Category: Christmas

Personalized Christmas Gift Card Holders

When I give a gift card I like to keep it in the original packaging that shows the amount on the card. The only problem with that is that they don’t fit into standard gift card holders. So, I determined the size that I would need and created a cut file in the Silhouette for the base of the gift card. I wanted to personalize the gift cards so that they were unique to the person receiving them. I found some cut files in the Silhouette store that would work. Below are the cards that were create.

I am going to post of lot of different gift cards in one post, so if you want details on the products used, just let me know.

The first gift card is for my daughter Aimee, they have a cute little Schnauzer dog and so that is what I used for her card.

The second card if for my son-in-law Troy. I saw this cute moose image and it turned out cute.

This card is for my oldest grandson Zachary. He loves to lift weights and is really buff.

Matt is really into football.

Emma hopes to eventually play soccer in college and then professionally.

My daughter-in-law Cassie is a horse enthusiast.

While my son Pat is a chemist, I couldn’t find anything that would work for that. Instead I used this cute snowman.

And, last of all, Patrick and Monica have two very cute French Bulldogs.

Center Cut Holiday Floral Red and Green Christmas

I decided to use this beautiful stamp by Simon Says Stamp one more time and color it using Copic Markers. They are my favorite coloring medium. You can get such depth of color and add beautiful shadows.

I first stamped the image onto Neenah Classic Crest 80# Solar White Cardstock with Memento London Fog Ink, which doesn’t bleed when coloring with alcohol markers. Once the coloring was complete I stamped it again with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed it gold. The panel was cut down using the largest Lawn Fawn Stitched Stackable Rectangle, which covers the entire front of an A2 cardbase. I love stitched dies. They add that little something extra to a card.

At first I stamped the center sentiment onto some Grass Green cardstock and heat embossed it gold. It was nice, but I decided I wanted to do something different for this card. I cut a circle from a scrap of Gina K. Designs Grass Green cardstock using an Ellen Hutson Essentials Circle Die and ink blended the edges with Fresh Asparagus ink. A circle of sticky back foam was cut using a smaller die and added to the back. I die cut the Memory Box Jotted Script Die from a scrap of red cardstock and the shadow with gold mirror cardstock. The two were adhered together with liquid glue and then adhered to the card front with the same glue. The Ellen Hutson Essential Die was used to cut a thin gold frame, which was adhered directly to the card front with liquid glue. The final embellishment was to add glossy accents to the red sentiment die.

PRODUCTS USED:

  • Simon Says Stamp Center Cut Holiday Floral
  • Memory Box Peace Jotted Script Die
  • Copic Markers: R29, R27, R24, R22; G28, G24, G21; YG67, YG17, YG03; G99, YG63, YG61; YR24, YR21; RV99, RV69
  • Memento London Fog
  • Gina K. Designs Fresh Asparagus
  • VersaMark Ink
  • Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder
  • Lawn Fawn Large Stitched Stackable Rectangle
  • Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive
  • Gina K. Designs Grass Green Base Weight Cardstock
  • Gina K. Designs 120# White Cardstock
  • Neenah Classic Crest 80# Solar White Cardstock
  • Paper Accents Gold Mirror Cardstock
  • Darice Sticky Back Foam
  • Hero Arts Infinity Circle Die
  • Essentials By Ellen Circle Die
  • Laromi Blending Brush
  • Ranger Glossy Accents

Center Cut Holiday Floral Traditional Christmas

I decided to use this beautiful stamp once again and watercolor it with traditional poinsettia colors. I stamped it on Strathmore Bristol Smooth with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed it white.

For coloring the image I used Karin Brush Marker Pro colors. I got my hand into some of the green before it was dry and couldn’t completely blot it up, so I decided to use a soft green as a background color and really liked the way it turned out. Sometimes mistakes can be happy accidents. Once everything was dry I cut down the image using the largest Lawn Fawn Stitched Stackable Rectangle and adhered it to a top folding white cardbase.

I watercolored some leftover Bristol Smooth cardstock with some of the green watercolor and once it was completely dry stamped the center cut sentiment with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed it white. I used a Hero Arts Infinity Circle Die to cut out the sentiment. Sticky back foam was cut with a smaller rectangle and adhered to the back of the sentiment, which was then adhered to the card front with liquid glue.

I like watercoloring, but I need to be more patient and add more layers to create greater depth. Overall, it is a very pretty card and I love this stamp set.

