Christmas

Gatefold Fireplace

| ullycatdesigns

This is the seventh card in the Fireplace Christmas Card series.

Waiting for the grandchildren to arrive to decorate the tree. It’s that peaceful moment when the dog is asleep before the fire and the chairs are ready for tired bodies.

For this card I used two Paper Discovery die sets by Olga Direktorenko – Timeless Room and Elegant Room as well as the Timeless Room embossing folder. These sets are available in limited quantities from Craftstash. Olga is an amazing designer of scene dies and stamps who lives in Ukraine.

Cardbase: A purchased A7 (5×7 inches) gatefold cardbase and matching envelope were used for this card. The inside was covered in a red and white striped wallpaper with embossed floor moldings made using the Timeless Room embossing folder. A red rug is in the center bottom. The outside has wreath paper from the same 6×6 paper pad as the striped paper.

Fireplace: The fireplace die cuts a detailed image that needs to be backed with black paper to make the details stand out.                                     The final touch is the snoozing chocolate labrador retriever in front of the fire.

Chairs: The chair die in the Timeless Room set has an outline die and then one other die that cuts all the detailed pieces that make up the dimensional chair. The seat back die has a stencil feature for tufting which I used with a fine-tipped black marker to add this detail to the chair. The cushions are from the same set. When attached to the inside flaps of the card, the chair extend slightly over the edge, but card covered by the tree on the card front when the card is closed.

Card Front: An evergreen tree sits in a red pot waiting to be decorated. The tree is from the Elegant Room set while the pot is from the Timeless Room set. The left half of the tree is glued to the left card flap. The yellow bells were added to balance out the banner. Both are from a Spellbinder’s Christmas card kit.

Card Back: A red strip covers the seam where the two pieces of paper meet. Ephemera from a Spellbinder’s Christmas card kit was used to decorate the back including a stack of Christmas themed books and a banner stating, “Handmade with love.”

Sentiments: The front banner “Warm Wishes” is from a Spellbinder’s Christmas card kit. “Merry Christmas” is part of the Elegant Room set and includes the frame. The two white ovals over the chairs are spaces to write personal messages.

Envelope: The back flap is decorated with yellow bells from a Spellbinder’s Christmas card kit.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Other Fireplace Cards by designer/brand

Materials Used:

Dies & Embossing Folders

Papers

  • My Mind’s Eye – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Cozy Christmas
  • Craft Consortium – A4 Solids Double-Sided Paper Pad – Candy Christmas
  • Spellbinders – Mega Holiday Cardmaking Kit – Christmas – All Aboard
  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Textured Cardstock – Tiara -18-1002
  • Matte Gold Cardstock
  • Black and White Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A7 Gatefold Cardbase and Envelope – White

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Crayon- Hickory Smoke
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black, Blue, Brown, Green and Red

Adhesives

Tools

Magical Fireplace

| ullycatdesigns

This is the sixth card in the Fireplace Christmas Card series.

Fireplaces have a bit of magic in them on Christmas eve. This easel card plays into the magic complete with an elf sitting on the mantel shelf.

Hero Arts made the Stamp & Cut XL Fireplace set that was used to make this card along with Graphic 45 patterned paper Lets Get Cozy.

Cardbase: Starting with a purchased A7 cardbase, I cut it along its fold to have two pieces of 5×7 inch rectangles. Next, I cut a piece of the heavy weight pink cardstock 7.5-inches by 4.25-inches and folded at 2-inches and at 5.5-inches. (You may need to change the fold in the easel arm as I did, but you can cover the extra fold line with decorative paper.)

One tab was glued to the top of a cardbase panel and the other tab will be glued to the base of the other panel once it is decorated as the card front. Cover the bottom card base panel with a carpet like patterned paper. Also cover the back side of the case base with patterned paper. (I choose a wallpaper-like floral print and put a house border along the bottom edge to ground the back of the card.)

Fireplace: While designed to be a single layer die-cut, the fireplace can be cut multiple times to create a more 3D effect. The dies need to be clipped to separate the main outline of the fireplace from the mantel piece and the stocking from the rest of the piece. Cut one outline piece and one mantel piece from heavy blush pink cardstock. You will have to cut the mantel piece from the cardstock at its connecting points with a kraft knife. Cut another mantel piece to fussy cut the scalloped inner opening that frames the firebox. (I like to cut this piece to include some of the columns.)

On the outline piece, trace the firebox opening with a light pencil using the mantel piece die.

