2026 Holiday Card Series #6 | Season’s Greetings

Hi friends!  Today’s card is my sixth installment of my 2026 Holiday Card Series where I made an easy-to-create Christmas card using products from Altenew.  I hope you enjoy it and that it inspires you to get cranking on those holiday cards!

The supplies used:

     Altenew – Patterned Petals Builder Stencil Set

     Altenew – Holiday Essentials Die Set

     Spellbinders – Precision Layering A2 A Die Set

     Altenew – Silver Shimmer Relief Paste

     Simon Says Stamp – Kale Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad

     Simon Says Stamp – Cranberry Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad

     Lisa Horton – Solid Gold Cloud 9 Metallic Pigment Ink Pad

     Altenew – Forest Canopy Glitter Cardstock Set (Emerald)

     Cardstock Warehouse – Stardream Silver Cardstock

     Scrapbook.com – All Purpose Craft Scraper

     Altenew – Mixed Media Palette Knife

     Altenew – Ultra Sticky Grip Mat

     Altenew – Ultra Sticky Double-Sided Tape (1” x 50m)

     Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Background

For the background panel, I trimmed a piece of white cardstock to measure 5.5” x 5.5”.  I placed the cardstock onto my Ultra Sticky Grip Mat and using Stencil 1 from Altenew’s Patterned Petals stencil set, I inked Simon Says Stamp’s Kale ink through the stencil openings.  Using Stencil 2 from the same set, I inked Simon Says Stamp’s Cranberry ink through the stencil openings.  Next, I ink blended Lisa Horton’s Solid Gold metallic ink though the openings of Stencil 3 from the Patterned Petals stencil set and, lastly, I used a palette knife and craft scraper to apply a thin coat of Altenew’s Silver Shimmer Relief Paste through the openings of stencil 4.  I set the panel aside to allow the pigment ink and the paste to fully dry.  Then using the Spellbinders Precision Layering A2 A die set, I used the largest die to die cut a piece of Cardstock Warehouse’s Stardream Silver cardstock.  I used the second largest die from this die set to die cut the stenciled cardstock panel and used Altenew’s Ultra Sticky Double Sided Tape to adhere the stenciled panel to the silver panel.

Creating the Focal Point

For the poinsettia, I chose one that I had already prepared when I created the 5^th card in my 2026 holiday card series using the Altenew Poinsettia and Berries Stamp and Die Set (I always make extras in case I mess something up).  I’ll post the link here for the tutorial for the poinsettia:  https://www.veehatt-inspired.com/post/2026-holiday-card-series-5-a-gift-for-you

 

 

Creating the Sentiment

For the sentiment, I chose to use the “Season’s Greetings” greeting from Altenew’s Emerald glitter cardstock that is in the Forest Canopy Glitter Cardstock Set and twice from heavy weight white cardstock.  I also die cut the coordinating shadow layer die from Lawn Fawn vellum since it will be placed on a somewhat busy background.  I used Bearly Art Craft Glue to adhere the layered sentiment together with one white cardstock layer and the glitter cardstock layer glued on top of the shadow layer and the second white cardstock layer glued behind the vellum shadow layer.

Assembling the Card

First, I adhered the background panel to a white, A2 size, top folding card base using Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue.  I positioned the poinsettia and greeting onto the bottom third of the card front and, once happy with the placement, glued them to the card front.  With that… this card is completed!

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really appreciate it.  Until next time, happy crafting!

2026 Holiday Card Series #5 | A Gift For You

Hi friends!  Today’s card will be the fifth installment in my 2026 Holiday Card Series where I am attempting to have my holiday cards mostly completed before mid-November.  I’ve created this installment with die and/or stamp sets from Altenew and Spellbinders to create a unique Christmas card that also serves as a gift card holder – a gift and Christmas card in one!

The supplies used:

     Altenew – Poinsettia & Berries Stamp and Die Set

     Spellbinders – Envelope of Wonder Die Set

     Lawn Fawn – Jet Black Ink Pad

     Simon Says Stamp – Rhubarb Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad

     Simon Says Stamp – Cranberry Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad

     Simon Says Stamp – Aster Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad

     Copic Sketch Alcohol Marker YG95, E79, E74, R89, R37, G29, G46, G21

     Tsukineko – VersaMark Watermark Ink Pad

     Brutus Monroe – Alabaster White Heat Embossing Powder

     Woodland Scenics – Paper Flower Pollen – Yellow (Spellbinders)

     Spellbinders – Merlot, Graphite, and Lunar Grey Cardstock

     Ranger Ink – Glossy Accents

     Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

     Scor-Tape – ¼” Double-Sided Adhesive Tape

     Scrapbook Adhesives – Thin 3D Foam Squares

     Tonic Studios – White Blizzard Nuvo Glitter Drops

     Altenew – Stampwheel 2.0 Stamping System

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Envelope

For the envelope, I used the Spellbinders Envelope of Wonder die set and die cut the envelope’s pieces from Spellbinders Graphite and Lunar Grey cardstocks.  I glued the flaps and the trim die cut to the envelope base. 

