Pop-Up Christmas

Today was the day of rushed stamping and my first pop-up card. I'd seen a tutorial somewhere, but I can't remember where. My kids were supposed to be taking a nap, but they were noisy, disobedient, and I ended up changing one's diaper three times!! So I was rushed. I wish I had had more time to spend on the pop-up image, but these will have to do.

1. I started with the inside of the card with a sentiment, the cardstock measuring 3-3/4" x 8" and then I folded it in half.

2. Once it is folded, figure out how far from fold you want the pop-up image to stick out without interfering with your sentiment. I chose an inch, and even drew a pencil line on the back to help guide me.

3. Using your word window punch, slide the folded cardstock all the way into the punch, aligning with the pencil line and punch. Repeat on other side.

4. Now score between the rounded holes and reverse the direction of the fold (from inward to outward) of the pop-up portion.

5. To adhere to the inside of the card, I folded the white cardstock and only put adhesive on one side. I slid it in the card while mostly folded. Then I opened it up, applied adhesive to the other side, and folded it closed and pressed down. (Otherwise it won't close because it fits too tight.)

Decorate and embellish as usual. Sorry if this is scatter brained. My kids are driving me nuts right now. Early bedtime for sure!

By the way, I used DP from the dollar store as well as dollar-store scrapbooking stickers to decorate my card. I was in a hurry, and sure enough, when I got my groove on finally, my kids started invading my stamping area.

Click here for an even cooler pop-up card tutorial.

Blue Christmas

Some of my favorite cards that I made were these simple Blue and Red snowmen cards. The stamp set is from inkadinkado. I used real red and bashful blue.

The Santa Claus image is a retired one from SU! I believe. I just stamped it in Brilliant Blue on some blue mulberry paper that my sister got from Hollo's in Ohio.

These cards are easy with only three layers and two colors of ink (can you see the blue snowflakes as background image?). Perfect if you have to make a lot in a short amount of time.

Oiled Paper Experiment

I'm doing a little experiment. NOTE: this technique is not recommended for scrapbooking. The other day I was helping my kids do a Nativity stained glass window using oil. And then I got an idea. (We'll see how bright it is a few days from now.) I'm oiling paper to give it a translucent look, which kind of mimics vellum. But my method is much cheaper thus far.

So the first picture is my stamped images on white cardstock. (Use thinner paper for more translucence. Prolly 24 lbs. paper would be nice.)

Stamp your images as you'd like them to appear. You can use black ink, watercoloring or whatever.

The second picture shows that I flipped the images to the back side of the paper, because we're going to oil it from the back. It reduces any chance of ruining the image. Place image face down on a Viva paper towel. Now pour some vegetable oil over the paper and rub it in with a wadded paper towel or cotton ball.

In the last picture you can see that the wrong side of the images are a muted version of the original.

Place your oiled paper in between two layers of paper and then paper towels and let sit under a heavy book for a day or two. The oil *should* all get absorbed so that you can use it for card making. I'll post my results in a few days so we can see how my little experiment worked.

I'm thinking that you could oil a sheet of paper and then stamp on it with craft ink, too.

*My kids' stained glass window pictures set on paper towels for two days and are now hanging on a window with no oil marks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Paper Poinsettias

Over Thanksgiving break, I had a hankering for Poinsettias. Luckily, I had brought along my SAB "Delight in Life" stamp set. I just stamped the flower image on a redish paper and greenish paper (I think Real Red and Garden Green would be perfect) and adhered the two flower images with a dimensional. Then I added some Stickles. (However, I noticed that anything stamped with red or pink ink bleached out from the Stickles. Anyone else have this problem?)

I know these aren't the best color combos, but I was running out of paper away from home. So I just made do.

It's a fun way to make a Christmas card, embellish a gift tag, or even a Christmas Thank You--heaven knows we'll need plenty of Thank You cards after the Holidays.

If you have made paper poinsettias before, leave me a comment with the stamp set and a picture! I'd love to check it out.

A Newbie's Cards

My sister in Ohio, who is also my best friend, just fell in love with card making. Apparently, she has found the coolest paper store near her home where they sell it by the pound for dirt cheap (Hollo's*). And it's nice paper, too.

Here are some of her cards that she made with only three weeks of experience. I am very proud of her.

The bottom two cards are embossed with silver. Pretty good, for a newbie, huh?

*As Heather mentioned on her comment, going to Hollo's is a must if you are visiting Ohio!

More Christmas Sticker Cards

I used Dollar Store stickers for these cards. I got in a hurry and stamped the flourish badly. They aren't elegant or anything, but they were great for me when I was in a hurry.

Shadowed Snowflakes

These stamps are from Inkadinkado. For the background, I stamped the snowflake in the same color as the cardstock (or versamark ink), and then stamped the snowflake in craft white a hair off of the first image. The snowflakes look like they are floating on the page.