Using the layering stamps with two shades of brown ink for the logs and yellow and orange ink for the flames, create the burning logs within the penciled firebox. Using a blending brush, ink up the firebox to make sooty walls. Glue the inner firebox frame around the inked firebox. Use foam squares on the back of the mantel piece to adhere it to the outline piece. Blend some color onto the mantel piece.

Decorations: There are a number of decoration stamps in Fireplace Stamp & Cut set. I stamped both candles, the elf, tallest tree and the pinecones in greenery onto white heavy cardstock and heated embossed them before coloring with watercolor pencils. Next, I fussy cut them out leaving a long tab at the bottom of each to attach them to the fireplace I glued the tabs to the backside of the mantel piece and place foam squares on the backs of the pieces. The stockings were also stamped, heat embossed and watercolored. They are glued to the front of the mantel piece.

Sentiments: All of the sentiments were stamped, and heat embossed onto cardstock. The “ho ho ho” was stamped on pink cardstock to go at the base of the fireplace as if the sounds were coming down the chimney into the firebox. Crosshatch dies were used to cut out the larger sentiments of “Warm wishes” on a rug and “Merry Christmas” on a wall plaque. A second white rug was added for a personal message. The first rug is popped up on foam squares to act as an easel stop while the second rug is glued down for the ease of writing a message.

Envelope: The back flap of the envelope is stamped with a green elf to hint at the magic to come.

easel-card-sheet-2Download

CRX Sheet:  With many interactive cards, the recipient needs instructions on how to open and set-up the card. I create CRX sheets (card recipient experience) to include in the envelope. You can download for free the easel/double easel CRX sheet.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Other Fireplace Cards by designer/brand

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Hero Arts – Stamp & Cut XL – Clear Stamps – Fireplace – DC295

Papers

  • Graphic 45 – 8×8 Double-Sided Paper Pack – Let’s Get Cozy
  • Recollections – 8.5×11 Cardstock 110 lb – Rose Petals
  • White Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A7 Cardbase and Envelope – White

Pigments: Ink, Watercolors & Embossing Powder

  • Simon Says Stamp – Pawsitively Saturated Ink – Aegean
  • VersaMark – Watermark Stamp Pad
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Black Soot and Saltwater Taffy
  • Hero Arts – My Monthly Hero Mini Stamp Cubes – Cup O’Joe, Lemon Drop and Creamsicle
  • My Favorite Things – Premium Dye Ink – Milk Chocolate
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Red
  • Crafter’s Square – Metallic Marker – .05 In Point – Gold
  • Nuvo – Highly Pigmented Watercolor Pencils – Elementary Tones and Brilliantly Vibrant
  • Recollections – Detail Embossing Powder – Ebony

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Sponge Dauber
  • Ink blending Brush
  • Craft Mat
  • Scissors
  • Heat Tool
  • Kat Scrappiness – Anti-Static Tool
  • Water Brush
  • Kraft Knife

Burning Logs TV

| ullycatdesigns

This is the fifth card in the Fireplace Christmas Card series.

In the good old-days of the 1950s and 1960s, the winter holidays meant snow, winter sports like ice skating on a homemade ice ring made in the backyard of 2×4 boards and a few inches of water frozen. On Christmas day the TV stations broadcast images of burning logs to replace the normal programing.

This card commemorates those childhood memories using dies by Hero Arts along with basic dies and stamps by other companies.

Cardbase: I used a purchase A7 (5×7 inch) cardbase and envelope. I covered the inside with papers that represent wallpaper and carpeting. The card back is also covered with patterned paper. Because I used 6×6 inch patterned paper and some designs I only had one piece, I placed borders of contrasting paper.

Pop-Up: I wanted this television set to pop-up inside the card, so once it was assembled, I made my own pop-up cube from scrap carpeting patterned cardstock (I would have used the wallpaper, but I had no more of it.) The pop-up cub is made from strip 2.5×7 inches, folded at .5-inches, 3-inches, 3.5-inches and 4-inches, and the .5-inch tab is glued onto the carpet panel inside the card, butted up against the fold and the other 3-inch end of the strip glued to the wallpaper panel.  The TV is glued to the front of the pop-up.

TV: As with many Hero Arts dies, you have to cut them multiple times and then fussy cut with scissors the decorative pieces such as the TV knobs, speaker box and legs. I cut the knobs, speaker and screen frame from a textured metallic gray cardstock and legs from woodgrain paper.

The whole television I cut once from black and twice from a thick cardstock in my junk mail recycling. The junk mail pieces I glued together. On the back of the black piece, I attached a piece of clear acetate using thin double-sided tape. Next, I trimmed the excess acetate. (Don’t attach black front to junk mail back piece until burning log screen is attached.)

