Santa Slider Window Card

Santa Slider Window Card

I know Christmas isn’t really about the presents, but gift giving is included in our celebration…

Christmas morning looks very different in our house now that my 4 children are adults. A few years ago, we moved from piles of wrapped gifts to a few small things and a monetary gift. I stressed about what we would do in the morning with very little to open and made it my mission to come up with a different “Christmas Morning Activity” for the kids each year instead. The first year was easy. They each received 10 wrapped boxes, each containing various amounts of money, and they needed to open them all to see how much their total gift was. Then it got trickier! We did a scavenger hunt one year where I hid a bunch of envelopes containing money near various holiday decorations around the house. They each got a list of clues, and when they found each decoration, they found the money-filled envelopes with their names on them. They worked in teams/pairs and tried to see which pair could find all their loot first. Another year, I hid puzzle pieces (for 2 identical Christmas puzzles) around the house, and the same teams/pairs had to find all the pieces and build their puzzle first. This year, I found a Christmas themed home version of an “Escape Room Challenge” which the teams raced to solve. I’m amused at the friendly competition between them as they attack the challenges each year!

Another difference for this year was that instead of giving them cash (which required a trip to the bank to make the withdrawl and then another trip back to deposit it into their accounts), I transferred the money directly into their accounts. It felt a little weird to just tell them I transferred the money so I wanted to come up with an interactive card to “present the gift” to them. (It took me a while to get to the card project for this post, but I finally made it – lol!!)

When the ribbon is pulled, Santa slides back to reveal the gift. (Theirs actually had the amount showing!)

(inside: Use it to buy something fun!)

I created the Santa from a Silhouette cut file called “Santa Cartoon” (design #283758) by Sarah Bailey. The slider window card was created from another Silhouette file called “A2 Santa Slider Window Card” (design #100187) by Lori Whitlock. This file includes a Santa as well, but I had already purchased the “Santa Cartoon” file so I thought I would go with that.

The designer paper is called Christmas Cheer Peppermint by Lily Bee Designs. The card stock is Gina K Designs Cherry Red, Christmas Pine, Warm Glow, white, black and a scrap of yellow. All the text was computer generated.

Thanks for checking out my card project (and for putting up with my narrative leading to it)!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I’d also like to take a moment to thank you all for taking the time to visit my blog and for all your support and encouragement this past year.  I really appreciate it!

(The above image was found on google and is not my own.)

Merry Christmas with Buffalo Plaid Ribbon – Take 2

Merry Christmas with Buffalo Plaid Ribbon – Take 2

This card features buffalo plaid ribbon that I embellished with a stacked die cut called “Winterfun Corner” from Precious Marieke and the “Elegant Merry Christmas” die by Frantic Stamper (#FRA-DIE-10339). I debossed the background panel with my score board to add some texture. I had to cut off the “corner” part of the “corner” die cut as it went in the wrong direction for my design.

This was my original card design…

I really loved this ribbon with the snowflakes and was excited to use it on this card design. I originally worked on this card sample in the evening with lamps on in my craft room. Later, when I went to make a bunch more of these cards to send, it was a very sunny afternoon, and in the natural sunlight, I realized the ribbon was blue and not black! I had already cut and adhered all the black greetings and had cut all the black mats so I scrambled for a plan b (the sample above). Glad I caught it before completely finishing all the cards! I’ll need to come up with another card design for this ribbon.

Thanks for checking out my card project(s)!

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Gel Press Printed Holiday Cards

Gel Press Printed Holiday Cards

Day 3 of the Holiday Card Workshop 2022 focused on making fast backgrounds. One of the lessons was called “Gorgeous Gel Press Printing” taught by Lydia Fiedler. I still had plaid on my mind from the day 2 class, so I thought I’d try a plaid stamp with this technique for today’s lesson.

Lydia used alcohol inks and acrylic paint for her backgrounds. I used Distress Oxide inks. She also used dies to create her images while I used rubber stamps. (I’d get a “does not follow directions” on my report card for this class – lol!)

The background on this one (above) was made with ink that was picked up by the stamp from the gel plate after the inks were blended with a brayer. (The gel plate acted as an ink pad.) My stamp seems to have an imperfection in the center, and I have never been able to get a clean image with it. This technique is very forgiving in that the image is not meant to be clean and crisp so it is perfect for this particular stamp of mine!

The background on this next one was made with the ink that was left behind after lifting the ink with the stamp for the first one. I simply placed the card stock on the inked gel plate and gently rubbed.

And one more card to share…

I reinked and blended the gel plate and cleaned my brayer off onto another piece of card stock that I used for the background (mat) on this nativity card design. I then inked the stamp from the gel plate and stamped the image onto the card stock.

The supplies used for these cards are: a gel plate, “Plaid 4×6” stamp from Echo Park, the “Merry Stamp & Cut” set from Hero Arts, “Tree Punch” from Stampin’ Up, “Star Punch” (unbranded), “Stacked Merry Christmas” Die from Creative Expressions, “Cling Manger Scene” from Stampendous, “Subtle” embossing folder from Stampin’ Up, and Broken China, Faded Jeans, and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide inks.

I have a bunch of stamped and inked panels for additional cards. (You really can make a lot of panels quickly with this technique!)

If you are interested in seeing how to create some fast backgrounds using a gel plate, check out the class over at Online Card Classes!

Thanks for checking out my card projects!

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Gold Joy Nativity

Gold Joy Nativity

Day 8 of the Holiday Card Workshop 2022 focused on Foiling. One of the lessons was called “Hot Foiling for the Win” taught by Yana Smakula. I have used hot foil plates before, but she shared several tips and tricks for successful foiling which I found helpful.

For my card, I used the Spellbinders “Plaid Tidings Background” plate with gold foil. I do own a solid hot foil plate (to create my own foiled/gold card stock) but had already cut the CottageCutz Joy Nativity die cut from the metallic gold card stock so I used that (and the scrap from which I had cut it) for my focal image and mat. Gina K Designs Chrismas Pine and white was also used.

***

Day 5 of the Holiday Card Workshop 2022 focused on Using Scraps.

Jennifer McGuire, and Koren Wiskman taught two lessons with really cute ideas for using scraps to create holiday cards which I will definitely need to try when I have a bit more time, but I had some scraps on my desk (including a messed up foiled panel from the above project) and a “Tree Punch” from Stampin’ Up, so I whipped up this quick and easy card.

The red trees were embossed with the “Subtle” embossing folder from Stampin’ Up. I used my score board to deboss the background. The greeting was foiled with a hot foil plate from the “Holiday Sentiments Series 2” set and the scrap of plaid was made with the “Plaid Tidings Background” hot foil plate, both by Spellbinders. Gold foil was used along with GKF Christmas Pine and Cherry Red card stock.

If you are interested in seeing how to use hot foil plates or in creative ways to use your scraps, check out the classes over at Online Card Classes!

Thanks for checking out my card project!

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