Hello Crafty Friends! It’s Laurie here! I am sharing My Festive Christmas Cards using the beautiful Christmas, in Red & Green Collection – Mostly Reds Patterned Paper Set and the matching Christmas, in Red & Green Collection – Topper Set from Constantly Carding for Kendra’s Card Challenge #15.
This challenge is still going on until the end of September. So, if you want to join, there is still time.
The Details of My Festive Christmas Cards
For my cards, I won the digital papers from another challenge at A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge for June, #6-2024. It came with 12 sheets of different papers all in tones of mostly reds and some greens. I was given the matching toppers to make some cards with the sets. I love the vintage feel of the toppers! You get 12 toppers, and I used 11 of them on my cards.
This is my first time doing one of these sketch challenges and I really enjoyed it! It consists of using 6” x 6” paper cut according to a recipe that Kendra provided. I used the digital paper that came in a different size but made sure I only used 6” x 6” pieces. Now, I have 15 Christmas cards ready for mailing! Yay!
For My Festive Christmas Cards, I decided to keep them simple and just added some glimmer snowflakes and red jewels, along with some ribbon on two cards, to decorate them.
For a few cards, I changed the orientation of the card to suit the papers since they have a direction to them. Didn’t want my nutcrackers to be on their side. Lol! Note: for next time try to find papers that do not have a direction.
The sentiments I used on all my cards were from a free July Christmas Sentiments download on Kendra’s Patreon Page.
Card 1 of My Festive Christmas Cards
I kept the design the same as the sketch. I used a stitched square die for my focal point with a matching red mat. Don’t you just love the pretty snow globe! Since this was my first card, I was able to use the snowmen paper to match the snow globe. I added the snowflakes, red rhinestones and the sentiment which I die cut using the Stylish Shaped Dies.
Card 2 of My Festive Christmas Cards
I decided to add a large snowflake behind the sentiment to add some sparkle. I used a 1 ¾” punch for the sentiment a 2” for the red mat. A few rhinestones were scattered around the sentiment.
Card 3 of My Festive Christmas Cards
I did not have an oval large enough. So, I used a stitched rectangle instead and changed the orientation of my card to match my focal point’s direction. I thought the sentiment was perfect for the envelope on my card. Again, I added some snowflakes and rhinestones to add sparkle.
Card 4 of My Festive Christmas Cards
I decided to change the orientation of my card to suit the beautiful bells in my focal point and on the background paper. The sketch called for a slim piece of card stock down the centre, but I decided to add ribbon instead for a variation.
The “Noel” sentiment created a generic seasonal greeting card that would be great for those that do not celebrate Christmas. A larger snowflake behind the sentiment gave it more body. A finishing touch were a scattering of rhinestones in the opposite corner from the sentiment.
Card 5 of My Festive Christmas Cards
I decided to change it up a bit. I wanted the beautiful fireplace to be seen and not covered up by the strip of poinsettia paper. But I did add the sentiment on top with a few snowflakes to make it stand out. Since I had the strip of the poinsettia paper behind the fireplace, I only had room for one of the flags on the right side.
I was pleased that the stockings hung on the fireplace were mirrored with the stockings on the flag. To balance out my card, I added rhinestones in one corner and a large snowflake in the other corner.
Card 6 of My Festive Christmas Cards
I decided to go with all poinsettias on all my pieces. I did a lot of planning at the beginning to make sure that my paper made sense, and this card was the result. Since this card was mainly red, I decided not to add any snowflakes, but I did add the rhinestones. The sentiment was trimmed into flags with my paper snips.
Card 7 of My Festive Christmas Cards
I decided to change the orientation since the nutcrackers and bells were going vertically. The candle was punched out and a matching scallop punch was used for the mat. The addition of glittery snowflakes really added to the “Stay Cozy” feel of my card. The finishing touch was the rhinestones for sparkle.
