Christmas Concertina Card

This Christmas concertina card comes from a free SVG file over at The Bearded Housewife. Here's a link to the blog post about it: How to Make a Christmas Concertina Card - The Bearded Housewife. I used my Silhouette Cameo 4 to cut out the file. 

The original file is for an A7 card, and I made a set of cards in that size for the shut ins at my church. I also resized the file to make an A2 version. I really wish I would have had more of the card stock I used for the A2 version because I love the contrast with the poinsettia pattern and the lovely red pattern, but unfortunately I only had a few sheets of that card stock and had to use some other Christmas card stock for the large set of cards. 

I stamped "Christmas Blessings" on the front of the cards (I think the stamp is from a Just Rite stamp set) and I also added some holly leaves and berries to the inside sentiment panel using tiny stamps from a Lawn Fawn Christmas set. I used a Close to My Heart stamp for the inside sentiment: "A baby, a manger, a bright and shining star; a shepherd, an angel, three kings from afar; a Savior, a promise from heaven above--The story of Christmas is filled with God's love." I really like the poem because it focuses on the motivation behind sending Jesus to earth: God's love for sinful humans and His mercy and compassion on us. God chose to offer us a way to be reconciled to Him through faith in Jesus' perfect life, sacrificial death, and resurrection. What a gracious, loving God He is!

A2 size card:

Here's a look at the inside of the unfolded card: 

Here's the back of the card:

A close up of the sentiment panel (I used dies to cut out the sentiment panel and the mat behind it, but I don't remember the brand of die): 

Here's a look at the size difference between the original A7 file (far left) and the resized version (middle and far right): 

A7 version:

Inside of A7 version:

Back of A7 version:

The set of cards for the shut ins at my church:

Challenges I'm entering: 

Creative Knockouts: Time to be Merry (3/3; ends Nov.30) C10

Through The Purple Haze Challenges: Monochromatic (my A7 set of cards are monochromatic); (1/3; ends Nov. 30) C10

Anything Goes with a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #46 (secretstamper.com) (ends Dec. 8)

Gem of A Craft Challenge (pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com): ATG (3/3; ends Dec.2)

The Paper Shelter: Winter Celebrations (2/2; ends Dec. 7)

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: ATG (4/5; ends Dec. 7)

Word Art Wednesday (1/5 for this week; ends Dec. 7)

Monday Greetings Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-monday.blogspot.com): Christmas Greetings

Stay Crafty with A Blog Named Hero: November Challenge | Hero Arts: The Great Outdoors

Dream Valley Challenges: Lots of layers (1/3; ends Dec. 10)

No more challenges

Nativity Snow Globe Cards

Spoiler alert! Hopefully none of the people on my mom's Christmas list follow my blog because this is the Christmas card design her recipients are going to receive this year. I made 250 of them for her and then did another (much smaller!) batch for the members of my Bible Study Fellowship discussion group and a few other people from church. Most of the people on my Christmas list are getting a photo card that features a family photo taken this past summer when my daughter in the Navy was home on leave as well as a few smaller photos of my darling grandson. 

The card design for this card comes from a file in the Silhouette Design Store titled "Snow Globe Card Nativity." I resized it to fit in my A2 envelopes. I also used a couple Close to My Heart stamps for the verse and the star. I stamped those using my MISTI, and it made quick work of the project since I lined up both stamps exactly where I wanted them and then stamped the front and backs of the cards at the same time. Thankfully both card elements fit nicely in the MISTI so I could stamp them both at the same time. 

The hardest part of this card was definitely the panel with baby Jesus. I had to change out my cutting blade toward the end of the project. That hay is tough on the blade! The other panels cut out very easily, and I was able to use the fastest setting on my Silhouette, which was a good thing since I was cutting out so many of them!

