Top 3 Sketch Challenge AHSC#651 Winner

 

Thank you Atlantic Hearts Design Team for choosing my Peaceful Place Shaker card to be among the Top 3 for challenge #651.  Congrats to the other two winners Tracey Stevenson and Christine (Belgium).  

What a fun sketch.  Just the right elements in the design for making a monochromatic Christmas shaker card to add to my growing stash.  Here is my winning card: 

You can find details on how this card was assembled by clicking here.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Christmas Parade of Cards Part Three

Hi and welcome to my blog.  Today I want to share a really super easy and delightful fancy fold called the Double Z Accordion Card.  I came across this fun fancy fold by Karen Titus on Youtube.  After watching the video I immediately went to my craft room, got out my dsp and cardstock and started making this style of card.  I was hooked.  

In this photo you can see how the long portion of the accordion cardstock strip is attached to the left and right hand side of the card.  I've added a simple layered stitched circle made with coordinating designer paper and basic white cardstock for the focal. Remember it doesn't matter what shape your focal is, it can be a square, a circle, a rectangle or other shape as long as it fits the design of the card.

  

In this photo you can see how the accordion fold bends and the six small dsp squares are layered onto the cardstock. The six squares could be a matchup of designer papers and cardstock, they could could be embossed, or an alternate color.  Once again, there's no right or wrong way and no limit to the combinations you can come up with. 

Here I've used coordinating designer paper for a mat on the back side of the card.  Although I would anticipate writing my greeting on this side of the card, and there's sufficient room to write a message, I could also turn the card and write my greeting on  the white space panels on the right.  In fact, I've stamped my logo on this portion of the card and you'll see that in other samples, as there was no where else for it to go. 

In this view you can see that I've staggered the patterns on the small squares.  

Here's How You Make This Card:

Card Base:

• Cut a 7 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of basic white cardstock for the card base and score it at 1 1/2" and 3".
• Burnish the fold lines - mountain on the 1 1/2" and valley on the 3". 

Cardstock Strips: 

• Choose a coordinating color of cardstock that works with whatever patterned paper you are working with and your card base.  
• Cut three 7 1/4 x 1 1/2" and score these at 1 1/2" and 3" for Z fold.

DSP Strips and Squares:

• Cut three 4" x 1 1/4" strips of designer paper.  Adhere these to the three cardstock strips 
• Cut six 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" squares of designer paper.

Assembly:

• Lay the card base flat with Z fold on left side.
• Attach cardstock strips with the Z fold on the right.  Start with the first strip at the top of the card and put adhesive on the left side first leaving a small margin at the top and side, then  do the same on the right side.  Adhere the next strip at the bottom edge of the card doing the same thing, and repeat for the last strip by adhering it in the middle of the card base.  
• Adhere the DSP squares on the right side.  

To finish the card create a focal point to go on the front of the card. 

So how does this relate to my Christmas Parade of Cards? 

    

The first card in this group started with scraps from the Christmas Tags and More Specialty Designer 6x6 Paper.  I simply added some gold foil, a piece of Basic White that was embossed with a retired snow embossing folder and gold snowflake.  

Card #1:

The following cards were made using Stampin' Ups! North Pole Delivery Designer Paper.  What better way to use up some of the scraps I was accumulating.  

Card #2: 

Card #3: 

Card #4: 

Well, that's it for this parade of Christmas cards.  I hope you enjoyed it and that you'll try out this fancy fold.  I think once you try it you'll be like me "hooked".  It really is a very special and fun card to make.  In closing here are a few additional samples 

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up Demo since 2006

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Shop 

Christmas Parade of Cards - Part Two: North Pole Delivery

Welcome to today's post which is another series of Christmas cards that have banners for their focal points.  You can see my series of cards with banners here. 

These cards feature papers and ephemera from the North Pole Delivery Designer Paper which can be found on page 29 of the September to December 2025 Mini Catalogue.  

The North Pole Delivery Specialty Designer Series Paper is full of cheer and whimsy.  The patterned paper features images of dogs, bears, and more animals delivering holiday letters and packages.  These images are easy to fussy cut so dies really aren't necessary.  

