2026 Holiday Card Series #1 | Merry Christmas Stitched Poinsettia

Hi friends!  Today marks the start of the 2026 Holiday Card Series where I try (LOL!) to have my holiday cards mostly completed before mid-November.  I’ve never tried stitching on cardstock before so I thought that would be a good start with attempting a technique I’m very new at… let’s make a card!

The supplies used:

Spellbinders – Stitched Poinsettia & Holly Die Set

     Taylored Expressions – Flickering Stencil

     Waffle Flower – A6 Piercing Layers Die Set

     Honey Bee Stamps – Simply Stated: Holiday Stamp and Die Set

     Spellbinders – Alabaster Cardstock

     Spellbinders – Merlot Colorwheel Cardstock

     Spellbinders – Poppy Field Color Essentials Cardstock

     Spellbinders – Sage Color Essentials Cardstock

     Concord & 9^th – Juniper Cardstock

     Anna Griffin – Gold Matte Foil Cardstock

     Simon Says Stamp – So Very Black Cardstock

     Tim Holtz/Idea-ology – Christmas Backdrops Patterned Paper Pack

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Old Paper Distress Oxide Ink Pad

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Lost Shadow Distress Oxide Ink Pad

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Black Soot Distress Oxide Ink Pad

     Simon Says Stamp – Sage Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad

     Simon Says Stamp – Eucalyptus Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad

     Simon Says Stamp – Sangria Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad

     Simon Says Stamp – Cabernet Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad

     Scrapbook.com – Foam Ink Blending Tool

     Scrapbook.com – All Purpose Craft Scraper Tool

     Altenew – Mixed Media Palette Knife

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Opaque Distress Texture Paste

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide Spray

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Shabby Shutters Distress Oxide Spray

     Iuile Watercolors – Gold (Q21)

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Distress Splatter Brush

     DMC – Gold Diamant Thread (D3852)

Embroidery Needle

     Honey Bee Stamps – Holiday Wishes Gems Stickers

     Tsukineko - VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad

     Ranger Ink – Super Fine Detail Black Embossing Powder

WOW! Heat Embossing Tool

     My Sweet Petunia – MISTI Original Stamping Tool

     Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

     Scrapbook Adhesives – Thin 3D Foam Squares

     Scor-Tape Double Sided Adhesive

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Background Panel

I started the background by using a foam ink blending tool and Tim Holtz’s Distress Oxide Ink Pads in the colors Lost Shadow and Old Paper.  I ink blended the two colors in random places on a 5”x7” piece of Spellbinders Alabaster cardstock then spattered clean water with my fingertips across the inky panel and picked up the excess water droplets with a paper towel.  Next, I applied a layer of Distress Opaque Texture Paste through the Taylored Expressions Flickering stencil to the background using an Altenew palette knife and my Scrapbook.com craft scraper tool.  Once completed, I set the panel aside to dry completely.

After the panel dried, I used my Tim Holtz Splatter Brush and spattered Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide Spray – heat dried the panel –Shabby Shutters Distress Oxide Spray – heat dried the panel - and lastly a heavy spattering of Iuile Watercolors’ Gold (Q21) watercolor paint then I set the background aside to dry again.  I die cut a piece of Simon Says Stamp So Very Black cardstock using the largest die in the Waffle Flower A6 Piercing Layers die set and die cut the inky, pasted background using the second largest die in the die set.  Using Scor-Tape, I adhered the two background layers together.

Creating the Focal Point

Using the Spellbinders Stitched Poinsettia and Holly stitching die set, I die cut more green and red leaves than I’ll ever need from the following cardstock colors:

     Red Leaves:  Spellbinders Merlot and Poppy Field

     Green Leaves:  Spellbinders Sage and Concord & 9^th Spruce

     Foil Centers:  Matte Gold Anna Griffin Foil Cardstock with

               Honey Bee Stamps Gold Gem Stickers at Center

Before stitching the elements, I added a bit of depth to each leaf by lightly ink blending the edges with Simon Says Stamp inks in the colors Eucalyptus (light green leaves), Sage (dark green leaves), Cabernet (Poppy Field leaves), and Sangria (Merlot leaves).  I used DMC Diamont gold thread and an embroidery needle to stitch the accents onto all the die cuts.  After the stitching was completed, I glued a Poppy Field stitched die cut on top of a Merlot stitched die cut then placed one of the matte gold foil die cuts that serve as the poinsettia center to the middle of the stacked poinsettia leaves.  Once the glue dried, I adhered three gems from the Honey Bee Stamps Holiday Wishes Gem Stickers to the center, matte gold foiled die cut piece – I repeated these steps a second time to create another poinsettia bloom.

I selected one of the backdrop sheets from the Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Christmas Backdrops patterned paper pack and trimmed the paper by first, die cutting it with the second largest die from the Waffle Flower A6 Piercing Layers die set so the edges of this panel would line up perfectly and have the paper piercing that the inky/texture paste covered background panel has, then I cut this height of the patterned paper to measure 2.25 inches.  Next, I die cut a 2.5” tall scrap of the Simon Says Stamp So Very Black cardstock with the same Waffle Flower die as the patterned paper (again, I’m trying to maintain the pierced edge as the other layers).  I used Scor-Tape to adhere the black cardstock panel to the card front and used glue to adhere the patterned paper on top of the black cardstock panel. 

I arranged the five green leaves and both poinsettia flowers to the card front and used liquid glue to adhere them to the card front once I was satisfied with the positioning.  I did have to add a few small foam squares to three of the top flower’s leaves to help level them out with the other elements.

