Christmas - Craft Carnivore

Holiday Card Planning 2018 Version

Posted on November 12, 2018September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

Christmas & Holiday Card Planning 2018

Here’s a quick guide to planning out your handmade holiday cards. If you scroll to the end of this post you can download a free PDF of this planner.

These are just suggested dates. Don’t lose your head if you’re behind. There’s always next year, right? 😉October 15 DESIGN At this time you should be narrowing down the ideas you have for what your card design is going to be – here’s what you need to consider:

are you making multiples of one design or several designs?
What is your color theme?
Are you going to do any die-cutting?
Are you stamping?
Do you prefer printing?
Are you making your own envelopes? (Are you nuts?)
Is your design going to be clean and simple or are you going in a more elaborate direction?

October 31 SUPPLIES Now that you have your design the next step is to figure out what supplies you’ll need to have on hand.

SUPPLY LIST

~ Stamp Set(s):

Stamp 1: have ___ or need to order___
Stamp 2: have___ or need to order___
Stamp 3: have___ or need to order___

~ Card Stock:

Color 1: have ___ or need to order___
Color 2: have ___ or need to order___
Color 3: have ___ or need to order___

~ Ink pads:

Color 1: have ___ or need to order___
Color 2: have ___ or need to order___
Color 3: have ___ or need to order___

~ Designer Series Paper: have ___ or need to order___

~ Embellishments:

Ribbon: have___ or need to order___
Buttons: have___ or need to order___
Bling: have___ or need to order___
Embossing Powder: have___ or need to order___
Washi tape: have___ or need to order___
Other: have___ or need to order___

~ Adhesive: have___ or need to order___

~ Envelopes: have___ or need to order___ or want to make___

~ Return Address labels: have___ or need to order___ or want to make___

November 15 ASSEMBLY It’s time to put all the pieces together!

Cut all your card stock
Cut all your Designer Series Paper
Stamp your images
Die cut or punch your shapes

If you want to stop after this step you can store everything in container of some kind and pull it out when you have time to work. It’s portable: take it with you anywhere you know you’ll be waiting for something: your kids, the doctor, your boss, etc.

December 8 TIME TO MAIL Don’t forget that you can order your holiday stamps online at the US postal service website and have them mailed directly to you for a small fee (as of today’s date that fee is $1.75). Address your cards, add the return labels, slap those stamps on, and you’re done! Time for eggnog and cookies! Or vodka and olives!

Enjoy your creative time and be happy!

Click here for the PDF of this holiday card planning guide.

Snow is glistening!

Posted on November 4, 2018September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

Snow Is Glistening is one of two stamp sets from the Snowflake Showcase. Here is my interpretation of a card that was made as a sample by Stampin’ Up! to share with all of you. Here is the original:

and here is mine:

For the main color I used Petal Pink ink and card stock
I stamped the center flake and the sentiment in Petal Pink and then embossed them with clear embossing powder
Believe it or not, I actually cut the large snowflake out of fun foam
The mini pearls are from the Share What You Love Artisan Pearls set
Wrap the Polka Dot Tulle around the piece of Petal Pink card stock before you adhere it to the bottom.

I really like how soft the pink makes the card seem. I think I would probably stamp the sentiment on Whisper White card stock next time instead of vellum. It’s hard to read the print. All in all, I have to say that I really like this stamp set and I’m especially fond of the all of the snowflake dies that coordinate with it.

Hope you’ve had a good weekend. And I also hope you made good use of that extra hour of sleep you got (if you’re in a Daylight Savings area). Now go get crafty, my friends!

Holiday Tags

Posted on November 26, 2017September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

I LOVE holiday tags. I am a tagaholic, for sure. I mean, you saved all those teeny little pieces of card stock and Designer Series Paper for a reason, am I right? (Just go with it)!

Right after Halloween and after I’ve made my Thanksgiving cards I like to jump right in to making tags. Yes, I do make Christmas cards, but I need a little break between card-making holidays and tags fit the bill. Here are a handful of the tags I’ve created so far:

You’ll notice that I’ve used the Year of Cheer paper a few times – that’s because I had a lot of pieces left from making a carousel book.

Here’s a shaker tag I made with two of the leftover pieces:

Who doesn’t love a shaker tag? And here’s one of my favorites I made using the Star of Light stamp set and matching Starlight Thinlits with gold embossing. It’s like a little sandwich!

Scraps of Crumb Cake? Check. Here I used the Card Front Builder Thinlits and some Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper for added shine:

Seasonal Bells

Posted on November 13, 2017September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

This week was the semi-annual gathering of Stampin’ Up! demos, which took place in Salt Lake City. One of the perks of being a demo is getting the chance to preview all the new products each time a catalog is released, and this week the Occasions catalog for Spring 2018 was highlighted. I know from having attended these events a couple of times that the fun, laughter, and friendship is non-stop. We do indeed now how to party!

Green with Envy

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go to Salt Lake City, so one of my fellow demos organized a “green with envy” card swap for those of us who stayed home. I should be getting my swaps back any day now, but I thought I would share with you the one that I put together for this swap.

Seasonal Bells

This lovely set made its debut last year in the Holiday catalog and was held over into the Annual Catalog. Here’s the set:

As you can see, it’s suitable for the holidays and for weddings. There is a matching punch, and the banner can be cut perfectly with the matching die from the Bunches of Banners framelits.

Here’s the card I came up with:

When I receive my swaps in the mail I will be sure to post them so you can see what everyone else came up with while feeling “green with envy!”

My next newsletter will include the tutorial for this card. Sign up now if you want in on it.
Now get out there and do something creative!

