I'll Be Home For Christmas

Hello crafty friends! It’s Lisa Tilson here with you today on the Spellbinders blog. I’m thrilled to be here to share three ways to use the new release from Yana Smakula, which is called The City Holiday Collection. This collection is simply gorgeous! You have three die sets which create a beautiful city townhouse, some Christmas crackers, and a large “Joy” sentiment. There is a Christmas-themed BetterPress sentiment set along with an oh-so-pretty BetterPress Registration Set that creates a beautiful focal greeting accentuated with leaves and berries. So, let’s get started on my cards.

Merry & Bright

This card features the Shadow Joy Etched Dies and the Christmas Cracker Etched Dies.

1. I started off by die-cutting the Shadow Joy Etched Dies. I took the largest “Joy” die and die cut it from white card. This will act as the base for my other pieces.
2. I then took the smaller “Joy” die and cut it from Rainforest ColorWheel Cardstock.
3. The smallest dies create your shadow effect, and these were die cut from the Pearl Metallic card included in the Gold Assortment Treasured Cardstock Pack.
4. I adhered all the elements together and set it to one side.

5. Next, I took the Christmas Cracker Etched Dies and die cut some foliage from Pearl Metallic, Merlot ColorWheel Cardstock, and white card.
6. The poinsettias are from Christmas Foliage Etched Dies, and using the Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine, I die cut them from Poppy and Cranberry. The centres are die cut from Matte Metallic, which is also from the Gold Assortment Treasured Cardstock Pack.
7. For my background, using a No.2 round brush, I splattered some gold paint onto a panel of white card, which I had die cut using a die from Perfect Touch Rectangles and Tag Etched Dies. Love the pretty detail around the edge of this panel! I let the panel dry before adhering it onto a top folding horizontal A2 note card made from Pomegranate ColorWheel Cardstock. The white panel was added with foam tape for dimension.

8. The “Joy” was then adhered using Bearly Art Glue, followed by the poinsettias, which were added with some foam tape.
9. The gold and white foliage was then tucked under the poinsettia and glued in place.
10. To finish, I foiled a sentiment from Merry Messages Press Plate and Die Set using Matte Gold Foil and the Glimmer Hot Foil System. It was cut out with the coordinating die and added on top with foam tape.
11. I then popped some Gold Mix Color Essential Gems around the panel for a bit of extra sparkle.

Have A Holly Jolly Christmas

My second card uses the City Holiday Etched Dies and the Christmas Cheer Sentiments BetterPress Plate and Die Set. I often see pictures at Christmas of houses, particularly in the USA, that have decorated each of their street-facing windows with a wreath. I always think that it looks so pretty and that is what I replicated on my card today. I think this may be my favourite die set from this collection – I really enjoyed bringing the card together! I love all the possibilities you have with what you can add to the windows! Although I kept my design quite uniform with the wreaths and one colour for the curtains and blinds, you can have a lot of fun mixing your colours and combinations up with this set.

1. There was a lot of repeat die cutting for my card, which I tried to do systematically as much as possible, but to start off, I die cut the house from white card and the snow bank, which sits behind the house, as well as the one on the rooftop, from white glitter cardstock.
2. The window trims and ledges, door trim, doorsteps, Christmas tree pot, and the roof edge were die cut from Hero Arts Sand cardstock.
3. To differentiate the doorsteps, I coloured one of the steps using an E55 Copic marker. I also coloured the Christmas tree pot with this marker.
4. I die cut the curtains from Alabaster ColorWheel Cardstock, and the wreaths and Christmas tree were die cut from Rainforest and Fern
5. The bows and door were die cut from Poppy and Pomegranate.
6. The presents were die cut from the same reds, plus Rainforest and Peridot
7. Any gold which I used (bow, star, and swag) was Pearl Metallic. As I said, there was a lot of die cutting, but this can be really enjoyable if you pop on some music or a podcast. Or maybe just enjoy some much-needed quiet time!

8. Now you move onto the fun part! Pulling it all together. I glued the curtains to the back of the window frames and then adhered all seven onto the house front.
9. I then glued all the bows onto the wreaths and added them on top of the windows.
10. Next, I adhered the door, the doorframe, and the window swag before popping on the door wreath and the bow that sits in the centre of the swag.
11. To finish the assembly of the house front, I popped the Christmas tree on with some foam tape, and the presents were just added directly into the window frame with Bearly Art Glue.

12. My card base was created from Cranberry ColorWheel cardstock, and I adhered the white glitter snowbank before adding the house on top using thin foam tape.
13. I took the Christmas Cheer Sentiments BetterPress Plate and Die Set and foiled the sentiment using Matte Gold Foil using the Glimmer Hot Foil System. It was cut out with the coordinating die and adhered using some foam tape.
14. To finish, I added some Red Color Essential Gems onto the tree and some Gold Mix Color Essential Gems onto the bows.

Happiest Holidays

My third and final card was made with the Happiest Holidays Registration Press Plate Set, along with a few dies from City Holiday Etched Dies. This set is so beautiful, and I kept my design really clean and simple so that the sentiment is the star of the show.

1. I started off by taking some small pieces of Best Ever Craft Tape and taping the Mylar Registration Template/Guide onto my BetterPress Letterpress System magnetic platform. I also taped an A2 panel of Porcelain Cardstock to the platen.
2. I used BetterPress Black Ink to ink up the first plate, and then I ran it through my Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine. I removed the plate, cleaned it with Archival Cleaner, and lined up the second plate, which I inked up with Peridot BetterPress Ink. I cleaned this after pressing it, and then I lined up the four small berry plates and used Strawberry BetterPress Ink for those.
3. I thought the design would look pretty set within an arch shape, so I cut the panel down using the Essential Arches Etched Dies.

4. Taking the City Holiday Etched Dies, I die cut the presents, swag, and bows from Peridot, Rainforest, Poppy, Pomegranate, and Pearl Metallic card.
5. I adhered these together using Bearly Art Glue and then added them to the top and bottom of my panel using a mix of glue and foam tape.

6. Some Gold Mix and Red Color Essential Gems were added onto the bows, and I finished by adhering the arch panel onto a top folding A2 white note card using foam tape.

That brings me to the end of my three cards, which I made with a much-loved traditional red, gol,d and green theme. I hope they give you some ideas for creating with this gorgeous collection from Yana. If you would like to see more of my cards, I would love to have you join me over on my blog, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. In the meantime, thank you so much for joining me here on the Spellbinders blog today. I hope that you have a great day!

Other Supplies

Neenah Solar White Classic Crest 80 & 110lb cardstock, Thin Foam Tape, Embellishment Wand, Splat Box, Gansai Tambi Starry Colours, No.2 round brush, white glitter cardstock, Copic E55, Hero Arts Sand Cardstock.