Category: Christmas

  • Holiday Hugs | by Allison Frazier

    Holiday Hugs | by Allison Frazier

    Hello, Birch Press friends! I am still in full holiday mode and was in the mood for a bit of sparkle. I reached for the Adornment Dove and the new Starlight Snow stencil from Memory Box to make this card.

    I started with a red panel of card stock and some silver paste. I took a sponge applicator and pounced the silver paste through the stencil. If you ever want to apply paste without adding too much dimension, I highly recommend this method! Pouncing also helps ensure that the paste doesn’t go underneath the stencil. Once I was finished with the paste, I set my panel aside to dry.

    I cut the base layer of the dove from white card stock (twice) and the detail layer from silver glitter card stock. I then adhered the layers together. This dove is so beautiful! I did decide to add some small black fairy jewels to part of the wing. I also used one to make an eye. I prepared my sentiment, using the new Holiday Hugs Vintage Sentiment. The top detail layer is black glossy card stock.

    Before adhering my red, stenciled panel to my A2 card base, I inked up the edges with some black ink in order to create a bit of a glow in the middle. I adhered my dove and sentiment on top, and that is it for this card! I hope it puts a smile on your face. Thank you so much for joining us today.


    Supplies


    57479 Adornment Dove
    57540 Holiday Hugs Vintage Sentiment

    Supplies


    88625 Starlight Snow Stencil
    jwl004 Autumn Fairy Jewels
    gp1006 Festive Glitter Pad
    sp1001 Berry Red
  • Holiday Kisses | by Toni M Maddox

    Holiday Kisses | by Toni M Maddox

    Hello, Birch Press fans! Toni here with you today sharing another holiday card–my favorite!

    As I was working with the Oval Leaf Branches dies for another card, I realized they reminded me of mistletoe so I ran with it. 

    I prepared the card base by cutting out the Epiphany Plate Layer A and adhering two of the three sections to it.

    Then I cut out a few sprigs of the Oval Leaf Branches out of a pale green and sponged the darker parts with Distress Oxide Mowed Lawn.

    I cut out the Forest Leaf branch out of kraft cardstock but used the individual berries from Forest Canopy Layer A sponged in Distress Oxide Lumberjack Plaid. I topped off the mistletoe bundle with a peppermint twine bow.

    I finished off the card using a Glad Tidings sentiment on a simple banner.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s card and have a great rest of your week!

    Supplies

    57525 Oval Leaf Branches Contour Layers

    57514 Forest Leaf and Berries Contour Layers

    57534 Forest Canopy Layer Set

    56098 Epiphany Plate Layer Set

    CL8164 Glad Tidings clear stamp set

  • Purple Poinsettias | by Crystal Komara

    Purple Poinsettias | by Crystal Komara

    Hello friends! This is design team member Crystal Komara here with you today and I’m very happy to be sharing this card I created using the Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layer Dies.

    I love creating a holiday card in what can only be described as more “non-traditional” colors. I think dark jewel toned colors make for very elegant and yet still festive cards. I hope you will agree after seeing my card:

    Card details:

    The base of this A2 sized card uses an eggplant colored cardstock. I cut a 5 1/4 x 4″ piece of white cardstock and then used a distress tool to “rough up the edges a bit.” Then I splattered this white cardstock with an eggplant ink. Using the Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layer Dies, I die cut the layers from three different colored purple cardstock and then spent a while assembling the different layers on top of each other using a fine tip liquid adhesive.

    Once I had the poinsettia’s assembled, I splatted the beautiful flowers with white acrylic paint (to resemble snow). Using the Contempo Christmas Greetings stamp set, I stamped the sentiment in a magenta pink ink and used the coordinating dies to cut the sentiment out. I adhered the sentiment to the card also using 3M foam adhesive.

    I hope you have enjoyed today’s card as much as I do! Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day.

    Supplies

    57517 Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layers

    8162 Contempo Christmas Greetings clear stamp and die set

    SP1008 Twilight Purple 6×6 pack

  • Holly Jolly Holidays | by April Antonio

    Holly Jolly Holidays | by April Antonio

    Happy Tuesday! So happy to be back on the blog sharing a fun card using the Holly Jolly Contour Layers set to get in the mood for the holidays. I had a lot of fun creating this card and it was really simple to pull together. Read on to find out how I pulled this together.