Close up of the verse:

Side view where you can see the tab the 3 outer panels are glued to:

A look at my work space as I folded and glued the tabs for each card:

Challenges I'm entering:

Creative Knockouts: Time to be Merry (2/3; ends Dec. 1); C10

Anything Goes with a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #46 (secretstamper.com): ends Dec. 8

digidesignchallengeblog (disdigidesignschallenge.blogspot.com): (3/3; ends Dec. 9)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges********** (pammiesinkypinkieschallenges.blogspot.com) (3/3; ends Dec. 5)

The Paper Shelter: Winter Celebrations (1/2; ends Dec. 7)

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: ATG (3/5; ends Dec. 7)

Word Art Wednesday (2/5 for this week; ends Dec. 7)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge

Big Hugs Get Well Card

This get well soon card is for a woman on my church's prayer list who was kicked by a horse resulting in several broken bones. I hope this colorful floral card will lift her spirits.

I started with a white A2 card base and added a die cut frame using yellow polka dot card stock. Then I die cut the floral background from SU!'s Dahlia Days bundle out of purple card stock. Next, I stamped a few dahlias and leaves and then die cut them with the coordinating dies. I adhered them to the bottom left corner and popped up the blue one using foam tape. I stamped "Get Well Soon" using a stamp from SU!'s Ringed with Nature bundle and then die cut it using a Gina Marie Designs die. I adhered the sentiment with foam tape, also. 

For the inside of the card, I used a Lawn Fawn pop up die with the sentiment "Big Hugs." I bought the die at my local Craft Outlet store on Black Friday and was eager to use it. I think it will get a lot of use as I frequently make cards for people on the prayer list. 

A close-up of the gorgeous flowers in this stamp set:

Here's a look at the pop-up die cut:

Challenges I'm entering: 

Gem of A Craft Challenge (pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com): ATG (1/3; ends Dec. 2)

digidesignchallengeblog (disdigidesignschallenge.blogspot.com): Load on the layers (1/3; ends Dec.9)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge (2/3; ends Dec. 8)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges********** (pammiesinkypinkieschallenges.blogspot.com) (2/3; ends Dec. 5)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge (2/2; ends Dec. 10)

Stay Crafty with A Blog Named Hero: November Challenge | Hero Arts: The Great Outdoors

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: ATG (2/5; ends Dec. 7)

Word Art Wednesday (3/5 for this week; ends Dec. 7)

Festive Friday Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-friday.blogspot.com): Several themes, but I chose flowers (2/3; ends Dec. 8)

Twisted Thursday Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-thursday.blogspot.com): ATG

Prayers Card

This card is for a sister in Christ who lost her 10-year-old daughter back in October. She reached out to me just after Thanksgiving and let me know she was struggling so I could pray for her. A few days after I began praying that the Lord would reassure her about the questions she had and comfort her in her grief, she texted that she had contacted a former pastor, and he encouraged her greatly and discussed her questions with her and provided reassurance and comfort. It was such a clear answer to my prayers! I am in awe of how God cares for us so personally. I will continue to keep this family in my prayers as Christmas approaches and then their daughter's birthday on Jan. 2, but I am so grateful I can entrust them to God's loving care.

I started this card with a white A7 card base and chose to do a horizontal orientation. Using a die from SU!'s Dahlia Days bundle, I die cut the floral background using pink adhesive vinyl. I adhered it to the card base and then I die cut and embossed a Spellbinders die to make the navy blue frame. I adhered the frame with foam tape to pop it up a little from the background. I stamped and die cut the dahlias and leaves for the top left corner on the front of the card and the bottom right corner on the inside of the card using stamps and dies from the same Dahlia Days bundle. I used foam tape to adhere the flowers to pop them up a bit. I die cut the prayers die using both yellow and navy card stock and adhered them to some white card with a slight offset so the yellow peeks behind the blue a bit. I then fussy cut around the sentiment and used foam tape to adhere it to the front of the card. For the inside, I stamped a sentiment from a Papertrey Ink stamp set onto an oval die cut using a Spellbinders die. 