Holiday Carousel Book

Posted on November 8, 2017September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

W.C. Fields is credited with saying

«Never work with animals or children»

Today I am going to make my own quote:

«Never work with Glimmer Paper and Accordian Folds»

You know I love our Glimmer Paper more than my luggage, cause it’s tough and can take a beating, but for my project today I struggled with all the accordion folds needed for my Carousel Book. In addition, I was covered in Glimmer by the time I was done.

I went to Split Coast Stampers to find a 3-D project to share with you, and as soon as I saw this “Carousel Storyteller Book” by Bibiana I knew it was what I wanted to attempt. I’m pleased with how it turned out, and I think it’s going to look stunning sitting on my mantel at Christmas and through the holidays.

Carousel Book Insights

This is not for beginners. I’d say it took me between 12-15 hours worth of work.
I was determined to make the Carousel Book using only current Stampin’ Up! products, but caved on one of the panels where I stamped using our retired White Stazon ink. (Love that stuff). I also used ¾” Sookwang Tape for the cover.
I used Window Sheets to line the inside panels because I wanted to be able to “suspend” images as if by magic!
I’m thinking of attaching some Chibbi lights to the inside so I can illuminate it when I display it.

Construction Insights

Cut and fold all pieces before you get started. Assembly line production is a huge time saver.
You will need 2 packs of Designer Series Specialty Paper if you want to use the same card stock for the whole project.
You will need 2 packs of Glimmer Paper and 2 packs of Metallic Paper, all in Gold and Silver.
You will need to both watch Bibiana’s video AND read the step by step instructions because the video has no speaking and the step by step instructions aren’t complete.
I did not use a hot glue gun, as the instructions indicate, to attach the book to the cover, but the Sookwang tape I reference above.
No need to buy chipboard – I just used the cardboard that comes in the packs of Designer Series Paper.

Thanks for visiting! Come back soon!

Christmas Sparkle

Posted on August 14, 2017September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

Okay, I know, you don’t want any more reminders that Christmas is coming, Winter is coming, or that summer is over. Hey, I’m with you! Long live Summer! Long live Fall! But I just want to wow your eyeballs with some fun Christmas sparkle. I’ve combined a couple of stamp sets and coordinating framelits for this project. The sentiment and the pine boughs are from the Pretty Pines Christmas suite, everything else is from Hang Your Christmas Stockings suite.

I love the new In Colors, and here I’ve used them all for the colored stockings. And check out that sparkle: Copper embossing powder, rhinestones, and some of our new Gold Faceted Gems.

This would be a great card for someone who likes non-traditional colors but that also satisfies your own personal taste for more traditional fare!

I need to work on embossing with the Copper powder.

Tip: I think I got my heat gun a little too close – and perhaps I didn’t have enough powder on the paper. So be careful to keep your heat at a safe distance from the image you’re embossing. Once it’s completely filled out you can also go back right away and sprinkle more powder on and then reheat.

I also want to point out the lovely stenciled background. No, it isn’t a stamp, it’s one of our new stencils, and all I did was put the card front underneath the stencil and dabbed over it with a sponge and some Basic Gray ink.

Tip: Be sure to use some kind of repositionable adhesive to hold the stencil and paper down. I used some Washi tape, but you can use Painter’s tape, correction tape, etc. Keeps everything neat and lined up correctly.

Now let’s see what you can do when you get out there and do something creative!

Christmas in August

Posted on August 3, 2017September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

The Artisan Design Team for Stampin’ Up! has whipped up some amazing creations with the new Carols of Christmas – so today I’d like to share with you some of their beautiful artwork. Today’s Artisan Team member is Dani Dziama. These are amazingly beautiful. Christmas in August indeed!

I love the use of the Pink Pirouette in the first card. The layers in Deck the Halls are stunning, especially the scored background with the Basic Pearls. And don’t you love the Cherry Cobbler stitched ribbon?

I’m just loving the use of non-traditional colors here. That’s the Sheet Music background stamp on the Peace on Earth card.

On the last card if you look really close you can see that Dania has used the Marbled background stamp. She made her own tree with Pink Pirouette cardstock and then covered it in glue and glitter. Brilliant!

Now go forth and do something creative today! It’s never too soon to get started on those holiday cards. 😉

Card and Tag Swap

Posted on November 7, 2011September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

Close to My Heart swap for Christmas

It has been a long time since my last post but I promise you I have been busy! So here is the set that I am submitting for a card swap. The cardstock is Twilight, the B&T paper is Wonderland, and the stamp sets I used are December 25th and Christmas Love. Never realized before how much I really like the Twilight color! The tags were sponged with Spring Iris, as well. Can’t wait to see what everyone else has done.

Countdown to Christmas

Posted on December 17, 2010September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

I have wanted to make an Advent calendar for a couple of years, so this year I was determined to make one. Thank goodness I have my Cricut, cause it was a lifesaver with all the cutting I had to do!

I am entering this project in the third annual Deck the Halls Crawl contest over at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog, where they are hosting an awesome blog hop. Check it out: HERE !

I actually won one of the prizes!

Christmas is coming… Way too fast!!

Posted on November 23, 2010September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

It certainly always seems that way, doesn’t it? This year I participated in a couple of card swaps and am actually hosting a “12 Days of Christmas” tag swap. Looking forward to seeing those!

Here is my card for the swap (Christmas cards) – it had to feature metallics:

And here are my tags for the 12 Days swap (had to have at least one embellishment and one piece of chipboard – and brads and eyelets didn’t count!) – I did the Nine Ladies Dancing:

No more crafting now until Thanksgiving is over – and then I have a lot of projects I would LOVE to make – but we’ll see what actually gets done! Have a Happy Turkey Day…. and eat more Beef! LOL