Tall Nativity Christmas Card

(inside: Sending love & prayers for a blessed Christmas and a joyous new year!)

The holy family and star die cuts are from a Silhouette cut file called “Tall Nativity” by Lori Whitlock (Design ID 161572) and was cut with my Silhouette electronic die cutting machine. These images are shaped perfectly for a slim line card.

The greeting was cut with the “Joy” die by Impression Obsession (DIE436-D).

The patterned paper is from a digital file called “Snowy Paper” (no longer available?) by SBDigitalDesigns that I purchased on Etsy.

The inside sentiment is from the “Christmas Blessings” stamp set from Divinity Designs (previously Our Daily Bread).

I added a recollections rhinestone gem to the star to finish it off.

My finished card measures 4″ x 9 1/4″ and fits in a regular business envelope, but if you wanted to make a custom envelope with the We R Memory Keepers envelope punch board, start with a 10 5/8″ square and line up at 7 1/8″ for first punch/score line.

Thanks for checking out my card project!

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Scribble Tree Christmas Card

This simple card design features stamps from the “Solemn Stillness – Two Step Stamping” set from Stampin’ Up. It’s a retired, red rubber set from 2004, and as I struggled to line up the two layers – with my MISTI and a piece of acetate after remounting the stamps to make them cling stamps – I wondered how people did two step stamping with wood-mounted, red rubber stamps before the hinged stamp positioners. Yes, I used to use my stamp-a-ma-jig, but I’m wondering if there is a way to do it without a positioner…

For the “solid” portion of the tree, I inked up the stamp with Gina K Designs Christmas Pine ink, sprayed the inked stamp with water, and then stamped it on a piece of heavy weight white card stock. I re-spritzed the stamp (without re-inking) and stamped again. As I mentioned above, I used my MISTI for my stamping, and I found that I had less splatter and running if I left the inked stamp on the table and brought the paper to the stamp instead bringing the stamp to the paper as one normally would.

Once that was dry, I heat embossed the top layer with GKD Fine Detail Gold embossing powder and Versamark ink.

The greeting is from the “Merry Tree” mini set (retired?) from Gina K Designs. LOVE that font!!

Thanks for checking out my card project!

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Flourished Holly Christmas Card

This card features the “Flourished Holly” die (#1713) by Elizabeth Craft Designs, the “Cursive Merry Christmas Word Die” by Gina Marie Designs, and the “Stately” embossing folder by Craft Concepts.

I die cut the greeting and the holly from Gina K Designs Metallic Gold card stock and the holly again from scraps of red and green to inlay the sections of color. These were adhered to the embossed panel and then to a heavy weight card base.

Thanks for checking out my card project!

We’ve come a long way… Die Cut Christmas Tree Card

As I was creating this card, I was thinking about an afternoon 34 years ago when I first started teaching. One of my teacher friends introduced me to the “make and take area” at what I think is now called the Teacher Center at the CCIU in Downingtown, PA. where we went to use their die cutting machine to create cut-out shapes for my bulletin boards. 30 apples for my September calendar, 31 jack-o-lantern’s for October’s, etc. The machine was quite large (and not available/affordable to purchase for home use as far as I knew). And as I recall, the die cut shapes from which to choose were chunky, silhouette images, and the selection was somewhat limited.

Imagine my delight a few years later (lol!) when I purchased my first personal die cutting machine and was able to cut shapes at home! Like the “professional” one, this smaller version had a handle that you pulled down to bring the flat plates together to add the necessary pressure to the die. And like the “professional” dies, those available for purchase were mainly steel rule dies with chunky silhouette images. I loved this machine, but the top plate that pressed against the dies was only a few inches wide so larger dies had to be cut in sections.

Imagine my delight (again!!) when the rolling style die cut machine became available and my long term love affair with my Cuttlebug began. I have since bought several other machines (including electronic ones) but still have and use my original Cuttlebug.

The HUGE variety of dies available today is amazing! Steel rule dies are still compatible with the newer machines and new designs are still being made and sold. But now, there is also the option of wafer thin dies – so many designs, both simple and intricate, and so much easier to store.

Today’s card was made with only dies: the “Elegant Merry Christmas” die (FRA-DIE-10339) and the “Christmas Tree Square” (FRA-DIE-10023) both by Frantic Stamper and a die from the “Stitched Rectangle” set by Creek Bank Creations.

I added wide Creek Bank Creations “Super Tacky Tape” to the back of white card stock before cutting my images which made them into stickers and then used Un-du to make them easier to position on my card.

Of all the many tools and supplies that I use when making my cards and scrapbook pages, my die cutting machines and dies are among my favorites!

Thanks for checking out my card project and for joining me in my walk down memory lane!

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