The package includes twelve 12 x 12 sheets which includes  2 each of 5 double-sided designs and 1 each of 2 single sided pre-cut designs (not self-adhesive). This designer paper coordinates with the following colors: Basic Beige, Basic Black, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso, Flirty Flamingo, Garden Green, Gray Granite, Lost Lagoon, Pecan Pie, Petal Pink, Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla

Here are my cards: 

Card 1: 

Card #2: 

Card #3: 

Card #4: 

Supplies:

Stamps and Dies: 

• More Merry Messages (R) sentiment for inside cards
• Banner Dies (R) 
• Gingerbread Man Dies (cup) 
• Contour Dies (R)
• Stitched Circles and  Stitched Shapes Dies 

Cardstock and DSP:

• Real Red
• Garden Green
• Basic Beige
• Soft Seafoam
• Gold Foil 
• North Pole Delivery #165837
• Christmas Tags and More #165907

North Pole Delivery 2 each of five paper designs and 2 one-sided ephemera sheets. 

I loved working with this Ephemera sheet.  The images are colourful, a great texture and easy to remove from the sheet.  This is 1 of 2 Ephemera Sheets included with this DSP  package.  

This is the 2 of 2 Ephemera Sheets from the North Pole Delivery 12 x 12 Designer Series Package. 

Ink:

• Real Red 

Accessories:  

• Greetings for You Mix and Match Ephemera #166208
• Christmas Candy self-stick circles - Dollar Store 
• Mini Corrugated Embossing Folder
• Holly Embossing Folder 
• Dimensionals 
• Gingerbread Man cup die cut for mug 
• Red/Gold Stickers - non Stampin' Up!
• Red Rhinestone Gems - non Stampin' Up

I hope you enjoyed this weeks cards.  Each design is very basic and easy to put together the banner focal points can be put together ahead of time and are a terrific way to use up your scraps and ephemera leftovers.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up Demo since 2006

Click here to download or view the PDF Version of the Mini Catalogue

Click here to go to my 24/7 Online Shop 

Christmas Parade of Cards Part One

Hello and welcome to my blog.  Well, here we are in mid-September already, and it's amazing to feel the shift from the warm days of summer, to the cool down of Fall.  While the days are getting shorter, the daytime sunshine and warmth is welcome.

I'm well ahead of having my 50 Christmas Cards finished before the end of September goal.  I only have two more to finish.  So I thought it would be a good time to start sharing what I've made.  All of these cards have a few things in common:

• Products from the Holiday Mini 2025
• Simple designs that are quick and easy to complete
• Combine old and new products such as stamps and dies
• They were made with love! 

Click here to see PDF Version of the Holiday Mini Catalogue 

The one thing in common with all four of these cards is they have a banner layered matte that's been embossed with the mini corrugated embossing folder and die cut with the retired Banner Die Set from Stampin' Up. The banners which were cut from Real Red, Garden Green of Crumb Cake cardstock measure 4 1/8" x 2 1/4". If you don't have the die, these are easy to cut from scratch. These banners form the foundation for the focal point on each of the designs.

Card #1: 

I like to add coordinating ephemera stickers to the insides and the backs of my cards for a finishing touch. These stickers are from the Christmas Tags & More  pack #165907.

• For this card I started with an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" Garden Green cardstock base, that is scored at 4 1/4".   
• The first matte is a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Basic White cardstock.
• The Designer Series matte measures 3 3/4" x 5".  The plaid design comes from the Greetings Cards and Envelopes #165907.  This pack comes with 10 envelopes and card bases and there are 5 Crumb Cake and 5 Garden Green designs.  These cards are big - 4 1/4" x 6 1/4" and the design printing is on both the front and back of the card.  I generally cut the card bases in half and then cut the half down to whatever size I need. There are always scraps you can use from the leftovers for die cuts or to add a border on a matte. 

