Sweetest Time Christmas Card

Hello, Crafters.

Today’s the day the new Mini (Christmas) Catalogue goes live and the day you can start spending the Bonus Day Coupons you earned on your orders last month! If you’re one of my customers, today also sees the start of my special offer for crafters who place online orders during 04 – 31.08.20. I’m giving away a 6″ x 6″ pack of 48 sheets of retired Designer Series Paper and speciality paper. Each pack is different and the speciality paper in each pack will vary. For example, some packs have a sheet of Glimmer paper, and some have vellum sheets from different packs that have been available from Stampin’ Up! at some time. To qualify for a free pack, your order must be a minimum of £30 after your Bonus Day Coupons have been deducted and before delivery has been added.

This pack is in addition to the usual Happy Mail I send to all my online customers, i.e. a hand made thank you card (unused) and envelope plus a handmade gift, and free product if you have remembered to use my August Hostess Code which is GP4JNSXV. (If your order is over £150, please don’t use the Hostess Code or you will lose the Stampin’ Rewards your order will earn for you personally).

Today’s card is my third Christmas card for 2020 and I chose to make this card because the die for the holly is absolutely stunning! The design of the card was inspired by a card in the catalogue and I wanted to know how it was made. I knew how the Old Olive Cardstock (CS) piece was die-cut but I wanted to know how the Pear Pizzazz CS piece was cut a separate die would have been useful! LOL!

In the absence of a die to cut the lighter green underlay, I decided to make myself a template which I can use time and time again. I took a piece of Old Olive CS and a piece of Pear Pizzazz CS which were both the same size. After I had die-cut the Old Olive CS I laid the die-cut on top of the Pear Pizzazz CS and drew around the top four holly leaves and then cut around just inside my pencil lines and that is my template for future use! If you decide to do this as well, you don’t need to worry about the spikey branches because they don’t have any light cardstock beneath them. To die-cut the holly berries, I took a three-quarter inch wide strip of Real Red CS and placed it under the die (berries) in the centre and ran it through the Big Shot. My Take Your Pick Tool really came into its own when I used it to place the holly berries into the right places!

The Sweetest Borders Dies and the Sweetest Time Stamp Set are on page 21 of the new Mini Catalogue and available as a bundle which will save you 10% off the individual prices. The Candles, flames and the sentiment are all from the stamp set. I used Real Red Ink for the candles, Crushed Curry for the flames and Old Olive for the sentiment. My finishing touches were to pop the sentiment up on Dimensionals and to put some Fine Tip Glue on top of all the berries. Inside the card, I added a top layer of Whisper White CS on which I’d stamped the tops of the three candles with the flames and then adhered it onto a layer of Pear Pizzazz CS.

I would have liked a “halo” stamp to show the glow from the candles because the top of the card looks bland. Today I may have a look to see if I have some small holly and berries. There are some in this bundle but I want something smaller. This die is amazing and I think it has been worked out brilliantly! Check it out and see what you think.

That’s it from me today. I look forward to being back with you tomorrow and in the meantime please take care and stay safe. Happy crafting.

JanB. xx