2025 Gift Tags

I am trying to finish up my papercrafts for 2025 and I have these NBUS dies that were begging to be used. I like the ease of small tag projects like this in addition to making bookmarks year round for our neighborhood Little Free Library. With tags I can do a few per day leading up to wrapping packages. I am playing along at The Paper Players with their PP767 Gifting theme.

The die are all from Simon Says Stamp and the stencil is Tm Holtz with Stampers Anonymous. I used Distress inks to stencil. These little dies are so easy and fun to use...mixing and matching colors and adding gems and a stenciled background. The brims of the hats got a touch of Wink of Stella for sparkle. I love colored twine and have quite a collection. It is easy to tie onto packages, so it is my go-to ribbon for the most part.

Are you "wrapping up" your holiday drafts at this point? I'm enjoying Christmas music while I craft. 

Happy Holidays and Merry Everything!

Carol

Sending Frosty Hugs Tag

It's time again for the Gorgeous Tags Instagram Hop and the last one for 2025. The optional detail is Christmas-themed. I CASEd a Simon Says Stamp die set with things I already own. It was fun to try using my dies in ways they weren't meant to be used. I am in tag mode now for the most part and many will be CASEs of tags I have seen and admired over the past couple of years. 

What I used to make the tag:

My Favorite Things - Stitched Tall Triangle dies

Spellbinders - Festive Friends dies, Stay Snuggly Stamp set

Sizzix - Be of Good Cheer die set (stars)

Silver cardstock (stars)

Altenew Obsidian Black ink pad

Twine

Pom pom

I had to build little tabs on the triangles to hold three of them together. I decorated the outside of them first, then added the tabs and twine, then adhered them together to form a pyramid. I added the stamped/die cut sentiment on one side and the silver stars on all three sides. Then I die cut a mini tag and wrote the name of the recipient of the gift with this tag on it. I threaded it onto the twine.

Be sure to hop along. The ladies have prepared such nice tags and hope you will visit them to see what they've created. You can go to my instagram @sawithadtomakeit if you wish to begin there.

We'll be back in January 2026!

Carol

Winter Cheers

At Time Out Challenges #303 we have a pretty inspiration photo for you! The photo is our teammate Ishani and her daughters wearing beautiful dresses. I took the colors mauve from the dress on the left and blue and white from the lights in the ceiling to make a wintery interactive card. The cup of cocoa (or coffee, tea) slides down and off the gate fold card base. I have used this card style quite a bit and this die set once before. When I recently saw that Heejung Hunsberger used both together (here), I asked her if she minded me making one like hers. She quickly replied and said "of course" so here is my card.

Photo Credit: Ishani. Dharamsala, India. Date 16 Apr 2024

Our wonderful sponsor is Birch Press Design with a generous offer of a $20 store credit as a prize for our Challenge Winner, who will also be invited to join us as Guest Designer for a future challenge.

We are joined by talented cardmaker Trina Pham of Phamtastic Design, and winner of Time Out #298 as our Guest Designer.

What I used:

• Spellbinders Mugs & Mittens die set, Stay Snuggly stamp set
• Hero Arts Hero Hues ink pad in Espresso
• My Favorite Things Inside and Out Stitched Circle dies (slider mechanism)
• Sugar Pea Designs ard Front Element Builder dies (inside scalloped rectangle)
• Archival ink pad in Cobalt
• White glitter cardstock (mug)

This card starts with a gate fold card base. The photo of the mechanism for the slider piece can be found here at the bottom of the post. If you are interested in the measurements just comment and I can give them to you along with a couple of hints. Here is a video of how it is made. It is in Spanish but you can see exactly how she makes it.

Decorate the "gates" of the card with patterned paper or embossed panels. Slide the mechanism up the middle of the  card when closed. It is a fun interactive card to make and give to others.

Be sure to check out all of the team's blogs and that of our guest Trina. I learn new techniques all the time from their stories.

See you in the gallery!

Carol 

Christmas Postage

These Alex Syberia postage stencils are super fun (even though the postage die is sold out currently) and the samples on their website encouraged me to use non-traditional colors. I put together a few different companies' products and chose my colors to be jewel-toned. I decided to play along at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes with my card on this first day of Diecember for them.

What I used:

Alex Syberia Christmas Stencils

Waffle Flower Postage Collage die, Postage Collage stamp Love set

Pink Fresh Studio Festive Grid

Stampin Up! Winter Post stamp set

Rhinestones

Altenew Obsidian black ink pad

Concord & 9th min ink pad set

Ranger Distress and Distress Oxide ink pads

By changing the colors that you stencil with you change the whole look. I popped up my postage on foam tape on top of the fun festive grid cover die. Red rhinestones were added for some sparkle!

Happy Holidays to you all,

Carol

Happy Christmas

For Just Us Girls #803 we have Stencil Week! This Concord & 9th stencil, stamp and die set got here earlier than expected and I had to try it out right away. When I first saw it I wanted to try a Christmas scene first thing. I grabbed the Happy Christmas sentiment from Handmade Holiday (by C & 9th also) to have the main greeting on the card front. This scene looks like dwellings on a hill to me and I just love it. After stenciling, it was a lot of fun to add winter plants, railings and banners to the city block.

What I used:

• Concord & 9th City Block Bundle, Mini ink pads
• Distress and Distress Oxide ink pads
• Silver card stock
• Altenew Obisidian black ink pad

These stencils are easy to line up and they are made from a sturdy plastic. They don't bend and move while using them. I tried stenciling them to look weathered, then added shiny and glittery pots for the plants with silver railings for festive touches. 

I'm already working on other cards using these fun stencils. Come back to see other color combinations!

Please join us this week as it is the last Just Us Girls Challenge of 2025 for us. Stenciled cards can be quick and are fun to make. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Carol

Christmas to do list

It's time for a holiday moodboard at Just Us Girls #802! I am the hostess this week. In the photo you can see lots of ideas for a jumping off point and the team has fun inpiration for you too. Don't forget about our guest this month, Leslie, either. I used the pine sprigs, ornaments, gift, stars and twine elements from the moodboard. Here's my card.

What I used:

• Reverse Confetti Tag die
• Simon Says Stamp Noted Holiday stamp and die sets
• Concord & 9th Handmade Holidays stamp and die set, Tree Topper dies. Mini ink pad
• Tim Holtz enamel dots
• Altenew Obsidian black ink pad
• Twine

I need to get busy doing the things on this list as we head into Thanksgiving and soon after, Christmas! There are more fun sentiments in this stamp set like "gaze at the tree" and "write letter to Santa" and "buy new Christmas lights" that will be fun to add to other cards.

We can't wait to see the gallery fill up with seasonal cards using this moodboard! Come play along!

Happy Holidays!

Carol

Ho Ho Ho

This is my favorite time of year. It is the season of glitter, glimmer, and a pretty sheen on things and I did not shy away from it for this card. At Time Out Challenges #302 it is our Pick Two theme and the words are:  

Emboss, Movie, Nature, Corner, White, Sparkle.

I used  one of my favorite Christmas die sets called Ho Ho Ho from My Favorite Things and cut the sparkly stripes from white glitter cardstock. I love twine and added this stretchy version in red glimmer along for a festive little detail. I chose White and Sparkle from the list.

To enter a card in the challenge there must be at least two of the words used, or more if you wish, to be considered for the prize and voting for a guest designer spot in the future. I used White and Sparkle.

Some words may have a double meaning; for example 'Movie' could mean a cinema theme or a specific move title or theme!  In your post, please mention which words you have chosen and how they inspired you.

Our wonderful sponsor is Poppy Stamps with a generous offer of a $20 store credit as a prize for our Challenge Winner, who will also get an invitation to join us as Guest Designer for a future challenge.

We are joined by Margreet Burger of Margreet's scrapcards, and winner of Time Out #297 as Guest Designer. Be sure to check out her blog and those of the team for all the details on their cards.

We can't wait to see what you come up with for this challenge! We appreciate your participation in our challenges so much.

See you in the gallery!

Carol Mc