White cardstock that was colored with markers and covered with glitter gloss was used for the flames while recycled kraft cardboard packaging was what the logs were cut from. Once the burning logs were assembled, they were glued to star patterned paper TV screen piece. Place a piece of wide clear packing tape over the backside of the junk mail piece and place the finished screen inside the junk mail frame. Glue the black front to the junk mail piece.

Attach the TV to the pop-up inside card. Play with the antenna placement so they won’t show when the card is closed. (I cut the antenna once from silver foiled packaging and once from the thick junk mail cardstock and glued together.)

Card Front: For this layered mat front, I used a 5×7 inch rectangle of holographic snowflake cardstock that I cut a 4×5.25 inch crosshatch rectangle out of the center. A 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of glitter cardstock was covered with a snowflake pattern plate attached with 1/8-inch wide double-sided tape. The open places in the center of some snowflakes had stickiness from the tape adhesive and was covered with an anti-static brush and powder.

Skaters: Hero Arts makes a paper doll die-cut series complete with a variety of hair and facial expressions as well as clothing and accessories. These mid-century styles ice skaters use the Winter Accessories set along with the basic Hero Lifestyle Forms and Faces sets. Markers were used to color the clothing.

Sentiments: Two die cut sentiments were used on this card. On the front is “Up To Snow Good” a pieced die set by Riley & Company. I cut it once from heavy white cardstock and colored the letters with a blue metallic marker. I used glue to attach all pieces to the snowflake pattern plate. Inside the card is “Happy holidays” a die set by Simon Says Stamp. The lavender rug inside the card is a place for a personal message.

Envelope: To hint at what is to come, the back flap of the envelope was stamped with an Art Impressions’ sentiment stamp in blue ink.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Other Fireplace Cards by designer/brand

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Art Impressions – Unmounted Rubber Stamp – Scrapbook.com Exclusive – Sending a Flurry of Holiday Wishes! – 5085
  • Hero Arts – Fancy Dies – Hero Lifestyle Faces – CM500

Papers

  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Textured Cardstock – Tiara -18-1002
  • Crate Paper – 6×6 Single-Sided Patterned Paper Pad – Cool Kid
  • Grafix – 8.5×11 Acetate .0075 – Clear
  • Honey Bee Stamps – 6×8.5 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Grain and Grunge
  • Hot Off the Press – 8.5×11 Holographic Cardstock – Snowflakes Blue – HOTP-10460
  • Recollections – 8.5×11 White Gold Shimmer Cardstock
  • Thick Smooth Cardboard Junk Mail
  • Thick Kraft Cardstock Packaging
  • Blue Glitter Cardstock
  • White, Black, Blue, Lavendar and Cream Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A7 Cardbase and Envelope – White

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Misty Moonlight
  • Memento – Fade-Resistant Dye ink – Tuxedo Black
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Watercolor Pencil – Kitsch Flamingo
  • Crafter’s Square – Metallic Marker – Blue and Silver
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker –Fine Tip – Black, Red and Yellow
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Brown
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer -Glitter Gloss
  • White Gel Pen

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Scissors
  • Kat Scrappiness – Anti-Static Tool

Pop-Up Fireplace

| ullycatdesigns

This is the fourth card in the Fireplace Christmas Card series.

Grand rooms to celebrate Christmas evokes feelings of another time that is both formal and cheery.

To create the 3D card front and inside pop-up fireplace, Crafter’s Companion Gemini Create-A-Card die sets were used along with a Paper Discovery embossing folder to create the textured wallpaper and moldings.

Embossed Walls: I made a room scene card a few years back using the same embossing folder to create the wall. Because I liked the look of the red ink blending and the white woodwork of that earlier card, I repeated it. I cut two pieces of heavy weight white cardstock, spritzed them with water and used the embossing folder with the suggested sandwich of embossing mat and thin plate to emboss in my die-cutting machine. (I used 3M post-It notes the last time I ink blended the wallpaper.) This time with low-tack paper tape, I masked off the columns and wainscoting molding before ink blending.

Cardbase: For the cardbase, I used a purchased ivory A6 (4.5 x 6.25 inch) card with matching envelope.The two embossed wall pieces go on the card front and the inside top panel. Because they are back-to-back, heavy layers of decorative papers need to go on the card back to balance out the weight of the two panels when the card is opened. The advent calendar numbers on the back are to suggest the counting of days until Christmas.

