It’s Christmas!

Feeling super festive, I’ve been working on wanted on my cards for Christmas. I used several dies which is outside my wheelhouse and my stamping was really all about creating a nice background for my die cut letters – hope you like it!

I started off by using Concord and 9th’s Holly Berry Turnabout stamp set to create a panel that can be used as a background. Concord and 9ths turnabout stamps are really unique because there are so many options with one stamp set! They do however require a stamping tool. I use My Sweet Petunia’s MISTI Stamping Tool but really any stamping tool will work. You MAY be able to use a very large stamping block…but that’s not something I’ve ever tried.

I opted to go full out with it for this card. Here’s are the basics behind turnabout stamps. First things first…the jig. The Jig is a plastic template that you place down in your stamping tool to line up your panel. There are little corner marks to show you exactly where your paper should be placed, as well as numbers in the top right corner of each side – 1, 2, 3 & 4 so you know which side you’re rotating/stamping on. Then you place your cardstock – I used a bit of removable tape runner to the back of the card panel to help it stay in place temporarily. I’m using an A2 sized panel of Neenah Solar White cardstock. Then in the stamp set, there’s an acetate sheet with a giant ‘X’ on it as well as some printed portion of the stamp. You’re going to line that up with your jig and paper so that the center point is in the center of your panel.

Then you’re going to line up your stamp with the printed images on on the acetate sheet, then close your stamping tool and the stamp will get picked up on the cover of your stamping tool ready to be stamped. Just remember to remove your acetate template before stamping.

I opted to stamp my greenery using Altenew’s Just Green Crisp Dye Ink. Then…you rotate the jig (with the card panel still stuck to it) to the next number. I started off with my jig in position 1 (top right corner), so I rotated the jig so that number 2 was now in the top right corner. I inked the stamp up again, and stamped it down. You’ll see that the panel is starting to fill up with the greenery in a really cool pattern. You can always opt to stop here, or to change the colour you’re stamping with, however I opted to use the same colour for all the greenery.

Turn to position 3 in the top right corner….ink, stamp….rotate to position 4, ink stamp….done with the greenery!

In this particular stamp set, there’s a second stamp with berries. You can opt to just have the greenery, just have the berries or do both…I’m doing both. So same process. I started back in position #1, applied the acetate template for the berry stamp, lined up the berry stamp, then started stamping.

Same process – ink, stamp, rotate…ink, stamp, rotate…ink, stamp, rotate….done! Below shows the completed panel with all of the greenery and the berries stamped out.

This would make a really great background, but for this particular card, I’m die cutting the word “NOEL” using EK Success Cutter BEE Alphabet Dies. I made sure the letters were lined up with proper spacing, then I used a piece of purple tape to keep everything together. I placed it onto my stamped panel, ran it through my Spellbinders Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine (any die cutting machine will work here). Voila….a really cool patterned “NOEL”, plus…I can use the negative space on another card! I love being able to get two cards out of one technique!

Then on to my base panel. I stared with an embossing folder from Darice with a really cute Christmas pattern on an A2 panel of Neenah Solar White cardstock.

Then I took the bow out of Cheery Lynn Designs Die – Ornamental Wreath – DL143 die set, and a piece of Simon Says Stamp Glitter Paper – Crimson and ran it through my die cutting machine again to get a really sparkly bow 🙂

Then I grabbed a wreath die I found in my stash – I don’t have the details for it as it’s an older die, but I loved the size of this wreath. I ran the die through my die cutting machine twice with a piece of DCVW Green Shimmer Cardstock to get two subtle sparkly wreaths.

Then I put everything together….I trimmed down the embossed panel to approximately 5.25×4 inches, then adhered it to an A2 card base of Neenah Solar White Cardstock. Then I placed all of the dies..starting with the wreaths. I staggered both wreath die cuts to get a fuller looking wreath. I then placed the sparkly bow, using some pieces of Simon Says Stamp Big Momma Foam Tape to give the bow a bit of dimension.

Then I lined up the “NOEL” letter die cuts at the bottom of the panel and eyeballed the spacing a bit. I started with the first and last letters, then aligned the center letters….this allows for a bit of better placement overall.

That’s it! Lots of different elements to this card, but I feel like it really came together nicely. I paired the card with a Christmas red envelope to finish things off.