Thursday, November 12, 2026

CHRISTMAS CREW IN THE PLAID

Today's card was fun to make.  I've seen ink spot dragging, but this is the first time I got around to actually trying it.  

I don't have many ink spots.  Just a few that I've saved from various kits over the years.  My intent was to create a plaid with two different colors (red & green), but when I went to sort through my ink spots, I had one Cherry Cobbler, a few different blues and about SIX Early Espresso!  So plans changed.


I dragged Cherry Cobbler in both directions and learned a little about what to do and what not to do!  This card includes some of the "not-to-dos"!  But I still thought it looked OK.

After dragging the ink spot I used a Dark Old Olive Stamping Blend to add green lines between the Cherry Cobbler stripes.

If you want to see making the card in action, watch this video.  You may as well learn from me rather than learning what "not-to-do" all on your own.  The good news is that even a "not-so-great" dragging job still looks pretty!


Reindeer Rudy was stamped directly on Basic White and colored with Stampin' Blends.  I debated die cutting him, but I ended up just leaving him un-cut and popping him up on a couple of Basic White layers.


A floppy faux bow dresses up the card a bit.  You can see how I make these faux bows on the video also.  If making bows is not your thing, you may like to try a faux bow, too!

For the inside of the card, I did a couple more swipes of ink spot dragging and drew an Old Olive stripe next to the swipes.


I wanted a larger, bolder sentiment on the inside so used one from the retired stamp set,  Christmas to Remember.

Use this link to download a PDF tutorial with all the dimensional information and step-by-step directions needed to make this card or CASE it and make your own version.

A list of the products used for today's card is shown below.


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Monday, November 9, 2026

THE CHRISTMAS BANDSTAND CREW

This week I am featuring the adorable Christmas Crew Bundle.  This might be my favorite product in the September - December Catalog.  These little guys are so cute.  You just can't help but smile.

Today's card gives you a peak of all three of the Christmas Crew members.  You only see the heads of the Reindeer and the Bear, but with their full stamps they are also holding signs to send their message.

This view of the card gives you a better understanding of the Bandstand Fun Fold.  Isn't it fun?  It's a great card to send to someone who loves to display their cards.  This card stands on its own beautifully and is very 3D!

Here's a closer view of each of the crew!  The small die cut trees around each one of them are quickly made with a die from the bundle.  The die cuts two trees at once -- the larger one to the left of the snowman and the smaller one to his right.

I also used a larger one behind the Reindeer and the second smaller one to the left of the bear.

The Reindeer, Bear and their trees are adhered to the back of the bottom band of the Bandstand card.


Since there is no place to sign the card on the "inside", I used the back of the center panel to create a place for my personalized message.  This sentiment is from an old favorite retired Christmas Greeting set, Hope & Peace.

Use this link to download a tutorial for the card.  I created a video for a Bandstand Fun Fold back in 2025.  It obviously isn't for this specific card, but it may be helpful to better understand my step-by-step directions on the tutorial.  Enjoy!


A list of the products I used for this card is shown below.  Click on any image to learn more or to make a purchase.


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Thursday, November 5, 2026

PAINTED COLLAGE ECLIPSE CARD

Today I am using the Painted Collage Designer Series Paper (DSP) to create my very first Eclipse card.  I became aware of this technique in the last couple of months and finally got around to trying it.

The Eclipse Technique creates a dimensional floating 3D effect on a card front.  You can do this in a variety of ways, but for today's card I chose to make my balloon the "eclipse" portion of the card.


The balloon was die cut with a Balloon Festoon die from a piece of the Painted Collage Designer Series Paper (DSP) and then cut into strips.  The strips were reassembled to a Basic White die cut alternating between adhering a strip directly to the Basic White balloon and adhering one with dimensionals.

Before cutting the strips I adhered the DSP balloon to a Basic White balloon die cut backing to provide some stiffness for the strips that were being popped up with dimensionals.

This video will better explain the process.

Once the Eclipse balloon was created, the rest of the card was kept simple to keep the focus on the balloon.

For all the cutting details and step-by-step directions use this link to download a tutorial that can be used in conjunction with the video to create your own version of an eclipse card.

Don't limit yourself to using a die cut element.  You can also die cut large letters in your card front.  Elevate the letters above the surrounding cardstock or DSP to create your focal point.   You can also use a beautiful piece of DSP and cut it into strips and then reassemble using the eclipse technique.

HINT:  When using DSP, I recommend using a piece of cardstock as a backing to provide more rigidity when popping up DSP strips with dimensionals.

For the inside of the card I simply die cut a smaller balloon from the same DSP and added a little strip of the DSP along the bottom.  Super simple, but it continues the "balloon theme" to the inside of the card.

If you don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I would love to be your demonstrator.  Ordering is quick and easy using the product list below. 

Click on any image to learn more about that specific product or to make a purchase.

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Location: Commerce Township, MI, USA
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