Create Christmas

The Stampdendous Design Team is featuring our new Create Christmas (CRS5080) stamp set and matching dies (DCS5080) this week for you. It makes a fabulous pop-up card, but looks wonderful no matter how you choose to use it. And who doesn't love coloring!

CRS5080 Create Christmas

DCS5080 Create Christmas Die Cut Set 

These fun cards are sure to WOW everyone you send them to this Christmas! Today I have a pop-up card to share with you. This is the first time I've gotten to use the wonderful Stampendous Build A Pop Up Die Set. There are great instructions in the package and some videos over at the Stampendous You Tube channel. The possibilities are endless with these pop ups, and it's easy to keep adding more things to it, but it can be kept simple too. I really got into this, so mine is a little more work than you really need to do but that's what I love about these, add as much or as little as you want or have time for!

DCP1001 Build A Pop Up Die Set

Of course, you don't want to forget your outside too, because that's the first thing they see when they take it out of the envelop. Here's the front of my pop up card:

Christmas Greetings Pop Up Card

Instructions for the front:

• Cut a piece of double-sided cardstock to 4 1/4" x 11", score it at 5 1/2" and fold it in half (I ran a green marker around the edge to give it a more finished look)
• Cut a another piece of that same cardstock (or another coordinating pattern) to 3 3/4" x 5", edge with the marker and adhere it to the front of the card
• Cut a coordinating piece of paper 3 1/4" x 3 1/4", edge with marker, adhere to card front near the top
• Stamp the Christmas Greetings from the Holiday Expressions set (SSC1231) on white cardstock, die cut with the smallest frame from the pop up die set, color the edges lightly (Copic Y00, Y21), cut a coordinating mat from the cardstock used last with the next larger frame, edge with marker and adhere the sentiment to the mat and then to the front of the card
• To create the "wreath",  cut a 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Mixed Media White paper, think of it as a compass, the top is North, the bottom South, etc,  place the pine bough stamp (see it in the upper right corner of the set above) on an acrylic handle, ink with Memento Tuxedo Black, stamp it with the narrow end of the bough towards the center and the ends facing North, re-ink and stamp with the bough ends facing South, then East, then West, then NE, SE, SW, NW, you get it, we're forming a circle or wreath of boughs
• Color the wreath, I used Copic YG03, YG17, YG67, be sure to color past the ends of the boughs, cut it out with an irregular edge, edge with the darkest green marker
• Die cut two bows from the Create Christmas die set from the red paper (I used the same paper as my mat), edge with the dark green marker, use a mini Glue Dot or a small dot of glue to attach the two bows to each other, then to the wreath, do NOT add the wreath to the card yet

Now for the inside:

• Cut a piece of cardstock 4" x 10 3/4", don't score it, just match up the corners and gently pinch each side to mark the center of each side
• Place the cardstock face up (the side you want for the inside of your card) on a cutting plate on your magnetic platform for the die cut machine (or a regular platform works too!), place the pop up die so the bottom score bars match up to your little pinch marks on the sides, cover with the other cutting plate and feed through the machine
• I used one of the edge cutters to cut a decorative edge on the bottom edge of my inside, plus I cut a "tree skirt" from another decorative paper, the instructions explain how to do this
• Stamp the tree on white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black, stamp some boughs on it too if you want, I like how they added texture to the tree, color with Copics or whatever you choose
• Stamp the ornament garland twice, color, stamp the star, color (Y13, Y35, Y26)
• Die cut the tree, ornaments and star, also, use white cardstock and die cut four strands of popcorn, color all the edges of the die cut pieces if necessary, (on the popcorn I used Y00, and Y21)
• Die cut a "tree stand" out of dark brown cardstock using the die that looks like a squat vase
• Adhere the tree stand to the center bottom pop out by putting some glue on the pop out, not the tree stand
• I assembled everything on the tree before attaching it to the card tabs, the popcorn was put on with glue, the ornaments have small piece of foam tape behind each ornament but the ends of the boughs are glued to the tree, the star is glued near the top, it's important the the star is not too high or it will stick over the top of the card when it is close, test it before attaching it
• To place the tree, I put the tree face down on the side of the card that doesn't have the tabs, so I new the star was not too high, added glue to the top of the tree stand, and to the middle tab of the card, closed the card carefully and pressed it in place, opened it, adjusted a little for straightness (the advantage of liquid glue!) and let it dry
• Ink the edges of your tree skirt, add adhesive, and slip it into place under the tree
• I wanted to put a little something over the tab areas I wasn't using, so I stamped the Dear Santa sentiment from the Holiday Expressions set (SSC1231) , die cut it with a frame from the pop up set, and die cut a matching mat, added a little color (Y00, Y21), edged the mat with Y67, used foam tape to add the matted sentiment to the background
• Ok, here's where I got a little carried away...another wreath like the outside would be too big, so what else could I do...hmmm...a holly wreath of course! The Holiday Expressions set has the perfect little holly stamp, so I stamped it seven times, colored them all, cut them out (no die for this one!), punched a 1/2" circle to match the background paper and use as my form, and glued the little holly sprigs around the circle to form a small wreath, die cut one more bow, cut the tail off about half way and shaped it into a second tail, edged with green, and attached the bow to the holly wreath with a glue dot, used foam tape to add the wreath to the background

Here are a few close ups to help you see the details:

This was a blast, and I can hardly wait to try it again in other color schemes and papers. I've already decided while I was writing this that I'm going to get some little red gems to add to the outside wreath! I hope you've been enjoying our Create Christmas week. Check back each day for more ideas for this fun set.

More creative ideas are waiting for you at these designer's blogs:

Stampendous Blog

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Louise Healy
Pam Hornschu

Happy Creating,

Louise