Christmas

How to Make this Easy Front Flip Fold

Seriously! This fun fold card is so easy! When I find an easy card design that I like, I end up making a lot of them!

I think it’s the kind of card that is also fun to receive because of the unique opening. I shared this design at my October virtual gathering with my team of demonstrators because it’s a great card to make together with friends.

The card base is a piece of cardstock, measuring 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″, scored at 4 1/4″. However, you will cut off a 1 1/4″ section from the front of the card and use it to attach the front flap.

With those two pieces for your base, you can create multiple versions of this style of card. After that, it’s a simple matter of what patterned paper to use.

I have Christmas on the brain!

Since this fun fold is so easy to make, I was able to make a few different versions.

Both of the cards below feature the Holly Jolly Wishes Stamp Set for the sentiments. Though they are the same layout, they have a very different feel. The Sweet Stockings patterned paper gives a playful design, while the Peaceful Place patterned paper has a more serene presentation.

As you can see, the card in my video tutorial uses Shaded Spruce, Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride and Sahara Sand cardstock. Those colours coordinate nicely with the Whimsy & Wonder Designer Series Paper as well as the Pattern Party Designer Series Paper. I also used the Pine Tree Punch and one of the iridescent Wonderful Snowflakes with the Messages Die and White Glittered Organdy Ribbon.

The clear Epoxy Essentials are such a cute and simple addition to a card design. I like how the diamond-shaped ones coordinate with the pattern of the paper.

Check out the video to see how to make this easy fun fold card.

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions. I’m always happy to help when I can!

Delight in the Snow

Snow came so early this year. It wasn’t just a little bit either, it was one huge blanket of snowman-worthy snow. It’s always so strange to see the fall leaves still on the trees when there’s snow on the ground!

I wasn’t ready for it. I had to scramble to get my winter tires on my car and try to find winter boots to fit my kids who keep growing and have their own sense of fashion. It’s harder to buy clothes for them now that they have an opinion! LOL! Though, I had a “mom win” moment this week after I bought a winter jacket for my 14 year old daughter and surprised her with it. When I saw it advertised in a flyer, I just knew it was perfect for her AND it was a door crasher Black Friday deal! It fit! She loved it! I won SO HARD!!

We weren’t ready for the snow. We didn’t build a snowman and we didn’t even enjoy the snow. It was more of an annoyance, really.

Now the snow is melted. Now I’m wishing for it to come back. I’m ready.  I’m ready to be delighted by the winter wonderland.

Today’s card is a design inspired by the As You See It Challenge blog. It’s an assortment or recipe challenge!

The only current snowflakes I have are in the Feels Like Frost DSP and my Snowman Season stamp set, so I used BOTH!

This little snowman is so cheerful and delighted, don’t you think! I stamped him on Whisper White cardstock with Tuxedo Black Momento ink and die-cut the it with a circle from the Circle Layers Dies. Pool Party and Pumpkin Pie Stampin Blends Markers give him a spot of colour. Wink of Stella gives him a bit of a frosty sparkle. It’s so hard to capture that sparkle in a photograph!

The Feels Like Frost Designer Series Paper was cut with one of the dies from the Stitched Rectangle Dies (a staple in my die collection!)

I layered these over the Poppy Parade cardstock and the polka-dot patterned paper from the Trimming the Town Designer Series Paper. Some white Crinkle Seam Binding ribbon wrapped around the layers behind the circle and tied in a bow, adds a touch of softness to this playful layout.

A couple of the layers are raised with Stampin’ Dimensionals – another staple in my craft supplies!

The design is complete with the large Merry Christmas sentiment stamped in Poppy Parade ink on the Thick Whisper White card base.

This card makes me feel very merry! How ’bout you?

Purple for Christmas

We all have our go-to colours. The ones we know will lead us with a devout certainty to creating something beautiful. My colours are often blues and greens with soft neutrals and white to pull it all together. Those are my loyal colours. I trust them. I know what to expect from them. I know who they play nicely with.

But there are a few colours who aren’t trustworthy. They are the trouble-makers. They only want to play with very specific friends and become irritating when they are around any others. This is how I feel about purple. Not all purples wreak havoc, but most do. Currently, the worst of these hooligans is a colour called Gorgeous Grape. The purplest of all the purples. The worst of the worst.

You might want to defend purple in this moment, saying purple has been a comfort to you. Perhaps you would rather point your finger at orange instead. (how dare you! LOL!)

I think we all have an offending colour that we avoid using in our self-expression. We use what inspires us and makes us feel happy. It’s amazing how powerful a colour can be!

This brings me to announcing the fill in the blank challenge from the As You See It Challenge blog for which I have the pleasure of being a designer: The colour I avoid using most is _____.

Oof! This was a tough one. I really struggle with using purple in my card-making. It doesn’t inspire me and I only feel safe pairing it with gray and white. Well, I decided that this was my chance to play with it and give it a respectful effort. I would bring purple and “not gray” together. I didn’t really know what “not gray” was going to be, yet, but I was determined!

And you know what? I really like this card!

I started out with a piece of Feels Like Frost Designer Series Paper, which I sponged with Gorgeous Grape in an ombre from dark to light. I was off to a pretty safe start with purple and silver.

Next I stamped my little Christmas gnome from the Gnome for the Holidays stamp set on watercolor paper with Stazon Jet Black Ink and pulled out my set of Water Painters and got to water colouring my little bearded bearer of Christmas delight. I took my time and enjoyed the process of choosing my colours and waiting patiently for sections to dry so my colours wouldn’t bleed into one another. I even finished it off with some Wink of Stella to give my gnome image some holiday shimmer! Unfortunately, the Wink of Stella detail doesn’t show up well in these photos. You’ll have to take my word for it that it adds a an additional touch of whimsy.

I added even MORE purple to my design by using the dark Highland Heather Blends Marker to colour the Silver Metallic Edged Ribbon. I love how you can make any white ribbon coordinate with your paper using markers! You’ll notice where the ribbon is wrapped around the card, the lightly sponged designer series paper suddenly becomes a darkly sponged area. That was a simple chopping off the top of my sponged paper and moving it to the bottom. I did a lot of crazy thing to make this darn purple work for me, by golly!

I’m not going to get into all of the products and techniques I used to make this card. It’s pretty late and time to cozy up in my blankets and pillows. If you have any questions about products I used or how I did anything on this design, I’d be happy to have a conversation in the comments. Ask away!

I hope you’ll take on this challenge. I warn you, though. It’s not an easy challenge. Give yourself time to get to know the colour you’ve been avoiding. This is your opportunity to learn more about it, who it plays well with and who causes it to be nasty and miserable. Maybe, like me, you’ll be surprised what you’ve come up with.

I wonder if I’d like this card even more if I made it “not purple”