    I used both of the leaf dies from the Jolly Holly Contour Layers die set and dry embossed them across my A2 card base. Dry embossing is the process of creating an impression of a die onto cardstock without cutting all the way through. To achieve this effect I used a rubber embossing mat with my die cut machine.

    Once I had completed the dry embossing I grabbed red and green cardstocks from the Lush Green, Berry Red, and Glitzy Glitter cardstock pads. I cut the holly leaves and berries multiple times from the different colors and glued them together, alternating the use of glitter and plain cardstock.

    I adhered the berries and leaves in the lower right hand corner, creating a sort of visual triangle. Lastly, I used the Warm Wishes Vintage Sentiment die to die cut ‘warm wishes’ from glitter cardstock and the shadow/background from white cardstock. I adhered this to the middle of the holly leaves and berries.

    That is it! This card was very straightforward and yet turned out so wonderfully colorful and crip. I hope you found some inspiration from this project and have a wonderful rest of your week.

    Supplies

    57512 Jolly Holly Contour Layers

    57539 Warm Wishes Vintage Sentiment

    Supplies

    SP1001 Berry Red

    SP1003 Lush Green

    GP1007 Glitzy Glitter Pad

  • Holiday Poinsettia | By Natasha Vacca

    Holiday Poinsettia | By Natasha Vacca

    Hello Crafty friends! I am excited to be back on the blog today sharing a card using the beautiful Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layers die set! I love this large floral die and the amazing details, so let’s get started!

    I started by die cutting the Splendid Poinsettia using paper from the Memory Box paper pad collection in Lush Green and Berry Red. I chose 2 shades of red and 2 shades of green. I then die cut some additional leaves using the Sylvan Berries and Leaves Contour Layers die set using the Earth Neutral paper pad from Memory Box. I cut the berries from this set using a red glitter paper from the Festive Glitter paper pad.

    Once all the layers were die cut I added several shades of Distress Oxide to each layer for added color and texture. I applied water droplets to each layer as well and picked up color using a paper towel. I love the added texture this provides.

    To add a bit more texture and dimension to all the layers I added a spray from Lindy’s Gang. I love the added shine this gives to all the floral and leaf layers. I allowed everything to completely dry, then adhered all the layers together using liquid glue. I used my fingers to shape the leaves on the Poinsettia for added dimension. I added a few white splatters to the leaves and flower and set it aside.

    Next I used a gelli print from my stash. I trimmed the panel using my deckle trimmer and then added Distress Oxide to the panel to give it more of an aged look. I applied distress ink to the edges of the gelli print, then adhered this to an A2 card panel.

    I adhered the poinsettia, leaves, and berries using liquid glue to the top of the card panel. I completed the card with a sentiment from my stash. I had a lot of fun creating today’s holiday card!

    Have a great day! I will be back soon!


    Supplies


    57517 Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layers
    57503 Sylvan Berries and Leaves Contour Layers

    Supplies


    sp1009 Earth Neutral
    sp1001 Berry Red
    sp1003 Lush Green
    gp1006 Festive Glitter Pad
  • Merry Christmas Wreath | by Colleen Balija

    Merry Christmas Wreath | by Colleen Balija

    Hi there friends! I’m back this month sharing another holiday card using the new Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layers! This is a lovely poinsettia that you’ll want in your stash for your holiday cards! You could say I’m getting a head start on my holiday cards! I’ll also be using Memory Box Glad Tidings Stamp and Fairy Crystals, and Memory Box RingaDings embossing folder! All of the links to supplies I’ve used will be shared at the end of my post!

    I started with a colorful background, choosing a pre-made colored card panel, and embossing over it using RingaDings embossing folder. This is a favorite embossing folder of mine! Then I applied dark blue ink over the raised areas on the card panel to add depth and interest, trimmed it down, and set it aside. Below you can see a good visual of that bold and busy background!

    TIMESAVER TIP: I like to take a craft day and just create background card panels with different ink medias such as acrylic paint, distress oxides or sprays, or dye inks. That way I can just grab a background panel when I need it and just add more details to coordinate with my focal point!

    Next, I focused on the lovely poinsettia and leaves! The Poinsettia has a few layers, so I die cut each layer onto heavy white cardstock (or you could use watercolor paper) and then sprayed the layers with shades of red. The bottom layers are darker than the top layers (I find that doing this adds more depth). I also splattered the same dark blue ink from the background over the poinsettia to bring the blue from the background to the foreground. I repeated this process for the leaves, only in shades of teal. Then I adhered the layers together. I placed the poinsettia in the upper 3rd of the card panel and tucked the leaves in behind it. Then I splattered the entire panel with gold ink. You can see a close up of all those glorious details in that beautiful poinsettia! Birch Press Designs does an amazing job with the details in their dies!