Card Front: I placed the embossed piece with the left column at the left edge of the card. The dies for the staircase are in the tree die set and cut just the banister and stair treads. I embossed a smaller piece of molded wainscoting to adhere the stair treads to with thin foam square. The railing backs-up to the column. Using a brown marker, I colored the hand railing before adding some greenery swags from the accessories die set and ornaments from the yuletide treasure set.

The Christmas tree is popped-up on thicker foam squares. I used some tiny holographic tinsel to create the illusion of a fir tree. More of the ornaments from the stairway are used with a glitter foam star as tree decorations. For the tree stand, I trimmed-down the coal shuttle from the accessories set after die-cutting it from black shinny packaging. The frame of the sentiment is cut from matte gold cardstock and the white sentiment pieced into the frame and glued in place with thin strips of cardstock on the backside, before being adhered to the card with thin foam squares.

Fireplace: Because the fireplace die is designed to be cut out from the cardbase, I had to modify it by cutting it from a scrape of heavy white cardstock and cutting a .25-inch tab across the top and a similar tab at the base. The four decorative molding pieces need to glued on to the mantel piece. I cut a .5-inch strip to go across the two side flaps of the hearth stone so the firebox has a white floor.

Next, I cut a 2.5-inch square of white cardstock and embossed it in the brick folder. Using gray and back Distress crayons, I colored the bricks to look sooty before gluing them in place to the inside wall of the cardbase. Using the flame and logs from the accessories set, I cut the pieces and then used some glitter inks to color the flames. The logs were cut from brown woodgrain paper. The fender or fire guard piece was cut from gold matte cardstock and glued to the backside of the mantel piece. (Fender is also in accessories set.) The carpet needs to be glued onto the bottom inside card panel before the mantel can be glued in place. Glue goes on the bottom of the hearthstone and the back top tab. I positioned the bottom piece to be a smidge from the cardbase fold. With the fireplace folded flat on the carpet, I lowered the cardbase top panel onto the flattened mantel piece to get the correct placement.

Room Decorations: With in the accessories set, there are the coal shuttle, holly and greenery garlands, a wreath and bow, two stockings and a picture frame. The mirror is a piece of sliver plastic packaging adhered to the woodgrain embossed cardstock frame with double-sided tape. Nuvo Drops were used on the holly strands for berries. A fine-tipped marker was used to create the striped stockings.

Sentiments: There is only one sentiment of “Happy Christmas” on the card front. The cream-colored rug inside the card can be used to write a personal message.

Envelope: To hint at what is to come, “Warm Wishes” has been stamped in red ink onto the back envelope flap.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Other Fireplace Cards by designer/brand

Materials Used:

Dies

Embossing Folders

  • Paper Discovery – A5 Embossing Folder – Elegant Room
  • A2 Embossing Folder – Brick Wall

Stamps

  • Woodware Craft Collection – Clear Stamps by Francoise Read – Frosty Cup -FRS949

Papers

  • My Mind’s Eye – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Cozy Christmas
  • Recycled Cardboard and Plastic Packaging
  • Foil Cardstock Scraps
  • Matte Gold Cardstock
  • Woodgrain Embossed Cardstock
  • White, Black and Cream Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A6 Cardbase and Envelope – Ivory

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Real Red
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Oxide – Festive Berries
  • VersaMark – Watermark Stamp Pad
  • Spectrum Noir Sparkle Glitter Ink – Log Fire
  • Spectrum Noir Sparkle Glitter Ink – Candlelight
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Red and Brown
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Crayons – Hickory Smoke and Black Soot

Embossing Powder

  • Recollections – Detail Embossing Powder – Ebony

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Hero Arts – Blending Brush
  • Craft Mat
  • Scissors
  • Tweezers
  • Kat Scrappiness – Anti-Static Tool
  • Heat Tool
  • Mister Water Bottle

Miscellaneous

  • Holographic Tinsel
  • Nuvo Vintage Drops – Postbox Red

Modern Holiday Hearth

| ullycatdesigns

This is the third card in the Fireplace Christmas Card series.

Modern, clean and simple design are what this holiday card is all about. Inspiration comes from Altenew’s Modern Fireplace die set which creates a layered fireplace with a traditional mantelpiece, herringbone brickwork and an embossed firebox. An add-on set of Mantel Décor -Winter offers the wreath, bow and candlesticks. The burning logs and grate are part of the Fireplace set.

Cardbase: I started with an A2 size kraft cardstock base (4.25 x 5.5 inches when closed) and covered the outsides two panels with patterned cardstock.