Creating the Floral Elements

For the poinsettias, I used Altenew’s “Poinsettia & Berries” stamp and die set – in case anyone wanted to use this stamp/die set, I’m not sure if it’s available anymore because I bought this one in 2020 (sorry!).  I die cut six poinsettia outlines with the coordinating poinsettia die in the set– I wanted to die cut before stamping to make sure I was able to get the florals centered as best I could and there will be three total ink blended poinsettias for the card and die cut six so I could double-up each die cut.  I placed the poinsettia die cut in my Stampwheel 2.0 and positioned the A1 stamp in the stamp set over the white die cut and inked it with Lawn Fawn Jet Black Ink, I repeated this step two additional times.  For stamp A2, I chose to use Simon Says Stamp’s Rhubarb ink and stamped each of the die cuts with that stamp layer consecutively then used Simon Says Stamp’s Cranberry ink for stamp A3 in the same fashion.  Instead of stamping the poinsettia centers, I chose to color them with Copic alcohol marker YG95 as a base coat and then added a few dots of Bearly Arts Precision Craft Glue to the centers of each flower and layered a coating of Woodland Scenics Yellow Paper Flower Pollen over the glue and set them aside to dry. 

Since I wanted to add a secret money/gift card element to this card, I trimmed a piece of the Lunar Grey cardstock to measure 3” x 3” and used liquid glue to adhere the bottom of one of the poinsettia flowers to this small cardstock panel.  Next, I glued the second set of plain white poinsettia die cuts to the back side of the each of the three ink blended poinsettias (for the one attached to the Lunar Grey cardstock, I sandwiched the grey cardstock between the two poinsettia die cuts.  For the money pocket, I cut a piece of vellum that measures 4” x 2.75” and I scored the vellum with my Scor-Buddy along three of the edges at ½”.  Before reinforcing the folds, I used scissors to cut out the two squares created by the scoring along the bottom edge which will allow the folds to be sharper and the pocket less bulky on the back side.  I applied ¼” wide Scor-Tape along the three half inch edges that I previously scored, removed the adhesive backing, positioned the vellum over the bottom edge of the grey cardstock with the poinsettia attached at the top, then folded over the three adhesive edges to wrap around to the back of the grey cardstock element.

To finish up my floral element portion of the card, I stamped the holly five times for each design (may not use them all) from the same stamp set using Simon Says Stamps’ Kale and Artichoke ink pads.  I inked up the stamps first with the Artichoke ink, stamped them, then added the Kale ink around the bottom edges, smoothed out the hard line with a blending brush, then stamped the Kale inked stamps onto the same location on the cardstock.  For the berries on stamp B2, I used the Simon Says Stamp Cranberry Ink pad and for stamp B3 I used Ranger/Tim Holtz’s Archival Brown Espresso ink.  Once the stamping was completed, I added Ranger’s Glossy Accents to the berries on the holly twigs.

I decided to color the branches with the berries on them using Copic Sketch alcohol markers.  The color combinations I used were:

     Branch:  E79, E74

     Berries:  R89, R37

     Leaves:  G29, G46, G21

Once the branches with the berries were colored, I added Glossy Accents to the berries.

Creating the Sentiment

For the sentiment, I die cut a tag using Lunar Grey cardstock and one of the tag dies from the Spellbinders Assorted Tags die set.  The sentiment I chose to heat emboss onto the tag is from Altenew’s Holiday Tag Sentiments stamp set and I used Brutus Monroe’s Alabaster White heat embossing powder and Versamark ink to complete the sentiment stamping.

Assembling the Card

To assemble the card, I added a combination of thin foam adhesive squares and liquid glue to begin adhering the floral elements behind the money holder element in the envelope.  I kept all the holly and berry twigs glued flat behind the money holder element so that it wouldn’t snag it when pulled in and out of the envelope.  I did, however, pop the poinsettias on the outside of the envelope up on the foam squares since their dimension wouldn’t hinder anything inoperable.

