Pop-Up Christmas Ornament Swag Card - DIY Instructions

DIY - Unexpected Card using Unexpected Colors for Christmas

I love making cards that have a surprise inside - cards that are not JUST cards, but cards that deliver a smile and a little piece of me to those who open it. 

And Christmas is all about smiles, love and joy.  

So that's exactly what this card is all about.  It features

 some spectacular Spellbinders dies and stamps:

Spellbinders Happy Holiday Ornaments Holiday 2017 by Stephanie Low Stamp & Die Set  

 and

Spellbinders Tallulah Frill Layering Frame- Chantilly Paper Lace Collection by Becca Feeken

Nothing beats a quick video to show the true impact of a pop-up card - the "cuteness factor".   

I used watercolor paper to create the ornaments. I wanted a thick heavy paper and had planned on coloring the dies with watercolor paints.  

When selecting paper for your project, keep in mind the mediums you will use for coloring.  Thin paper may not produce the best results. 

DIY Instructions for making the ornament swag

Step 1.  Create your ornaments by stamping, die cutting, then coloring your piece.  I find the process easier if I stamp first, then die cut.  

Step 2.  Make a small slit on each side of the ornament to help in the stringing process.  

Step 3.  Time to string the ornaments together.  I used gold jewelry thread and wrapped the thread around the top of each ornament.  A bit of tape also helps secure the tape and hold in place for the finishing step.  

Step 4.  Finishing touches - cut 3 dies from cardstock.  Glue the die to the backside of the ornaments.   This helps to secure the threads and cover up the messy backs. 

I glued the cardstock die cut off center a bit leaving a beveled edge look (notice the white edges peeking out from the pink cardstock.)

When you flip the swag over, it adds a nice accent of color.  

Step 5.  Time to glue the swag to the card.  I used the mini tree border stamp and die from the Spellbinders Happy Holiday Ornaments Holiday 2017 by Stephanie Low Stamp & Die Set   to help anchor the swag and hold the strings in place.  

Besides being adorable, they are totally functional in hiding the string.   

Make sure you allow enough thread so that when the card is opened it can hang nicely without being pulled too tight.   I used about 18 inches of jewelry thread for this swag. 

Front of the Card
I am going to transition to the front of the card. 
I backed the ornament with foam tape to add dimension.  From there, I was able to build my embellishment cluster under and around the ornament using more gold jewelry thread, 
floral berries, sequins, AND some Spellbinders leaf dies. 

The main embellishments in my cluster are diecut leaf vines from Spellbinders,  Spellbinders Shapeabilities Layered Leaf Vines - Timeless Heart Collection by Marissa Job .   

Spellbinders Shapeabilities Layered Leaf Vines - Timeless Heart Collection by Marissa Job 

Some of the leaves were cut from watercolor paper and some from green cardstock.  Those leaves from watercolor paper have a bit of accenting added to the tips of the leaves using distress inks (Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Festive Berries and  Crushed Olive  applied with  Finger Tip Sponge Daubers

Thanks for stopping here.  I value your time.  

You can shop for all your Spellbinders dies here.   They have amazing sales and frequently have BOGO (buy one -get one) sales too!  

Products Used:
Shapeabilities Tallulah Frill Layering Frame - Chantilly Paper Lace Collection by Becca Feeken -S5-328
Spellbinders Happy Holiday Ornaments Holiday 2017 by Stephanie Low Stamp & Die Set  SDS-090
Spellbinders Shapeabilities Layered Leaf Vines - Timeless Heart Collection by Marissa Job -S4-795
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Festive Berries
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Crushed Olive
Sponge Daubers - Finger Tip

Christmas Has Gone to the Dogs ( And Cats)

Pet owners love to receive cards from their pets.  I know I do.  It's a cute way to include our furry family in the celebration of a holiday or event.

Well, it's time for me to start making those pet cards, and just in time to use the new collection by Maja Design, "Joyous Winterdays".   

Here is a list of the gorgeous papers used from the collection. (Scroll to the bottom and I'll show you where to shop for these lovely papers.)

"Beautiful Pine"

"Pick a Tree"

"Outdoors"

"Make Decorations" 

The colors in this new collection combine winter blues and traditional Christmas colors of green and red resulting in an exquisite set of papers.  And as always, the papers have patterns that can also be used through the year - not just at holiday time.   BONUS!

I used the new Joyous Winterdays collection for my sweet dog card.  

The sentiment says, "Have a tail-waggin Christmas"

 The dog and kitty are from Tim Holtz "Mini Crazy Cats and Dogs" stamps and matching dies.  I'm obsessed with this die set. Here are a few other projects using this same set:

Kitty pop-up card

Puppy cards can be found here

I stamped dogs and cats using Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Mini Cats and Dogs stamp set and the coordinating die set - Sizzix Tim Holtz Mini Cats and Dogs framelits die  set Stamped onto watercolor paper. 

My process: 
stamp onto watercolor paper - die cut the figure after stamping - watercolor with a Watercolor Brush and Tim Holtz Distress inks in Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain

I also decided to create a kitty card using a very nontraditional collection of papers and colors featuring a raspberry red from Maja Design "Summertime" collection. 

 This is more proof that any Maja Design collection can be used for multiple purposes. 

Here is the list of papers I used from the Summertime collection:

"Is Always the Best"

"Taste the Strawberries"

"In the Garden" 

Thanks for stopping today.  

US folks can shop for Maja Design collections here.  The Summertime Collection is here and the new Joyous Winterdays collection is here. 

International folks can shop for the new collection as well as all the collections using the Store Finder link found here. 

Maja Design, "Joyous Winterdays"
Maja Design "Summertime" collection
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink -Walnut Stain
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Inks MINI - Vintage Photo
Watercolor Brushes
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Mini Cats and Dogs stamp set
Sizzix Tim Holtz Mini Cats and Dogs framelits die  set

Happy Birthday Card - JustRite

  JustRite Papercrafts has a fabulous selection of birthday sentiments in a variety of fonts and styles.   You'll be reaching for these sentiment stamps year after year because birthday wishes NEVER go out of style. 

I received the new stamp releases from JustRite Papercrafts and I'm having a ball stamping to my little heart's delight. 

I used 

JustRite -Happy Birthday Sentiment One -clear stamp for the sentiment and made the background by stamping with the JustRite Mod Stars Cling Background  stamp. 

I used JustRite Watercolor Paper Layering Swatches for my image. This product comes in perfect card size: 4"x 5.25"  and contains 100 sheets of watercolor paper perfect for layering.

In order to create my watery background, I inked the JustRite Mod Stars Cling Background  stamp with distress inks, misted the stamp lightly with water, then stamped onto the JustRite Watercolor Paper Layering Swatches

ink....

mist....

stamp...

Just that easy.  

Thanks so much for your time.

JustRite -Happy Birthday Sentiment One -clear stamp CR-05504
JustRite Watercolor Paper Layering Swatches
JustRite Mod Stars Cling Background CL 06004

Quick Birthday cards from Justrite

Let's Have A Birthday Party

JustRite has a line of birthday sentiments that should be headed to the top of your list when you need a quick birthday card. 

I've created some quick cards for those times when you need to "dial it back" a bit (embellishly speaking) and make a cute, simple card.  

Included in this new line of greetings are to stamp sets that I'd like to feature today: 

JustRite Happy Bird-Day Clear Stamps  

 JustRite Happy Birthday One -Clear Stamps 

The images above and below are from the JustRite Happy Bird-Day Clear Stamps   set.  The details are totally darling.   You can see the whole stamp set if you scroll down a bit. 

The cards are clean, simple and actually "do-able" in a few minutes.  Sometimes you need a quick card, perhaps for a child's birthday.  Heck, no child wants to receive a card with a bunch of fancy flowers on it (my typical style).  And no child wants to be "that kid" who goes to a clasmates birthday party with a flowery over embellished card - once again, my typical style.  

Like I said, sometimes ya just need to "dial it back" and make a card. 

I used JustRite Watercolor Paper Layering Swatches for my image.

This is the second clean and simple card I made.  This was created using JustRite Happy Birthday One -Clear Stamps stamped onto JustRite Watercolor Paper Layering Swatches.

It's bold, fun and eye-popping.  And even better - made in a snap. 

The JustRite Watercolor Paper Layering Swatches  comes in perfect card size: 4"x 5.25"  and contains 100 sheets of watercolor paper perfect for layering.

Have a wonderful day and keep life simple today.  

Here are the products I used: 

JustRite Watercolor Paper Layering Swatches 

JustRite Happy Bird-Day Clear Stamps CR-05506

JustRite Happy Birthday One -Clear Stamps CR-05504