Fast & Easy New Year Card

I don’t always get my Christmas cards out in time (and forget Hanukkah … even though it’s eight days long, sometimes the days fly by! Especially if the holiday comes early …)

But, lucky for me, there’s always a second chance to send a winter holiday card for the … New Year!

Here is a fast and easy card I made with my new Simon Says Stamp Quadrangle Frame die:

I doesn’t get much easier. I die cut the frames from gold, black and silver scraps of card stock. Before gluing them down, I gold embossed the Hero Arts sentiment in the lower corner (using Zing! gold glittery powder). I glued the squares in place and added some Sulyn star sequins. My glue of choice for everything was ScraPerfect’s Best Glue Ever, which I have been using a lot lately, finding it a great glue for multiple purposes. (Check it out here and see more of ScraPerfect’s great products on the Web site. I’ll be talking more about their products in a future post.)

Thanks for stopping by, and Merry Christmas to all.

And Still More Ornaments…

Yes, we still have a few ornament cards to share! (As I said earlier, I went a little crazy with this set! All dies are from Stampin’ Up!’s Delicate Ornament set and/or Embellished Ornaments stamp set.)

The next few use non-traditional colors:

(Pine bough branches are from a Tim Holtz punch; the dotted paper I’ve had for a while; the kraft card stock is from Michaels.)

For the holly sprigs, I stamped first in olive green ink, then added some white colored pencil. The sequins are from Doodlebug Designs.

Thanks for haning’ around!

Continuing March of the Ornaments

For my next batch of ornament cards, I went a little rogue, going for non-traditional Christmas colors. (Again, it’s mostly Stampin’ Up! unless otherwise noted.)

The ornament is die cut from an old greeting card using Stampin’ Up!’s Delicate Ornament set. (Diamond Stickles has been added to the petals, though it is hard to see here.) The sentiment, gold embossed and layered on gold paper, is from Stampin’ Up!’s Embellished Ornament stamps. The background is embossed using Sizzix  damask and regal Texture Fades embossing folder.

For the next card, I stamped, then cut the ornament:

I inked the stamp using various Ranger Distress Inks, misted slightly and stamped on watercolor paper. The background is made using Stampin’ Up!’s Falling Snow embossing folder; the sentiment, gold embossed, is by Hero Arts. (This is from an old set, so simply substitute any appropriate sentiment.)

More rogue cards coming!

 

 

More Ornament Cards

Once I had my ornaments cut out from Stampin’ Up’s Delicate Ornaments die set (as mentioned in my last post!) it was fast, easy and fun to create the cards. Here are some more:

First, I created the holly background using a large Hero Arts stamp, stamped in VersaMark and embossed in Judikins Detail Metallic Gold powder. The inside (or base) of the ornament was die cut from an old greeting card, then covered with the red outer piece. A few punched pine sprigs (Tim Holtz punch) gives the impression that the ornament is hanging on a tree (although to be more realistic, I should have die cut the hanger piece that comes in the die set. Sigh.)

I started here by die cutting the ornament from the plaid paper (Paper Source) and again from a scrap of white card stock, which I then heat embossed using Zing! gold glitter embossing powder. I mounted the plaid paper to a white card base, glued in the glittery ornament and added some Ranger red stickles. The sentiment (from (Stampin’ Up’s Embellished Ornaments stamp set, which matches some of the dies) was also gold embossed, layered and added using foam tape.

Thanks for stopping by! But wait … there’s more coming ….

Ornament Cards to “Die” For…

I’ve been having way too much fun with Stampin’ Up!’s ornament stamps and dies (Stampin’ Up and Sizzix.)

The first thing I did was cut various ornaments from a bunch of scrap paper found among the ruins of my desk:

Here’s the first card I made:

When I first tried to cut this die out of self-adhesive glitter paper (Cosmo Cricket) it was a bit of a hot mess — the intricate die did not cut through in some spots. I worked on it with a craft knife but the center was still not clean. So I hid the messy portion behind a decorative piece that comes with the die set! (I also went for an ombre look using Ranger’s Distress Ink Broken China with mediocre success.)

And then I learned that I needed a precision cutting pad for these intricate pieces. And oh, what a difference that made!

Here’s a detailed look and the not-so-clean piece:

(I added some Ranger silver Stickles to the middle piece, which also did not cut cleanly.)

Look how much cleaner it cut using the Sizzix Precision Base Plate:

That pretty background is made using the Stampin’ Up/Sizzix Softly Falling embossing folder. (I edged the embossed piece with Delicata Golden Glitz, but I don’t really like the edging and will leave it off others.) (The Merry Christmas sentiment is from an old Hero Arts set; everything else is from Stampin’ Up!)

Stay tuned for more cards made with this ornament set.

Quick & Easy Hanukkah Cards

I found this Spellbinders menorah die way back in August, a lonely die sitting in a sale pile! But yay for me … it’s the perfect tool for some fast and easy Hanukkah cards. (Since Hanukkah starts at sundown Sunday, I need these NOW! Lucky for me it’s an eight day celebration!)

I cut menorahs from various white and silver scraps then built some fast card bases. For the blue card, I wanted a fast background, so I grabbed this old triple star stamp from Stampin’ Up! and stamped it a few times using a silver ink pad. A little Ranger Stickles for the lights on the candle and we’re good to go!

The background here is the envelope liner stamp from Hero Arts. The sentiment is also an old one from Stampendous.

For this card (above), I used the leftover scrap with the negative space! I wanted a sparkle, so I brushed on Plaid Extreme Glitter turquoise. I love this glitter — nice sparkle without the mess of applying glitter!) Here’s a close-up:

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Hanukkah to those to celebrate (the festival starts at sundown Sunday, Dec. 6. Get those latkes fryin’!)