Making Clean and Simple Christmas Cards Special – Joyful Glimmer Step-by-Step Tutorial with Joan Bardee

Hello crafters! Joan Bardee here and I’m thrilled to be back on the Spellbinders blog featuring part of Yana’s De-Light-Ful Christmas Collection. It’s an amazing collection full of everything we love – hot foil, dies, stencils, etc. I am focusing on Joyful Glimmer, which consists of 2 hot foil plates – one sentiment plate and one holly plate that cleverly wraps around the sentiment.

I love to go all out when I make Christmas cards and add those special elements that make the recipient go Wow. Even so, I love “clean and simple” cards. So, today I’m sharing a few ideas to add special details to clean and simple Christmas cards to take them to the next level. And I’ve got a step-by-step tutorial showing how I made one of the cards.

Joyful Glimmer with Embroidered Holly Leaves

This card uses the following techniques/products to make it special:

• Embroidered holly berries
• Two colors of hot foil (Gold and Black)
• A sub sentiment
• Brushed White cardstock
• Mirror Gold cardstock

Step 1: Foil the Joyful Glimmer Sentiment Plate and a Sub Sentiment from A Merry Little Christmas Sentiments in Gold Foil onto an A2 size piece of Brushed White Cardstock

Tip: Mark the back of the upper left corner of both Joyful Glimmer plates with a black Sharpie or other alcohol marker to indicate the top of each plate This will make it easier to align the holly around the sentiment.

Tip: If your foiling isn’t perfect, use a standard art eraser (mine is from Prismacolor) to remove any stray foiling from brushed cardstock. A sand eraser, like the Tombow version, will remove some of the shine from the brushed cardstock.

Step 2: Foil the Holly Leaves in Black Foil [gallery link="file" columns="2" size="medium" ids="eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczpcL1wvc3BlbGxiaW5kZXJzYmxvZy5jb21cL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjNcLzA2XC9qb2FuLWJhcmRlZS0yMDIzLXlhbmFzLWRlLWxpZ2h0LWZ1bC1jaHJpc3RtYXMtam95ZnVsZ2xpbW1lci1zdGVwMmEuanBnIiwidGl0bGUiOiJNYWtpbmcgQ2xlYW4gYW5kIFNpbXBsZSBDaHJpc3RtYXMgQ2FyZHMgU3BlY2lhbCBcdTIwMTMgSm95ZnVsIEdsaW1tZXIgU3RlcC1ieS1TdGVwIFR1dG9yaWFsIHdpdGggSm9hbiBCYXJkZWUiLCJjYXB0aW9uIjoiIiwiYWx0IjoiTWFraW5nIENsZWFuIGFuZCBTaW1wbGUgQ2hyaXN0bWFzIENhcmRzIFNwZWNpYWwgXHUyMDEzIEpveWZ1bCBHbGltbWVyIFN0ZXAtYnktU3RlcCBUdXRvcmlhbCB3aXRoIEpvYW4gQmFyZGVlIiwiZGVzY3JpcHRpb24iOiJNYWtpbmcgQ2xlYW4gYW5kIFNpbXBsZSBDaHJpc3RtYXMgQ2FyZHMgU3BlY2lhbCBcdTIwMTMgSm95ZnVsIEdsaW1tZXIgU3RlcC1ieS1TdGVwIFR1dG9yaWFsIHdpdGggSm9hbiBCYXJkZWUifQ==,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"] Use the hinge method to make sure the holly leaves are aligned with the sentiment. Great video here if you are unfamiliar with this method. Step 3: Embroider the Holly Berries using a French Knot Stitch.

Poke holes in the center mark of each berry. You’ll need a piercing platform, like the Journey Piercing Mat, on which to place your paper so you can poke holes. Use DMC Variegated Carnation embroidery floss and embroider a French knot in each spot. Yana Smakula demonstrates this (easy – as if I can do it, you can do it) stitch in this fantastic video. I used the full 6-strand width of the floss as it filled out the berries quite nicely. Love how they came out. I found it next to impossible to get a good photo of the Brushed White cardstock, but I think this photo shows some of the built-in shine (glad I bought 2 packs…).

Step 4: Trim Panel, add Mirror Gold Cardstock and Embellishments, and Adhere to an A2 card.

The rest of the card comes together quickly. Trim a ¼” off the bottom of the Brushed White panel, adhere a strip of Mirror Gold cardstock, and glue the panel to a white A2 card. Add some sparkly embellishments and do a happy dance!!

Elegant Brushed Black Cardstock

Black for Christmas? Yes, particularly when the cardstock has built-in shine! This card uses the following techniques/products to make it special:

• Strong contrast in colors - two bright colors of hot foil (Red and Citrine)
• A popped-up sub sentiment
• Brushed Black cardstock
• Shiny embellishments

• Foil both Joyful Glimmer plates in Red and Citrine, onto Brushed Black Cardstock as shown.
• Foil the smaller sentiment from A Merry Little Christmas Sentiments onto Brushed Black Cardstock and die cut or trim.
• Add gems to match the Citrine foil (found in my stash) but red would work.
• Adhere sub sentiment.
• Adhere panel to a white A2 card.
• Take a bow!

Amazing what a change of color can do to a card! It’s hard to see in the photos, but the sub sentiment and the holly are foiled in Citrine foil, a light yellowish-green, rather than gold. It’s such a different, and fun look when paired with the Red.

Stenciled Background

This card uses the following techniques to add to the fun:

• Strong contrast in hot foil colors - (Magenta and Citrine)
• Side sentiment tucked vertically under the word “BE”
• Soft stenciled background
• Brushed White cardstock
• Die cut flowers
• Shiny embellishments

• Lightly stencil the background using Layered Glimmer Holly Background in soft pink and green inks.
• Hot foil the greetings in Magenta and Citrine. The spot under the “BE” is perfect for a vertical sub-sentiment.
• Trim the stenciled and hot-foiled panel.
• Die-cut Poinsettia Bloom with White Brushed Cardstock.
• Trim the die-cut flowers and add with foam tape to the panel.
• Add the panel to an A2 card with more foam tape.

Tip: Use a thin cardboard envelope mailer or a foam mailer (I buy both in bulk) to mail cards with embellishments or dimensions. It will cost more (currently an .87 stamp in the US) but I think it is worth it to preserve all our hard work.

Thanks so much for checking out this post and thank you to Spellbinders! I would love to see anything you make with this fantastic collection, so feel free to tag me on my Instagram account. I’m Dear Paperlicious if you are looking for me. [spellbinders-supplies]S4-1293,GLP-382,GLP-390,STN-057,PCG02E,SCS-123,SCS-263,GLS-005,GLF-039,T-034,SCS-126,70178,11665563,PE-104,GLF-010,GLF-007,GLF-016,GLF-014,SCS-118,SCS-102,SCS-253,SCS-252,6112/6,AD-0114[/spellbinders-supplies]

Other Supplies

Paper trimmer; embellishments; foam mat; scissors, eraser.