Fireplace: For the fireplace mantel, I used a textured metallic gray cardstock, cutting the mantel shelf piece twice and the main piece once. The mantel shelf I also cut once from a heavy cardboard piece of junk mail. With the herringbone brick layer, I used a terra cotta piece of cardstock covered with clear packing tape to die-cut the piece. A dark gray piece of cardstock was used for the firebox which was distressed with white water-soluble crayon. To assemble follow the directions on the video on the link page. I glued a strip of white copier paper between the firebox layer and the brick layer just at the top, to give the mantel shelf piece an additional place to be attached to besides the top edge of the mantel base.

I cut the two flames and log pieces from white cardstock and colored them with markers and glitter ink. After coloring, I glued the layering pieces together and added the tiny black grate.

Decorations: The decorations on the card are minimal with two tall candlesticks in teal blue with white candles. All of these pieces were cut once from a heavy cardboard piece of junk mail and a second time from colored cardstock. The wreath was cut once from a heavy cardboard piece of junk mail and colored with a red marker. The bow was cut twice from teal with the knot being fussy cut out of the second piece.

Sentiments: I stamped the “Holiday Fun” before I assembled the card onto the card front. The sentiment was part of an Altenew stamp set that came in a crafting magazine from 2020. Inside the card I used the same teal cardstock from the mantel decorations to die cut “Happy holidays.”

Envelope: For the flap of the envelope, I used Altenew’s Mini Brownstone stamp set with two shades of red ink and two shades of brown ink to stamp the suggestion of what the outside of the home looks like. I finished off the scene with a .01 mm black pen to create a tree, windowpanes, sidewalk and fence.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Other Fireplace Cards by designer/brand        

   

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

Papers

  • Crate Paper – 6×6 Single-Sided Patterned Paper Pad – Cool Kid
  • Spellbinders – 8.5×11 Cardstock 100 lb – Terra Cotta
  • Concord & 9th – 8.5×11 Cardstock 80 lb – Mushroom
  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Textured Cardstock – Tiara -18-1002
  • Teal, White and Black Cardstock Scraps
  • A2 Cardbase and Envelope – Kraft

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Cherry Cobler, Early Espresso, Misty Moonlight, Real Red, Soft Suede
  • Catherine Pooler – Premium Dye Ink- Party Collection – All That Jazz\
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Crayon – Picket Fence
  • Recollections – Watercolor Crayons – White
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black, Brown, Red
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Spectrum Noir – Sparkle Glitter Brush Pen – Firefly

Adhesives

  • Neutral PH Adhesive by LINECO
  • Fine-Tip Glue Bottle
  • Scor- Tape – Double-Sided Tape -1/8-inch wide

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Scissors

Warm and Cozy Hearth

| ullycatdesigns

This is the second card in the Fireplace Christmas Card series.

My inspiration for this cozy fireplace scene comes from the Graphic 45 paper collection Let’s Get Cozy and the Elizabeth Craft Designs Cozy Fireplace and Let’s Bake die sets.

Cardbase: A purchase A7 (5×7 inches) cardbase was covered with decorative papers on the two outside panels with leftover scraps used inside.

Fireplace: To create the stone fireplace, I cut two chimney pieces and two mantel pieces from the smooth side of the Bazzill cardstock and one mantel piece from the textured side of the same cardstock to get a textured firebox arch, mantel shelf and hearth stone. (The mantel shelf and hearthstone were fussy cut from the die-cut.) The individual stones (cut twice) and stones around the firebox were cut from the textured side of the gray cardstock. The top piece of the chimney was also cut from the textured cardstock. Glue individual stones to one fireplace piece then attach the stones around the opening. With black ink color the firebox piece if sooty.

Glue the two chimneys together. Glue the three chimney top strips together and then attach it to the chimney top. Center the chimney piece behind the fireplace piece with firebox. Using clear tape across the back of the fireplace piece without the stones attached, add the sooty firebox and with an inky blending brush add soot to the surrounding area of the firebox. Assemble the burning logs and glue onto firebox.

Add foam squares to the front of the fireplace with chimney, backsides of mantel shelf and hearthstone pieces. Attach the fireplace with stones onto base, then attach mantel shelf and hearthstone. Glue to front of cardbase.

Decorations: The Cozy Fireplace set comes with stockings, candles, and greenery. From the Let’s Bake set the table was cut from woodgrain embossed paper and ink blended with black ink. The Christmas pudding and its holly decoration comes from the same set with the cake stand cut down to a platter. The tiny NOEL plaque from an old Hunkdory set sits on the mantel shelf and was cut from gray cardstock, inked with red ink and a piece of red paper glued to the back. The candle flames were colored with markers. All decorations were popped-up on foam squares except the candles, greenery and picture which were glued in place.

