Red, White & Blue Christmas Cards Featuring Home for the Holidays

Hello there, Michelle Short here and I am delighted to be back on the Spellbinders blog today sharing three cards using the Home for the Holidays Collection. This collection features lots of dies and press plates and I am using a few on my cards today. All my cards feature the color blue today. I did not plan for that when I was making them, but I do like blue for the holidays, especially when combined with white and red!

NICK

For my first card, I have combined St. Nick Etched Dies with the Sprinkled Confetti Press Plate to make a mini slimline card. To make this card:

• Die cut Nick Etched Dies from Poppy Field, Onyx, Snowdrift, Alabaster, and Peach Sorbet Cardstock for Santa; Latte, Fern, and Peridot Cardstock for the tree, and Gold Assortment Treasured Cardstock for the belt buckle and lantern.
• Add a little ink blending around the edges of the red pieces using dark red ink and Blending Brushes.
• Adhere pieces together using Bearly Art Glue.

• Hot foil Sprinkled Confetti Press Plate on panel of Raindrop Cardstock – place piece of White Foil onto cardstock shiny side up, place press plate design side down on top and hold them in place with Best Ever Craft Tape. Heat using Glimmer Hot Foil System and run through Platinum Six.
• Carefully remove plate and foil from panel and then using Blending Brushes, blend blue inks onto the panel, focussing the darker colour at the top.

Unlike most other foils, ink tends to dye white foil, rather than resist it. I did use a dry soft cloth to remove some, but some did stain the foil a little. Since I am using it to represent snow, I was ok with it being a little blue in shade!

• Cut snow border from white cardstock using a Color Block Scenic Scape Etched Die.
• Adhere to snow background with tape runner adhesive and then onto white mini slimline (3.5” x 6”) card base.
• Adhere St. Nick/Santa using thin foam tape.
• Hot foil sentiment from Glitter Wishes onto white cardstock using Champagne Foil. Cut into strips and adhere to card with thin foam tape.

POINSETTIA SPRAY

My next card uses the Poinsettia Spray as the focal point of the card. This is such a pretty floral arrangement, but you can use the elements separately too, for individual flowers and foliage. To make this card:

• Die cut Poinsettia Spray Etched Dies from Poppy Field, Fern, Peridot, Snowdrift and Cosmic Sky
• Adhere pieces together using Bearly Art Glue to create the arrangement.
• Die cut Starshine Background Etched Die from a panel of Cosmic Sky Cardstock.

• Die cut three frames from the Emerald Cut Labels and Tag Etched Dies set using white cardstock and adhere them one on top of another (for added dimension).
• Die cut the inner piece from Cosmic Sky Cardstock.
• Adhere background piece to A2 card base, followed by frames and then the inside piece.

• Adhere poinsettia spray inside the frame, adhering with Bearly Art Glue and thin foam tape (behind the flowers).
• Hot foil Mistletoe Greetings Press Plate onto white cardstock using Champagne Foil. Die cut using the coordinating die.
• Adhere sentiment to card using thin foam tape.
• To finish, apply Christmas Red Stickles to berries.

COLOR MIX MERRY

For my last project, I used the Color Mix Merry Registration Press Plates. If you are not familiar with registration plates, they enable you press images using different colors but still get perfect placement. To make this card:

• Place registration template onto the Chase of the BetterPress Letterpress System, holding in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
• Place press plate letters that you want the same colour (M & R) on top. Add ink to the plates using Hydrangea Ink.
• Place Porcelain BetterPress A2 Cotton Card Panel onto the Platen and hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.
• Place Platen on the base of the BetterPress Letterpress System and run through Platinum Six.

TIP: For my machine, I usually remove one of the plastic shims from underneath the Chase. This gives me a cleaner impression. Experiment with your machine to find what works best for you!

• Remove letters and place next one on top (R). Add Azure Ink to the plate and press in the same way as the other letters.
• Remove the letter and place the next two on top (E & Y) and press using Cosmic Sky Ink.
• Mask off sentiment using Best Ever Craft Tape to ink up the ‘Christmas’ word only, using Betterpress Black Ink. Die cut into a strip.
• Fussy cut around the ‘merry’ using scissors.

My Cosmic Sky ink needs reinking (one is on order!), so I did not get a perfect impression. You can see some of the other letters peeking from behind, but actually I quite like that look!

• Place panel of Cosmic Sky Cardstock inside Argyle Plaid 3D Embossing Folder and run through Platinum Six. Adhere to A2 card base with tape runner adhesive.
• Adhere ‘merry’ and ‘Christmas’ on top using thin foam tape.
• Die-cut snowflakes from white glitter cardstock and adhere to card with Bearly Art Glue.
• To finish, embellish with Silver Mix Color Essentials Gems.

This is such a wonderful collection and it was really nice to mix and match lots of different products for these cards. Thank you so much for stopping by today. Wishing you a wonderful day!

Other supplies

Thin foam tape, Altenew Ruby Red Ink, Prize Ribbon Distress Ink, Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink, Christmas Red Stickles, white glitter paper.