Once upon a time there was a lady who discovered Stampin’ Up! and began to make her own cards.  She’d been told she wasn’t very artistic, but she persevered, playing every day with her with stamps, ink and paper.  In the beginning her projects were very basic, but as time passed she began to experiment.  She discovered sparkly Glimmer Paper, heat embossing, sequins and ribbon, and began to use them more often.  Now she couldn’t imagine not using these pretty things, and when she saw the new Joyous Noel Specialty Designer Series Paper she knew she had to have it.

Stampin’ Up!’s Designer Series Paper (DSP for short) is amazing.  The patterns are created in-house by their own artists, and designed to coordinate with their ink and card colours.  It’s a good weight, more like a lightweight card than paper, and great for cards and 3D projects.  It’s so gorgeous that you don’t need to add a whole lot to make really pretty items, like this simple gift card envelope.

ENVELOPE PUNCH BOARD

I began with a 5-1/2″ x 5-1/2″ piece from the Joyous Noel Specialty DSP and my Envelope Punch Board.  I placed the DSP on the board at 2-5/8″, then punched and scored.  Then using the scored line as my guide I punched and scored the remaining three sides.

Next I used the reverse punch on the Envelope Punch Board to round the four corners of the piece.  Finally I could fold along the scored lines, sharpen the creases with a Bone Folder and assemble the envelope with Multipurpose Liquid Glue.

Last September I filmed a video tutorial for making a gift card envelope using the Envelope Punch Board.  Sadly the stamp set, dies and DSP shown are no longer available, but you might still appreciate seeing how to make the envelope.

THE SENTIMENT

With the envelope done it was time to think about decorating the front.  Picking up on the copper theme I decided that my sentiment would have to be embossed.  But what sentiment?  In the end I settled on ‘treat yourself’ from the Picture Perfect Birthday Stamp Set.

Using VersaMark ink I stamped the sentiment onto some Very Vanilla Card that had been wiped with an Embossing Buddy.  I sprinkled the sticky ink with Copper Stampin’ Emboss Powder and tapped off the excess.  The Embossing Buddy had done it’s job and so there were only a few stray specks of powder to remove.  Once I was happy, I melted the rest of the powder using my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).

SIMPLE DECORATION

Keeping with the neutral/copper colour scheme I cut a length of 5/8″ Burlap Ribbon.  This was attached diagonally across the front of the gift card envelope with Tear & Tape Adhesive.  On top of the burlap I added a length of the 1/8″ Very Vanilla/copper ribbon from the Tea Room Ribbon Combo Pack.

Now it was time for the sentiment and I used the Pretty Label Punch to punch it out.  But although I liked the shape it looked a bit plain against the DSP, I needed a way to jazz it up a little.

AN OLD TECHNIQUE

My solution, a Paper Piercing Tool and Stampin’ Pierce Mat.  I haven’t used these in such a long time since Stampin’ Up! retired their piercing templates.  But it occurred to me, I didn’t need pre-made templates to use these tools.  Instead I punched a piece of scrap card using the Pretty Label Punch.

Placing the punched scrap on top of my sentiment, I slid it over a little until I could see a small border along one edge.  Then using the edge of the scrap piece as a guide I pierced 5 holes in the top right of the sentiment.  I moved the scrap piece to the other side of the sentiment and using the scrap piece as a guide, pieced 5 holes along the bottom left edge.  It was so easy, I can’t think why I haven’t done it before.

Now all that was left was to attach the sentiment to the front of the gift card envelope with Stampin’ Dimensionals and I was done.

I love the neutral colours of this DSP design and the copper foil accents really make this an elegant project.  I could have added more embellishments but I deliberately it fairly flat so the envelope can slip inside a greetings card and still allow it to be mailed.

JOYOUS NOEL SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER

Today’s sentiment was chosen as it could be used for lots of different occasions, and although this is a ‘Christmas’ DSP pack many of the designs can be used for other occasions too.

There are twelve sheets of 12″ x 12″ paper in the pack, and twelve different patterns.  So you get 2 each of 6 double sided designs.  One one side is a standard printed design, but on the reverse of each one is a printed design with copper foil accents.

I love the colours used in this pack: Gray Granite, Merry Merlot, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Tranquil Tide and Whisper White.  Rich colours and no fancy florals make this a great option for masculine projects too.  What do you think?

I created a masculine birthday card using the Joyous Noel Specialty Designer Series Paper and you can see that project in my blog post Use your scraps and stay in control.

Tomorrow’s simple Sunday sneak peek has another new stamp set from the Stampin’ Up! 2018 Holiday Catalogue.  I hope you’ll pop by for a look.  Until then, enjoy your day.

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