Sentiments: There is a whole sheet in the Graphic 45 Let’s Get Cozy collection of borders with sentiments like “Winter is better together,” “Let’s get cozy,” “It’s cold outside,” “Warm Winter Wishes,” “Sweater weather,” “Stay cozy” and “Hello winter.” Some of the thin word borders were used on the card front to set the tone of the card. Others are used to cover the card back. A tiny NOEL plaque from an old Hunkdory set, sits on the mantel shelf. Stamped in blue on a crosshatch label inside the card, is the main sentiment of “Wishing you Peace and Joy.”

Envelope: A leftover decorative border scrap was glued to the envelope’s back flap as a subtle hint to what is inside.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Other Fireplace Cards by designer/brand

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Catherine Pooler – Clear Photopolymer Stamps – Holiday Glimmer – CPS1172

Papers

  • Graphic 45 – 8×8 Double-Sided Paper Pack – Let’s Get Cozy
  • Fun Stampers Journey – 8.5×11 Cardstock – Pumpkin Bread – CS-0098
  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Textured Cardstock – Tiara -18-1002
  • American Crafts – 12×12 Cardstock – Embossed Wood Grain – Dark Kraft
  • Green, Red, Orange, Yellow, Brown, White and Black Cardstock Scraps
  • Park Lane PaperieA7 Cardbase and Envelope – White

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Misty Moonlight
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Black Soot and Fired Brick
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Orange, Red and Yellow
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer – Glitter Gloss

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Sponge Dauber
  • Blending Brush
  • Craft Mat
  • Scissors

Holiday Hearth

| ullycatdesigns

This is the first card in the Fireplace Christmas Card series.

For this turn-of -the century fireplace easel card, Anna Griffin’s Holiday Hearth Easel die set is the star of the make along with some of her stamps and foiled embellishments.

Review the printed instruction sheet included in the fireplace die set before starting card.

Easel Base:  The easel base die cuts in one piece which I cut out in a heavy weight gray cardstock. I added a maroon carpet to the base using the fireplace outline die on a 6×6 inch piece of patterned paper.

Fireplace Mantelpiece:  The mantelpiece die cuts a detailed fireplace front. Because I used a double-sided cardstock that had different shades of green on each side, I was able to save the waste pieces and adhere them back inside the die-cut piece with the use of tape on the backside.

I die-cut the fireplace outline or back twice. Once from gray and once from light green. On the light green piece, I cut-off the bottom flap (and saved it to be stenciled in white to act as wallpaper above the mantel.) I also die-cut just the bottom flap of the fireplace in gray to become the hearthstone that will slide under the easel stopper. The green trimmed back piece was glued on top of the gray back piece. Next the bottom flap of the fireplace was adhered to bottom edge of the back piece and then covered with the gray hearthstone piece. Glue in black brick hearth and fire grate piece. Add glue to the back of the top fireplace tab and, with the entire fireplace flat, adhere to the back piece. Play with the positioning of the back piece on the easel base and then glue easel base tab to gray side of back piece.

Fireplace Grate with Fire:  For the back of the fireplace hearth, I cut a 3.75-inch square of black cardstock which I embossed with a brick wall embossing folder. The bricks were lightly colored with a white Distress Crayon and blended to make a smokey backdrop to the fire. The burning logs piece was cut twice from brown (logs) and once from red, yellow and orange (fire) respectively. I used tape and glue to assemble the fire and logs. To position the burning logs, open the card into the easel position and adhere the piece onto the bricks with foam squares. (When the card is closed flat, the burning logs will look slightly high inside the firebox.)

Decorations:  The die set comes with a stocking die as well as dies for holly and greenery garlands. I cut the stockings from three different decorative papers and then cut the just the cuffs from white cardstock having to do some fussy cut trimming after the die cutting. The garlands are cut from two different shades of green mirror/foil cardstock. The holly garland has red adhesive gems added along with a tiny red ribbon bow. The dark greenery garland is glued onto the mantel edge. All other decorations are adhered with foam squares. Two gold foil stars sit on the mantel shelf and a gold wrapped present sits on the floor. Both are from Anna’s Present Pop-Up Kit.

