I am so excited to be participating in the very first Magnolia Blog Hop today! These designers from around the globe have prepared some beautiful Christmas projects for you, so be sure to check out Ginny Harrell's Celebrate the Journey blog next. You can find the complete Blog Hop itinerary and links at the bottom of this post. 

You've probably already stamped, signed, and mailed your Christmas cards this year, but I wanted to share some of the cards I made using three different fun folds. These folds are great for Christmas or any occasion.

This first card is a tri-fold card. This is created using two pieces of cardstock. The back is a piece of Mossy Meadow Cardstock that is 11" x 4 1/4" and is scored at 5 1/2". This piece is then simply folded in half. The front piece is Pretty Peacock cardstock and is 10 1/4" x 4". This piece is scored at 2 1/2" and 5". The folds are folded in different directions to create an accordion type fold as you can see in this photo. 

​I decorated it using paper from the Brightly Gleaming Designer Series Paper and Mossy Meadow, Night of Navy, and Pretty Peacock ink and cardstock. The star decorage on the front fold hides additional decoration on the layer behind. The card also lifts up to reveal an "inside" with an additional sentiment.

This second card features a flap on the right hand side. The central images on the card is attached to this flap. In addition to the beautiful patterned paper, this card has lots of sparkle because it uses gold glimmer paper. While the foil in the designer series paper is copper, next to the gold glimmer paper, it appears golden. 

The last card has a fold-back flap. It is basically a regular card where the right side has been folded back to reveal the inside. Three strips of the Brightly Gleaming Designer Series Paper are used to emphasize the three areas. I decorated this card with a group of stars. The stars are glued to each other where they overlap so that they are only attached to the center, folded-back flap. 

For this first card, I stamped the focal penguin in Jet Black Stazon ink. Then I stamped the other penguins around him using Smoky Slate ink. I stamped the penguin's bow tie in Gorgeous Grape, cut it out, and attached it to the penguin using a mini Stampin' Dimensional. 

The "Congratulations" stamp is from the "Here's a Card" stamp set, found in the 2019-20 Annual Catalog. I stamped it on a strip of Whisper White cardstock using Gorgeous Grape ink. I cut the ends as flags and adhered it to the card front using Stampin' Dimensionals to give it depth. 

The second card has a trio of penguins all stamped in Jet Black Stazon ink. I stamped the bow ties with Pacific Point ink, cut them out, and glued them to the penguins using liquid adhesive. I stamped some snow for the penguins to stand on using Pacific Point as well. However, I wanted it to be a little lighter, so I stamped off on a piece of scrap paper before stamping on my card front. 

The New Year's sentiment for this card comes from the Playful Penguins stamp set. I simply stamped it directly on the card front using Jet Black Stazon ink.

These cute little penguin friends seem to be cheering each other up, and the fun pop of Melon Mambo helps brighten the card. To allow one penguin to stand in front of the other penguin, I used masking. I stamped the front penguin (the one with her wings down) on a sticky note. Then, I cut out the left side of the penguin. I stamped this same penguin in Jet Black Stazon ink on my card front. Next, I put the sticky note penguin directly on top of the penguin stamped on my card front. Then, I stamped the penguin in the background (the one with his wings up) on my card front overlapping the sticky note penguin. Finally, I peeled the sticky note off to reveal the image. 
​

The last card may be my favorite of the quartet. This little penguin in his scarf definitely looks like he needs some get well wishes!

Like the others, he's stamped with Jet Black Stazon ink. His scarf is stamped in Bermuda Bay ink on a scrap piece of Whisper White and cut out and attached. The sentiment comes from the Well Said Stamp Set and "wishes" is cut from Bermuda Bay cardstock using the Well Written dies. To dot the "i," I used a silver metallic pearl. Like the other cards, I stamped off the snow before stamping it on the card front in Bermuda Bay ink. 

