I’ve got to get a move on with my Christmas cards if I’m going to have enough to mail out by the end of the year.  Every year I say I’ll start in January and well, you know how it goes.  So today I thought I should get in the Christmas spirit in the middle of the year and whip up a few Christmas cards.  Here’s the first one I made.

I’m not good at ‘clean & simple’ cards because I never know if the card looks too bland or boring but I think I’ve hit a happy medium here.

To make this card I started with a regular A5 base folded in half but then put another layer of white on top.  It’s something I tried a couple years ago, putting the same colour on top of each other to make it look a little framed without it being too fussy and just discovered again looking back through my blog.  The top layer of the card has been embossed with an oval embossing folder.  Sometimes people find these a little difficult to use because the folder is small and can leave a mark on the cardstock showing the perimeter of the plastic folder, so here’s a tip for you to help that:  I take one layer off the Big Shot mult-layer platform (emboss on Tab 2 rather than 1) so that it’s not such a tight squeeze, and I also add a piece of scrap paper between the folder and my cardstock.  That way you get a nice smooth embossing without any marks showing the edges of the folder.

In the middle of the oval I’ve stamped a Christmas bauble in Cherry Cobbler.  You can stamp right in the middle but I stamped it on some scrap paper then punched that out with an oval punch simply to a) add a little dimension and b) not have to worry about stamping straight.

The bottom of the card has two lines scored with Stampin’ Up!’s Simply Scored Board.  I found it adds a little interest without bulk and also helped me with my placement of rhinestones.  To finish off the card I stamped the ‘very merry’ sentiment down the bottom and tied a knot in a piece of left over ribbon and adhered that with a glue dot onto the card.

So that’s my fast, simple & clean Christmas card.  I think I might make some more of these but in some other colours, maybe with silver embossing for the bauble.  Hope this gives you some inspiration for your Christmas cards

If you have any questions about how I made this card please feel free to email me.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Tree Trimmings (Christmas bauble)
Short & Sweet (Christmas greeting)

Cardstock & Paper:
Whisper White cardstock

Inkpads/Markers/Paint:
Cherry Cobbler inkpad

Tools:
Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine
Designer Frames Embossing Folder (two in the pack, I used the oval one)
Simply Scored

Accessories:
White Organza Ribbon
Basic Jewels

Adhesives:
SNAIL adhesive
Stampin’ Dimensionals (foam dots)
Glue Dots (to glue the ribbon down)