Card 8 of My Festive Christmas Cards
This was my favourite card of the series! I just loved those cute nutcrackers! For my card, I used the Snowflake Sky 3D Embossing Folder for subtle snowflakes on the Mossy Meadow card base. Since I didn’t want to cover up the beautiful scene, I again decided to place the papers underneath my focal point.
The flags including the sentiment were trimmed with my paper snips. I decided not to include glittery snowflakes since there was already a lot going on in my card, but I did add the rhinestones.
Card 9 of My Festive Christmas Cards
I went through my topper pieces to find the perfect focal point and decided on the front door. It allowed me to add the flags over it without covering up too much of the image. The flags were trimmed with my paper snips. Again, there was a lot going on in my card, So, for embellishments, I only added the three rhinestones in a line at the base of the card.
Card 10 of My Festive Christmas Cards
I decided to use the skates even though the background papers didn’t match. Since you cut papers according to a recipe, you may not get papers to match. However, my card still had the red on all my pieces and that tied my card together.
For something different, I decided to add ribbon instead of the thin strip of card stock. Of course, you must have glittery snowflakes if you go skating!! Lol! The finishing touch was some rhinestones added in the opposite corner from the sentiment.
Card 11 of My Festive Christmas Cards
I decided to use the stockings which lead me to change the orientation of the card to suit them. Since I had lots of white space at the top of them, I added a sentiment and a larger snowflake to fill in the space.
Card 12 of My Festive Christmas Cards
I decided to make it simple with just a few larger snowflakes and rhinestones for sparkle. I was pleased that my background papers were all orientated properly!
Card 13 of My Festive Christmas Cards
I decided to change the orientation since I wanted the nutcrackers to be standing up. So, I changed the orientation of the sentiment and added a larger snowflake behind it to give the appearance that the sentiment is larger. The finishing touch was a scattering of rhinestones around the sentiment for sparkle.
Card 14 of My Festive Christmas Cards
There were a lot of pieces left from all the cuttings from the recipes which were used for Card 14. I decided to add the largest snowflake and the bauble to my card for some interest. Rhinestones were added around the sentiment for sparkle.
Card 15 of My Festive Christmas Cards
Don’t you just love those nutcrackers on that Christmas sweater! This was the card that I really wanted to show them off! For buttons, I decided to use glittery snowflakes. The red rhinestones made the perfect necklace with a larger glittery snowflake as the pendant.
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Card Recipe for My Festive Christmas Cards:
Christmas, in Red & Green Collection – Mostly Reds Patterned Paper Set and Christmas, in Red & Green Collection – Topper Set, Constantly Carding
Kendra’s Card Challenge #15
Christmas Sentiments, Kendra’s Card Challenges
Circle, Square and Rectangle Stitched Layering Dies, Memory Box
Circles Collection Framelits Dies, Stampin’ Up!
Stylish Shapes Dies, Stampin’ Up!
Thick Basic White Card Stock, Stampin’ Up!
Balmy Blue Glimmer Paper, Stampin’ Up!
Snowfall Thinlits Dies, Stampin’ Up!
Snowflake Sky 3D Embossing Folder, Stampin’ Up!
2” Circle Punch, Stampin’ Up!
1 ¾” Circle Punch, Stampin’ Up!
Scallop Circle Punch, Stampin’ Up!
Scallop Border Punch, EK Success
Red Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Stampin’ Up!
Real Red Grosgrain Stitched Ribbon
Paper Snips, Stampin’ Up!
Multipurpose Adhesive Glue, Stampin’ Up!
Mossy Meadow, Real Red and Basic White Card Stock, Stampin’ Up!
Finished card sizes: 4 ¼” x 5 ½”
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Hope you like My Festive Christmas Cards using Kendra’s Card Challenge #15! Since this was my first time entering this challenge, I found it hard and made my brain hurt at times! Lol! I had to do a lot of thinking ahead of time to get the papers that I wanted in the correct orientation I wanted.
For more of my Christmas cards, please click here.
Thank you for stopping by!
Hugs,
Laurie