Concord & 9th: Festive Corner Cuts

Happy Sunday!  The Concord and 9th Holiday Release fun continues. :) Today we are featuring the beautiful Festive Corner Cuts Dies.  This set is full of possibilities.  You can make beautiful, quick cards or detailed intricate designs.  It's totally up to you.  We'll start with a quicker option.  

This card may look a bit familiar.  I loved the offset layering of the Festive Corner Cuts Dies on this card that I shared earlier this week, so I did the same thing but flipped the panel upside down.  Like before, I layered white on top of Nectar and Peacock cardstock.

I wanted to highlight that this set includes many other dies besides the decorative corner.  There are two shadowed sentiments.  Isn't this "noel" beautiful?  

I surrounded it with beautiful pines and poinsettias from the die set as well.  I spritzed these with different shimmer sprays and they are so pretty in person!  The poinsettia centers are quickly becoming a new favorite embellishment for me.  Every time I use them I feel like I'm scattering a little magic. 

Okay, on to a little more elaborate design.  The Festive Corner Die is really quite incredible.  I found that if you look at it for a while different designs and shapes will jump out at you, especially if you line the die up and cut it twice to make a square instead of a triangle.  And actually, I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to line up once I had cut one triangle out.  The alignment was nearly perfect the first go around.

For this card I chose to focus on the octagonal shape hidden within.  Filling in the design was a bit tedious, but it felt like I was creating a decorative tile design.  I used Nectar and Grapefruit cardstock for the octagons and added a few Peacock diamonds. 

After spending all that time building my background I wasn't about to cover up a single bit of it, so I chose the simplest card design ever, added a sentiment from Concord & 9th's Holiday Sayings Dies, and called it a day.

I had so many ideas and can't wait to have more time to use these dies.  I actually already have two more projects made that just need to be photographed.  Have a blessed Sunday, friends!  Thanks for stopping by!

Concord & 9th: All Is Calm

Good morning!  I'm back to share another lovely set from Concord and 9th.  Sharing this card with you today feels like inviting you into my home.  Well, my parents home actually.  Over the years my mom built quite the collection of nativities.  Looking at them each year was one of my favorite parts of Christmas.  One of them had the Holy Family inside a glass cloche.  At some point the glass broke, but it still comes out every year.  I thought of it immediately when I saw Concord and 9th's All Is Calm Bundle and the Christmas Cloche Dies and knew right away that I had to recreate it. 

I die cut the cloche, base, and snow (or sand in this case) then covered them with glitter. I stamped the Holy Family and used the All Is Calm Stencil Pack to add some color with pebble and nectar inks.  Then I paper pieced their clothes using papers from the Falala Patterned Paper Pack. 

I inked the edges of the the cloche with powder ink and the base with nutmeg.  Then I embossed a sentiment from the Christmas Cloche Stamp Set.  I also stamped some stars from the Christmas Cloche Stamp Set and the star from the All Is Calm Stamp Set. 

To complete the scene, I used the Stitched Vines Card Front Die on midnight and White Cardstock.  Then I placed a bunch of evergreen pines from the Take a Bough Encore Dies underneath the cloche because my mother usually weaves pines, poinsettias, and other greenery all around the different nativity sets. 

We are about halfway though the Concord & 9th Holiday Release.  Isn't it great that there is still more?  See you tomorrow, friends! 

Stitched Stockings...Oh, How I Love Them!

Hello, friends!  I'll let you in on a little secret...the Stocking Stamp & Stitch Bundle is one of my absolute favorites from the entire Concord & 9th Holiday Release.  I love it so very much!  In 5th grade I went through a cross stitching stint, and now I'm wondering why I ever stopped.  I have stitched a time or two here or there, but I really love how easy it is to stitch a design on cardstock with precut holes.  And these dies do just that!

The Stocking Stamp and Stitch Dies made me so happy that I just had to use a bright color scheme.  I'm a huge fan of Melissa Bickford and she used these cheerful colors on this cute sign.  They translate to Concord and 9th's Sweet Pea, Poppy, Pink Lemonade , Sprout, Oceanside, and Aqua Sky.  

And if you are wondering whether or not I took my Concord and 9th cardstock swatches to the craft store to make sure I had perfect floss matches, yes, yes, I did.  I had everything all laid out on the floor and thankfully another costumer who came to look in the same area just smiled, laughed, and was willing to carefully shop around me. It looked quite comical now that I think about it.  I should have taken a picture! 