PRODUCTS USED:

  • mon Says Stamp Center Cut Holiday Floral
  • Karin Brush Marker Pro: 209 Red, 075 Burgundy, 357 Pale Orange, 552 Ochre, 447 Olive Black, 297 Curry, 210 Apple, 281 Olive Green
  • VersaMark Ink
  • Gina K. Designs Detail White Embossing Powder
  • Hero Arts Infinity Circle Dies
  • Gina K. Designs 120# White Cardstock
  • Strathmore Bristol Smooth Cardstock
  • Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive
  • Hero Arts Infinity Circle Dies
  • Darice Sticky Back Foam
  • Lawn Fawn Large Stitched Stackable Rectangle

Center Cut Holiday Floral Christmas

I love this new stamp by Simon Says Stamp. I’ve seen some incredible designs for different cardmakers and have been inspired.

I knew I wanted to watercolor the image so I stamped it with VersaMark Ink onto Strathmore Bristol Smooth Cardstock and heat embossed it clear. I originally planned to color the poinsettia red, but I started coloring what I thought was a leaf with the pretty turquoise color and low and behold it was a petal on the poinsettia, so I went with a non-traditional color scheme for this card and love the way it turned out.

I used my Karin Brush Markers because they give such a depth of color, but still allow you to have soft variations as well.

Once the color was dry I cut down the image using the largest Lawn Fawn Stitched Stackable Rectangle, which cover an entire card front, but add that lovely stitched edge that I love so much.

The stamp set come with the center sentiment, but it can pop out and be stamped separately. I stamped it onto Bristol Cardstock as well and heat embossed it clear. I then used the same green I used on the leaves to color the sentiment circle. The first time I cut it I used too small of a circle, so I stamped it again and colored it again. The word was a little blotchy so I stamped it again with VersaMark and this time embossed it with white embossing powder. I then cut it with a larger circle, add foam tape behind and adhered it to the center of the card.

Love it!

PRODUCTS USED:

  • Simon Says Stamp Center Cut Holiday Floral
  • Karin Brush Marker Pro: 253 Grass, 281 Olive Green, 210 Apple, 228 Lush Green, 377 Teal, 172 Blush, 220 Pale Pink
  • Avery Elle Stitched Stackable Rectangles Die
  • Hero Arts Circle Infinity Die
  • Strathmore Bristol Smooth Cardstock
  • Gina K. Designs 120# White Cardstock
  • Hero Arts Detail Clear Embossing Powder
  • Gina K. Designs Detail White Embossing Powder
  • Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive
  • Darice Sticky Back Foam

Shimmer Oval Die Christmas

When I was looking at ideas for Christmas Cards this year I saw this die from Simon Says Stamp. It took awhile to get it but it finally arrived.

I die cut it from some Gina K. Designs Cranberry Red Cardstock. I don’t know if it was because of the thicker cardstock or the die itself, but it was difficult to cut and I had to run it through several times and then add a metal shim. Then it took awhile to remove all the inner pieces of the die. This would not be a card to mass produce.

I cut the die again from red sticky back foam and adhered the two together. This is any easy way to add dimension on an intricate die cut.

I cut panel of gold mirror cardstock with a stitched rectangle. I then cut down the red panel with the negative oval to be 1/2″ smaller and adhered the two together with double-sided tape and then adhered the panel to a top folding A2 cardbase made from the red cardstock.

Liquid glue was added to the make of the ornate oval die cut and placed carefully in the negative oval space so the liquid glue would not spread onto the gold mirror cardstock. A couple of large stamp block where placed on top to secure the oval until the glue could dry.

The sentiment was stamped on a scrap of red cardstock with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed gold. It was cut using a Pink & Main Sentiment Label die and adhered to the bottom of the card with Darice Thin Strip Foam.

I had a leftover die cut poinsettia from another card and decided to use it at the top of the oval. The poinsettia was cut from a hot red cardstock so I pulled out my Copic Markers to deepen the color and add shadows and depth.

PRODUCTS USED:

  • Simon Says Stamp Shimmer Oval Die
  • Hero Arts Layering Poinsettia
  • Copic Markers: R89, R59, R39, R37; YG67, YG17, YG03
  • VersaMark Ink
  • Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder
  • Red Sticky Back Foam
  • Darice Thin Strip Foam
  • Paper Accents Gold Mirror Cardstock
  • Gina K. Designs Base Weight Fresh Asparagus, Cranberry Tart and Red Hot Cardstock
  • My Favorite Things A2 Stitched Rectangle
  • Pink & Main Sentiment Strip
  • Gold Rhinestones From Stash
  • Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive
  • Be Creative Double Sided Tape

Glorious Gathering Christmas

When I saw this new stamp from Tim Holtz I purchased it for my stash of Christmas images. When I dot it in the mail it was HUGE and I thought, “how in the world am I going to use this?”

I first stamped it on a half sheet of Strathmore Bristol Smooth with Ink-On-3 Fade Out Ink for a no line watercoloring, but I just can’t do no line. I’ve tried several times and I never like the results, it just isn’t defined enough for my style.