This card uses only Pretty Peacock, Copper Foil, and Very Vanilla cardstock. I stamped the bells with Pretty Peacock ink on Pretty Peacock cardstock (5 5/16" x 4 1/16") for the background. To give this background layer some texture, I embossed it with the Subtle 3D embossing folder. 

I cut another piece of Pretty Peacock cardstock with the Stitched Shape dies and mounted it on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock. To pull your eye up, I added a thin strip of Copper Foil cardstock about one third of the way down the front of the card.

For this second card, I used the Stitched Rectangles dies to cut a frame from the Brightly Gleaming Designer Series Paper. When I assembled the card, I used Stampin' Dimensionals to attach this frame so that it is higher than the background. 

The bells, bow, and sprigs were cut using the Detailed Bells dies. The small stars are punched out from one of the other bells in the die set. The sentiment is stamped in Night of Navy ink on Very Vanilla cardstock. Then I cut it out free hand, trimming closely to the words to get the straight edges in the center and the curliness of "Hoping" and "Joy" on the ends. 

The third card uses the same technique as the first card of stamping a background and then embossing it with the Subtle 3D embossing folder. I love the look this gives the background; it almost looks like fabric. I mounted this piece of Mossy Meadow (5" x 3 3/4") on another piece of Mossy Meadow (5 3/16" x 3 15/16") that hadn't been stamped or embossed. This provides a subtle border between the embossed background and the Pretty Peacock card base.

The sentiment is stamped on Very Vanilla and cut with the Stitched Shapes dies. The other images are cut using the Detailed Bells dies.

My fourth card features the largest bell in the Bells are Ringing stamp set. For this bell, the outside of the bell, the inside of the bell, the clapper, and the decorative band in the center are all separate stamps. To create two different coppers for the outside and the inside of the bell, I embossed the outside of the bell and the clapper using copper embossing powder. Then, I stamped the inside of the bell using Copper Delicata ink. I added the decorative centers in Pretty Peacock, Mossy Meadow, Night of Navy, and Merry Merlot ink and added coordinating bows colored with the same inks. 

For the final card, I used the handbell stamp. I stamped it using Stazon ink and then colored with an aqua-painter and inkpads as I did in the other cards using Crushed Curry for the bells. 

The holly leaves in the lower right are cut from the Brightly Gleaming DSP and instead of berries, I used the Copper Star Designer Elements.  A couple of these are used on the top of the card as well. The other swirls and stars are pieces that are "punched out" when cutting the other bells in the Detailed Bells dies. 

So last weekend, I was stamping with my sister and I asked to borrow a piece of washi tape to hold my die in place before I ran it through the Big Shot. She showed me a giant stash of washi and confessed that she never used it, except to decorate her phone case. I admitted that I rarely used mine except for holding dies in place. I have a feeling we're not the only ones.

Do you have a giant stack of washi hanging out in a drawer that you're just not sure what to do with? It's addictive, isn't it? It's so pretty and comes in packs with coordinating patterns. And at it's generally low price point, it's easy to keep adding a few rolls to the stash. It seems so useful and yet, we seem to have trouble actually using it.

For this birthday card, I started by laying a piece of yellow washi across a piece of Whisper White cardstock. Then I stamped the Happy Birthday greeting from the Here's a Card stamp set with Rich Razzleberry ink. I laid another piece of yellow washi under the greetings. Then, I started layering the washi to create a pattern. I overlapped some pieces and left some white space between others. To finish it off, I layered it on a Rich Razzleberry card base. 

On a second piece of Whisper White cardstock, I stamped an inside greeting and added a couple more pieces of washi. I glued it to the inside of the card, and just like that, I had a quick and easy birthday card. 

Next, I tackled a Christmas card. I started with a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock. I cut strips of coordinating washi. I stuck a piece in the center of the cardstock towards the top. Then, I kept layering pieces of washi below it. Each strip is kind of the same length, but not exactly. This created a jagged edge instead of a straight rectangle. Much easier than trying to get it perfect! 

