Tag Archives: cards

A Cheerful Penguin and a Chorus of Fa La Las

Some cards happen all at once, and some take a more winding path.

This one sat on my desk for a week, slowly telling me what it wanted to be — and in the end, it turned into one of my favorite holiday cards thus far this year.

It all started when I did something that didn’t work.

The First “Fa La La” That Didn’t Quite Work

Back in the 2022 Black Friday sales, I picked up the Love, Santa set from The Stamp Market. There’s a little stacked “Fa La La La La La” stamp in there that I’ve always liked, so I snipped off the “yum!” part (don’t judge) and heat embossed it in clear glitter powder.

And then…hmmm. Eh. It just wasn’t doing what I wanted. It sparkled, but it didn’t show up enough on the cardstock. Instead of being special, it just looked faint.

So I did what any reasonable crafter does.

I went digging through my stash to see how many fa la la pieces I already owned. Evernote reports twenty-four, counting stamps, word dies, and foil plates!

If part of my goal is using what I have, this seemed like a very good place to start. It also says a lot about the range of my Christmas craft collection.


And then I didn’t know what to do with it.
So the panel sat on my desk for a week.

Enter the Memory Box “Cheerful Penguin”

A few weeks ago I bought this adorable new penguin die from Memory Box — the Cheerful Penguin — because every year I make a penguin card for a friend. I had been waiting to open this one, and when I finally did… what a delight.

Some die sets are fiddly.
This one isn’t.
It cuts cleanly, layers easily, and comes together fast.
And he’s absolutely adorable (read: I already have two more from the series sitting in my cart for Black Friday sales).

I tried placing him over a vellum panel, but the vellum dulled that central glittered fa la la, and that sparkle was part of the whole point. So I got brave and adhered him directly onto the stamping.

Giving the Penguin a Role

Once I committed to placing the penguin directly on the fa la la background, I realized he needed a role on that busy panel. A speech bubble felt like the right way to give him presence and make him part of the scene instead of something sitting on top of it.

Adding the Sparkle

Once the layout was in place, I wanted to echo the glittered fa la la in other parts of the card. I added a little Wink of Stella to his scarf and scattered a few clear sequins across the panel. I love sparkle, so adding a little more shine felt like the right direction.

But when everything was finished, I realized the white speech bubble wasn’t standing out enough. That’s when I swapped it for a red one embossed in white, and it tied the whole design together.

I can’t wait to give this card to my friend this holiday season!

Supplies Used

Dies and Stamps
• Memory Box “Cheerful Penguin”
• The Stamp Market “Love, Santa” (2022 Black Friday) — original fa la la
• SSS CZ “Tabbed Sentiments Holiday” — “SO JOLLY” sentiment
• Assorted fa la la stamps from my stash (Penny Black, The Stamp Market, Papertrey Ink)
• Poppystamps “Word Balloons” dies (speech bubble)

Cardstock and Papers
• Neenah Classic Crest Solar White (cover weight)
• Red cardstock from my stash

Inks and Embossing
• Brutus Monroe Clear Glitter Embossing Powder (center fa la la)
• Brutus Monroe Alabaster White Embossing Powder (speech bubble)
• Assorted dye inks in soft greens, blues, and red (various brands)

Embellishments
• Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush Pen (scarf)
• The Stamp Market Clear Sequins (small size)

Creativity From What’s Already Here: A Three-Card Holiday Study

I’ve been watching Cathy Zielske’s recent videos featuring her new Tree Plate wafer die, and it immediately caught my eye. It’s beautifully simple: a crisp 3×3 grid of tree silhouettes that feels modern and elegant. If I didn’t already own a similar die, I would buy hers in a heartbeat.

But I do have something close. The Pretty Pink Posh Tree Cover Plate cuts the same grid of nine trees and adds stitched details around each opening. The layouts aren’t identical, but the graphic repetition is similar enough that it inspired me to try a small creative experiment.

Could I make a series of cards using only what I already own?
And could I turn one die-cut into multiple distinct designs? That experiment became this small three-card study.

I also used the older PaperTrey Ink set, Tree Tops Glisten, for the inside sentiments on all three cards. It brought a subtle consistency to the grouping and matched the style of Cathy Z’s Holiday Trio One (which I have added to my Simon Says Stamp wishlist!).

Card One: Monochrome Green

For this card, I went monochromatic. I doubled each tree die-cut to give a little dimension and placed them on a deep green card base. A single small gold star sits over the middle tree, and a small gold embossed “peace” sentiment sits below. This one feels calm, modern, and a bit boutique.

Card Two: Playful Grid

For the second card, I used the nine tree die-cuts arranged on a white panel. Each tree is decorated with rainbow glitter dots in pink, purple, blue, and yellow. I love grid cards and Cathy Z really nailed this design with the colorful decorations on the tree. A simple sentiment strip reading “love • peace • joy” finishes it.