Here's the sentiment:

 Challenges I'm entering: 

Gem of A Craft Challenge (pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com) (2/3; ends Dec. 3)

digidesignchallengeblog (disdigidesignschallenge.blogspot.com): ATG (2/3; ends Dec. 9)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge (1/3; ends Dec. 8)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges********** (pammiesinkypinkieschallenges.blogspot.com) (1/3; ends Dec. 5)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge (1/2; ends Dec. 10)

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: ATG (1/5; ends Dec. 7)

Word Art Wednesday (4/5 for this week; ends Dec. 7)

Festive Friday Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-friday.blogspot.com): Several themes, but I chose flowers (3/3; ends Dec. 8)

Twisted Thursday Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-thursday.blogspot.com): ATG

Stay Crafty with A Blog Named Hero: November Challenge | Hero Arts: The Great Outdoors

Creations in Pink: ATG with more pink than other colors (1/3; ends Dec. 12)

Dream Valley Challenges: Lots of layers (2/3; ends Dec. 10)

GD Card for The Outlawz Sunday Song & Rhyme

One of my cards was recently chosen as the Challenge Favorite over at The Outlawz Sunday Song & Rhyme Challenge, and the DT graciously invited me to be a GD for the challenge starting today. The poem selected for this challenge is: 

What a wonderful bird the frog are
When he stand he sit almost;
When he hop he fly almost.
He ain't got no sense hardly;
He ain't got no tail hardly either.
When he sit, he sit on what he ain't got almost.

It's an odd sort of poem, isn't it?! But it lends itself well to froggy puns like "Hoppy birthday," so I decided to make a fun birthday card for my uncle who is 83 years young this month. 

This is a Z-fold card that I embossed using SU!'s Ringed With Nature embossing folder. The pre-colored frog digi stamp on the front of the card was generously provided to me by the challenge sponsor Mirtillamente for my GD card. I used a Close to My Heart stamp set titled "Fun Times" to stamp the tiny flies, the "Time's fun when you're having flies" sentiment, and the plain black frog inside the card. I created the "Hoppy Birthday" sentiment using Silhouette Design Studio software. I cut the ovals out using my Cameo 4. 

My next challenge was figuring out how to add a watermark to my photo of the front of the card. I have never watermarked any of my photos before, but I was asked by the DT of The Outlawz Sunday Song & Rhyme Challenge to put a watermark over my photo. I thought I had it figured out using Power Point on my laptop but then discovered I couldn't import the image into blogspot to post it on my blog (There is probably a way to do this, but after several failed attempts, I moved on to another method). I tried 3 different apps on my phone before landing on a free one called "eZy Watermark" that wasn't exactly easy for me! Still, I was eventually able to add a watermark to the photos of my card, and now I know I can do that in the future if need be. 

If you'd like to join the fun over at The Outlawz Sunday Song & Rhyme, see the link below.

Challenges I'm entering: 

Songs and Rhymes challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-sunday.blogspot.com): See poem listed in the blog post. The line I chose is the first one: "When he hop he fly almost" which goes with my "Hoppy Birthday" sentiment. 

Outlawz Challenges: Twisted Thursday: ATG 

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (2/10; ends Dec. 7)

Outlawz Challenges: Monthly linky

 Happy Little Stampers: Birthday Challenge: ATG birthday

Anything Goes with a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #46 (secretstamper.com)

Stay Crafty with A Blog Named Hero: November Challenge | Hero Arts: The Great Outdoors

Merriest Moments Christmas Card

This card is for a sketch challenge in my Stampin' Up! FB group. I used the Merriest Moments bundle and the Ringed with Nature bundle for the elements in this card. Both bundles have hybrid embossing folders that can emboss and cut at the same time. Very fun! For this card, I only embossed the background using the Merriest Frames EF, but I embossed and cut out the tree stump using the Ringed with Nature EF. The Merriest Moments bundle has a lot of great stamps and dies, and I used a couple of the poinsettia flowers. I had some leaves die cut, also, but they didn't really work well with the sentiment strip so I decided to save them for another card. 