Creating the Sentiment

For the sentiment, I used a scrap piece of the inked background (before I added the texture paste) and used the Honey Bee Stamps Simply Stated: Holiday stamp and die set to stamp “Merry Christmas in VersaMark embossing ink which I heat embossed with Ranger’s Super Fine Detail Black embossing powder.  I die cut the stamped sentiment and applied a very light amount of Distress Black Soot Oxide Ink to the edges to distress the look a bit and added small foam adhesive squares and liquid glue to adhere it to the card’s focal point. 

Assembling the Card

I added strips of Scor-Tape behind the background panel and adhered them to an A6, side-folding card base to help flatten the pasted background that can sometimes warp in the drying process.   My final touch was adding a few more of the Honey Bee Stamps Holiday Wishes gem stickers to the card front to complete the look. 

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

Happiest Birthday Ever! | Trinity Stamps + Honey Bee Stamps

Happiest Birthday Ever!  |  Trinity Stamps + Honey Bee Stamps

Hi friends!  Today I’ve made a birthday card using the Sarah Renae Clark Color Cube card #030 color scheme.  The stamp and stencil products I used are from Trinity Stamps and Honey Bee Stamps.  It’s definitely a hand delivery card with the amount of Hero Paste I used – but well worth it for the look I achieved.  Let’s get started!  

The supplies used were:

Trinity Stamps “Hey Cupcake” Stamp and Die Set

Honey Bee Stamps “It’s a Party” Stencil Set

Hero Arts Glitter Hero Paste

Brutus Monroe Gold Glitter Glaze

Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated Inks:

    Honey

    Field

    Morning

    Dusk

    Peachy

    Terracotta

Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Dye Ink

Copic Alcohol Markers –

    Yellows:  Y04, Y18, Y26

    Blues:  B93, B45, B97

    Peaches:  YR01, YR65, E97

X-Press It Blending Cardstock

Spellbinders Sunkissed Cardstock

My Favorite Things Blue Yonder Cardstock

Pretty Pink Posh “Beach Day Shaker Beads”

Wagner Heat Embossing Tool

Misti Original Stamp Positioning Tool

Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

I started today’s card by cutting a piece of white cardstock that measured 4-1/2” x 5”, a piece of Spellbinders Sunkissed cardstock that measured 5” x 5-1/2”, and a piece of My Favorite Things Blue Yonder cardstock that measured 4-7/8” x 5-3/8” (approximately).  I used tape runner to adhere the yellow and blue panels together.

For the stenciling, I used the white cardstock panel listed in the previous paragraph and used the Honey Bee Stamps “It’s a Party” stencils to create my background.  There are six stencils in this set and I used a blending brush and Simon Says Stamp’s Pawsitively Saturated Inks in the colors: Honey, Field, Morning Peachy, and Terracotta.  After my stenciling was completed, I re-used the Layer 4 stencil (the one with the stars) and placed it back onto the ink blended panel and aligned it with the yellow inking that was already completed and applied a generous layer of Brutus Monroe Gold Glitter Glaze with a palette knife all over the stencil until it was evenly covered, returned the excess back into the jar and immediately cleaned off my work surface, palette knife, and stencil.  I set the background panel aside to dry while I moved on to the next step.

Using my Misti stamp positioner, a piece of X-Press It Blending Cardstock, and Simon Says Stamp Intense Black ink pad, I positioned the two cupcake stamps from the Trinity Stamps ”Hey Cupcake” stamp and die set into the Misti and stamped the images onto the X-Press It cardstock panel.  After cleaning off my stamps, I used my heat tool to dry/set the ink since I was going to be coloring with Copic alcohol markers. 

For the cupcake coloring I used Copic markers Y04, Y18, and Y26 for the icing portion; markers B93, B45, and B97 for the cupcake wrapper; and markers YR01, YR65, and E97 for the small cake portion.  I used the coordinating dies to die cut the images and also cut an extra layer of the icing from heavy white cardstock to make that piece more structurally sound since I will be applying paste to it later and the extra cardstock will help prevent warping as the paste dries.

I used the smaller icing die included in the “Hey Cupcake” stamp/die set and die cut a piece of heavy weight white cardstock to make a stencil for my pasting (which means I only wanted the negative space).  I used temporary tape to adhere this piece of cardstock to the top of my Copic colored icing die cut and carefully applied a thick layer of Hero Arts Glitter Hero Paste over the inked icing (again, using that negative space stencil I made).  I slowly removed the homemade icing stencil from the yellow icing die cut and used my fingertips and a metal piercing tool to sculpt the edges of the Glitter Hero Paste so that the edges were completed covered and to also clear the paste from the black inked shadow areas that were made by the actual stamp.  I did this until the entire die cut was evenly covered with the paste and then added some Pretty Pink Posh “Beach Day Shaker Beads” to random areas in the icing to mimic nonpareils.  I set this portion of the project aside to dry several hours since I didn’t want to smear my paste.

Once the Glitter Hero Paste dried, I used liquid adhesive to adhere the icing die cut to the top of the cupcake die cut.  I used a white gel pen to add some highlighting to random areas of the blue cupcake holder and allowed that a small amount of time to completely dry.  While the gel pen was drying, I used the “Wishing you the happiest Birthday ever!” stamp from the Trinity Stamps “Hey Cupcake” stamp/die set and stamped it onto a piece of white cardstock using Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated “Dusk” ink then used the coordinating die to die cut it and also an extra one so that I could add dimension to the sentiment.  I adhered the birthday greeting to the blue cupcake holder portion of cupcake using liquid glue and then applied thin foam squares to the back of the cupcake.  Next, I used tape runner to adhere the stenciled card panel to the card front panels, then removed the release paper from the back of the foam tape squares on the cupcake and adhered it to the card front and that completed today’s card. 

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed the birthday card and found inspiration for some of your cardmaking projects!  Until next time… happy making!