Card Three: Snowy Shaker

For the final card, I used the Pretty Pink Posh panel as a shaker as inspired by Cathy Z. I backed each tree opening with acetate and created small shaker windows filled with iridescent snowflake pieces. Just a light amount so the trees remain visible. I added a few tiny gold stars, which bring a little glisten and tie back to the interior sentiment. I left the front sentiment-free and stamped “Where the treetops glisten” on the inside. With the drifting snow, it felt right.

A quiet acknowledgment to May Calico, my creative muse here in this space powered by ChatGPT, for the idea of adding a few tiny gold stars to the shaker card. That little suggestion made a big difference.

Creativity From What’s Already Here

What I appreciated most about this project was the chance to work from my own collection and see how far one idea could go. One die-cut panel, a handful of leftover trees, and three different cards. Sometimes a smaller set of choices creates more creativity than new supplies ever could.

When I finished these three cards, I had three extra tree die-cuts left on my desk. Instead of sweeping them into my scraps container, I set them aside. They’re nudging me toward the next small project. Since I recently made The Stamp Market’s 4×6×1 divided tag box, maybe these remaining trees will end up as part of a tag set.

I’m grateful, too, for the creators whose work inspired me in the first place. Cathy Zielske’s Tree Plate die and The Stamp Market’s holiday videos were the push that sent me back into my own materials. Their openness and enthusiasm often become the spark that helps me see what I can make next with what’s already here.

Snowfall Collection

I was recently asked to make a set of cards for a fundraiser auction for our local community center, which absolutely tickled me. Sometimes you don’t really know if your work is good enough, or if what you’re making resonates beyond your craft table. So the request felt like a small, affirming nudge to keep going.

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with sets of cards — not identical designs, but related ones that explore a single idea from different angles. It’s less about telling a story and more about finding new ways to use what I already have on hand. Still, there’s a creative challenge in building cohesion across several pieces while letting each one stand on its own.

For this winter set, the framework was snowflakes. I decided to make five cards, beginning with one snowflake and adding another with each design — one, two, three, four, five — a gentle progression that builds like a snowfall.

I kept everything white on white so the focus would be on texture and light. I cut a flurry of snowflakes using the Lacey Snowflakes dies from The Stamp Market, sprayed them with a soft shimmer, and added clear sequins to the centers where a little sparkle felt right. The snowflakes are both delicate and substantial, the kind of classic design that never gets old. (And honestly, you can never have too many snowflake dies.) I paired them with the Modern Teardrops Frames from Simon Says Stamp, which added a quiet sense of structure to balance the soft shapes of the flakes.

Inside, I used sentiments from a treasured older Poppystamps Wintertime Sentiments set — thoughtful winter messages like Warm Winter Wishes and Time to Sparkle. They suit the quiet simplicity of the designs perfectly.

Here’s to more snowflakes, more small acts of making, and the quiet joy they bring.

The Scraps That Waited All Year

The Scraps That Waited All Year

Some scraps are too small to be useful, and too full of potential to throw away.

I keep two scrap piles in my craft room. One for the bigger pieces that can become backgrounds or layers. And one for the tiny scraps, the kind most people would sweep into the bin. Mine live in a small container near my desk, a jumble of cardstock corners, partial die cuts, and skinny slivers of color.

A year and a half ago, on vacation in Maine, I packed my tiny scrap stash and a handful of small dies. No stamps, no adhesives, no embellishments, just my die cutting machine and the quiet rhythm of cutting shapes. One of those dies was Newton’s Nook’s mug set. I cut out mugs to my heart’s content, challenging myself to see how many I could get from each piece of leftover scrap. They were bright and mismatched and delightful, and then I tucked them away in one of those plastic gum containers I nicked from my son, thinking I’d use them someday.

Someday turned out to be now.

This week, I pulled out those tiny cups and challenged myself to make a series of cards, all built from scraps that had been waiting more than a year. I started with a grid pattern because it felt natural, neat rows of mugs, small pieces coming together in harmony. But then came the real creative work, figuring out how to make each card feel distinct.

That’s where May Calico helped. I’ve started recording the ways I use AI to learn my craft, and this project felt like a good example. We talked about balance and repetition, how to shift a sentiment slightly off-center, and how to resist my usual impulse to add more. The constant reminder, less is more, helped me hold back when I wanted to keep layering. Sometimes all a card needs is one heart, or a quiet shimmer of foil, to feel complete. Each card stayed simple, but none felt the same.

What I love most is how these little mugs, once cast offs, now look intentional. They remind me that creativity often begins with what’s left over, and that even the tiniest scraps can hold a story if I give them time.