Close up of the sentiment and some of the embossing:

Challenges I'm entering:

Creative Knockouts: Time to be Merry (1/3; ends Nov. 30) C10

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (1/10; ends Dec. 7)

The Paper Shelter: Festive Colors

Happy Little Stampers: Christmas Challenge: ATG Christmas

Happy Little Stampers: Anything Goes with Dies

Festive Friday Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-friday.blogspot.com) (1/3; ends Dec.8)

Outlawz Challenges: Monthly linky

Monday Greetings Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-monday.blogspot.com) (2/3; ends Dec. 4)

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up

Gold And Silver Snowflake Card

I may be a little obsessed with glitter paste and stencils😂. Seriously, it's so fun to see the texture the glitter paste creates! 

For this card, I used gold glitter paste with a snowflake stencil to create the background. Then I die cut a few Spellbinders snowflake dies in silver glitter card stock. I used the same silver glitter card stock to die cut a mat behind my sentiment using a Gina Marie Designs die set. The sentiment is from a retired Close to my Heart stamp set. I mounted it to the mat with foam tape. I find that foam tape sticks to glitter card stock better than other adhesives seem to. This is a nice festive, glittery card, but I wish I had used the second snowflake layering stencil to create some depth behind the glitter paste snowflakes. There's a lot of white space left on the card.  

 Challenges I'm entering: 

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: Stencils (4/5; ends Nov. 23)

Outlawz Challenges: Monthly linky

Twisted Thursday Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-thursday.blogspot.com): ATG with twist of CAS

Monday Greetings Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-monday.blogspot.com): Christmas Greetings (1/3; ends Dec. 4)

Songs and Rhymes challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-sunday.blogspot.com): The part of the poem that inspired my card was:  We pray a merry Christmas, Made bright by Christmas cheer.  My card is bright, and the sentiment includes the idea of a merry Christmas. 

Happy Little Stampers: Christmas Challenge: ATG Christmas

Happy Little Stampers: Stencil Challenge

Happy Little Stampers: Anything Goes with Dies

Stay Crafty with A Blog Named Hero: November Challenge | Hero Arts Random winner of a $50 gift certificate; already received and used😀

Craft dream (bastel-traum.blogspot.com): Snowflakes  #btchallenge119

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up

Hope You're FELINE Better Card

This was a quick card for a friend from church who just had hip surgery. I used a digi I won recently from The Paper Shelter and did a print and cut of the pre-colored version of the girl and her cats along with the provided background. The digi set comes with several options: uncolored, pre-colored without the background, and pre-colored with the background. I love having all those options!

The woman in the digi is drinking some hot tea and snuggling up with her cats, and it made me think of taking it easy and recovering from surgery or illness. I have a stamp set that came with a cardmaking magazine from a few years ago that has some dog and cat stamps and sentiments, so I dug that out to use the "HOPE YOU'RE FELINE BETTER" stamp for this card. I embossed the pink panel with a Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder and then added some pearls to some of the snowflake centers. I then chose a scrap of blue/gray snowflake paper and trimmed it to add as an accent piece behind the digi. I hope it will be an encouragement to my friend as she recovers. 

Challenges I'm entering: 

Crazy for Cats: Challenge #1 - CRAZY FOR CATS - Launch Party sponsored by Lawn Fawn! - Cat Lovers Hop by Cat! (crazyforcatschallenges.blogspot.com): ATG with cats (4/5; ends Nov. 25)

Creations in Pink: ATG with more pink than other colors (2/3; ends Dec. 12)
 

Pink Meowy Christmas Card

When I was choosing my 3 free digis from The Paper Shelter from winning a recent card challenge, this set was one I knew I wanted! Not only do I love the girl and her kitties, I think the background is gorgeous! Did you know you can use the background separately from the digis in the sets designed by The Paper Shelter? And the sets come with pre-colored or ready to color yourself images. So handy! 