I cut a piece of the Graphite cardstock to measure 5” x 7” for the matting layer of the card, then cut a piece of Spellbinders’ Merlot cardstock to measure 4.75” x 6.75” for the background.  I added texture to the Merlot cardstock panel by using the Spellbinders Bark 3D Embossing Folder and then darkened the outer edges of the embossed cardstock panel by applying Simon Says Stamp Aster ink to the edges using a foam blending tool.  I adhered the Merlot cardstock to the matting layer using liquid glue and adhered those two layers to the front of a white 5” x 7”, side-folding, card base.  Next, I attached the envelope to the card front using liquid glue and a few small, thin 3D foam squares under a few of the pieces of foliage that extended beyond the envelope onto the card front and the very last step was adding the tag/sentiment to the front of the envelope using foam squares.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really appreciate it.  Until next time, happy crafting!

You Make My World Brighter | Altenew Challenge Live! Creative Challenge #58

Hi friends!  Today’s card is my take on Jen’s weekly Altenew Challenge Live from 30 June 2026 (Creative Challenge #58).  The challenge is to “create a project that features the magic of the evening sky, i.e., stars, constellations, fireworks, and lightshows, etc.”.  I have a certain Altenew stamp set that I haven’t used in a few years that I want to utilize on this project, but other than that I’m flying blind!  Let’s see how this turns out.

The supplies used:

     Altenew – To The Moon Stamp Set

     Altenew – Whispers in the Canopy Stamp Set

     Altenew – Masking Paper

     Altenew – Obsidian Pigment Ink Pad

     Simon Says Stamp – Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pads:  Flax, Wheat, Fawn

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Distress Ink Pads:  Crushed Olive, Evergreen

          Bough, Broken China, Faded Jeans, Uncharted Mariner, Black Soot

     Spellbinders – Raven Cardstock

     Waffle Flower – Background Blender Brushes

     Ranger Ink – Glossy Accents

     Altenew – 1” x 1/16” Black Instant Dimension Foam Tape

     Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

Creating the Background

For the background panel, I started out with a white piece of cardstock that measured 5” x 7” (it will be trimmed later to measure 4.5” x 6.25”).  I placed it in my Altenew Stampwheel 2.0 and placed the solid circle stamp from the Altenew To The Moon stamp set on the upper left corner of my cardstock to start stamping the three layers for the moon.  The inks I used were Simon Says Stamp’s Flax for the first moon layer, Wheat for the second layer, and Fawn for the third layer.  I stamped the solid circle stamp a second time onto a piece of Altenew’s Masking Paper since I will mask off the moon before I ink blend the night sky.  I fussy cut the circle image from the masking paper, removed the backing paper from the mask, and applied it over the moon stamped onto the white cardstock.

Next, I selected the ink pad colors I will use for my night sky.  I decided to go with a rather unusual blend (for me anyway) and decided to use the Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads for the ink blending and the colors were:  Crushed Olive, Evergreen Bough, Broken China, Faded Jeans, Uncharted Mariner, and Black Soot.  I used the Waffle Flower Background Blender brushes for my background ink blending and started with Crushed Olive to work my way up from the bottom left corner of the cardstock until I reached my final color of Black Soot.  For my silhouette image at the bottom of the card, I chose to use the Altenew Whispers in the Canopy stamp set and stamped the large foliage stamp so that it draped over the bottom, right corner of my card front using Altenew Obsidian pigment ink.  I mixed a few drops of water with a dab of the Altenew Titanium White Artists’ gouache and spattered it across the background panel with a small paint brush making sure to try and not get too much of it on the silhouette.  After the gouache dried, I carefully removed the mask from the moon.  Lastly, I applied a thin coat of Ranger’s Glossy Accents to the silhouette leaves to add some depth to what is essentially all but a one-layer card.

Creating the Sentiment

For the sentiment, I chose to use one the Altenew Printable Sentiment Strips that says, “You Make My World Brighter”.  I swiped the Distress Ink Faded Jeans ink pad across a scrap piece of white cardstock and did the same with the Evergreen Bough ink pad on another scrap of white cardstock.  I added liquid glue to the back side of the sentiment strip and adhered it to the Faded Jeans cardstock and trimmed around the sentiment to give it a thin mat, then stacked the sentiment on top of the Evergreen Bough cardstock and trimmed around it to create a thin mat.

Assembling the Card

I cut a piece of Spellbinders Raven cardstock to measure 9” x 6.25” and scored it down to middle on the long side at 4.5” – this created my A6, side folding card base.  I trimmed the inky background to measure 4” x 6” and added strips of Altenew Black Instant Dimension Foam Tape in the 1” size to the back side of the background panel.  After removed the adhesive backing, I adhered the background to the center of the card base.  With that… this card is completed!

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really appreciate it.  Until next time, happy crafting!