markers (listed below) and fussy cut it out along the lines.  I used a black marker pen from EK Tools to colour along the edges.  

Next, I diecut the word Joy from white cardstock.  If you have a nice green cardstock or glitter cardstock, that would be even easier.  I was given this die several years ago and it was second hand at the time, so I don’t have the product information to give you.  But any large Joy or Noel die would work here, even alphabet letters.  I had to do some partial die cutting on the “O” to make it wide enough for Santa to not obscure the “Y”.  I coloured the word in with a Copic marker, and went along the cut edges too.  To add some interest to the word, I heat embossed it with clear embossing powder and sprinkled some glitter on while it was still warm.  I did this 2-3 times for even more depth.  

When I reorganized my embossing folders, I die cut tags and embossed those to use as a reference for all my folders.  The tags were so pretty and full of texture, that it inspired me to make this card.  I cut out 12 -  1 1/4” squares from white cardstock and then used different embossing folders to emboss the squares.  Sometimes, I used different areas of the same embossing folder so you don’t even need that many folders. I mounted these squares on foam tape and then adhered them as evenly as possible on my card front.  I had thought I could use my T-ruler, but with the foam tape, this was not really possible.  In the end, I just spaced all 12 squares out on my card front and carefully adhered them in position.  I used glue to adhere the Santa to the word Joy and then onto the card front.  I used the “to the world” sentiment from the MFT stamp set Bitty Holiday Wishes and trimmed it down to fit over the”Y”.

Since I don’t have any bright green or red embellishments, I created my own by using different sized  circle punches to cut out circles from red and green foil cardstock and covered those with glossy accents.  

I made a second card with the reindeer image and cut the Joy out of red glitter cardstock.  These cards have just got so much fun texture in them and I hope you’ll give this a try!  

Copic markers used: E000, R00, R20, C0, C1, C2, N6, R39, R29, R35 for Santa.  G94 for the word Joy.