Non-Traditional Holiday Cards with the Stitched Bright Collection

Hello crafters! Joan Bardee here sharing some fun holiday cards made with the Stitched Bright collection. It’s a fun collection of dies – Stitched Holiday Tree, Stitched String Lights, and Stitched Starfilled Background. I didn’t embroider with these dies, but that’s the beauty of stitching dies – you can use them with or without embroidery thread. These cards are boldly non-traditional, both in style and color. That works for me, but if you want to tone them down, substitute softer colors.

Scalloped Tree

First up is the Stitched Tree set of dies, with the fun scallop border.

• Die cut just the backer dies for the tree in all 3 sizes in 3 different shades of green cardstock.
• Die cut the 2 trim dies in Poppy Field cardstock and adhered together as shown.
• Die cut the star from the Stitched Tree set in Mirror Metallic Gold cardstock and add Gold Mix Color Essential gems for sparkle.
• Finish off the modern tree with a hot foiled sentiment in gold from the Glitter Wishes Hot Foil Plate & Die set.

With the tree done, it was time to work on the background.

• Stamped the card-sized Joyful Words clear stamp in Versamark ink for a tone-on-tone effect on Poppy Field cardstock. The tone-on-tone provides just a bit of interest without making the card look too busy.
• Trimmed that red panel and adhered it with foam tape to a full-size A2 Poppy Field layer on top of a white A2 card.
• Popped up the tree with foam tape and adhered it to the card.
• Took a bow!

Tip: The Joyful Words stamp set is one of those sets that I think of as buried treasure in the Spellbinders website. I had no memory of it until I stumbled across it and then I had to have it. I like mixing older products that I already have, like Glitter Wishes, and older products that are new to me, like Joyful Words, with the latest products.

Abstract Tree

Sometimes I just like to play around with products until I see something that speaks to me. Used just the dies in Stitched Tree that trim the edges to make a modern “tree.”

• Die cut each of the dies as shown in the picture.
• When I laid out the border dies to create a tree, I realized that it would look better if I shortened 3 of the rows so that they would form more of a triangle shape. So I cut off one of the circles from 3 of the rows.
• Chose a blue background because I love the way it looks with the yellow/orange/red tree.
• Ran the Stitched Starfilled Background through the Platinum 6 using the directions to emboss rather than die cut.
• Using the same blue cardstock, I embossed a sentiment from Joyful Wishes in white.
• Put it all together as shown on top of a white A2 card and added a star and a white embellishment to top it off.

Tip: When making a cardfront with dark cardstock, either place it on a card of the same color or trim an A2 white card just slightly so that the white edges don’t peek out.

String Lights

Black and turquoise? In keeping with the non-traditional theme, decided to use an unusual color palette for this card.

• Die cut each bulb in the Stitched String Lights set twice in 3 shades of turquoise (Teal Topaz and Waterfall from the Limited Edition Happy Day Cardstock pack and a darker shade from my stash).
• Die cut the string and the base of the bulbs in Mirror Metallic Gold cardstock.
• The string is one layer, the base of the bulbs and the bulbs themselves have 2 layers adhered together with my favorite Bearly Arts Glue.
• Hot foiled in gold a sentiment from A Merry Little Christmas Sentiments onto Brushed Black cardstock and cut with the coordinating die.
• Put it all together as shown onto Brushed Black cardstock, with a strip of Waterfall cardstock on the bottom, and then added some turquoise gems.
• All the bulbs and the sentiment are popped up with foam tape.

Tip: Brushed Black cardstock, with its shine, has a holiday feel, particularly when used with another metallic. Thank you, Spellbinders, and thank you for reading along. I hope this inspires you!

Other Supplies

Cardstock and white embossing powder