• The next matte layer measures 4 1/8" x 2 1/4" and is the banner focal point in Real Red.  There is a smaller matte measuring 2" x 3" of Garden Green gingham paper cut from the Christmas Tags and More Specialty Designer Paper #165907.  This 6 x 6 DSP package offers 8 each of 4 reversable designed papers plus 2 pre-cut pages of ephemera that coordinate with the colours in the dsp:  Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Garden Green, Real Red and Soft Seafoam.  
• To finish off this focal point I added a picture of a bear carrying presents from the North Pole Delivery 12 x 12 paper pack #165837.  He's mounted on dimensionals, and is oh so cute! The sentiment is from the Greetings for you Mix and Match Ephemera Pack - LOVE THESE!  And, the sequins are from the Traditional Sparkling Sequins #165875 package.  

Card #2:

Additional strips of coordinating cardstock come in handy for adding a border to the bottom of a card.  The sweet little red bow on this card is from the Gingerbread Man die set. 

• For this card the front and inside matte are cut from Soft Sea Foam card stock.  I seldom use this colour, however it matches so beautifully with the DSP and ephemera that it was a "must use more often" discovery.  

Card #3: 

Card #4: 

• For this card I embossed the second matte with a retired Stampin' Up! embossing folder called Holly.  The square which features three stips of dsp measures 2 5/8" x 2 5/8".  I used a small strip of gold glimmer paper to enhance the sentiment strip and add a little dazzle to the card front. 

Instead of using cardstock for a matte on this card, I used a piece of DSP measuring 4 x 5 1/4".  I like how this looks. 

All four of these cards took only a few minutes to make due to the prep I had done prior to sitting down to make cards. All the banners were pre-cut from the base matte and embossed, which gave me a good start.  I keep the ephemera in trays so its handy, as well as the matte layers.  It's simply assembly and a bit of stamping. 

I hope you enjoyed these cards today.  I'd love to hear from you.  Let me know if you have a favourite or if you have questions about the products used.  

Please come back again next week to see another series of Christmas cards featuring products from the Holiday Mini.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Shop 

North Pole Delivery Strip Card Challenge AHSC #646

Welcome and thanks for dropping by.  I'm continuing my quest to complete 50 Christmas cards before the end of September, and can happily say the end is very close indeed. I began two weeks ago and have been using a mix of products from the Mini Catalogue - September to December 2025.  

So after making these many cards you could speculate I'd have a lot of bit's and pieces of cardstock and paper left over, and you'd be 100 percent correct. 

One of the papers that I used a lot was the North Pole Delivery 12 x 12 designer series paper and ephemera.  I thought this would be a perfect design mix to use for this week's sketch by Atlantic Hearts.    

Here's this week's sketch challenge from Atlantic Hearts #646: 

This card design utilizes strips of paper in a variety of sizes from 1/4", 1/2", 3/4" and 1" in width.  The paper strips can go in any direction as long as the  whole sheet is filled, right down to the most fiddle corners.  The strips are glued on and overlap the edges of the mat, and then are cut off as sections of the card are completed.  The strips can be laid down in any direction, but they must but up against one another and there can't be any gaps.  The end product usually looks like a quilt design.  

Here's My Card: 

Supplies: 

Stamps & Dies:

• Traditional Labels Die and Stamp Bundle  #165865

Cardstock and DSP:

• Garden Green mat 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" for front mat.  The decorative mat was cut from the center of this layer using the Colourful Contour dies.
• Petal Pink 4" x 5 1/4" mat for front layer and 2" x 3 3/8" mat for sentiment layer 
• Strips of Poppy Parade and Petal Pink for quilted pattern 1/2" and 3/4" bands
  
• North Pole Delivery  #165837 12 x 12 DSP cut into 1/2", 3/4" strips 

Ink and Blends: 

• Poppy Parade 

Accessories: 

• Delightful Decorative Dots #165915 

I hope you enjoyed today's stamping challenge card.  If you've never tried one of these cards before they are a lot of fun and a great way to use up those paper scraps that are always left over.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo Since 2006

Click here to visit my 24/7 online shop