Sentiments:  A dimensional sentiment sticker from Anna’s Present Pop-Up Kit was popped-up on an additional layer of foam squares to allow the fireplace gray hearthstone to slide under and act as an easel stopper. A blank foiled sticker from the same kit was added to the card base for a personal message that will be hidden when the card is set-up as an easel. The red “Merry Christmas on the envelope flap and its green border are stamps from Anna’s Treasury of Stamps & Dies.

easel-card-sheet-2Download

CRX Sheet:  With many interactive cards, the recipient needs instructions on how to open and set-up the card. I create CRX sheets (card recipient experience) to include in the envelope. You can download for free the easel/double easel CRX sheet.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Other Fireplace Cards by designer/brand

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

Embossing Folder

  • Altenew – Geometric 3D Embossing Folder 6×6 – Brick Wall – ALT6206

Stencils

  • Funky Fossil Designs – Windy Day

Papers

  • Craft Consortium – A4 Solids Double-Sided Paper Pad – Candy Christmas
  • Echo Park – 6×6 Double-Sided 65 lb Cardstock – Homegrown by Alisha Gordon & Kasie Fry
  • Reminisce – 6×6 Double-Sided Papers – Christmas Wishes
  • Light Green and Dark Green Mirror/Foil Cardstock
  • Black, Gray and White Cardstock
  • Anna Griffin – Present Pop-Up Kit – A7 Envelope – Ivory

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Crayon – Picket Fence
  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Cherry Cobbler and Emerald Envy
  • Craft Smart –Acid Free Ink Pad – White

Adhesives

  • Neutral PH Adhesive by LINECO
  • Fine-Tip Glue Bottle
  • Clear Tape
  • Foam Squares

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Scissors
  • Fork

Miscellaneous

Sleighing It Accordion Style

| ullycatdesigns

It’s time for the Karen Burniston Design Team Challenge for August 2023 with the theme of ACCORDION dies.

I choose to use the Fancy Label Accordion die with the sleigh from the Sleigh Pop-Up and reindeer from the Christmas Animals set as add-ons similar to the new Cupcake or Fence Add-ons for the Landscape Rectangle Accordion set. I also used the snowflake frames from the Fancy Winter Frames set.

There are several ways of assembling this accordion card – prepare frames and attach them all together and then add the sleigh and reindeer – OR – prepare frames (adding snowflake frames to fronts of accordion frames only), make all the animals, sleigh and gifts and assemble each panel as you go adding the back snowflake frame pieces after you attach the accordion frames. The latter is the method I choose to follow. Watch the assembly videos for the Fancy Label Accordion and the Fence Add-ons (located towards the bottom of the linked pages.)

Frames: Cut four accordion frames from the Fancy Label Accordion set from heavy white cardstock. With scissors cut off the sides of the fancy label to form a pivot post on each accordion frame. Cut a total of 16 snowflake frames pieces from the Fancy Winter Frames set from blue cardstock. (I sprayed my frames with mica spray to get the metallic shiny frames.) Brush the accordion frame sides and the pivot post with glitter gloss. (I recommend doing both sides of the frame at this stage.) Glue blue snowflake frames onto the fronts only of the accordion frames. (Watch assembly video for the Fancy Winter Frames.)

Sleigh: Using red cardstock cut two sleighs. (If using decorative cardstock with a different pattern on each side, cut one red in reverse.) Cut two more of the lower portions, of the sleigh from silver foil cardstock making sure one is the reverse of the other. Fussy cut off just the sleigh runners. Glue runners to red sleigh bases.

Gifts: From the Sleigh Pop-Up set, cut a total of six gift boxes and four bows, making sure you have pairs of matching papers for each box and bow. (I used a glitter marker to add some accents to the bows.) Play with the layout of where the packages and bear will go in the sleigh and still fit inside the accordion frame.

Bear: Cut two bears from white cardstock and two of the tummy and nose pieces from gray using the Winter Animals set. Cut from red two hats and scarves and two pompoms from white. Assemble as shown on the package. Use the main die to stencil the pink ears and black eyes, and the nose die to draw the mouth and nose in black. Assemble with the hat covering the opposite ear from the other bear.

Reindeer: Cut 12 reindeer from brown cardstock and 12 pairs of antlers from darker brown cardstock using the Christmas Animals die set. With a fine tipped black marker use the reindeer die as a stencil to color hooves and faces of the six of the deer and a white gel pen to color the ears. Repeat with the remaining six reindeer, but on the reverse side. Color all the tail as shown on package with white gel pen. Glue on antlers to one set of six reindeer. You will glue the remaining six pairs of antlers on when you assemble the card matching up the fronts and backs of them. (I made one reindeer have a red nose by using red Nuvo drops.) Cut six strips of red cardstock 6-inchs long and 1/4-inches wide for the sleigh shafts that the reindeer will be harnessed to.