As with most Tim Holtz images they are very detailed. I knew that using a gold embossing with just make it so that there wasn’t enough real estate left over to get a good color so I stamped it with Distress Oxide Vintage Photo and at the last minute decided to use clear embossing powder on it. It just makes it easier to watercolor. I used my Arteza watercolor pens because they have more vibrant colors than the ZIGs.

For the most part the watercolor went okay. The large berries however, didn’t have enough open space for any color to show through, so I just pulled out some Purple Stickles. I also used Christmas Red Stickles for the smaller berries.

I cut down the image with the largest Lawn Fawn Stackable Stitched Rectangle, which covers the front of an A2 cardbase. I decided that the feel of the card was more rustic so I ink blended the edges with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo. This did cause the Arteza inks to reactive in a few spots on the green leaves, but I was okay with that since it was in keeping with the rustic feel.

I stamped the sentiment in Vintage Photo and heat embossed it clear using Vintage Photo onto Gina K. Designs Kraft Cardstock. I then cut it down using a Memory Box Matinee Rectangle and popped it up with some foam tape.

It isn’t my favorite Christmas card, but I am happy with the results.

PRODUCTS USED:

  • Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection Glorious Gatherings
  • Distress Oxide Vintage Photo and Antique Linen
  • Arteza Real Brush Markers: 132 Forest Green, 126 Crocodile Green, 122 Moss Green, 146 Olive Green, 134 Coffee, 102 Chocolate, 182 Wine Red, 183 Blush Red, 101 Red, 1094 Tomato Red, 169 Orange Rust, 118 Autumn Red, 156 Sunset Yellow, 121 Honey, 184 Light Magenta, 148 Grape Purple
  • Ranger Stickles Christmas Red, Purple, Cinnamon, Orange Peel
  • 3M ½” Foam Tape
  • Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive
  • Gina K. Designs Base Weight Kraft and Ivory Cardstock
  • Lawn Fawn Stitched Stackable Rectangle
  • Neenah Classic Crest 80# Solar White Cardstock
  • Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive

Believe Jesus is the Reason for the Season

From a previous card I made I had the positive die cut of the word “Believe” and couldn’t discard it.

As with the other Christmas cards I’ve made this year I used Hero Arts Christmas Rose Background to create a pretty patterned paper. I stamped on red cardstock with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed it gold. Once the embossing was cool I die cut it using the largest Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle which cover the entire front of an A2 cardbase. I used Copic Markers to carefully color the larger poinsettia flowers in the background.

I used my new Pink Fresh Studio Braided Oval Die to cut an oval from gold cardstock. It was just too much gold on the card front, so I pulled out a My Favorite Things Pierced Oval and cut the center out to create a frame. The Christmas Rose Background was too busy when I went to place the die cut word “Believe” so I used the same pierced oval to add a red cardstock center to the gold frame. The word “Believe” was glued in place with liquid adhesive and a secondary sentiment was stamped with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed gold.

It was a pretty card, but I felt that it could use a visual focal point. I used the medium Waffle Flower Poinsettia spray and stamped it onto Neenah Classic Crest 80# Solar White Cardstock and colored it with Copic Markers. It was then stamped again with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed gold. I cut the spray with the coordinating die, but I didn’t like how stark the white edges were against all the red and gold, so I pulled out a metallic gold markers and colored the white edges. This look much better. It was adhered to the top of the gold frame with liquid glue and foam tape.

This is a very pretty card and not too difficult to recreate. I think this is my second favorite card from the ones I’ve create so far.

PRODUCTS USED:

  • Hero Arts Christmas Rose Background
  • Waffle Flower Poinsettia
  • Simon Says Stamp Tiny Words Christmas
  • Penny Black Exultations
  • Pink Fresh Studio Braided Oval Die
  • My Favorite Things Pierced Oval Die
  • Copic Markers: R89, R56, R37; R89, R69, R56; YR24, YG61, YG63; YG67, YG17, YG03; YG97, YG93; G24, G21, G20
  • Gina K. Designs Cherry Tart Base Weight Cardstock
  • Paper Accents Gold Mirror Cardstock
  • VersaMark Ink
  • Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder
  • Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive
  • Darice Sticky Back Foam
  • Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen
  • American Crafts Gold Metallic Marker

Poinsettia Peace on Earth

I was waiting for the Waffle Flower Poinsettia stamp to finish this card. There was a large space to the right of “Peace On Earth” that needed a finishing element and I thought a poinsettia spray from this stamp set would work well. I am please with the result. It isn’t my favorite Christmas card this year, but it is pretty.

