The delicate pine branch die from Diemond Dies are so fun to emboss and layer to make lush holiday swags for cards or layouts. I made these four cards for senior center residents for my friend Kim’s (YT: KimboKreations) nursing home challenge, and I hope the seniors (whether men or women) will enjoy these gender neutral cards this coming holiday season.
For the card bases I used a large 12×12 sheet of holiday patterned paper (sorry I don’t recall the name–I’ve had it for years!) from my stash. On one of theย plainer backgrounds, I embossed “Happy Holidays” (from My Sentiments Exactly “Holiday Sentiments” stamps set) repeatedly at a diagonal. On another plain background card, I made cut out a little banner and embossed the sentiment on a piece of vellum. For the other two cards, I just let the dimensional swags I made top the white and silver foil backgrounds.
To create the swags, I die cut a lot of branches with the Diemond Dies Pine Branch Dieย (which is one of the first Diemond Dies). ย I used Recollections Sparkle Embossing Powder and Sparkle N Sprinkle Platinum Extra Fine Embossing Powder to add sparkle, shine and dimension haphazardly to the pine needle leaves–thinking of the way snow might land here and there on a branch but not coat it completely. ย I varied the heights and lengths of a few pine branches and gathered them together at the bases with a bow.
For the paper bows, I used the medium size die set from the Diemond Dies Bows Die Set to create a whimsical 3D paper bow. TIP: If you curl the loop sections and the center section with the edge of a bone folder (or any sharp edge like a scissors or the side of your desk), the bow will look more realistic and less flat. ย To add a little detail, I also embossed the tail edges of the bows to match the pine branches they topped. ย For the satin ribbon bows, I used my Craft-Dee-BowZ tool to make a double or triple loop bow with 1/4″ wide red ribbon.
Lastly for some cute little accents, I used the berries from the Diemond Dies Holly Leaves Die Set to cut out faux enamel dots from red card stock. ย To give them a nice shine, I coated them with Glossy Accents and adhered them to the card bases in clusters of three or in one case to cover the Art Glitter Glue that I used to adhere the vellum banner.
The following is a process video of how I created two of these cards:
My readers can get 10% off and free worldwide shipping on all orders of $35 or more at Diemond Dies by using the coupon code “thankskristina” at checkout.
These Christmas cards are being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday STAMPtember Use A Stamp Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Die Crazy Challenge
jingle belles rock: Shopping Our Jingly Stash Challenge
Shopping Our Stash Jingle Belles Bonus Challenge
The cardย with Happy Holidays subtly embossed repeatedly on the background with the red satin ribbon bow is being entered into the following challenges
Addicted to CAS Leaves Challenge
Craft-Dee BowZ Anything Goes with a Handmade Bow Challenge
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are having a great crafty day! WOOF
Beautiful cards! Such a lovely design!! So very pretty!
Thank you very much for joining us this week at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!
hugs…
Melissa
Thanks so much for stopping by Melissa and for another fab challenge at SSSWC! Hugs, Kristina
Had to pop over from SOS after I saw your card in the gallery – the details are stunning and I love the embossed pine branches. Such a great idea!
oh wow! Thank you so much for coming on over and stopping by and taking the time to leave such a nice comment! I really appreciate it. Big hugs, Kristina
oh my gosh, what a gorgeous set of cards! amazing in every way! thanks for shopping your (holiday!) stash with us at JINGLE BELLES! โฅ โฅ โฅ
Thanks so much for the fun challenge! I am a newbie to your challenge blog, but I already love it! ๐ TF stopping by! Big hugs, Kristina
These are great. I’m so glad you made satin bows on some of them since I panicked when I saw the paper bows and those wouldn’t fit our challenge. I love these cards and that branch is gorgeous. These are so sweet and, of course, I love the handmade bow ones the very best! Thanks for joining us at Craft-Dee BowZ for our September challenge! Hugs, Gail
Thank you so much Gail! I loved making these cards for the seniors and I hope they will enjoy receiving them. Yes, I made both types (and actually a lot more of the satin ones–since they will be much easier to mail). ๐ TF stopping by and your super sweet comment! oxo, Kristina
Love your Christmas card. Looks like it will be easy to create lots & lots in a short time. I just might use it as this year’s Christmas chard. Thanks for the instructions. Maggie
Thanks so much Maggie! Yes, I made lots more cards actually for the nursing home seniors and have shipped them all off today. ๐ TF stopping by and I hope you have fun making your holiday cards too! Big hugs, kristina
Beautiful cards! Love the pine needles. Thank you so much for sharing with us at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge STAMPtember blog hop!
Thanks so much Anna-Karin! It was super fun and easy to make these cards with the dies and stamping on the embossing. ๐ I made a slew of cards for the seniors so I hope they enjoy them! ๐ TF stopping by! Hugs, Kristina