    When the splatters were dried, I adhered the card panel to a 5.5×4.25 white card base and then finished with a red Fairy Crystal on the poinsettia and the sentiment Merry Christmas from Glad Tidings stamp by Memory Box. This card was so easy to put together!

    I’m so glad you joined me today, and I hope that you’re getting some great ideas for your holiday cards!

    Supplies

    57517 Splendid Poinsettia Contour Layers

    CL8164 Glad Tidings clear stamp set

    EF1015 Ringadings3D Embossing Folder

    JWL005 Christmas Fairy Jewels

  • A Card and a Tag | by Rosemary Dennis

    A Card and a Tag | by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello friends! Hope everyone here in the United States had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends! Christmas will soon be upon us and I am here for it. I love Christmas! As my blog title indicates, I am sharing a card and a tag. Let’s have a look.

    You can just see the tag tucked down in the right corner of this photo. When I originally started my card I wasn’t going to make a tag, but decided to create one with the center pieces that were left over when I die cut the Tranquility Layer dies for my wreath.

    I wanted a wreath to layer the Forest Leaf and Berries Contour Layers die cuts on, but thought it would be fun to use something other than one of the stem and berry die sets. I settled on the Tranquility set because the center piece is separate from the outer more wreath like piece. My color scheme came from the patterned paper that I pulled from the Memory Box Jolly Christmas 6×6 pad. I die cut the plaid piece with a rectangle die and adhered it to the card front. The wreath was die cut from burgundy, dark green and gold metallic cardstocks and adhered together with liquid glue. I used the dark green and the burgundy to die cut the leaves and berries for the little swag I added to the wreath. Some distress collage medium was added to parts of the leaves and berries and then I added distress rock candy glitter. Everything was set aside to dry.

    Initially I hadn’t intended to use the center pieces that resulted when I die cut the Tranquility layers, but decided I couldn’t let them go to waste. I created my little tag using a small arched rectangle die and cut the same plaid paper. I also die cut a piece of the burgundy cardstock with the same die and then adhered it to the back of the patterned paper one with liquid glue. A whole was die cut in the top to add the ribbon and gold twine. I used the Holiday Hugs Vintage die set to die cut the sentiment from the patterned paper and gold metallic cardstock. They were adhered together and attached to the tag along with the center medallion. I finished with a red fairy jewel to the center of the medallion and the dark green ribbon/twine combo.

    For the card I die cut the Merry Christmas Vintage die set from the patterned paper and gold metallic cardstock and layered them together with liquid glue. All the other pieces were dry so it was time to layer everything on the card front. Everything was adhered in place with liquid glue. Because of where I placed the sentiment I did have to use some small foam squares on the back of the sentiment so everything would be the same height. Before adding the sentiment I did create a bow from the gold twine and adhered that with a dot a glue.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s projects and that I gave you some inspiration to use your Birch Press Design Layering dies in a new or different way. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

    Supplies

    57538 Merry Christmas Vintage Sentiment

    57540 Holiday Hugs Vintage Sentiment

    57514 Forest Leaf and Berries Contour Layers

    57412 Tranquility Layer Set

  • Just Add Sparkle | by Crystal Komara

    Just Add Sparkle | by Crystal Komara

    Hello friends and happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday filled with family, great friends and good food. This is design team member Crystal Komara here today. Now, I kind of a have a personal “No Christmas” policy until December 1 (I know, I know, feel free to snark!) so I have a snow themed card to share with you instead.

    Background details:

    Now, I’ll be completely honest, I took a gelli plate class recently and I created this background at the gelli plate class, so I can only describe how it was made in non-technical terms since I am no expert on gelli plates. In fact, I’m still terrified of them!

    Essentially I spread a magenta paint on the gelli plate and then took a skewer (or toothpick) and dragged it through (creating various lines) and created a bunch of scribble lines. I peeled it off the gelli plate and let it dry. That one was a simple one!

    Using the Frosty Flake snowflake dies, I die cut all three layers (A, B and C) from white cardstock. I adhered all three layers together with a fine tip liquid glue. Then I adhered the snowflake directly to the dried gelli plate background.

