Stitchmas Nutcracker

Hi Crafty Friends,

Today I am sharing a Mini Slimline Christmas card using the final die set from Spellbinders 12 Days of Stitchmas 2025. Wow so many pieces in this set to creat this cute nutcracker, but it was easy enough to put together by just die cutting and assembling one section at a time. 

As you can see I did stitch the various pieces, I felt this one needed to be stitched, however I would have preferred to have some gold metallic embroidery floss rather than the thin gold thread I had to use as it was all I had. 

I added the sentiment from Hero Arts A Little Nuts stamp set, to the red panel on the left hand side of my card. To finish off the card, I added three gold pearls to the top of the same panel.

For the inside, I added another of the sentiments from the Hero Arts stamp set, and added a gold border to the right hand side of the card.

 

Fa La La Bear

 

Hi Crafty Friends,

Today I am continuing sharing my cards I created using the dies from Spellbinders 12 Days of Stitchmas Advent Calendar. For this card I ended up using dies from three different days. The cute bear is from Day 6; the "Fa La La" from Day 7 and I also used the Christmas Tree from Day 3 on the inside.

For this card I created a Centre Step Card using an older die set from my stash. I also have a video tutorial on my YouTube channel showing how easy these are to make if you don't have dies.

I used the Snowflake Shimmer Betterpress plate to create the snowy background. This was white foiled onto blue cardstock and then I added darker inks to the top portion of the panels.

The sign post is from the North Pole Sentiments die set. As you can see, I did stitch the bears tummy and scarf.

I die cut the letters to spell "FA LA LA" from red and green cardstock and added them to the bottom to the card. I didn't stitch these.

For the inside of the card, I added the Christmas tree from Day 3 to the lower right hand side of the card. I also added a stamped sentiment from my stash.

October 2025 Karen Burniston Designer Challenge

 

Hi Crafty Friends,

Welcome to our October Karen Burniston Designer Challenge.

Check out Karen Burniston's blog on Wednesday (US Time) when you will be able to see what all the designers created for the challenge this month, plus Karen will have an amazing video tutorial to share with us all.

Our challenge theme this month is ... "PEEK-A-BOO!" - What is hiding in your card? Is it scary? Is it cute? Surprise us!

When I first thought about this challenge, I thought I was going to go the cute route! But then this witch scene with the witch flying across the moon and the rainbow took over.    

My card is a 5 x 7 inch card. I started with some purple patterned paper which I inked the edges to get more depth. I also splattered black ink over the panels.

I die cut the Arch Pop-up and Rainbow Add-ons dies from grey cardstock and adhered that to the top of the card. 

I die cut a circle using the Crosshatch Circles die set and die cut the pieces to create the witch using the Witch & Cauldron die set.. I added that to the left side of my rainbow.

Along the bottom of the card I added the graveyard from the Halloween Scene die set.  The hands, ghosts and crow are all from the Halloween Elements die set.

I pulled out the Halloween Borders die set to add the row of bones and the skulls to the gravestones.  The bats are from either the Halloween Scene die set or the Bats Slim Pattern Plate die set.

To finish the inside of the card, I added the "Happy Halloween" sentiment which is from the new Halloween Phrases Clear Stamp set which was released on the 1st October. After stamping the sentiment, I die cut it using an oval from the Crosshatch Ovals die set.

For the front of the card, I used the same patterned paper that I used on the inside. I added grass to the lower portion of the card using the Nature's Edges die set. I then added the cauldron from the Witch and Cauldron die set.

I added more bats and a ghost using the die sets I used on the inside. 

Finally I added the "Happy Haunting" sentiment which is another sentiment from the Halloween Phrases Clear Stamp set.

Happy Holidays Tree

Hi Crafty Friends,

Today I am sharing a Mini Slimline Christmas card I created using the Day 3 die set from Spellbinders 12 Days of Stitchmas 2025 kit. For this card I opted not to stitch the Christmas tree, instead I added some gems over the tree. 

I layered the tree onto a striped panel using Spellbinders/Lisa Horton Lots of Stripes die set. I then layered this to a mini slimline card which I had embossed using the Holiday Lights 3D Embossing Folder.

For the inside of my card, I added a Christmas sentiment from an older Pinkfresh Studios die set.

 

Merriest Christmas Mugs

Hi Crafty Friends,

Today I am sharing another Christmas card using dies from Spellbinders 12 Day of Stitchmas Advent Calendar. This card uses the mug from Day 5. 

While looking for a slimline card die set, I came across this Slimline Star background from Whimsy Stamps. This panel was already put together and just needed to be put onto a Slimline card. So as you can see, I pulled it out to use on today’s card.

I did say the other day that I wasn’t planning to stitch these dies, but as you can see I did for this card. After 9 months my hands seem to be improving, so sewing this wasn’t a struggle. I used the reverse side of the die to get the mirror image for the mug on the left side. 

To finish off the front of the card, I added a foiled Christmas sentiment from Pinkfresh Studios to the centre of the card.

For the inside of the card, I added another mug, without stitching. I also added a foiled sentiment from Spellbinders.

 

Merry & Bright

Hi Crafty Friends,

Since Tuesday 23rd September, Spellbinders have been revealing their 12 Days of Stitchmas Advent Calendar. This is an advent calendar that you open prior to December as it contains dies to help with making Christmas cards. I managed to pick one up recently, so I have been having fun pulling out the dies and making some cards.