I stamped a Christmas tree from the Perfectly Plaid stamp set in Garden Green ink with a Soft Suede trunk. I punched the tree with the Pine Tree punch and used some dimensionals to layer it on top of the washi. For a little fun pop. I added a copper star to the top of the tree. 

I layered the Cherry Cobbler piece on a Garden Green card base. For the inside, I stamped "Merry Christmas" on a piece of Whisper White cardstock and added some washi on the bottom. Another quick and easy card in the bag!

For the final card in my washi trifecta, I created a thank you card using the Well Written dies and the Well Said stamp set. 

I started with a piece of Gray Granite cardstock. I placed two pieces of washi along the bottom. I cut one side off at an angle and anchored the other side to the back of the cardstock. I cut the "thanks" from Mango Melody cardstock and stamped the "For Everything" on a strip of Whisper White cardstock. I layered these above the washi and then stuck the whole piece on a Mango Melody card base. 

For the inside, I stamped an inside greeting from the Well Said stamp set and added a little more washi. 

It really is amazing how quickly these cards came together. So, pull out those rolls of washi tape gathering dust on your craft shelf and start using them whenever you need to whip up a card for a loved one!

This week's Color Throwdown is to use the colors Teal, Olive, Rust, and Navy on a card. I pulled out Coastal Cabana, Old Olive, Night of Navy, and Gold Glimmer paper for the rust color. 

The So Many Stars stamp set has these pieces that I thought were just to make radiance lines for the stars. I had used them with some solid stars that I cut with the Stitched Stars dies, but since that die set was off the table, I tried stamping them with a stamped star image. The results were a little busy. 

You can see on the finished card that I used these stamps to make a pattern that accents the greeting I pulled from the Here's a Card stamp set. I'm so glad I sat down to really play with this stamp set. I can't wait to use these stamps on other cards!

I cut strips of Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black cardstock that were 8.5" x 2.25". Then I scored each strip at 4" and 4.5". Because the strips were 8.5" long - the width of a piece of cardstock - I only had to make one cut for each strip. 

I slipped each end of the strip through my Tailored Tag punch in order to create a pointed end on each side. You can see how this works in this photo from a previous project.
​

I folded the sides up and stapled two mini starburst packages inside. Then I punched a hole at the top and closed it up with a piece of grosgrain ribbon from my stash. Instead of tying a knot directly, I used a second, skinnier grosgrain ribbon from my stash and tied a knot around the wider Old Olive ribbon. 

To finish it off, I added a piece of 2" x 3" patterned paper to the front and a "Happy Halloween" greeting. For a few of them, I also added a pumpkin stamp that I pulled from my stash. 
​

​First up is the pirate duck. All set for Halloween, this cute little duck is dressed as a pirate. I simply stamped the duck on white cardstock, added a couple layers, and then put it on the Daffodil Delight card front. I stamped a few stars from the set behind the duck to add a little background interest and added strips of the Designer Series Paper at the bottom to pull in the colors from the duck.

The next card features a cute little chick decked out with a Santa hat and a star. You'll notice I used the same layout on all four of these cards. I simply changed the orientation. But each one features strips of the patterned paper along the bottom or side and the image stamped on white and mounted on coordinating cardstock.

For each one, I also stamped something on the card front using the same color ink as the cardstock. For the chick and duck, it was the stars, but for the turkey and the hen, I did something a little different. The set contains greetings for each season as well. For Thanksgiving, there is a stamp that says: "give THANKS." I carefully  inked up just the "THANKS" portion of the stamp and stamped it on my card front. (It actually wasn't hard!) I stamped it three times each inking to give different densities of color. 

I did the same on the Valentine's Day card, but instead of using one color, I used Poppy Parade, Gorgeous Grape, and Flirty Flamingo to tie in all of the colors of the card. 

These cards really were quick, easy, and fun to make!