Elegant Christmas Card for Easy Mass Production

Howdy, crafters! Are you getting a slight panic attack when you hear the christmas jingles playing in the stores? I do, not because my cards, but because of presents. No clue what to give my family … we never give expensive stuff or electronics, but I am trying to figure out what book my dad might enjoy and which massage treatment my mom didn't have yet :)

Apart from that, I'm getting into the christmas spirit and today I have an easy card for you which you could easily mass produce! Yes, I said the magic phrase: mass produce! Let's take a look, shall we?

I started out by die cutting a piece of sturdy white card stock so it would have a stitched frame. You can totally skip this, but I like the little extra that gives my cards. Then I die cut one of the stag from the Wplus9 die set directly from this card front – you can save that piece for other projects.

Thanks to the glitter by Elizabeth Craft Designs I can make my own glitter paper in any color I like. I covered the same type of paper that I had used for my front panel with a piece of double sided adhesive, poured glitter onto it, and voila - glitter paper! Once you rub the glitter, it doesn't come off, so you can die cut through it without any problems. It's important to use the same paper for this as for your front panel because we are doing inlay die-cutting and you need the same thickness of paper.

You could of course just mount the deer on top of the panel, but have you ever seen people get a card that they know is handmade and then try to figure out "how you did that"? It's hilarious, and inlay-die cutting is something that looks awesome, and will certainly be admired by the recipient (yes, I am vain like that).

The sentiment was stamped with brown pigment ink and I used my Letterpress as a stamp positioner again. Sometimes, I don't get a good first impression with my pigment inks and I don't want to line up a complex sentiment stamp like this by hand. As you can see here, my first attempt wasn't perfect, but thanks to the Letterpress I was able to stamp in the exact same position again. Awesome!

To add some color to the card, I added a ribbon (not my best bow, sorry) and some sequins and gems. I wanted to keep this card simple and elegant, and I love the unusual color combo for the season.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Thanks for stopping by today!

Stag Trio Die	Mama Elephant Basic Set - Creative Cuts	Merry Greetings	Chocolate Glitter	Stick It Die Cut Adhesive Sheets
Clear Design Ultra Clean	Scrubber Pad

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Twinkle Little Star

Hello crafters, and welcome back to a CAS card that can be mass produced and varied in color just to your liking. It's so easy and fast to assemble, you could even make it your base design for cards that you "just" send out – you know, nothing super fancy and time consuming, but it still looks gorgeous and will make the recipient appreciate it.

You can keep the card base white, as I did, to make the color of the stars shine even more, or you could go with a colored card base and then adjust what you use for the stars to give it contrast. Really, there are no limits to what you can do.

Not sure if you can make it out, but I die cut the stars with the Lil' Inkers Stitched Stars dies, which give the stars a stitched border on the inside. What you can't see is that you also get a stitched border on the outside, so with a little planning ahead, you could create cards with both the positive and negative die cuts.

For the glitter, I used regular glitter paper I purchased in a store, but Make The Day Special now has a complete assortment of awesome microfine glitters in a ton of colors, so you can make your own glitter paper very easily. I'm still waiting for the mail to deliver my glitter, but expect a tutorial on that very soon.

Some twine messiness behind the star adds some character to the card – if you are not sure you like it, put the mess down, then just lay your stars (or whatever shape you use) on top of the twine and compare it to how it looks without. I'm always surprised at the difference it makes, in a good way.

I hope you enjoyed the card - thanks for stopping by and reading!

Create a Quick and Easy Set of Cards

Have you started on your Christmas cards yet? The holidays might seem far away, but if your life is like mine, December gets pretty hectic and making cards becomes a chore between work, family and preparations for Christmas.

For that reason I'm showing you four slightly different card designs today. All of them are perfect to mass produce, either to send out yourself or to give away as a gift.

There's a video over at my blog showing you all the detailed steps, but all you really need is a mask, some white pigment ink, and silver or gold embossing powder. Since pigment ink needs some time to dry, you could sponge all the front panels first, then set them aside to dry while you either cut mats for the panel or decorate the card bases. As a greeting, I went for Mama Elephant's Merry Greetings, but really, any greeting would work here.

If you want to go all CAS and not have any more work, you could stop after putting the cards together, but I decided to use some gems and some sequins for added interest and bling. I mean, it's the holidays! When are we ever going to get away with a lot of bling again (until next year)?

I hope you enjoyed the video and the idea. Let me know which design you like best. I have to admit that the blue and black are probably my favorites :)

Supply List

• Wplus9 Stag Trio Dies
• Mama Elephant Merry Greetings – alternatively, use Jolly and Merry or Holiday Fill in the Blanks or Winter Wonderland
• Mama Elephant Basic Set Creative Cuts
• Mama Elephant On Point Borders
• Gold embossing powder
• Silver embossing powder
• Versamark
• Hero Arts Green Hills
• Hero Arts Red Royal
• Hero Arts Unicorn white pigment ink
• Sequins