    Once the snowflake was adhered to the card I added clear rhinestones to point of the snowflakes for added sparkle. Next, I stamped the sentiment “just add sparkle” from the Contempo Christmas Greetings stamp set in Versamark ink on black cardstock. I heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder and then I used the coordinating die to die cut the sentiment out. I adhered the sentiment to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.

    Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

    Supplies

    57388 Frosty Flake Layer Set

    8162 Contempo Christmas Greetings clear stamp and die set

  • Peace On Earth | by Allison Frazier

    Peace On Earth | by Allison Frazier

    Hello, Birch Press friends! Today, I am sharing this elegant card featuring the Revello Ornament Layer Set. This ornament would look beautiful in any color combination. I chose to go a little less traditional with my purple color scheme, and I love how it turned out.

    My initial inspiration for this card came from the new Poinsettia Garland paper pad. I chose a sheet with a foiled pattern, and I knew I wanted something shiny and beautiful to go on top. The paper is a unique color – it’s almost like a muddy gray. I cut it down to 4.25″ x 5.5″ and inked up the edges with Pumice Stone and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. The foil on the paper resists the ink. All I had to do was wipe the excess ink off of the foil with a dry cloth. I then glued this panel to an A2 card base.

    I cut Layers B and C of the Revello Ornament from two shades of purple card stock. I cut Layer A from gold card stock, and then I glued those three layers together. I wanted a solid back for my ornament, so I took one of the dies and traced it onto cream colored card stock. After fussy cutting that out, I glued it to the back of the ornament. I then glued the ornament onto the card panel.

    I chose a sentiment from the Christmas Ornament and Labels stamp set and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. I have the matching die set for these stamps, so I used the die to cut it out. I then glued that at an angle on top of the ornament. I used the ornament topper die from the Radiant Ornament Layer Set and cut that from the same gold card stock as my ornament. Before adding this on top of the ornament, I tied some ribbon and gold thread through it.

    I hope this card puts a smile on your face and inspires you to try some unique color combinations for your holiday cards. Thank you so much for joining us today.


    Supplies


    57464 Revello Ornament Layer Set
    cl8154 Christmas Ornament and Labels clear stamp set
    56081 Radiant Ornament Layer Set
    sp1008 Twilight Purple 6×6 pack

    Supplies


    pp1024 Poinsettia Garland 6×6 pack
  • Holiday Hugs | by Colleen Balija

    Holiday Hugs | by Colleen Balija

    Hi friends,

    With the holidays upon us, I wanted to share a festive card using the new Holiday Hugs die and Adornment Wreath die! This layered wreath can be used all year long just by changing up the colors and foliage!!! I will also be using Memory Box RingaDings embossing folder, Jolly Holly Contour Die, and Memory Box paper. All supply links for this card will be listed at the bottom of my post!

    First step was to prep my dies, so I die cut the 2 layers of the Adornment Wreath onto white cardstock along with the Jolly Holly Contour die (leaves and berries). Then I ink blended the wreath in 2 shades of brown, the leaves in 2 shades of teal, and the berries in 2 shades of red. I use 2 shades of color to bring the designs to life! Then I adhered the layers together and splattered gold ink over all of it. The gold ink adds a classy touch of glimmer! Below is a close up of the finished wreath and foliage!

    Once my focal point was completed, it was time to focus on the background. Starting with a pre-colored piece of cardstock in shades of teal and green, I embossed over it with RingaDings embossing folder and applied gold ink over the raised edges. The gold in the background helps the gold on the focal point to pop! I love the distressed look of teh background! The picture below is a good visual of it!

    TIP: Although I die cut everything in white and then added color, you could easily do the opposite by applying color to a card panel and then die cutting 2nd!

    Last step was to adhere the focal point centered over the background, placing a few of the leaves onto foam tape for added dimension. I added Memory Box red sequins over the berries for added shine! The Holiday Hugs sentiment was die cut using Memory Box’s gold and red mirrored cardstock and then placed onto foam tape in the middle of the wreath!

    I’m so glad you joined me today! Below is the full supply list!

    Supplies

    57540 Holiday Hugs Vintage Sentiment

    57512 Jolly Holly Contour Layers

    57485 Adornment Wreath

    FP1002 Vintage Pastel Mirror Pad

    FP1003 Rainbow Reflections Mirror Pad

    EF1015 Ringadings 3D Embossing Folder