This Making Christmas Bright Christmas Card is one copied from a sample in the new Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog. Look at the sample on page 6.  Those cards on that page and this Making Christmas Bright Stamp Set were some that really caught my eye the first time I looked through the catalog!  One of the things that says “Christmas” the most are pretty Christmas lights!

Don’t let all those little bulbs scare you off!  It just took me a minute with my Stampin’ Blends markers to color those in. They practically only take a dot of marker!  I’m not sure what it is that is SO relaxing about coloring with those Stampin’ Blends but I love it!  You can also use the regular Stampin’ Write Markers, like Real Red and Crushed Curry.  The Stampin’ Up! sample colors in the white bulbs with the Wink of Stella Brush.  I colored with the Call Me Clover green.

I used Call Me Clover Cardstock for the card base and used Real Red plus Whisper White and a piece of Sparkle Glimmer Paper.  The circle around the greeting is Crushed Curry.

There are lots of possibilities with this stamp set.  You can purchase the Bundle, which adds the Christmas Bulb Builder Punch.  Bundles save you 10% over the full price!

When you are stamping the strings of lights, if one is too long and going to run into an area where you don’t want it, just put down a piece of scrap paper where you do not want it to stamp.  If you don’t want to do the coloring of the bulbs, you could make a monochromatic card by just stamping everything in red or green.  I might try that!

This is a good time to get started on holiday cards while we are so enthused with the new products and stamping will be so much fun, instead of rushing at the last minute!  But I say that every year!  Maybe this year I will really get an earlier start!

Remember to use your Bonus Coupon Codes if you have one or more!  Directions are in this post of how to add your Coupon Codes.

If you are a kid at heart with Christmas lights, I think you will enjoy this stamp set or Bundle when you make a card like my Making Christmas Bright Card!

I thought this Cookie Cutter Christmas Gingerbread Man Card would be appropriate today since it is just four months until Christmas! We better get busy making our cards and projects!  Hard to believe, isn’t it, especially while it is still nearly 100 degrees outside here in Houston.

I thought I would just use a set from last year, which is in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. It’s the Cookie Cutter Christmas Stamp Set and has the coordinating Cookie Cutter Builder Punch.  The green print paper is new in the Holiday Catalog, though, the All Is Bright Designer Series Paper.  One side of the paper has those photographic images, really pretty!  The card base is Crumb Cake.  The red designer paper is just the background for the card for the photo, not part of the card although I originally planned to use half green and half red.  The red ribbon on this card is retired, but I have the new stuff on the way (I think!).

Of course, I also used the Big Shot and the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies for the background of the gingerbread man. And then the scalloped dies in the Layering Circle Framelits Dies are always nice to finish off the Stitched Shapes Dies as a layer.

I had planned to put the Gingerbread Man and circle over to the right side of the card, but somehow I put him in the center and thought that was just right!

The Cookie Cutter Christmas Stamp Set was a fun one last year and can be used even for baby cards with the bear!  Here are some bear Christmas cards I made last year.

Don’t forget that Bonus Days are going on during August at Stampin’ Up! For every $50 you spend in August, you will get a $5 coupon code to use on your order(s) in September!  As soon as you place your order, you will receive an email from Stampin’ Up! with your code(s). I printed mine out right away in case something happens to my email.  Stampin’ Up! cannot replace lost coupon codes. And you know how technology is!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE DURING AUGUST BONUS DAYS!

And Merry Christmas from the Cookie Cutter Christmas Gingerbread Man in four months!

My Holiday Catalog preorder arrived very late Friday night (sometimes UPS must like to tease us knowing how impatiently we are waiting for our Stampin’ Up! order to arrive!) and then with my birthday festivities this weekend I barely had time to even look at all the new goodies! However, here is an easy to make All Is Bright Merry Christmas Card!  It just takes a few minutes and would be a good layout if you are making a lot of similar cards for the holidays.

The designer paper, All Is Bright, has those photographic images plus other festive designs and some a little more plain.  It is the perfect paper for making traditional Christmas cards.  You will enjoy the entire All Is Bright Suite of products!

I used Real Red for the card base and just cut a piece of the designer paper to fit on the front.  I thought Gold Foil would look great on the front of this card so I die cut a piece with the Stitched Labels Framelits Die and layered a greeting from the set Merry Christmas to All.  You can make your own greetings with the individual words so it’s very useful.

For a little bling, I added some Mini Gold Sequin Trim.  You can see on the photo below how I saved maybe an inch or so of the trim but using two pieces and adhering them with SNAIL adhesive plus Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The Holiday Catalogs have probably been mailed from Stampin’ Up! so if you are a regular customer of mine, yours is most likely on the way!  If you are interested in Stampin’ Up! products, particularly holiday products, please email me at Karen@Karenstamps.com and I’d be happy to send a Holiday Catalog or even an Annual Stampin’ Up! Catalog if you would like one.

This Holiday Catalog, I believe, is going to be very popular!  Once you start seeing samples of cards and projects, you will want even more products!  I already want more and I got a lot of things just the other night!  The Holiday Catalog goes live Sept. 5th.

Keep this simple design in mind for your Christmas cards.  It works pretty well as you can see from this All Is Bright Merry Christmas Card!

Lovely As a Tree has to be the best, most universal stamp set ever created, and it makes a great Christmas card such as this Lovely As a Tree Christmas Card with Merry Little Christmas.  I have probably used the Lovely As a Tree Stamp Set every Christmas since I bought it, which has been at least 15 years. I have also used it many other times throughout the year because it is not just for Christmas.  It is not “just” for anything! It is so versatile!

One of the early cards I learned to make was to stamp this tree over and over again across the paper, sometimes without reinking, to give the look of a forest of trees.  The I squiggled glue over the trees and added Dazzling Diamonds Glitter. It always makes a beautiful card and is so easy.

For this card, I updated the Lovely As a Tree look a little bit by using the Merry Little Christmas paper.  The card base is Old Olive Cardstock, layered narrowly with Basic Black and then a layer of the green and black plaid paper.   I wasn’t sure at first how I was going to place the tree on this card because  a regular layer would cover up all the plaid that I wanted to show.  So I cut just a narrow strip and stamped that.  In the end, I cut the strip to basically fit the stamp, about 2″ x 4″ so there would be room for a greeting from Hearts Come Home. I decided to layer the tree on Gold Foil and then I added some strips on the sides of Gold Glimmer Paper.  All that took were some scraps! Then I added the greeting with some Stampin’ Dimensionals on the back to lift it over the tree piece (since I didn’t place it high enough on the card!).

Easy card to make if you need a last minute idea! And who doesn’t need last minute ideas at this point?!  I need a last minute elf, actually, to help!!

If you don’t already own Lovely As a Tree, it should be on your list for the New Year! It is a classic and I hope Stampin’ Up! will keep it around forever.

The upcoming Occasions and Sale-A-Bration catalogs have been mailed from Stampin’ Up!  You probably should have received yours by now if you are a regular customer of mine, or it should be coming soon, so watch for them in your mail.  They come separately.  If you are new and  would like copies, just email me and I’ll send them to you.