Christmas Card Blog Hop

Welcome to our first of 2 Blog Hops happening this month. In this Hop you will find that each consultant has created 3 Christmas Cards using non-Christmas paper! They were given the challenge to create these 3 cards using either cardstock or another paper packet of their choice.

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, but if you want to follow us across Canada then please start at the beginning and join Deanne in NewFoundland at Treasured Heart. If you came from Stephanie - Stephanie's Creations then you are in the right place!

Now anyone that knows me knows that I really don't use a lot of patterned paper on my cards. I tend to just layer plain cardstock or stamp my own pattern/background. I really wanted to show the versatility of our paper though for this hop so I used patterned paper on 2 of the 3 cards I made. I actually like the 2 with patterned paper better than the one without in the end. :) I'd love to know what you think.

Here's the first one I made.

I used the Dakota paper pack for this one. I cut my door panel to fit 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" and my card base is a piece of Slate cardstock 7 3/4" x 5 1/2" scored at 4 1/4". I cut 4 more pieces of Dakota for the panels and scored a 1/4" border on the panels.Then I used some whisper ink to distress the edges of all the pieces. I could have used a branch shape from either of the cricut cartridges but my poor punches have been feeling so neglected since I got these cartridges so I used my MS punch to punch out the branches from Olive cardstock and formed into a wreath. I crumpled the branches a bit before glueing them down too to give it some dimension. I used some Red Glitter Line from Viva Decor to add some berries to my wreath. I could have used a font stamp set to stamp my sentiment down the side but decided to hand write it instead (I really wish I would have stamped it though as it would have looked much cleaner). You could use any sentiment here and doesn't have to go vertical either.  Oh the panels are up on foam tape too so this actually has a lot more dimension then the picture is showing.


The second one doesn't use any patterned paper at all...

It is really much nicer in real life as the sentiment and the train is embossed in gold embossing powder so it really shines. I used Cranberry and Olive Cardstock and alcohol markers on this one. I embossed the main panel with a dot pattern but left a section in the middle plain to stamp my sentiment.

Here's another view so you can see the glimmer (but can't see the colours or the dry embossing as nicely..

Now for my 3rd card I actually have 3 different versions of it to show you as I really liked this one and could not for the life of me decide which one to stick with so I made them all.. The paper I used for these is Florentine.

Version 1:

Version 2: (my favourite)

Version 3:

I should mention that I actually made 6 versions... but the other 3 looked the exact same when I photographed them so I didn't bother to show you those too. The other versions were the exact same but instead of all the layers just being put on top of each other so the middle piece is on top I had cut them on the cricut so the other version of each of these were done as frames and the center image was on the card base and the other layers were laid on top from smallest to largest framing each layer underneath it.

I also thought these would look wonderful with a sentiment in the center instead of this image or any other image (the train from my 2nd card would be wonderful done in some blue and green tones for this... possibilities are endless!! Since this hop was technically only supposed to be 3 cards (versions don't count though right?!? LOL) I figured I'd save my other "versions" of this one with different colours, sentiments, papers, etc for another day. :)

To make the frames I simply decided what size I wanted all my layers to be in cricut craft room and put those sizes of rectangles centered within each other on the mat. First I did all my white layers together and cut then all my patterned layers and cut ... of course I then cut the sizes I had intended for my white layers from patterned and vice versa too since I really liked the different possibilities. Also, by doing it this way all the layers were cut from a card fron size piece of paper instead of cutting full layers on my paper trimmer and making it heavier to mail and use up more paper. :) Yay for light weight, multi-layered cards that don't use a ton of paper!!

Alright... enough from me..

Your next stop on the Cross Canada Hop is Michelle S - My Creations with Michelle.

Products Used:

Here is a complete list of the blog hop in case you get lost along the way:

1. Deanne - Treasured Heart
2. Stephanie - Stephanie's Creations
3. Darla - CAUTION: CRAFTING IS CONTAGIOUS!!! 
4. Michelle S - My Creations with Michelle
5. Suzette - Crop Paper Scissors
6. Arlene - Arlenes Creative Space
7. Joanne - Jag's Scrapin' Corner
8. Carrie - Scrappin With Carrie
9. Sheri SHERI SAYS JUST SCRAP IT
10. Brae - The Brae-er
11. Michelle M - Twirl 'n Time
12. Brandy - Canadian Scrappers
13. TerryAnn - It's my Garage--I Can Craft In It!
14. Jackie - Cre8tive Cookie

Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you to create your own Christmas cards using some of the designs and paper seen along the way. Join us again on November 15th when we showcase our versions of Advent Calendars.