Morning all!
I'm over on the Seven Hills Crafts blog today with my last project of the year before the store closes for the Christmas break.
Today's card is a bit of a wintry mash-up.
I've used what I think is the first ever Concord & 9th die set I ever bought and have combined it with a more recent festive favourite.
Way back when, well before Home for the Holidays and Over the Rooftops, Concord and 9th brought out their original dimensional Christmas scene die set: Christmas Cottage.
That set and the coordinating stamps are now retired, but available in very limited stock in the store, so grab them while you can!
Otherwise, you can achieve a similar look with other wintry scene sets like Home for the Holidays and MFT's My Neighborhood dies.
But back to this card, I have combined the Christmas Cottage dies with the Card Stacks Base die set.
Stamp: Concord & 9th - Home for the Holidays
Dies: Concord & 9th - Card Stacks Base, Concord & 9th - Christmas Cottage (r)
Other: Distress Oxides
To make your own card base, you just need a piece of card that measures at least 6.75 inches long so that you score 1.25 inches in from each end, leaving you with a background base that is 4.25 inches in length. That's the main dimension you need to work with.
I blended Distress ink over the back and sides of the "card stack base", leaving the bottom third for white for snow. And it wouldn't be a snowy scene without plenty of white paint splatter!
While the background was drying, it was time to prepare the Christmas Cottage layers.
Tip: The Christmas Cottage dies were specifically designed for stacked cards and have notches to indicate where you need to score a line. It's a good idea to use a Sharpie to mark these notches on the back of the dies so you can more easily see where they will cut.
To fit the Christmas Cottage layers inside the Card Stacks Base, I cut the following sizes of white cardstock strips:
- Treeline - 3 x 4.75 inches
- Single tree - 3.5 x 4.75 inches
- Cottage - 2 x 4.75 inches
Before cutting the layers, I scored lines 1/4 of an inch in at each end of the 4.75 inch length. That way I was able to line up the notches on the dies with the score lines, keeping the top of these dies as near as possible to the top edge of the cardstock, and securing with a piece of washi tape to run them through my die-cutting machine.
Once all the layers were cut, I reinforced the scorelines with a bone folder and applied thin score tape to the edges. It's also a good idea to shave off a little of the right-hand edge of the back treeline layer, so there is a bit of wiggle room for assembly later on.
This is also the time to add any further "fiddly" decorations to your layers.
For this card, I stamped a sentiment from the Home for the Holidays mini stamp set directly below the cottage, adding dew droplets for a little icy detail. I also cut the moon and chimney smoke from silver glitter cardstock and cut the snow on the roof from the white cardstock but added some Wink of Stella to this layer once it was stuck down for some frosty detail. I set the moon aside to add later once the card was assembled, and I could decide where I wanted to put it.
For card stack assembly, I use the technique Jennifer McGuire shows in her video here to attach the layers to the card base. The relevant bit is 9 minutes 15 seconds in.
Once my card was assembled, I just needed to add that tiny glittery moon and a little message on the back – all ready for sending.
Until next time, happy crafting!
 Concord & 9th - Home for the Holidays stamps Shop at: MISC | SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Concord & 9th - Card Stacks Base dies Shop at: MISC | SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Concord & 9th - Christmas Cottage dies (r) Shop at: SHC (UK) |
 Distress Oxide ink pad - Chipped Sapphire Shop at: SBC |
 Distress Oxide ink pad - Picked Raspberry Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC |
 Distress Oxide ink pad - Tumbled Glass Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC |
 Distress Oxide ink pad - Uncharted Mariner Shop at: SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Distress Oxide ink pad - Wilted Violet Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC |
 Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Strathmore Bristol cardstock Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC |
 Memory Box - Festive glitter pad Shop at: MISC |
 Dr. Pj. Martin's Bleed Proof White watercolour Shop at: AZ (UK) |
 Ranger - Glossy Accents Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC |
 Zig - Wink of Stella glitter brush pen - Clear Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Marvy Jewel Picker Shop at: AZ (UK) |
 Scor-Tape - 1/4" Shop at: AZ (UK) | MISC |
 Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: SBC | SHC (UK) |
 MISTI stamping tool Shop at: SBC |
 Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ (UK) |
 Ranger - Mini round ink blending tools Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC |
 Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC |
 Tim Holtz - Distress Sprayer Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC |
 Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Splat Box Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC |
 Waffle Flower - Mini Media Mat Shop at: SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Ranger - Artist brush set Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC |
 Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC |
 Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC |
 Thermoweb iCraft - Purple tape for die-cutting - 1 1/2" Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC |
 Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC |
 Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ (UK) | SBC |
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