In case this could save someone some time, here are the colors I used: 

Sweet Pea = DMC Floss 3806

Poppy =  DMC Floss 3801

Pink Lemonade = DMC Floss 963

Sprout = DMC Floss 15

Oceanside = DMC Floss 958

Aqua Sky = DMC Floss 964

I started my card with a bright Poppy base and layered the Plaid Card Front Thick Die on top.  Next I set about stitching up my two stockings.  I used the stitched lines in the Stocking Stamp and Stitch Dies for both stockings, only I die cut the lines twice on one of them.  This allowed me to vary the stitching patterns. 

I dressed up the stocking cuffs and then filled them with greenery from the Ornament Stamp and Stitch Dies (leaves in Sprout and Oceanside) and the Festive Corner Cuts Dies (pines in Oceanside).  I found that the berries from the from the Ornament Stamp and Stitch Dies are a perfect fit for the sprig/stem of little flowers in the Petal Pushers Dies, so I combined them to make the little berry sprigs on my card using Pink Lemonade and Sweet Pea. 

Finally, I embossed a sentiment from the Over the Rooftops Stamp Set and added a few stars from the Festive Corner Cuts Dies. (They are technically the poinsettia centers.)

I was having too much fun to stop, so I made a second card. 

This time I used a scalloped frame die from the Simply You Dies and added a little holiday magic with the Snowfall Card Front Die.

I did a zig zag stitch to cover the entire stocking.  It kind of looks like a knitted stocking to me. 

Afterward I added the toe, cuff and some greenery.  The poinsettia comes from the Festive Corner Cuts Dies.  The final touch was a sentiment from the Stocking Stamp & Stitch Stamp Set. 

What do you think?  I hope you love them as much as I do!  

Thanks so much for joining me today!  I'll have more to share tomorrow.  I hope to see you back! :) 

Concord & 9th: Holiday Sayings

Welcome to another day of Christmas festivities!  Today we are featuring Concord & 9th's Holiday Sayings Dies.  They are just the right size and pair perfectly with pretty much everything.  They can complement or be the star of the show.  I'm a big fan!

My card started with the fabulous Festive Corner Cuts Dies.  It cuts this beautiful ornate design in a triangle shape that fits perfectly in the corner of an A2 size card.  I was debating on my color scheme, so I cut the Festive Corner  multiple times and had them sitting in a little pile.  When I looked down they were offset a bit, and I loved the look!  I'm starting to recognize that many of my best ideas lately are completely by accident.  LOL!  I layered white on top of Nectar and Peacock...two of my most favorite colors.

Next came the big and bold "Deck the Halls" from the Holiday Sayings Dies.  I cut it from cranberry cardstock and used a white shadow backer. 

I dressed the card up with some greenery from the Ornament Stamp and Stitch Dies (leaves and berries) and the Festive Corner Cuts Dies (pines).  And since I couldn't help but sing "Deck the halls with boughs of holly..." as I created my card, I added a little holly on the sentiment.  It comes from the oldie but goodie Ornamental Stamp Set and is topped with a few cranberry enamel dots.

I used the Holiday Sayings Dies on a few more of my cards, so make sure to check back later this week.  I have lots more to share!  :) Thanks so much for visiting!

Ornaments Turnabout with Concord & 9th

Good morning, friends! I am delighted and ever so grateful to be guest designing for Concord and 9th this month. Get ready for a week full of Christmas fun!

Today, the first day of the Christmas festivities, we are featuring the brand new Ornaments Turnabout™. This is a fun one, and stamping couldn’t be easier with the All-in-One Turnabout™ Jig. (This video by Carissa Wiley is super helpful. It explains all about how to use the All-in-One Turnabout™ Jig and has tons of good tips.  I rewatch it practically every time I use a turnabout stamp.)

Using the jig, I stamped the Ornaments Turnabout™ in Sea Glass, Aqua Sky, Oceanside, and Dove. Then I added two ornaments using the Ornament Stamp & Stitch Bundle. I love this bundle so much! As the name suggests, these look great all stitched up, but I wanted to show how cute the ornaments still are simply die cut or with a few stamps added.

The Ornament Stamp and Stitch dies also include some greenery and this joyful sentiment that I used.

I have been making oodles of cards the last couple weeks with this release, and I have to say this one came together the quickest.  Gotta love that! Thanks so much for visiting today!  Make sure to come back tomorrow.  I'll have more to share. :)