This is the first one I made on the weekend using the dies from Day 2 - “Merry & Bright”. For most of my cards, I won’t be including stitching. A while back while looking for a Slimline die, I discovered this slimline panel all die cut and put together which I have been wanting to turn into a card. I added the paper background to the middle and added some maroon diagonal pieces to the borders. I then die cut ‘Merry’ and ‘Bright’ from both pink and maroon cardstock and offset the pink over the maroon and adhered to my card. I die cut the ampersand from maroon cardstock and added in the centre.

To finish off the front of the card, I added the gold foiled sentiment.

For the inside of my card, I added another gold foiled sentiment. I also added two ornaments which I believe is from Day 4.

 

Rebus - American Indians

Hi Crafty Friends,

It's time to share another rebus swap with you. This month the theme is "Names of American Indian Tribes or name of famous American Indians"

If you would like to solve my rebus puzzle, why not post a comment on my blog post with your answers. I will let you know what the correct answers are next time I post a rebus card here.

How did you go solving my August Rebus which was "Minerals'"

 Here are the correct answers so you can check how you did.

1. Magnesium
2. Titanium
3. Zinc
4. Copper
5. Platinum
6. Potassium
7. Iodine
8. Tungsten
9. Potash

You can find all my past Rebus Cards here.

 

Sending Gingerbread Hugs

Hi Crafty Friends,

Welcome to my blog. Today I am sharing another Christmas card with you, I still have lots of Christmas cards I need to make before December, so you will probably see more popping up on my blog during the next few months.

Today I have a Puzzle Slider Card using some of the Gingerbread themed products from Spellbinders/Stamperia Candy Christmas Collection, this is such a fun collection. I have been wanting to make this card for over a month, so it was great to finally find some time to be able to get it made.

I prefer 5 x 7 cards most of the time, which is the size I selected for this card. All the images are from the Gingerbread Delivery die set. The papers are from the Junk Journal pad which is also included in the collection. 

For the sentiment on the front I used a gingerbread themed sentiment from Spellbinders Dancin' Christmas Sentiments stamp set.

Directions - 5 inch x 7 inch version:

1.    Cut a piece of cardstock to measure 5 inches x 11 inches, this will be the card base. Score along the long side at 1 inch; 2 inches; 9 inches and 10 inches. Fold on all score lines so you have a mountain, valley, valley & mountain folds.

2.    From the same colour cardstock as the card base above, cut two rectangles that are 4 inches x 2.5inches and two rectangles that are 3 inches x 2.5inches.

3.    Apply glue along the 1 inch panel on the left. Starting from the bottom adhere one of the 4 inch rectangles to this panel, making sure to line up with the left and bottom edges. Next adhere one of the 3 inch rectangles to the same left panel, making sure that it lines up with all edges including the bottom rectangle.

4. Using the remaining rectangles, adhere these in the opposite way as step 3 onto the right hand panel. So the 4 inch rectangle is on top and 3 inch on bottom.

5. Cut your layering pattern papers so they are 3 3/4 inches x 2 1/4 inches and 2 3/4 inches x 2 1/4 inches and adhere to relevant rectangles on card base.

6. Decorate card as desired. If you wish to add a panel to the inside of card, this will be 6 3/4 inches x 4 3/4 inches.

Here is a look at the inside of my card, I added a border from the Sweet Borders die set, as I needed it longer than the die size, I used partial die cutting to extend the length of the border. I also added another of the gingerbread men to the lower right hand side of the card.

For the sentiment I pulled out another gingerbread themed sentiment, this time from Chloes Creative Cards. I love using sentiments that match the theme of the card.

 

Santa in Chimney

Hi Crafty Friends,

Today I am sharing a Christmas card I created recently. This one is an Arch shaped card and uses dies from Spellbinders. The cute Santa stuck in the Chimney is called Chimney Capers from the Merry Mischief Collection. This is a pretty simple card to create.

For the sentiment along the bottom of the card I used Spellbinders Christmas Cheer Sentiments Betterpress Plate from the City Holiday Collection. 

To create the Arch shaped card, I used Trinity Stamps Arch Shaped Card die set.

For the inside of the card, I added a sentiment which is included in the Chimney Capers die/stamp set.

Space Penny Slider Card

 

Hi Crafty Friends,

Today I am sharing a Penny Slider Card using new products from Made To Surprise by Sam Calcott. Sam's latest release was called Worth Every Penny and included dies to make various different Penny Slider Cards. There are also a number of different stamp/die sets of different themes,  the one I used for my card is a space themed set called Up Above.

I also pulled out an older Made To Surprise die set, the 6 x 6 Terrific Towers die set to use as the base of my card. 

I didn't take a video of this card in action, sorry. But you call tell by the two photos above how the images move and turn etc.

I used a Trinity Stamps Stencil called Crater Layers to create the planet surface for the alien to be standing on.

Here is another view of the front of the card. I added a sentiment included in the stamp set to the lower left hand side of the card.

Here is a look at the card when it is sitting on the desk, it does fold flat for mailing and would fit in a 6 x 6 envelope.

And finally the back of the card. I added a white panel and added a few more of the images, along with a sentiment. There is plenty of room to add a personal message.

Thinking of You Slimline

 

Hi Crafty Friends,

Today I am sharing two Slimline cards I created to add to my stash of male Thinking of You / Get Well Cards. It seems it is easy to make these for women, but making for men not so much. 

I recently received my Spellbinders September Caboodle Club kit which is mostly a fall/autumn theme. I love the pattern on the new 3D Embossing Folder to use on this card. I also used Sellbinders Postage Edge Slimlines die set for the layers.

For the sentiment, I used LDRS Creatives Big Word Thinking die set. I die cut the layer from vellum and the word die from either dark blue or black Cardstock.

For the inside of the card I used two stamps from Whimsy Stamps Boo Boo Manflu stamp set.