Assembly: Play with the layout of where the packages and bear will go in the sleigh and still fit inside the accordion frame. Glue the packages and bear to the back of sleigh. Start with the first frame and position the sleigh so that the front curling tip of sleigh is just inside the frame and a small portion of the back of the sleigh is over the other side of the accordion frame. (I placed my sleigh so that the shaft that will connect the sleigh to the reindeer will be approximately in the middle of the frame.) Glue the frame tab to the second frame. ( I used crafting clips to hold the frames together until the glue set-up.

Flipping the two frames over, I glued a shaft onto the back of the sleigh making sure it was long enough to reach the edge of the next frame. Next, before I glued the blue frames on , I brushed all the accordion frame sides with a glitter gloss then I attached the blue snowflake frames to the back sides of the accordion frames covering over where the tab is. Use weights to keep the frames from curling as the glue dries.

Cut two pieces of baker’s twine 6-inches long and ten pieces 5-inches long. (Use the 6-inch piece of twine for the rein deer that attach to the sleigh.) To make the harness on the reindeer start with the end of the twine on the back side going over the neck and back under the belly. Glue the end and bend to back of reindeer. Pull twine around the front of the animal and with a dot of glue, adhere the twine to the rear end of the reindeer. Glue the lead reindeer to to the second frame and glue the end of the harness twine to where it will be covered with the reindeer with with a 6-inch harness. Adhere second reindeer and wrap end of twine around the bear’s paw.

Add the next two frames following the same instructions for the second frame and reindeer. (In hindsight, I think it may be easier to assemble all the accordion frames together, adding one sleigh and attaching all the shaft pieces together. Then you can start adding the reindeer starting with Rudolph in the front, gluing down his twine harness, and adding the next reindeer and so on with each frame.)

When all the frames have been added with blue frames on both sides and front side of reindeer added, flip over and cut off the unused tab on fourth frame. Glue red shafts to the back side of shafts. (This covers the different patterned paper for my card, but also adds some strength to the folding mechanism.)

Glue the packages to the backs of the first packages matching them up. Then adhere the bear. Finally glue the sleigh in place matching up the edges and runner swirls. Use clips to keep the pieces in place until the glue dries.

Glue the remaining reindeer in place. Train all the folds. (I decided that the back side of the reindeer would look better with faces so I stenciled them on after the card was assemble.)

This card will easily fit into an A7 envelope, but it is thick, so a padded envelope or hand delivery is recommended.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Click here to see other Accordion cards

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • My Mind’s Eye – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Cozy Christmas
  • White, Brown, Gray, and Light Blue Cardstock
  • A7 ivory Envelope

Ink

  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Fine Tip – Pink
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Nuvo – Glitter Marker – Fired Brick – 193
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer – Glitter Gloss
  • Nuvo – Mica Mist – Nebula Blue

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Baker’s Twine – Red/White
  • Nuvo – Vintage Drops – Postbox Red

Vintage Christmas Cards – Room Scene

| ullycatdesigns

Recently I came across some family Christmas cards I had designed with the help of my father who owned a letterpress printing press and had cuts (think metal stamps on wooden blocks similar to rubber stamps on wood blocks) made of my drawings. The printing press held an 8×10-inch frame which held the cuts and metal type (letters). Paper was hand-fed into the press which had an electric motor connected with a leather belt which turned the press wheel. From about age 8 and on I earned pocket money running the press to add people’s names to their store-bought Christmas cards, “From the Desk of” notepads and other small print jobs from family and friends.

The five cards that I am sharing this week were created before the computer drawing program Auto-CAD was widely available to individuals. (I know we didn’t have access to digital type fonts that Apple computers offered around that time.) I used rulers, India ink pens and protractors to draw the pop-ups.

In 1985 I designed a pop-up room scene featuring a fireplace tabletop Christmas tree and a cat. I used rub-ons that were popular at the time to created graphics. All the straight lines were rub-ons as well as the letters on the garlands. I used a plastic drawing template for the circles and arcs. The cat was a sticker that had been reduced on a photocopier.

These postcards were hand-colored with watercolors and markers.

On the back of the postcard was the first of my CRX drawings that showed how the finished pop-up should look along with cutting and folding instructions.

I believe this was the last of the family designed Christmas cards as my father discovered Graphics3, a family-owned printing business in Jupiter, Florida that made 3D pop-up cards and began ordering from cards from them.

Here are other vintage Christmas cards:

  • Room Scene