I stamped the Hero Arts Christmas Rose Background onto red cardstock with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed it gold. To highlight the flowers in the background I used a few Polychromos Pencils and a little Gambol to blend. The panel was cut down using the largest Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle, which covers the entire front of an A2 cardbase.

To ensure that the sentiment didn’t get lost on the busy background I cut it from black cardstock, scanned it, and created a shadow in the Silhouette Cameo software. The sentiment was cut from gold mirror cardstock and adhered to the shadow with liquid glue. Foam tape was added to the back for dimension, but it still was getting lost on the background, so I decided to use a band of vellum behind the sentiment. I wrapped it around the background panel and secured it with Scotch Tape. This work great.

As I said earlier, there was a large opening in the upper right of the sentiment that really needed a focal element. I stamped the medium spray from the Waffle Flower Poinsettia stamp and colored it with Copic Markers, then stamped it again with VersaMark and heat set it gold. I was glued directly to the vellum.

The entire rectangle was adhered to a top folding cardbase and the card was done.

PRODUCTS USED:

  • Hero Arts Christmas Rose Background
  • Waffle Flower Poinsettia
  • Penny Black Peace
  • Copic Markers: R89, R56, R37; R89, R69, R56; YR24, YG61, YG63; YG67, YG17, YG03; YG97, YG93; G24, G21, G20
  • Faber-Castell Polychromos 226 Alizarin Crimson, 217 Cadmium Red, 225 Dark Red Colored Pencils
  • Copic Markers: R89, R56, R37
  • Gina K. Designs Cherry Tart Base Weight Cardstock
  • Paper Accents Gold Mirror Cardstock
  • Paper Studio Silver Metallic Vellum
  • VersaMark Ink
  • Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder
  • Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive
  • Darice Sticky Back Foam
  • Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

The Miracle of Christmas

I think this is my favorite Christmas card so far. It it fairly quick and easy to make and it is such a wonderful message.

I cut a scalloped rectangle from some layering weight ivory cardstock and then stamped the message with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed it gold. I tried stamping the message first and then die cutting, but found it easier to make sure the message was centered on the rectangle when cutting it first and then stamping the message.

Hero Arts Christmas Rose Background was stamped onto Gina K. Designs Base Weight Red Hot Cardstock with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed gold. It was then cut with the largest scalloped rectangle and adhered to a side folding ivory cardbase with dot liner adhesive. The sentiment was then adhered in the center with liquid glue adhesive.

The poinsettia was cut from ivory cardstock and colored with Copic Markers, but to mass produce it will be easier to cut from red cardstock and just add some depth and dimension with the Copic Markers. The center of the poinsettia was cut from gold mirror cardstock. All the layers were adhered using liquid glue and then it was placed in the opening at the upper right of the card.

A quick and easy card to create.

PRODUCTS USED:

  • Hero Arts Christmas Rose
  • Honey Bee Stamps Miracle of Christmas
  • Hero Arts Layering Poinsettia
  • Copic Markers: R37, R29, R27, R24, R22; G29, G24, G21; R39, G29, G46, G21
  • Gina Marie Designs Scalloped Rectangle
  • Gina K. Designs Base Weight and Layering Weight Ivory Cardstock
  • Gina K. Designs Base Weight Red Hot Cardstock
  • Paper Accents Gold Mirror Cardstock
  • VersaMark Ink
  • Ranger Super Find Detail Gold Embossing Powder

Green and Gold Wishing You Joy This Holiday Season

This is my second attempt to create a Christmas Cards using green cardstock and the Memory Box Flowering Christmas Tree. I wanted something that would still be pretty, but not as expensive to create as the previous card that used a lot of gold mirror cardstock. Embossing powder is very inexpensive and so I pulled out Hero Arts Noel Prink Bold Background stamp and used VersaMark Ink to stamp it on Gina K. Designs Christmas Pine Cardstock and heat it with gold embossing powder. A scalloped rectangle was then used to cut it down and adhere it to a Christmas Pine cardbase.

Because the noel verbiage is pretty busy a sheet of vellum was cut with a smaller scalloped rectangle and the gold mirror Christmas tree was adhered to the front with spray adhesive. The sentiment was stamped in the upper right of the vellum rectangle and heat embossed gold.

The final embellishment was to add Ranger Christmas Stickles to the center of the flowers on the tree and the card was done.

PRODUCTS USED:

  • Hero Arts Noel Print Bold Background
  • Memory Box Flowering Christmas Tree Die
  • VersaMark Ink
  • Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder
  • Gina Marie Designs Scalloped Rectangle
  • Paper Studio Vellum
  • Gina K. Designs Base Weight Ivory Cardstock
  • Paper Accents Gold Mirror Cardstock
  • Paper Studio Vellum
  • Darice Sticky Back Foam
  • Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive