snow

Sweet Christmas Greetings

| ullycatdesigns

Can you smell the fresh baked gingerbread straight from the oven?  This card is made for a child’s Christmas and depicts a gingerbread house complete with white sugar icing, cinnamon drops, peppermint drops and candy canes.

This was my first attempt making Karen Burniston’s Tiny House Pop-Up and I made some mistakes that created a catch point on a roof corner. (I highly recommend watching the assembly video to avoid some of my mistakes such as making the front door of the house on the end with the bottom attachment flaps and gluing the roof unevenly on top of the house.)

Overall, the Gingerbread Tiny House Add-ons set is easy to use with the Tiny House set. The cane canes and peppermint drops are tiny and may require tweezers to assemble. (I added Glossy Accents to the tops of the candy canes and peppermint drops to give them a shiny coating.) There are other decorative die pieces for gum drops and tiny dots in the set, but I opted to use some Nellie’s Effect Snow media for dimensional icing and Nuvo Drops for red cinnamon drops. (The Effect Snow made the roof curl up some creating more of a catchpoint on the roof corner.)

The card base is an A2 size card (5 ½ x 4 ¼ inches) made of heavy white cardstock and covered with patterned papers for smooth surfaces for the house to slide over. The sweets decorations are placed so that they don’t hinder the house mechanism opening.

Merry Christmas has a shadow die cut background of patterned paper and all the sentiments are cut from red paper so there are less chances of creating catchpoints. (I used some fancy nested label dies to create areas for a personal message.)

As is my style, I stamped the back of the envelope with hints of what’s inside using two colors of ink and a gingerbread house stamp set from Hero Arts.

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this blog post, please like it and follow the blog. 😊

Other cards that use the Tiny House Pop-up die Set

Dies:

Stamps & Ink

  • Memento -Fade-resistant Dye Ink – Rich Cocoa
  • Stampin’ Up Classic Stampin’ Pad – Melon Mambo
  • Hero Arts – Clear Stamp Set – Color Layering Gingerbread House -CM462

Papers

  • Heavy white card stock
  • Brown cardstock
  • Patterned papers from Carnation Crafts – Merry & Bright
  • Colored papers from my stash
  • A2 green envelope

Additional Supplies Used:

Snowy Good Morning

| ullycatdesigns

I love a crisp winter morning where tiny snow crystals fill the air and sparkle in the sunlight.  This is a card celebrating such a morning in lighthearted pastels. Karen Burniston dies are used for the card focusing on the Iron Fence Pop-Up die set.

To make this A2 size card, cut a rectangle 4 1/4 x 11 inches of pink heavy cardstock and fold in in the middle to make a 4 ½ inches tall by 5 1/2 inches wide card base.  Cut four decorative snowflake paper panels at 2 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches. Adhere these panels to the top of front, back and insides of the card base. Using one of the hillside edging dies, cut four hills that are 5 1/2 inches long and the lowest point is 2 1/4 inches tall. (I used white glitter card stock on the front and back sides and a textured white inside.) Glue the snowy hills to bottom of each panel of card base.

It is easiest to die cut all the pieces you will need to make both the inside and outside fences at the same time so that they are similar in colors and papers used. (I cut four fences, but I really should have cut six fences so I could have finished the back of the card with a fence too.) Cut one of the slider fence arm and one of the arm sleeve from the same paper you used for the inside snowy hills.  Cut at least six green fir trees from the Long Nature Edges set to decorate in odd numbers on the front and inside of the card.

After watching the assembly video on the re-released inside pop-up fence, assemble as directed. (I found that the best way to decorate the hills and fence is to not glue the fence tops down. You can do this latter if needed using a fine tipped glue bottle.)

The birds in the fence die set are designed as crows so they are larger than a cardinal would be. There are smaller birds in the Frame Pull Pop-Up die set that are better sized as songbirds. This assembly video also has a tip on how to make the cardinal or chickadee crest on the head of the birds.

There are different snowflakes in the three snowmen die sets by Karen Burniston. They make wonderful filler decorations for the card.

Decorate card as desired, lifting fence pikes up to slide trees under or sandwich two bird die cuts around the fence top.

The Merry Christmas inside sentiment has a shadow cut from pink glitter card which adds to the crisp sparkling snow crystals effect.

I stamped the back of the envelope with a hint as to the card’s theme using one of by favorite winter themed stamp sets designed by Sheena Douglass.

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this blog post, please like it and follow the blog. 😊

Dies:

Stamps & Ink

Papers

  • Carnation Crafts – Merry and Bright from PaperCrafter issue 40
  • Pink card base – Bazzill -Pink Icing – PS1 – 102
  • DCWV – The Spooky Time cardstock matstack – white glitter and textured white
  • Glitter paper – pink from my stash
  • Colored cardstock from my stash
  • A2 Envelope

Additional Supplies Used:

Snow Days

| ullycatdesigns

What North American children hasn’t hoped for a school closing day due to a snowstorm.  This is a card celebrating a snowy day in lighthearted pastels. Karen Burniston dies are used for the card.

To make this A2 size card, cut a rectangle 4 ¼ x 11 inches of pink heavy cardstock and fold in in the middle to make a 4 ½ inches tall by 5 ½ inches wide card base.  Cut four decorative paper panels at 4 x 5 ¼ inches. Adhere these panels to front, back and insides of the card base.

It is easiest to die cut all the pieces you will need to make both the inside and outside snowmen at the same time so that they are similar in colors and papers used. Also cut three circles or other label shapes on which to mount your sentiments. (For the personalized message circle, I added a smaller white circle.) Think about using contrasting colors for your words and their backgrounds. (I used blue to make the mostly white with snowflake paper I used for the words standout.)

After watching the assembly video on the inside snowman assemble as directed. Once the snowman is adhered to the card base, you can begin to decorate the card. (I used a sled die-cut from Memory Box to add to the snow time activities.) Remember to balance out the position of decorations from one side of the card to the other. There are two different snowflakes in the two snowmen die sets by Karen Burniston. They make wonderful filler decorations for the card.

Because I could not make up my mind on which stamp to use on the back of the envelope, I stamped two envelopes with hints as to the card’s theme. The word cloud is from Stampendous while the snowman is from Art Impressions.

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this blog post, please like it and follow the blog. 😊

Dies:

Stamps & Ink

  • Stampin’ Up Classic Stampin’ Pad – Dapper Denim
  • Stampendous – Winter Stags stamp set from Creative Stamping issue 90, Dec 2020
  • Art Impressions – Unmounted Rubber Stamp – Scrapbook.com exclusive Snowman – 5084

Papers

  • American Crafts – 348953
  • Pink card base – Bazzill -Pink Icing – PS1 – 102
  • Glitter paper – white from my stash
  • Colored cardstock from my stash
  • A2 Envelope

Additional Supplies Used:

Fineline 20 Gauge Applicator & Bottle

House Luminary

| ullycatdesigns

Building off of the red four-square house, this four-panel card becomes a wrap-around screen for a battery powered candle. This is the seventh house card in my series of “A Week of Christmas Houses” using Poppy Stamps 2020 Winter House Pop-Up Easel die set.

The house goes together easily by looking at the photos on the Poppy Stamps packaging. It does involve a lot of die cutting as there is only one die of each window type.  (I cut lots of the small pieces and store the extras in a tiny plastic bags that I keep with the die set.) To add depth to the porch and dormer windows I cut those pieces four times and glued together. The snowy pieces are cut from glitter paper.

Papers Used: The house is cut from a dark red cardstock with the windows and porch posts cut from cream. Note that two matting layers to each house panel – one pale yellow and one on heavy weight white cardstock. The red, cream and pale yellow come from monotone color packs of cardstock by Recollections.

Once again, peach organza ribbon to create some sparkly interest at the windows of the house. I masked off the front door with sticky notes and used Walnut Stain Distress ink to darken the door and frame. A wreath cut with a Tonic Studios die set to complete the door. (See Day 2 for details.)

Once the four houses were assembled, I glued together the pale yellow and white matting layers and then used the solid house die to trace where the windows needed to be cut out on to the pale yellow with a pencil. Because the tracing was inside the window, I had to cut 1/8 inch away from the outer edge of the pencil lines to make the window opening as large or slightly larger than the die cut window openings. I used a metal ruler and a craft knife to do this.

Once all the window openings were cut, I could glue the house fronts on to their matting layer panels. Lining the four completed panels up, I then used clear tape to hinge the panels together.

The panels can accordion fold to fit in an A2 envelope which I stamped with a greeting since the card has no greeting on it. I expect this will be a hand delivered card with a boxed candle.

Free PDF of display instructions.

house-luminariaDownload

See more house luminaria:

Victorian Trim House Luminaria

Holiday House Luminaria

See the more the series of “A Week of Christmas Houses”

Day 1 – From Our House to Your House

Day 2 – Santa is Coming

Day 3 – A Baby is Coming

Day 4 –Keeping the Home Fires Burning

Day 5 – Red Four-Square

Day 6 – Santa Delivers to the Tropics

Day 7 – House Luminary

An Old-Time Christmas Parlor

2019 – 12 Days of Christmas Trees

Supplies

Dies

Stamps

  • Kaisercraft – Clear Stamps – Sentiments -Traditional – CS313

Paper

Ink

Miscellaneous

A Baby is Coming

| ullycatdesigns

Baby is coming-Front envelope

Who doesn’t look forward to welcoming a new baby at Christmas? This card is the third house card in my series of “A Week of Christmas Houses” using Poppy Stamps 2020 Winter House Pop-Up Easel die set.

The house is cut from heavy card stock in a pale blue that has been in my stash from a card kit. The dark blue and pale yellow come from monotone color packs of cardstock by Recollections. Note that there is a pale-yellow outline layer of the house that provides the window inside color as well as framing the outside edge of the house. The card base is cut from heavy weight white cardstock.

This card goes together easily by looking at the photos on the Poppy Stamps packaging. It does involve a lot of die cutting as there is only one die of each window type.  (I cut lots of the small pieces and store the extras in a tiny plastic bags that I keep with the die set.) To add depth to the porch and dormer windows I cut those pieces twice and glued together. The snowy pieces are cut from glitter paper and some of the window frames and siding have Nuvo Glitter Drops used thinly to give the illusion of melted snow.

Baby is coming-Front open

I masked off the front door with sticky notes and used Salty Ocean Distress ink to darken the door and frame. A tiny drop of gold Nuvo Crystal Drops for the doorknob and a wreath cut with a Tonic Studios die set, complete the door.

The welcome mat, which acts as the easel stop, was stamped and heat embossed using a stamp from a retired Stampin’ Up set. I used a blend of Ranger Black Sparkle and Recollections Ebony Detail Embossing powders that give the welcome mat a snowy sparkle. Once heat embossed, the mat was weathered using Antique Linen Distress Ink on a sponge dauber and cut out with the coordinating die. Foam pads where used to adhere the mat to card and make it tall enough to act as an easel stop.

The windows all have a piece of pale blue organza ribbon taped behind the window frames to give the shine of glass and the rosy glow comes from some shading with Fossilized Amber Distress Ink on the pale-yellow cardstock. The rocking horse and woman decorating a Christmas tree that can be seen in the windows are from an older Tonic Studios Toy Emporium die set. Also from the Tonic set is the outside fir tree.

The ”Merry Christmas” is cut from heavy black cardstock glued down.  A personal message can be written behind the house

Baby is coming-Front envelope

I used two stamps on the envelope flap. I stamped Joy in green and then masked it with a sticky note and stamped the wishing you circle (which has a different sentiment in its center) in blue.

See the more the series of “A Week of Christmas Houses”

Day 1 – From Our House to Your House

Day 2 – Santa is Coming

Day 3 – A Baby is Coming

Day 4 – Keep the Home Fires Burning

Day 5 – Red Four Square

Day 6 – Santa Delivers to the Tropics

Day 7 – House Luminary

2019 – 12 Days of Christmas Trees

Supplies

Dies

Stamps

Paper

Ink/Embossing Powder

Miscellaneous

A Snowy Sunday Drive with Santa

| ullycatdesigns

I was so excited when I received the Sunday Drive die set from Spellbinders in May and now I am happy to show off one of the new holiday add-on sets for the Sunday Drive collection on this clean and simple slimline card.

The die sets I found easy to use following the images on the package but recommend having a pair of tweezers handy to glue and place the tiny taillights, box-ribbon-bow, and reindeer antlers. I also recommend having a small container or bag to put your die cut pieces into as you cut them out. They are quite easy to lose on your workspace or get dropped onto the floor. (I am still finding lost antlers on my crafting table.)

All the pieces were cut from scraps in my stash. I had to use my embossing mat to get good definition on the bummer piece cut on silver matte cardstock.

This was my first attempt at foiling multiple times the Spellbinders Twinkle Lights foiling plate on one card. Lessons I learned: Be patient and let the foiling plate cool down so you can place it exactly where you want it for the second and third pass. Don’t foil directly onto your slimline card unless you want the snow embossing effect inside your card too. Foil onto a panel you can adhere later.

The card base is an 8 inch x 9 inch piece of heavy white cardstock scored and folded long ways in half.

Inside the card is a green foiled Christmas tree which was one of test pieces I had foiled previously on a die cut rectangle scrap from another project.

Finishing of the card by stamping its envelope with some hints as to what’s inside using a vintage Disney stamp set.

Other Sunday Drive cards:

Sunday Drive Celebration

A Snowy Sunday Drive with Santa

Santa Bauble

Santa Delivers to the Tropics

Being Spooky

Driving into a Spooky Sunset

The Best is Yet to Come

Hoppy Spring!

SUPPLIES:

Stamps/Dies

Papers

Inks/Foils

Miscellaneous

From Our House to Your House

| ullycatdesigns

Snowy house -house CU

It’s a cold and blustery day where snow is covering everything. You’ve walked to your neighbor’s house down the lane to drop off a bit of Christmas cheer and now you’re walking back to your home all aglow in the afternoon sun. How lovely and welcoming it looks with its bright paint underneath all the snow.

This is the feeling I hope the recipient of this card will have when they open and display the card.

Snowy house -front

This is the first house card in my series of “A Week of Christmas Houses” using Poppy Stamps 2020 Winter House Pop-Up Easel die set.

The card goes together easily by looking at the photos on the Poppy Stamps packaging. It does involve a lot of die cutting as there is only one die of each window type.  (I cut lots of the small pieces and store the extras in a tiny plastic bags that I keep with the die set.) To add depth to the porch and dormer windows I cut those pieces twice and glued together. The snowy pieces are cut from glitter paper and some of the window frames and siding have Nuvo Glitter Drops used thinly to give the illusion of melted snow.

Snowy house -easel

I masked off the front door with sticky notes and used Walnut Stain Distress ink to darken the door and frame. A tiny drop of gold Nuvo Crystal Drops for the doorknob and a wreath made from green scraps and a piece of red embroidery floss, complete the door. Greenery was cut from food boxes to get the thickness using a greenery die by Christina Griffiths and snipped into smaller pieces and glued to a wreath shape cut freehand.

Snowy house -door CU

The welcome mat, which acts as the easel stop, was stamped and heat embossed using a stamp from a retired Stampin’ Up set. Once heat embossed, it was weathered using Antique Linen Distress Ink on a sponge dauber.

The windows all have a piece of peach organza ribbon taped behind the window frames to give the shine of glass and the rosy glow of sunlight.

The ”Merry Christmas” is cut from heavy black cardstock glued down.  A personal message can be written behind the house.

Snowy house -inside

The house is cut from Bazzill heavy card stock in a 2014 color of Gold Coin. The red and pale yellow come from monotone color packs of cardstock by Recollections. Note that there is a pale-yellow outline layer of the house that provides the window inside color as well as framing the outside edge of the house.

See the more the series of “A Week of Christmas Houses”

Day 1 – From Our House to Your House

Day 2 – Santa is Coming

Day 3 – A Baby is Coming

Day 4 – Keep the Home Fires Burning

Day 5 – Red Four Square

Day 6 – Santa Delivers to the Tropics

Day 7 – House Luminary

2019 – 12 Days of Christmas Trees

Supplies

Dies

Stamps

  • Stampin’ Up – At Home with You – stamps & die set 143681 (Retired)

Paper

Ink/Embossing Powder

Miscellaneous

Snowy Forest Day

| ullycatdesigns

It’s a snowy day as you walk through the woods of white birch trees and here the red cardinals singing their sweet song, and then he appears. The majestic stag, who quietly walks to the ridge and surveys his kingdom. Finally, you come to a small fir tree that has been decorated for Christmas. You know this is your destination and the faint tune of “We wish you a Merry Christmas” hums through your head.

This is the story I hope the recipients of this card have when they open the card.

Stag XMAS-front

I fell in love with the Creative Expressions Paper Panda Forest Stag die the first time I saw it and designed my card around this large die creating a 5 ½ x 8 ½ inches card using two pieces of heavy white cardstock. I went through my dies to find a large enough opening to go behind the stag that still left a sufficient border to keep the card sturdy. I used one from the Crafters Essentials I by Kat Scrappiness.

Having scored and folded both pieces of 8 ½ x 11 inch white cardstock in half, knew I had to cut the rectangular aperture in three of the four panels. Laying out how I wanted the front of the card to look with my dies, I cut two of the panels at the same time by putting the sheet folded in-half through the die cutting machine.  Once the front and middle were cut, I laid-out how the second folded sheet of cardstock would overlap on the middle panel and traced the aperture opening onto the overlap panel. I cut this aperture with the cardstock fully open so a wide format die cutting machine was needed.

