Stamping My Own Holly Border

Of all the plants associated with Christmas, I have to say that holly is my favourite. There’s something about the distinctive spiky, glossy leaves that I love, with or without the berries.

With more and more of the retiring Holiday Catalogue items going out of stock, I decided to create a card with a holly border while I still could. So I pulled out the retiring Cup of Christmas Stamp Set and got to work.

HOLLY BORDER

I worked out that a 2-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ piece of card would be the perfect size to create my custom square holly border using the straight border image. So using Call Me Clover ink I stamped one image along the bottom edge of the Whisper White piece. Then I turned the card and stamped another image along the next edge. I repeated this twice more, nesting the images so my border looked seamless with no leaves overlapping.

Then I found the “Merry Christmas” sentiment in the Cup of Christmas Stamp Set, inked it up and stamped inside the border.

Hmm, I’d meant to stamp the sentiment using Lovely Lipstick ink, but wasn’t paying attention. So Call me Clover ink it would have to be.

With the stamping complete I then used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to attach the piece to some Copper Foil Sheet.

COPPER AND LINEN

To add some more copper to the focal point I went for the retiring Brightly Gleaming Foil Elements. I took one of the die-cut ornaments from the pack and threaded some Whisper White Baker’s Twine though the hole at the top. Then I tied a simple knot and secured the loose ends to the back of the layered piece using Tear & Tape Adhesive.

Next I used my new Paper Trimmer to cut and scored some Thick Whisper White Card for my card base. I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder. Then using liquid glue I covered the front with the linen design from the retiring Come To Gather Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. With that done I fixed my layered piece onto the DSP background with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

To create a coordinated look to my project I glued a 3/4″ strip of the same DSP along the bottom edge of a layer of Whisper White Card and fixed it inside my card base.

Finally I glued some more of the DSP to the flap of a Whisper White Medium Envelope. Then I cut the paper to shape with Paper Snips using the edge of the flap as a guide. In no time at all my simple holly Christmas card was complete.

I’m really pleased with how this project turned out, despite my sentiment ending up the ‘wrong’ colour. Even though I know we have some stunning new DSP in the new Mini Catalogue that goes live on January 3rd, I’m really going to miss this amazing linen fabric design. I think I may need to order another pack of the Come To Gather DSP before it’s gone forever!

Here’s some of my other blog posts featuring projects using the gorgeous but retiring Come To Gather DSP:

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Cup of Christmas Stamp Set with the coordinating Cup of Cheer Dies using a single ‘bundle’ item number. This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. Although the Cup of Cheer Dies are carrying over into the new year, the Cup of Christmas Stamp Set is not. Therefore once all remaining stocks of the stamp set have been sold, the bundle offer will end. Even though I didn’t use the dies on today’s project, I’ve included a link to the bundle so you can explore this option while it’s still available.