Merriest Moments - A Returning Fave for Christmas Cards
I just love it when Stampin' Up! carries over some of our stamp sets. That sometimes means I can get a jump on the next catalog, as I already own some of the products. At other times, though, it may mean I missed the boat the first time around. After all, I can't buy it ALL, even if I want to!
Merriest Moments is a returning fave in the new July-December (JD) mini catalog 2022, page 23. This is one I missed the first time around but was able to pre-order in June. Woohoo! I'm LOVING this set! I love that I'm getting good, crisp ink coverage on my images with a minimum of effort! And, there's a separate stamp for the center of my flowers. It's so easy with the clear photopolymer stamps. That allows me to make red poinsettias with yellow centers! Perfect!
While this set is focused primarily on Christmas, there are some possibilities for all-occasion cards, too. After all, "Together is the merriest place to be" is not holiday specific. And, I can always mask off "this festive season" and just use the part of the stamp that says "thinking of you." And the greenery can also be multi-purposed. I'm delighted!
Here are a couple of the cards I've made so far:
This first card is made of Evening Evergreen cardstock (base), with Painted Christmas designer series paper (DSP), another returning fave (JD page 29, item 156292). This paper is so elegant!
The card is an A2 size, paper cut at 8-1/2" x 5-1/2", then scored and folded in half at 4-1/4" with my bone folder. The DSP is cut to 4" tall by 5-1/4" wide and glued/taped in place on the base.
Next, I used the Merriest Frames Hybrid Embossing Folder that coordinates with the stamp set. It, too, is found on page 23 of the JD mini catalog. I must say, this is my first time using a hybrid embossing folder. It takes a hot minute to figure out how to use it, but after that it's relatively simple. See how I did with the white embossed background (above left).
If you follow me at all, you know that I can be the queen of crooked stamping, so I stamped my greeting in Evening Evergreen ink on a separate piece of cardstock, die-cut it, and taped it into the embossed square, as shown. I stamped large and small poinsettias with Cherry Cobbler ink, and used (now retired) Bumblebee ink for the centers. (You could try the current Daffodil Delight or Mango Melody inks for a slightly different look.) I stamped the leaves in Evening Evergreen, and then everything made a trip through my die-cutting machine.
I wrapped a length of gold Simply Elegant Trim (155766) twice around the embossed white piece, then glued it to the DSP. I glued down the greenery, popped up the poinsettias with Stampin' Dimensionals, and added the bow last with a glue dot.
Then I moved to the inside of the card. There, I used a piece of 5-1/4" wide by 4" tall piece of white cardstock to stamp a poinsettia in the bottom right corner and then my greeting from the Very Best Occasions cling stamp set (159871) on page 68 of the JD mini catalog. I glued it to the inside base. Done!
If you haven't checked out the Very Best Occasions stamp set, I highly recommend it. This one passes my "versatility test" for sure! The greetings have some holiday sentiments, but they also have birthday, thinking of you, comfort and love, special day, and other greetings that can be used any time of the year! I have already been mixing and matching these sentiments with some of my other sets. Love it!
My second card from the Merriest Moments set is much simpler than the first. I used Cherry Cobbler cardstock and ink. Measurements are the same as the first card.
I hand-stamped the background on white cardstock. I simply repeated the large and small poinsettia images around the paper in a relaxed orientation. I used Evening Evergreen for the holly leaves. I die-cut the sentiment with a small stitched rectangle die and mounted it on a slightly larger piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock. I popped up the sentiment with Stampin' Dimensionals. I painted three small Pearl Basic Jewels (144219) with Stampin' Blends in Mossy Meadow. (I didn't have the Evening Evergreen markers in my studio. Yikes!)
For the inside of the card, I stamped my greeting and poinsettia in Cherry Cobbler, Bumblebee center, and Evening Evergreen holly leaves. I glued the white cardstock to the inside right. Done!
I hope you like my cards. I certainly enjoyed making them. While I love the elegance of the first card, I did find it labor-intensive, so don't plan to make mass quantities of these for the holidays. The second one may well get more attention. It came together in a matter of minutes and is certainly a candidate for multiple cards while I watch my favorite holiday movies. ;-)
What's on your craft table? Are you joining the fun for Christmas in July? If not, when will you start your Christmas card making? Please leave me a comment to help me know your needs.
Until next time, keep calm and craft on!