It’s week four of the 2025 Heart of Christmas blog hop and just over 13 weeks until Christmas. Have you started making your Christmas cards yet?
For this week’s card I wanted to create a card that highlighted the gorgeous variety of patterns in the Christmas Tags & More DSP while also making the sentiment as the star of the card.
The “strip technique” (I’m not sure of its official name, but this is what I call it!) is great for mass production of cards as it really maximises your DSP and is so quick and easy to create. I cut strips approximately 2 cm wide and lined them up across a panel of Basic White cardstock on a Real Red cardstock base.
The two strips on either end are pre-cut strips from the Christmas Tags & More DSP.
The word joy is stamped in Real Red using the Jolly Holly Bundle and cut out with the matching die.
To give the sentiment extra dimension, I used a blending brush to add Soft Sea Foam ink to a scrap of Basic White cardstock. I then flipped the cardstock over, traced around the joy die on the reverse side of the cardstock, and fussy cut it out by hand. This creates a soft backing layer that makes the word pop against the patterned background.
This backing layer makes the word “joy” pop against the patterned background. I also added a white heat embossed greeting “Wishing You & Yours” stamped onto Basic Black cardstock, layered onto a strip of Basic White cardstock for extra detail.
The holly and foliage were stamped in Memento Black Ink and coloured with Stampin’ Blends in Real Red and Soft Sea Foam Stampin’ Blends.
Since there isn’t a Stampin’ Blend in Garden Green, I used a Garden Green Watercolour Pencil add some of the darker Christmas green. The leaves and berries were then cut with the coordinating Jolly Holly dies and arranged around the sentiment for balance.
Inside the card I’ve stamped another sentiment from the Jolly Holly stamp set and added two more holly leaves coloured in to match the holly on the front of the card.
To finish the card, I adhered a few red Traditional Sparkling Sequins, the perfect way to add a little shimmer and bling without overwhelming the design.
Take a look at some more Christmas Card inspiration on our Heart of Christmas blog hop!
Now it’s time to hop in over to our next participant, the lovely Sharon Davern. I can’t wait to see what Sharon has made this week!
If the next button link is not working or you’d like to see the entire list of participants go to Sharon Davern‘s blog. Sharon does an amazing job of hosting our Heart of Christmas blog every Monday.
Our AWH team will be back on Wednesday night, showcasing Flirty Flamingo on our Insta Hop. I hope you can join us then!
Such a fun card Cathy. I forget to use strips of DSP this way – it is so effective. Love the various elements to create the sentiment. Your white embossing on black then mounted on white is so effective; as is the layering for “Joy”. All so gorgeous. xxx