ThePowerOfACard: October 2025

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Two Fun Techniques Featuring the Modern Christmas Suite

This is a new suite of products from the On-Line Exclusive section of my store. It has a stamp bundle with 8 stamps and 11 dies, two rolls of baker's twine in black/white/gold, stunning paper with gold foil designs on one side and black and white on the reverse, and gold rings that are perfect for making ornaments. I had a lot of fun making cards and ornaments and I think you will too. The font in the sentiments is so pretty and the gold paired with black and white makes for very classy cards.

I have two (and almost a third) technique to show you in today's video. The first uses an ink blended panel which is distressed with water. But it's not water spritzing that is commonly used - it uses plastic wrap and the result is more controlled and predictable. I'd like to give a shout out to Alysa Tilsner from Australia for introducing this technique to me. The second technique uses embossing powder and multi purpose glue! This unusual technique is a fabulous way to add lights or baubles to the Christmas trees. The "almost" technique uses clear embossing powder and one of the stamps to add strands of glimmer to a tree. All of the techniques are easy to do and help make some very fun cards!

Gather your supplies:

Cardstock: Thick Basic White 8-1/2" x 5-1/2"; Basic White 3-3/4" x 5", 3" x 3", 1/2" x 5-1/2", 1" x 4-1/2"; Real Red 3-15/16" x 5-3/16"; Gold Foil 1" x 1"
Stamp Bundle: Ornamental Christmas
Stamp: Words of the Season
Inks: Real Red, Versamark
Ribbon: Black & White & Gold Baker's Twine 2", Gold Striped Mesh 10"
Embellishment: Metallics Embossing Powder
Adhesive and Tools, including blending brush, transparent tape and plastic wrap

Fold the card base and set it aside. Then use a blending brush and add Real Red to the large rectangle of ink, blending it from dark to light. As I add color, I use a block to hold the paper - this helps prevent getting ink on your fingers and fingerprints on your paper. I found my best results when there was a lot of ink on the paper. For the water distressing technique, you'll need a very wet, but not dripping paper towel. I placed mine in a plastic container, but you could also put it on a plate. Then take a large square of plastic wrap, ball it up and then dab it on the wet paper towel before putting it on the ink blended paper. Keep dabbing until you get a beautifully blotchy background. I would recommend testing your color on a scrap before committing to your card panel - some colors work better than others (as I found out with Blueberry Bushel shown below versus Garden Green). Before putting the plastic wrap away, ink blend the two remaining strips and distress them.

While waiting for the inky background to dry, stamp Merry Christmas on the square of white in Versamark ink, add Gold embossing powder and heat with the Heat Tool. At the Stampin' Cut & Emboss machine, cut the embossed piece with the circle shaped die and the ornament topper from the Gold Foil. Attach the topper to the ornament with glue.

After the blended background is dry, add it to the Real Red panel. Add a Mini Glue Dot near the top center and attach the little piece of baker's twine. Wrap it around the back side and adhere with transparent tape. Add the ornament with Dimensionals (I used Mini Dimensionals on the back of the foil piece so the baker's twine would lay between them). Finish by making a bow with the ribbon and adding it to the top of the foil topper.

Add the thin strip to the inside of the card along the right side. Stamp the sentiment from Words for the Season stamp set in Real Red. Complete the card by adding the final inked piece on the left side of the envelope and trim.

For my second technique, I stamped the evergreen tree in Garden Green. Then I used my fine tip glue dispenser (a bonus gift when you buy my adhesive bundle) to add little dots of Multi-purpose Glue. On top of the glue, I added gold embossing powder. Let this dry a little before heating it with the Heat Tool. You'll end up with little gold embossed lights on your tree! For this card, I fussy cut the tree because I wanted more feathering, but there is a die to cut it out if you prefer. I embossed the sentiments on both the label and inside to coordinate with the gold on the tree. Isn't this a cool technique?

This next card has the other tree in the set. After ink blending, stamping and cutting out the tree, I used the stamp with the curved lines to stamp with Versamark on the tree. Then I added clear embossing powder and melted it. I think it adds just a little special touch to the tree - almost looks like tinsel!

This card on the left was one we made at last month's card class. I fussy cut the trees and popped them up on the ornament, which was cut from one of the sheets of DSP. The other ornament card was super easy to make because the gold ornament paper sets a pretty backdrop to a larger white ornament. I simply added a little Poppy Parade paper behind the openings in the center. I fussy cut the sentiment to show off more of the paper.

I love this layout (can you tell it's one of my favorites??) because it's easy to do and shows off patterned paper. After wrapping the baker's twine around a few times, I popped up the star cut from Basic White. The simple banner with the sentiment in Black looks great on top.

My last card starts out as a 4-1/4" x 11" piece of cardstock. After scoring at 5-1/2", cut the top in half (2-3/4"). This piece is used for the panel that is added to the front flap - very efficient use of paper! I colored the panel of mistletoe with Lemon Lime Twist Blends, then did a few more and fussy cut them out for the decoration on the sentiment panel. I also ink blended my sentiment to add just a touch more color.

We've had gold rings before, but not this big! They make gorgeous ornaments. For the first one, I cut two circles from the Fa La La DSP. Then I added a small circle in white and topped it with trees (fussy cut from the paper). When adhering the baker's twine, I found it easiest to add a rolled up Mini Glue Dot to the top and bottom where the baker's twine connects to the ring. Once the twine is in place, adhere the back side of the ornament with transparent tape. Then add the top side of the ornament with glue. Add a bow a the top for the finishing touch.

These last two ornaments use the other shapes and are done in a similar fashion. The first one has a free floating star that is the same front and back and the second one was inspired from a sample on the Stampin' Up! website. Unlike my other ornaments, I punched a tiny hole in the star so I could dangle it from the ring.

I know Christmas is months away, but I always like to give you lots of ideas for your holiday card making. Additionally, I like having a lot of cards made that I can use myself when it gets time to send them! I adore this suite of products and plan to make even more cards for Christmas and beyond (black and white patterns are always a good choice in my book). I also hope you try the techniques - I used it on the card for my daughter and son-in-law's anniversary and it was stunning in Gorgeous Grape!

Karen

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