I recently went through my stash of embossing folders (I have way too many of them! Who can relate?!) and found this one from Richard Gary's Lumberjack Collection called "Knitted Pattern." I love it with winter-themed cards! 

👀 Enjoy HUGE Blitzday Savings Plus a New Weekly Sketch Challenge! – MFT Stamps: Sketch Challenge: I flipped the elements from top to bottom: 

Crazy for Cats: Challenge #1 - CRAZY FOR CATS - Launch Party sponsored by Lawn Fawn! - Cat Lovers Hop by Cat! (crazyforcatschallenges.blogspot.com): ATG with cats (3/5; ends Nov. 25)

Stay Crafty with A Blog Named Hero: November Challenge | Hero Arts: Great Outdoors

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (1/5 for this part of the challenge; ends Nov. 23)

Can You Handle The Pressure? (cyhtp.blogspot.com): ATG with embossing (3/3; ends Nov. 23)

Let's Squash It!! (letssquashit.blogspot.com): Christmas and embossing (I used Richard Gary's Knitted Pattern EF) (3/3; ends Nov. 30) C8

Happy Little Stampers: Christmas Challenge: ATG Christmas

Craft dream (bastel-traum.blogspot.com): Snowflakes  #btchallenge119

No more challenges

Thanksgiving Turkey Box Card

This year's Thanksgiving card design came from a file I purchased from MyScrapChick.com called "Turkey Box Card." Since I needed 140 of them for my mom to send out and another 30 to send out myself, I simplified the design a bit by using print and cut rather than paper piecing the front of the turkey. I chose some fall-colored papers for the feathers and added a Thanksgiving sentiment to the envelope flap. I resized the card file to fit an A6 envelope (it was just slightly too long to fit in my envelopes as originally designed). 

Here's the card lying flat:

Standing up: 

Side view of the layers:

Top view: 

Back side (I signed this part of the card):

Here's a look at the pieces and parts as I began the assembly process:

Challenges I'm entering: 

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Thanks or Thanksgiving

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (2/5 for this part of the challenge; ends Nov. 23)
 

Incy Wincy Designs Challenge -1st to the 25th every month: Give Thanks or encourage a friend

Crafty Catz (craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com): ATG with optional twist of Christmas (1/3; ends Nov. 24)

The Diva's that cut ....paper! (die-cut-divas.blogspot.com): ATG (4/4; ends Nov. 30)

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG with option of words of thanks 2/8; ends Dec. 2) Rising Star Pick for November Week Three

Diagonal Flip Card with Psalm 69:30

This month it's my turn on the Board of Missions and Evangelism to send out the bulletins and CDs to all the shut ins at my church each week. Normally I send out 4 cards each week to a small group of shut ins, but I decided to include a handmade card each week for the whole group of shut ins (18 in total) for the month of November while I'm mailing out CDs and bulletins to them anyway. I took the word art I used for fan fold cards (see my previous post) that I made for my special group of 4 shut ins this week and used it in these diagonal flip cards I made for the rest of the group (my special group of shut ins had already received a diagonal flip card recently, so I wanted them to have a different design). The original idea for this diagonal flip card came from Mary Deatherage here: https://stampsnlingers.com/2022/10/06/stampin-up-rustic-soft-seedlings-fun-fold-for-the-happy-inkin-thursday-blog-hop/.

Inside area for a message:

Challenges I'm entering: 

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Thanks/Thanksgiving (4/5; ends Nov.21)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (3/5 for this week; ends Nov. 23)

Challenge | Your Next Stamp: Thank You

Incy Wincy Designs Challenge -1st to the 25th every month (3/5; ends Nov. 25)

Crafty Catz (craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com): ATG with optional twist of Christmas (2/3; ends Nov. 24)

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG with option of words of thanks 3/8; ends Dec. 2)