A Red Cardinal in a Snowy Crate Box Card

I’d love to show you a box card that I made with a stunning die-cut cardinal and dimensional pine needles on branches made with beautiful cutcardstock.com papers. Nothing says January winter like a cardinal that you spot in nature.  

Here are the card stock colors that I used from cutcardstock.com:

Silk Glitter Opulent Opal 12x12 Card Stock

Stardream Metallic Saturn 126lb 8.5 x 11 Card Stock 

DCS Discount Card Stock: Orange Zest Card Stock

DCS Discount Card Stock: Vanilla Bean Brown Card Stock

DCS Discount Card Stock: Canvas Textured Beetle Black

DCS Discount Card Stock: Canvas Textured Mantis Green Card Stock

Lessebo Colors Hunter Green 83lb Cardstock

DCS Discount Card Stock: Red Pepper Card Stock

First, I uploaded the design into Design Space and changed the colors to the cardstock colors I already had on hand. 

Second, I cut the images out on my Cricut. It is important to group like-color cuts together because it can become confusing if you don’t. For example, you don’t want too many shades of one color. This simplifies things.

Third, I layered the cuts. For example, I used dark green pine needles as the base, then the light bright green on top of the dark green needles, and shimmering branches. You can fluff out the needles to make the branches look more dimensional.

For the crate, I dry embossed the panels to look like real wood grain. Then I added white glitter card stock to the crates folded over a triangle in the front — for the box card’s snowy crate. 

Here’s a close-up of how the colors look against the glitter cardstock. I love how it came out.
 

The pine cone is made of shimmery brown cardstock — and if you pull the pine cone’s petals up, that adds more shimmer and makes the die-cut look more dimensional. 

The finished project can be folded on either side into an envelope that fits the final crate, cardinal, and pine needles, fitting perfectly inside the envelope.

This makes a great gift for those cold snowy days and if you are lucky, you can catch a glimpse of a cardinal in the snowy tree limbs during the day. Are you working on projects with any cardinals? Please share, as I'd love to see it!

Epiphany Lantern Lighting the Way

Today, I am featuring a Christmas-themed project after December 25. This lantern is made in time for the Epiphany, also known as Three Kings' Day, when the Wise Men, or Magi, visit baby Jesus. It's a Christian holiday celebrated on January 6th.

I began by selecting my cutcardstock.com colors.

DCS Discount Card Stock: Blast Off Blue Card Stock

Silk Glitter Black Prince Card Stock 12x12

Silk Glitter Opulent Opal 12x12 Card Stock

I use my Cricut Air for many of my projects, and this was no exception. I fell in love with this design and knew it would make a great centerpiece. There aren’t many layers involved in this project, but it looks like there are. 

What I love about this project is it tells a story. I chose a blue card stock base to represent the night sky, as the Wise men followed the North Star to see baby Jesus and bring him gifts fit for a king. I love the black glitter over the blue — it frames the image nicely and gives the lantern a silhouette even during daylight. Lastly, the lantern needed some “brightening up,” so I used the white glitter card stock to represent the starry night. The contrast works, making everything pop.

For the glitter papers, I used the Cricut glitter plus more pressure setting. This ensured that I got clean cuts in the paper, typically thicker card stock paper than non-glitter paper. The blue base was cut on an intricate cut with normal pressure. I prefer intricate cuts for most of my work because the cuts are always consistent. I keep my custom setting on intricate for that reason.

Assembling the lantern was easy because the design included cut score lines. They bend easily, allowing the glue to adhere to the next piece easily.

The best part about the lantern, aside from how it looks during the day, is how it looks in dim light with a tea light inside. 

I hope you enjoyed this project and will make something similar if you celebrate the Epiphany!

 

Santa's Coming to Town -- in a Box Card!

Being in a festive spirit, I am sharing a Santa climbing down a chimney box card designed by Lori Whitlock. It is adorable. It’s cute enough for a child but fun to give to an adult.

 https://shop.loriwhitlock.com/a2-box-card-santa-chimney/

The digital file is already an A2 size, a basic card, so it fits into a ready-made envelope. There is no need to size paper and cut your envelope!

My first step was to assess my color layers in my Cricut Design Space program. I merged all similar colors, so I don’t have to cut different shades of the same color. Shh! That is my secret to quick projects. This is also a good time to change layer colors to make elements pop. 

Then I pulled all of my Cutcardstock papers. The ones that I used are below:

DCS Discount Card Stock: Canvas Textured Mantis Green Card Stock

Astrobright Solar Yellow 8.5x11 Discount Card Stock

Lessebo Colors Hunter Green 83lb Cardstock

Silk Glitter Opulent Opal 12x12 Card Stock

DCS Discount Card Stock: Vanilla Bean Brown Card Stock

DCS Discount Card Stock: Red Pepper Card Stock

I also use pale rose by Bazzill; black textured card stock from American Crafts; and Mint Tape, which is low-tack and repositionable, from scrapbook.com. This tape holds down my card stock on my Cricut brand cutting mats, as new mats are on order.

The third step was to cut the pieces and sort them. For example, all the Santa cuts were placed into plastic containers.

I also embossed the chimney bricks with a Sizzix embossing folder and a Big Shot machine. 

The fourth step is doing a sample layout before gluing. Once the pieces fit together and look like the final digital image, it is time to glue them down. 

After I assembled the pieces, I added glitter glue to the gifts and bow on the tree. 

Let me know if you make this box card — or a similar one! Wishing you lots of fun in your holiday crafting!

"Twin" Christmas Door with Wreath Cards

Here's my "Twin" Christmas Door with Wreath Cards for today's Cutcardstock.com challenge. I’m in Christmas card-making mode and love working on multiple cards that use similar materials yet look different. Tell me which one you like more — the card with the blue or pink door? 

I had fussy-cut front doors from Mintay Papers’ Door Book, a scrapbook paper booklet made in Poland. I have had these cut paper doors for years and always wanted to create this project. I selected two doors — one a pale blue and one a bright pink. 

Then, I began by choosing flattering card stock from Cutcardstock.com:

Silk Glitter Red Flash 4x6 Discount Card Stock - 25 pack

Lessebo Colors Hunter Green 83lb Cardstock

Stardream Metallic 5x7 Discount Card Stock - 25 pack- in Eris, which are Mica-coated metallic

DCS Discount Card Stock: Canvas Textured Mantis Green Card Stock

DCS Discount Card Stock: Red Pepper Card Stock

I used a few of my Christmas-themed die cuts: a layered wreath and a cluster of three berries. I also gathered my stamps and chose Sizzix’s “falalala” stamp to mimic a door-to-door Christmas carol sentiment. My stamped sentiment was also used as a stoop for the door.

Pairing the blue door with the traditional green colors of a Christmas wreath, I punched out the berries in the red glitter card stock and glued on the wreath leaf layers and the berries. 

For the pink door card, I wanted a pop of color, and the bright green was perfect. I just replicated the same wreath and popped it on the pink door. I used the white shimmer cardstock for the berries to make this card stand out.

The wreaths on both cards were attached with dimensional adhesive dots to give the cards some depth.

The background patterned paper was from Hobby Lobby, and the bricks accentuated the front doors. I then matted both cards. One card is on the white shimmer card stock, and the second card is on a flat red mat. Both tie into the wreath berry colors.

Thank you for stopping by the blog today. Let me know if you have any questions about this how-to. Maybe you will try something similar for your Holiday cards? I’d also love to see what you make, so please share! And tell me, which one you like more? — the light blue door or the bright pink door card?