4 Tips for Christmas Cardmaking

August 24, 2025December 10, 2025 Karen BrownLeave a comment

Bright, colorful Christmas card with a blue "dimpled" background, purple and orange die cut Christmas Crackers and a folliage accents.

Featuring the Christmas Cracker Die Set + Dimpled Embossing Folder

The holidays are the perfect time to get crafty, and Spellbinders’ new Christmas releases make it so much fun! Today I’m sharing a festive card I created with the Christmas Cracker Die Set from Yana’s Christmas Collection and the Dimpled 3D Embossing Folder from Suzanne Hue’s Texture and Foliage Collection.

Along the way, I’ll walk you through 4 tried-and-true tips that will make your holiday cardmaking easier, more enjoyable, and more beautiful.

Tip 1: Use Quality Cardstock

Handmade Christmas card featuring a colorful die cut Christmas cracker in shades of purple, orange, blue, and green. The background is embossed with a dimpled 3D pattern, and some die cuts are raised on foam for added dimension

The foundation of any good die cut is quality cardstock. Thin or flimsy paper isn’t substantial enough for die cutting. For this project, I used Spellbinders’ Color Wheel Cardstock—which is heavyweight, smooth, and cuts like butter.

Color Wheel Cardstock – 5 sheets of each color
48 Color Colorwheel Sampler – 1 sheet of each color

Here are some of the gorgeous shades I pulled:

🌊 Cascade
💜 Fairy Tale
🌸 Lavender & Lilac
🌞 Beeswax
🍊 Carrot
🍎 Pomegranate
🌿 Peridot & Rainforest

Together these created a vibrant, cheerful, and slightly unexpected holiday palette.

Tip 2: Swatch Your Cardstock

Handmade die cut Christmas card using Spellbinders Yana's Christmas Cracker set with the Dimpled 3D Embossing folder.

Having your cardstock organized and swatched makes choosing colors so much faster. I’ll link HERE to a post where I go into detail on how I keep my swatches handy and easy to use.

For this project, I flipped through my swatches until I landed on the perfect non-traditional holiday mix. Seeing them side by side helped me visualize how the colors would work layered on the Christmas cracker.

Products Used:

Tip 3: Use Color Inspiration

Handmade die cut Christmas Card created with the non-traditional colors of blue, purple, orange, red and green.

When in doubt, let a color system do the heavy lifting! For this card, I turned to Color Cubes Volume 2, specifically palette card #252, which inspired the purple, red, orange, yellow, blue color mix. I also own Volume 1. You can find the Color Cubes Bundle HERE.

I’ll also link to a previous blog post that features Spellbinders’ Color Deck System, another fabulous way to spark ideas when you feel stuck or want to try something different.

Click HERE if you’d like to see another Christmas Card using the same #252 Color Cubes palette card.

Tip 4: Add Texture and Dimension

Die Cut Christmas cracker card with loads of texture, dimension and vivid colors.

Flat die cuts are nice, but texture and lift make a card pop. For this background, I embossed a panel with the new Dimpled 3D Embossing Folder—a subtle yet impactful pattern that catches the light beautifully.

I also used foam squares behind some of the cracker die cuts to add depth and shadow. Craft foam also works great, especially on larger die cuts. The best glue for smaller die cuts is Bearly Glue. I love the fine nozzle! Simple details like these can make your handmade card feel polished and professional.

cardmaking · papercrafting

Spellbinders | Embossing Folder of The Month | August 2022 | Intertwined Lattice

August 3, 2022December 19, 2022 Karen Brown1 Comment

Spellbinders August Embossing Folder of The Month Kit + Baby Card. — Intertwined Lattice 3D Embossing Folder

Blue Card for a Baby Shower

I LOVE the Spellbinders August Embossing Folder of the Month! It is called Intertwined Lattice, is very versatile and will work with so many designs. For my baby card, I “debossed” my panel which means the design is pressed below the paper’s surface. I then paired my debossed panel with one of my new favorites: Balloon Party Animal (S3-450). The blue print background is from Spellbinders Cheerful Occasions Paper Pad and I used Craft Foam under the top panel for dimension.

Debossing with Spellbinders August 2022 Embossing Folder of the Month Kit + Balloon Party Animal Die Kit (S3-450) handmade baby card.

I think this is an adorable baby card.

Blue handmade die cut card for a Baby Shower featuring Spellbinders Intertwined Lattice 3D Embossing Folder.

Hello You Strawberry Card

Spellbinders Intertwined Lattice 3D Embossing Folder.

For my second card, I used the “embossed” side of the panel. Embossing means the design is raised above the panel. The August embossing folder is beautiful embossed (below) and debossed (card #1 above)

Spellbinders August 2022 Card Kits: Embossing Folder of the Month, Strawberry Patch Large Die of the Month and Outlined Sentiments Small Die of the Month.

I love the texture that the embossing adds to cards. For this card I used three of Spellbinders August 2022 Subscription Kits: Large Die of the Month called Strawberry Patch, Small Die of the Month and Embossing Folder of the Month. The sentiment was die-cut from Brushed Gold Cardstock using Outlined Sentiments dies and I love the bit of glow it adds to the card.

Hello You Strawberry Card featuring Spellbinders August 2022 Club Kits.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

cardmaking · papercrafting

Sweet Card for a Baby Shower

June 24, 2022July 4, 2022 Karen Brown1 Comment

Layering your card backgrounds + Spelllbinders Origami Folds 3D Embossing Folder

Layering Card Backgrounds to Add Focus

Last week I made a couple of cards using Spellbinders new Birthday Collection. My balloon animal was so cute, that I knew I wanted to use the die kit to make a card for a baby shower that I was attending. For this card, I went with a layered background to showcase my die cut focal element. I knew I wanted to add texture too so I used Spellbinder’s beautiful new 3D Embossing Folder: Origami Folds.

Products Used: