Christmas Card Idea with the Cup of Cheer Letterpress Plate

There’s something especially fun about rediscovering a favorite from your crafty stash and giving it a fresh new look! Today, we’re revisiting the Cup of Cheer Letterpress + Foil Plate , pairing it with newer products and a festive pink and red color palette for a Christmas card that mixes letterpress, hot foiling and stenciling.

This charming design makes a big impression all on its own, making it a great choice for clean and simple cards, one-layer designs and everything in between. The set also includes five slightly curved sentiments designed to nestle perfectly around the image, giving you plenty of options for finishing your holiday projects.

We have lots more Cup of Cheer inspiration coming your way across our social channels this week, but first, we’re excited to welcome Mindy Eggen back to the Hero Arts blog and YouTube channel! She’s sharing a colorful Christmas card and showing how she combined this previously released favorite with a few newer goodies.

Here’s Mindy to walk us through her project!

Hello friends! I’m thrilled to be back on the Hero Arts YouTube channel and blog. Today I’m breathing new life into a previously released set by combining it with a couple of newer products. It’s always fun to dig through your stash and rediscover something you may have forgotten about!

For today’s project, I’m using the Cup of Cheer Letterpress & Foil Plate . I’ll actually be using it for both letterpress and hot foiling, along with a little stenciling to bring everything together.

Be sure to watch the full how-to tutorial on the Hero Arts YouTube channel. I’ll also be sharing a few variations I tried along the way before landing on my final design.

I started my project by building the background with the Candy Cane Toss Up Stencil . I used Chiffon cardstock along with Cotton Candy , Azalea , and Cherry inks. Layering these colors together gave me a soft pink tone-on-tone background while still allowing the candy cane pattern to stand out.

To add a little extra texture and sparkle, I added both Sparkle Splatter and White Acrylic Speckle over the background.

I trimmed the finished panel down to 4 1/4" x 4 1/2" and added it to an A2 card front made from Poppy cardstock . By making the stenciled panel slightly shorter than the card front, I was able to leave a strip of red showing along the bottom.

To soften the transition between the two panels, I added a skinny strip of white glitter cardstock from the Antique Assortment Paper Pack . This covered the harsh line where the panels met and added just a touch of sparkle.

For my first version of the Cup of Cheer, I used the BetterPress System and inked the plate with Strawberry BetterPress Ink . After pressing the image, I fussy cut it with my shears and popped it up with foam squares in the bottom left corner of the card.

At this point, though, something about the composition just wasn’t feeling quite right to me.

Instead of starting over, I decided to try another version of the mug. This time, I hot foiled the Cup of Cheer plate using the Glimmer II and Matte Gold Glimmer Foil . I fussy cut the foiled image and placed it directly over the top of my original letterpressed version.

That little change made a big difference! The matte gold gave the mug more contrast against the pink background and helped create a stronger focal point.

For the greeting, I used a sentiment from the Winter Words Letterpress Foil & Cut   set. I pressed it with  Black BetterPress Ink and then trimmed it out with the coordinating die.

I added the sentiment toward the bottom right corner, allowing it to slightly overlap the mug. That overlap helps visually connect the sentiment and focal image rather than having them feel like two separate elements.

I really love how the finished card came together. The soft tone-on-tone stenciling creates plenty of interest without competing with the focal point, while the Poppy cardstock grounds the design with a stronger pop of color. The little strip of white glitter adds separation and sparkle, and the matte gold foiling gives the Cup of Cheer just enough contrast to become the star of the card.

Be sure to watch the video to see some of the other variations I created along the way before arriving at this final version. Sometimes experimenting, changing colors, or swapping out one element is exactly what a design needs!

Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope this inspires you to dig through your own crafty stash, breathe new life into some of those past favorites, and try pairing them with something newer. You never know what fresh ideas might come from an old favorite!

A big thank you to Mindy for sharing this festive project with us! We love seeing how a familiar favorite can feel completely new simply by changing the color palette, adding a stenciled background or switching from letterpress to hot foil.

The Cup of Cheer Letterpress + Foil Plate is 25% off this week , so it’s a great time to add this cheerful holiday design to your crafty stash. Use the large mug as the star of a clean and simple card, press it directly onto a card panel for an easy one-layer design, or bring on the shine with hot foil. With five coordinating curved sentiments included, it’s easy to create a polished holiday card with just a few supplies.

And don’t stop here! Follow along on our social channels for even more Cup of Cheer inspiration and fresh ideas for putting this festive design to work.