Inspire Me Monday: Christmas Goodies!

Hello folks and Happy Christmas in JULY! It's Julie here with you today! Did you see the brand new digital stamp set that Power Poppy launched over the weekend? Oh my! If not, you need to check out Hollyberries! What a gorgeous image with two fanciful sentiments to match! What a fun way to get a head start on your Christmas Creations! I know, it's a bit early. But, some of you folks are so savvy that you create all year long so as not to be overwhelmed when the holiday of all holidays for card making season gets closer!

THIS LITTLE TUTORIAL IS JUST FOR YOU! 

For the rest, bookmark it and revisit in November when you're looking for a handmade gift idea for one of your BFFs! ;-)

I decided for this cardmaking set that I would literally work backwards. I wouldn't color up my images and then design the cards. I would design the cards and make the digital images fit and work in the spaces available. When I was done designing, I set them all up just like so (below) to "audition" them! I like! Keep in mind, none of the images are glued down in the photo below. I wanted to keep those separate just in case of a coloring mishap. Yes! These things happen folks!

Now, with my cards designed, I wanted to create a holder of sorts so that when I wanted to gift this to someone, it would all be packaged up and ready to go! 

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 12" by 12" piece of card stock
• ScorPal or any kind of scoring board/tool
• Strong double stick tape or glue dots

HERE'S A PEEK AT WHAT WE'LL BE MAKING:
It's an accordian style card holder that has one slot for your cards (I made four) and one slot for your envelopes! 

LET'S GET STARTED!

1. Start by scoring your piece of 12" by 12" piece of paper on the 1" and 11" score marks on the right side of your paper.

2. Turn and using double stick tape, run a line of tape above the score line and then fold over toward the wrong side of the paper.  

3. Flip paper so that folded edge is along the top of your scoring device. Score along the 2.5", 3.5", 8.5" and 9.5" score marks. 

4. Flip paper over and score at the 3" and 9" marks. 

5. You will now fold your paper so that the 3" and 9" fold marks are mountain folds on the wrong side of the paper as shown below. The other score lines will be folded in the opposite direction. Do this on both sides of the paper.

6. Now, you'll notice that you've essentially formed a tube. To hold this together, tape both sides together with single sided tape. I used packing tape because, sadly, that was all I had on hand! 

7. Making sure the longest side of your project is along the top of your scoring device, score at the 4" and 6" marks. Flip your paper over (still having the long side at the top) and score at the 5" mark. Yes, this will be hard because you will be scoring through 2 and some times 4 layers of paper.Press hard and just make sure you can see your score lines. 

8. Fold as shown above. As you can see, the 4" and 6" scored lines become valley folds and the 5" score line becomes a mountain fold. At this point, you'll want to use really strong glue dots or tape to secure the front and back portions of your card holder together. If you don't have strong tape, you can use a brad or tie a ribbon around both sections. You could even make a belly band to fit over the entire project to keep it together! It's up to you! Get creative!

As you can see above, the back portion will house enveopes! And, looking below, you can see I kept the design rather simple -- just a band of hollyberries with a sentiment tied up quite literally with gold cording and a bow!

Here's a peek at how my finished cards fit in the front accordian pocket. It's a perfect fit!

NOW TO THE FUN STUFF! THE CARDS!

I really wanted the hollyberries to stand out on each creation, but I also wanted each card to look different. I didn't want a border on each card, I wanted it to look as though I had a handful of stamps to use for my creation. Truth is, all I had was one digital stamp set that I molded and fashioned to really expand my creative horizons!

Before I get too far ahead of myself, I will say that these are the Copic marker colors that I reached for when coloring up my hollyberries!

CARD #1

For my image above, this is the digi that I started with....

From there, I used the eraser tool to just isolate one of the three hollyberry segments. And below is the finished leaf segment all ready to print and color!

That's just a basic tutorial. If you want MORE on how to really use your digital images, click on over to a tutorial I did last summer HERE, for a whole host of ideas! I also used the single holly image for the card below!

CARD #2

CARD#3

For this creation, I used the holly border just as it was but layered it twice so that it would carry along the full height of the card. And, see that "decorative paper?" Yep, created that too! Again, check out the tutorial that I did earlier to learn how to make your own backgrounds using digital stamps. It's too fun for words! I just kept layering the main holly image, merged them all into one 4" by 6" canvas and then altered the color to red before printing on a piece of decorative paper. The sentiment for card #2 and card #3 are both from the Power Poppy clear set called Poinsettia. 

CARD #4

For this creation below, I used the holly segment and lined it up to create a frame of sorts. I did have to erase sections to help it fit into a 3" by 3" square, but you could make it larger and form it to fit a larger square card. Up to you! The sentiment is one of two included in the Hollyberries Digital Stamp Set!

And when all the cards were done, they fit perfectly into my card holder. While I didn't add ribbon for a handle, you most certainly could! I love the way this project stands up on its own. Not to mention, I made this a holiday creation, but you could certainly use this idea for card sets of ALL kinds! It truly would make a lovely little birthday gift for that special friend!

AND ONE MORE LOOK AT THE FINISHED PROJECT!

Thanks so much for joining me this Monday! I hope you enjoy this project so much that you'll try it in your own stamping space! If you do, take a photo and link up your creation in the comment section below. I’d LOVE to see!

Happy Monday!
~Julie