Hi there! I had the opportunity to play with some of the new Make It Merry goodies from my friends at Honeybee Stamps, and I have been on a Christmas Crafting Binge! (Official title!) Like most people, my grandmother had one of those beautiful vintage ceramic trees that came out at Christmas… white ceramic with beautiful colored lights. It wasn’t truly Christmas until Grammy got that tree out. Seeing the absolutely marvelous new Grandma’s Christmas Tree Dies, 3D Embossing Folder, and Layering Stencils took me right back to my Grammy’s basement, playing endless games of dress up and Trivial Pursuit with my cousins, waiting for the marvelous Christmas Eve meal and Christmas presents that awaited us upstairs! I created a pair of cards using these new goodies, so let’s get started with the details.
The Grandma’s Christmas Tree Dies, 3D Embossing Folder, and Layering Stencils work seamlessly together to create these beautifully textured die cuts. I found it easies to die cut the trees first, then run them through my die cut machine with the embossing folder to create that incredibly detailed dimension that you see in the projects above!
My first project is a shaped card. I began by folding a piece of minty green cardstock into an A2 sized panel, then used the solid tree die from the Grandma’s Christmas Tree Dies to cut a shaped card base, making sure to keep the fold of the card within the die cut itself. I also die cut a full size, separate tree die cut and ran it through my die cut machine with the 3D Embossing Folder. The top of the tree card is slightly shorter than the full tree, but the full size die cut will cover that up easily!
Using blending brushes, I blended two shades of coordinating green ink around the edges of the embossed tree die cut, blending the lighter ink further in towards the center of the die cut and keeping the darker just around the outside of the die cut to add some shadows. I also used the Coordinating Layering Stencils to add some shadows beneath each row of branches with the lighter shade of green ink. The amount of dimension that you can achieve with these stencils and the embossing folder is simply sublime. I adhered the finished die cut to the shaped card base.
For the greeting, I sat down with my Spellbinders Glimmer machine and hot foiled a ton of sentiments using the new Holiday Hot Foil Plate and Dies using several shades of metallic hot foil. For this project, I selected a matte champagne greeting on some white cardstock, then blended some of the light minty green ink over the top to create a custom colored sentiment die cut. The foil resists the ink, similar to embossing powder, so the champagne foil pops out from the minty green background so nicely!
After I had blended my greeting, I popped it up on the embossed and blended tree card front. I used several of the gems from the Make It Merry Gems set. I have discovered that the Honeybee Die Release Tool is perfect for removing the gems from their release paper and placing them on the card front. The gems also give you a little wiggle room for placement, because you can carefully remove them from the card front with the die release tool and place them elsewhere as long as you don’t immediately press them down! I am in love with this shaped card. It stands up so nicely and would look perfect on a mantel decorated for Christmas. It would be darling as a tag or ornament, as well!
My second card is reminiscent of my Grammy’s ceramic tree. My husband is a darling and searched high and low for a ceramic shop that would recreate my Grammy’s tree for my birthday a few years ago, so I have one that is almost identical to my Grammy’s tree in my craft room all year long. I was definitely using it as inspiration for this card! I began by die cutting the Grandma’s Christmas Tree die with the little slits for the lights (I love that you have the option for the plain tree die cut or the slits to add the lights/ornaments!) from some crisp white cardstock, then embossing it with the 3D Embossing Folder. I also die cut the lights and star for the top from some more white cardstock.
Using the lights on my tree for color inspiration, I colored the lights using my OLO markers. Because the little light bulbs are so tiny, a dark and light marker were plenty to give me some dimension on the bulbs. I added them to the tree using some tiny dots of liquid adhesive. I also added some glittery white “snow” around the edges of each row of branches. I love the festive, vintage feel this adds to the tree!
For the card base, I die cut the top layer of the Winter Prism cover plate set from some more white cardstock, then adhered it to an A2 panel of glittery white cardstock. I found this cardstock in my stash, but it’s completely white glitter-no iridescent shine at all, which coordinates perfectly with the glitter on the tree! I added a greeting heat embossed with silver embossing powder using the Inside: Holiday Sentiments and Coordinating Dies. I adhered the tree with some dimensional foam adhesive, then added the greeting with a double layer of foam tape to add extra height and drama. Those colorful lights pop so perfectly from that crisp white background!
Well, that’s all for these projects! I have a few more to share with you later this week… I was on a roll and couldn’t stop playing with the new Make It Merry goodies. If you love Christmas stamps and dies as much as I do, you will not want to miss these gorgeous new products. They’re spectacular! Thanks so much for reading today, and have a marvelous day!
