Caly Person

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

I honestly cannot believe that the holidays are HERE!!!  Sorry for being MIA recently.  We took some time off work to take the kids to Disneyland – our first family vacation in 3 years!  It was truly an adventure with all the craziness we went through!  I did a few cards prior to vacation and didn’t get a chance to share those – so they will be shared towards the end of this post.

When we got back from vacation, I started work on my holiday cards for this year.  I had a hard time deciding what to do this year, so I stalled.  But I think it ended up working out!  I have been using the previous year’s holiday stamps on current cards a lot.  I have no time to play with anything new, it feels like!

I knew that I wanted to use the Holiday Style stamp set from Sunny Studio.  It’s such a great layering set that creates great dimension.  There is a very realistic bell in the set.  For my card, I chose to use the ornaments because I wanted the focal point of the card to be similar to an ornament.

If you haven’t seen a card like this before – it’s an interactive flip card!  You can definitely make this by doing some partial die cutting with any shape you’d like.  Since I had to make 70 cards – I opted for using the die.  Stampin Up made (it is now a retired product) a Circle Card Thinlets set that makes this super easy.  They seem to have the copyright for the straight corners because I couldn’t find another like it under the Sizzix brand (they also manufacture dies for Stampin’ Up!).  Anyway – Sizzix has these “Flip-Its” dies in other shapes and sizes.  If you want one similar to what I used – you’ll have to be ok with rounded corners (which I initially purchased by mistake).  I will like that alternative below.  I actually found the Stampin’ Up! die on Ebay.  Be on the lookout for a good deal.  Stampin’ Up! prices are often outrageous on Ebay with retired products!

The die actually only cuts the card base without the extra flap on the right that you see.  I had to cut my card base a little shorter in order to slide the cardstock over the end of the die so I can have this extra panel.  To see what I mean, you can take a look at this YouTube video by another crafter.  I wanted to make a video for this card, but unfortunately, there’s something wrong with my editing software right now.  It’s disappointing because I have not made a video in a very long time!

I got 140 photos printed at Walmart and punched them out using a 2 1/2″ circle punch – die cutting all of those photos would’ve been painful considering I ink-sponged 70 card bases, stamped 5 branches, 2 ornaments (requiring 4 different layers), and the sentiments on each card!  This is truly an annual labor of love!

My favorite thing about this card?  Its ONE layer (except for the photos I attached) with lots of stamping!

Now for some cards I made prior to my vacation.  I made 4 wedding cards! One was for someone who reached out to me from Australia – how cool is that?

I watercolored the background using Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers using the “swooshing” method with acetate and embossed the bold sentiment over the center.  The velum banner is stamped using Staz-On ink and dots heat-embossed with gold.  She wanted it to hold money, so I made the card longer.

Speaking of money – I also made a money holder for another wedding we went to.  This one is a slider card with a pocket.  The pull out tab just has slots to hold the money.

The final card is made using Nuvo texture paste – which I’ve never played with before.  The dies for the sentiment, wine bottle and glasses are all from My Favorite Things – such clever designs!

Last but not least, I have die cut shaker card.  I can’t get creative with glitter anymore when my friend asks me to make her a card with lots of glitter….I can’t say I was really happy or excited about this card – I almost didn’t share!  But we’re all here to share strengths and weakness, right?  HAHA.

Alrighty – I think that’s it!  Thanks for sticking through this one!  I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving!

XOXO,

SUPPLIES (for my 2017 Holiday card):

*Disclaimer: I am not being paid by any company to promote their products. I make cards using stamp sets and materials which I love and I love to share. To view where these items can be purchased, click on the linked abbreviations below (SU for Stampin’ Up!, SSS for Simon Says Stamp, EH for Ellen Hutson, AMZN for Amazon, LF for Lawn Fawn, MFT for My Favorite Things, etc.).

SS Holiday Style SSS | SS	SU Circle Card Thinlits (Retired)	Sizzix Mini Circle Flip-Its	White/Gray Big Shot
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink EH | SSS | AMZN	Tim Holtz Mini Distress Inks EH | SSS	Garden Green Ink	Pacific Point Ink
Night of Navy Ink	Real Red Ink	Cherry Cobbler Ink	Smoky Slate Ink
Basic Gray Ink	Neenah Solar White 80 lb EH | SSS	ATG Gun EH | SSS | AMZN	Teflon Bone Folder EH | SSS
Ranger Mini Round Foam Blending Refills EH | SSS | AMZN	Ranger Mini Round Blending Tools EH | SSS | AMZN	MSP MISTI EH | SSS | MSP	EK Tools 2-1/2 Inch Circle Punch