Stag XMAS-Extended wide

I didn’t have any birch trees long enough to fill the apertures so I scoured my favorite on-line crafting stores and found on my favorite discount die store Dies R Us the Impression Obsession birch trees with the tiny cardinal dies. I cut two sets of trees out from the same white cardstock as the card base. I cut two sets of cardinals (front and back) from red scrap cardstock.

To make the stag, I cut the shape three times from brown cardstock. The last of the three stags was cut from brown cardstock covered on one side with double-sided adhesive and then when the backing paper on the adhesive was pulled off I laid the piece on scrap paper and shook ultra-fine glitter over the adhesive to ‘frost” the stag much the same way you would cover an inked image to be heat embossed. The excess glitter should stay on the scrap paper so it can be put back into its storage container. Once glittered, I glued the three stag shapes together off setting, the glittered one on top to create a slight shadow.

Stag XMAS-front-CU

Being new to heat foiling, I practiced some on scrapes before using the Christmas tree foiling plate on my good paper. The Glimmer Foiling System by Spellbinders is easy to use if you watch a lot of videos on how to use the system and follow the instructions faithful. I do not recommend doing heat foiling when you are tired or in a hurry, that’s when mistakes happen.  Because the card is a large size, I had to foil the tree through the cut aperture to fit it through my die cutting machine. The season’s greetings sentiment is foiled in silver and die cut out using a dotted sentiment banner die that comes in the same Spellbinders Holiday Sentiments set. I placed scrap red cardstock behind the dots before gluing the banner in place.

Stag XMAS-inside back

Once all the elements had been cut and foiled, the assembly began with laying out how the layers would look when the card was closed. Four birch trees were glued behind the stag then the four birch trees were glued to backside of the middle panel. Then the two middle panels were glued together sandwiching the trees between them. Then the stag was glued to the front with the antlers glued to the trees.  A cardinal was laid-out on each of the tree panels and each glued down with its matching back piece glued on the back side of the trees. The “Season’s Greeting” banner was glued on the front to anchor the stag.

Stag XMAS-inside middle

Supplies

Dies & Glimmer Foil Plates

Paper

Foil

Miscellaneous

Sue Small-Kreider ©2020

See the video at https://spark.adobe.com/video/oYtdMGCXyVNe9

Let It Snow Shadow Box

| ullycatdesigns

Shadowbox -frontShadow box cards can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make them. Let It Snow is of medium difficultly. This die set, along with strong double-sided tape, makes it quick to cut and assemble a four-panel shadow box with depth and character.  You can choose to color or not.

Shadowbox -materials

Step 1: Using the shadow box frame set, cut out one large box frame – your choice of oval or rectangle opening. See video on assembly of shadow boxes. (I used a shimmer pen on the blue panel as well as snow highlights on other panels.)

Step 2: Using both the smaller panel frame from shadow box die set and the four panels of winter scene diet set, cut one of each panel. (Because of the delicate detail of some of the dies and the score marks, you may have to use a precision metal cutting pad or make two passes through your die cutting machine.)

Step 3: Cut a piece of blue cardstock and a piece of white cardstock3 inches x 4 inches (76mm x 101mm). Using the snowy background die from the winter scene die set, die cut the snowy background onto the blue cardstock.

Step 4: Fold the tabs and sides of box and panels first one way and then the other way. Flatten to decorate.

Step 5: Flatten to decorate. Colored pencils, watercolors, or just some glitter pen gloss are some ways of decorating.

Step 6: Place double-sided strong tape on all panel flaps on the face-up side. Place double-sided tape on both front and back tab flaps of shadow box.

Shadowbox -snowy panel backStep 7: Assembly – start with blue background and peel off backing of one shadow box tab tape on inside of box. Line up long side of blue paper to folded edge of tab.

Shadowbox -back panelStep 8: Peel off tape on back panel same side as blue panel and line up with fold of shadowbox tab.  Shadowbox -all panelsRepeat with other three panels butting the edge of new panel up to folded edge of previous panel until all panels are adhered to inside of shadow box.

Shadowbox -front panelStep 9: Peel off tape on Front panel and line it up on opposite side of shadow box to be equal distance from front opening as other side of panel. Shadowbox -most panelsRepeat with remaining three panels.

Shadowbox -snowy backStep 10: Peel off tape on inside of shadow box tab and adhere blue panel.

Shadowbox -white backStep 11: Peel off tape on outside of shadow box tabs and adhere white card panel.

Shadowbox -frontStep 12: Decorate outside of shadow box as desired using sentiment die cuts from Winter Scene set.

 

SUPPLIES USED:

Dies

Paper

Miscellaneous