Hello fellow crafters – hope you are doing well! Today, I’m sharing some cards I made with die sets from Spellbinders’ new Holiday Cheer Enclosed collection and the recently released Gnome for Christmas collection. These are holiday collections, but you shouldn’t be limited by that. In the post below, I have details on how you can use these dies year-round.
Products from the Holiday Cheer Enclosed and Gnome for Christmas collections were provided by Spellbinders in exchange for my samples. All other supplies were purchased with my own money. I include affiliate links below to support my work at no cost to you.
The products in these collections are adorable but the Special Pet Delivery die set is my favorite. You can die-cut a puppy or kitten and paper piece it together. The set includes some additional dies so you can decorate with a frame, sentiment ribbon, winter hat, antlers, collar, and bow. With die sets that have many small pieces, I find it is easiest to die-cut first. Once everything is cut, glue the little pieces together before you work on the rest of the card.
I made six cards using this die set. First, I went through scraps of my neutral cardstock. I love using my scrap folders whenever I’m doing this kind of paper piecing as I can easily build different looks. Second, I cut the decorative pieces (hats, bows, and collars) in shades of blue, red, green, and grey. I also cut a few antlers but just in shades of brown. Third, I glued the die cuts together, ending up with 9 different puppies. For gluing small die cuts together like this I prefer to use liquid glue, and one of my favorites is Bearly Art. It’s affordable, dries clear, and comes with a detail tip that is a lifesaver with small dies.
Birthday Cards - for kids or pets!
The adorable puppies made me think of Ollie and how gentle he is around kids. I kept the hats since a few of my neighbors’ have kids with winter birthdays (plus they’re cute and resemble party hats). But, if you adjust the colors and leave off the hats – this would work at any time. You could even use this design for a card to a friend for their doggo’s birthday or to celebrate a gotcha day!
For the balloons, I cut a bunch out of leftover Tonic specialty cardstocks using Spellbinders’ Celebration Scene die set. After I added the balloons, the card looked unbalanced. So I went back to my die sets and pulled out an older Spellbinders APG monthly club die: Pop Up 3D Vignette Christmas Tree. The gift boxes were perfect because they are in all different sizes and I was able to find a combination to fill the space. These are older die sets – but both are versatile and actually on sale right now so I recommend getting them if you don’t have balloon and gift box dies in your collection.
For sentiments, I’ve found that with just a bit of tweaking it’s not difficult to customize and create specific phrases for any occasion. In this case, I used two sets. First, an older Small Die of the Month set – Spellbinders’ Layered Mix & Match Sentiments to cut the happy birthday. Then since I wanted to have the pun, I snipped the ‘day’ off the word ‘birthday’. For the hyphen, I used the tip of the ‘b’. Then for ‘bark’, I used Spellbinders’ APG set from October 2019 (One Kind Word Alphabet Collage) and cut the B, A, R, and K out 5 times each from scraps of cream cardstock. I glued the letters together to add dimension. The Layered Mix & Match Sentiments die set is wonderful – you can cut both the word and shadow. It’s also one of the older die-of-the-month sets Spellbinders brought back temporarily. Unfortunately, the One Kind Word set isn’t available right now, but the Be Bold Alphabet set is a great alternative.
Finally, I pulled out all of my Spellbinders Nested die sets. These are a staple; I frequently cut multiple layers and frames with them. I always put the unused die cuts in the back of the storage pockets. I wanted the style to be cutesy so I partially layered a blue hexagon over a yellow rectangle. Without the yellow, I think the look was too stark. This color combination also works for any gender. After I had everything ready, I put it all together with my ATG and Bearly Art glue. I wanted the BARK to stand out so didn’t add any additional dimension or foam tape.
Encouragement Cards - send kindness at any time
Since I had my Spellbinders Nested Rectangle die set out already, I pulled out a few precut panels and layered them for a clean, simple background. Next, I centered a die-cut puppy on one of the oval frames. Finally, I layered the hello sentiment (from the Special Pet Delivery set) on the ribbon. The hello sentiment also makes it fairly generic – so on the inside, I will stamp or write an encouraging or uplifting message. This card has minimal dimension, but keeping it flat makes it easier to mail and I can send it to any of my family or friends that need a positive word at any point in the year.
Next, I made a mini slimline card – here I layered the puppy on another oval frame but left off the sentiment ribbon. I also added a blue bow over the collar to give even more of a whimsical look. For the sentiment, I cut the letters out of white cardstock using the same Spellbinders die as in the BARK card. While the Be Bold collection by Spellbinders includes a set with punctuation – the Alphabet collage doesn’t. Instead, for the ?, I snipped a capital P apart to create one. Lastly, I used the Spellbinders mini slimline card creator die set to cut the dark blue panel. The light blue panel, I cut using an older Spellbinders Scallop Rectangles set. This is discontinued but the Eyelet Lace Frame is a good alternative. Again, I kept it all flat and easy to mail.
I like that both of these encouragement cards are neither overtly feminine nor masculine. Again, these will work at any time but you could adjust the colors depending on the season i.e. pastel shades for Spring, bright colors for Summer, or jewel tones for Fall. Leave off the winter hat, adjust the greeting – you have a wonderful encouragement card for anyone, at any time.
Holiday Cards - for everyone
Of course, this set is designed for the holidays – so I wanted to make a few holiday cards too. I prefer seasonal sets like this as they aren’t religious and I always need a few cards for holiday tips. For the first card, I kept the hat and color in red and added antlers on top of the hat. I layered the puppy on top of a couple die cut ovals I had in my stash from previous cards. The smaller one is from Spellbinders’ Picot Petite Ovals and the larger one is from Spellbinders’ Elegant Ovals. For the rectangular panels, I used A2 Matting Basics A and B sets. Finally, for the sentiment I cut the dies in the Classic Happy Holidays set out of green cardstock and layered it over the top and bottom of the central image.
For the second card, I cut the medium tree from the Pop Up 3D Vignette Christmas Tree set. I arranged two of the puppies and some gifts around the tree to create a mini scene. I kept all of the colors in a more traditional palette and added antlers on both puppies.
For the last card, I went for a clean and simple look. I used a matching bow on the winter hat to give it a subtle accent. I also carefully slid a gift box die cut under the puppy’s paws, so it looks like he’s holding a present. I cut the sentiment from scrap patterned paper. Since the patterned paper was pretty lightweight, I put Stick It adhesive on the back before I die cut.
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