This year I have been experimenting with unusual colors for Christmas cards. How about Pink (Regal Rose) and Purple (Orchid Opulence)? For the pink snowflake card, I stamped the snowflake in craft white on the vellum square and heat set it with a hair dryer. Then I added some stickles to them. Both "Merry Christmas" tags were sponged on the edges and adhered with a dimensional.

Snowflake Sticker Cards

Here are some better pictures of the Sticko (from Joanns or Michaels) Snowflake cards referenced yesterday (one post below this one). Huge difference, huh?!

(I usually stamp at night, when lighting conditions are bad, so my pictures aren't as dazzling as in real life. *conceited smirk*)

Christmas Sticker Cards

I found some really cute glitter stickers at my dollar store (Honk's $1.05) and decided to use them to make more Christmas cards.

The top two cards are matted on black cardstock, and the french horn is matted on red and GREEN--not blue. I can't wait for the day that I can get a new camera. I have to use the "Night" or "cloudy" setting on my RAZR cam to take pictures this well--but it changes the colors on me.

The last one is my favorite. I bought some Stikopatamus vellum snowflake stickers a while back and never used them. Then I remembered I had this cute pink circles paper from the dollar store and put it all together. The vellum stickers have silver foil as an accent. I actually used pink passion and pixie pink, although the picture makes me look like a liar. I wish you could see the stickers in real life--they are so pretty.

The Candy Cane Poem

For those of you who are Christian, you may be interested in this post. I just wrote a poem about the symbolism of the candy cane and created a printable file to help you make quick and easy gifts. If you are interested, here's the link to my freelance blog and the files. If you stamp your candy cane tags, let me know where I can view the final product. *excited grin*

I created three dozen gift sacks for teacher appreciation gifts. I got cute little Christmas sacks at Target (12 for $1.99; they had 16 kraft sacks for 3-4 bucks, I think), stapled the poem to it, placed a red or green jingle bell ornament (at Target, 6 for $4.99 less 20% sale--I had to buy metallic ribbon to tie on) inside with two candy canes (75 minis for $1.99). With my Target discount and sale price on ornaments, it came out to about $1.05 per teacher. Not baaaad. (The ornament goes with the following story: The Symbols of Christmas.)

Disclaimer: Because I was making 3 dozen, I didn't stamp the bags or the tags. I was saving myself time and sanity.

Have A Very Vintage Christmas

This is my first vintage-esque Christmas card. I'm not good at creating the look, but I'm practicing. (Or, maybe I'm way off and this isn't vintage to you. I dunno.)

Stamps from Inkadinkado.

If I had to do it all over again, I would not have stamped the ornaments in white on the background. Oh well. I stamped the other snowflakey-circles on the burgundy cardstock with versamark. The snowman is matted on Cranberry Crisp and Always Artichoke, which has distressed edges. I stamped the snowman in burgundy, as well as the snowflakes, but I stamped off to create a softer snowflake image. I sponged Bravo Burgundy to give it the warm, worn look. The Merry Christmas oval is on cranberry crisp with burgundy ink.

I really liked the way this card turned out, especially since I rarely use these colors. But I'm sure it would make some sweet soul happy to receive it.

Red, White & Blue Christmas

I had such a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend with three of my four sisters, two BILs, my brother, and my parents. The best part was getting to stamp with my cute sisters and seeing how different our cards were. I'll try posting a few of theirs later. I don't know if I got pictures of them all. (Darn it.)



My parents have a huge dining room table that we commandeered for our stamping supplies. We eventually had to bring up a folding table to make more room. I only brought a portion of all my stuff, and I took up half of the table. I bought the cutest Inkadinkado Christmas stamp set from Michael's. So you could say that I found my groove with my new stamp set. And here's a peek at what I produced.

Card 1 Recipe:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Brilliant Blue, Ballet Blue, Real Red, Glorious Green
Inks: Brilliant Blue, Ballet Blue, White Craft
Accessories: Hemp twine, eyelet, stickles (in center of snowflakes), dimensional

Card 2 Recipe:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Ballet Blue, Real Red
Inks: Real Red, Ballet Blue, White Craft
Accessories: Brads, Sponge

Card 3 Recipe:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Real Red
Inks: Bashful Blue, White Craft
Accessories: dimensionals, cute red staples

*Sorry! BLogger made my images disappear and now they won't insert again! Arghghg.

Cutest Nativity Stamp Set

I just had to warn you that I just found the cutest precious-moments-like nativity stamp set at www.stampsbyimpression.com. These would be perfect for making little Christmas cards for the children in my church where I serve. Or even for my Christmas cards that I'll send out. Adorable little people, huh?

BTW Does anybody have experience with this online store?