Sparkle Twice: One Cut = Two Christmas Cards!

 

One of the best parts about holiday crafting is finding little tricks that save time — without sacrificing the sparkle. Today I’m sharing a fun way to stretch your Christmas glimmer paper: cut it once, and you’ll have enough to make two beautiful cards!

(Confession time: if you follow my instructions you’ll get it right… if you follow what I did in the moment, you might end up with a laugh instead of two perfect cards. 😉 But that’s part of the fun of crafting, isn’t it?)

Why You’ll Love This Trick

✨ Double the cards from one cut
✨ Gorgeous shimmer without waste
✨ Quick and easy for holiday cardmaking marathons
✨ Perfect for mass-producing Christmas cards

I’ll walk you through the cutting trick step by step in my video tutorial, then show you how to put together two pretty, sparkly Christmas cards that are ready to mail or gift this season. A little shimmer goes a long way — and with this method, you’ll see just how far your glimmer paper can stretch.

Ready to Try?

Grab your glimmer paper, your favorite holiday stamps, and a paper trimmer. With one quick cut, you’ll be on your way to two fabulous Christmas cards — full of shine, texture, and that special handmade touch. Watch past my first cut to get to the correct (perhaps obvious) way to cut the two pieces at the same time for a perfect match.

Let’s make this season sparkle — one card (or two!) at a time. 🎄💌

smiles, 

Laurie

✨ Pin this idea for later! If you’re looking for handmade Christmas card ideas, this glimmer paper hack is perfect for saving time and supplies. Learn how one cut can create two beautiful holiday cards that sparkle and shine — quick, easy, and oh-so festive!

Add Depth, Texture, and Wow Factor with Embossing Folders

 

One of the quickest ways to add instant wow to your handmade cards is with an embossing folder. With just a simple pass through your machine, you can transform plain cardstock into something full of texture, detail, and dimension. Panels of embossed paper can give even the most basic layouts a polished, professional look. Sometimes all it takes is the right texture in the right place to make your card really pop!

In today’s project, I’m sharing two ways to use a 3D embossing folder. Simple enough and you can completely transform your cardmaking. I’ll show how these techniques achieve very different looks. And take your Embossing folders from background enhancers to Focus point!

✨ What you’ll see in this tutorial:

• Simple card layouts that let your embossed panels shine

• A few techniques to highlight those gorgeous raised details

• How the right paper + ink + embossing combo delivers maximum impact

Whether you’re brand-new to embossing or looking for fresh ideas, these cards will inspire you to pull out your folders and give them another look. They’re the perfect way to stretch your supplies and step up your cardmaking with very little effort.

So grab some cardstock, your favorite embossing folder, and let’s get crafting — you’ll be amazed at how quickly your cards go from simple to stunning!

smiles,

Laurie 

Versatile Variegated Leaves for a Crisp Fall card

 Add a lot of punch with just a little daub of deeper coloured ink to create pretty leaves. Achieve a variety of inked images which adds depth to your card as you create your own custom background of "Designer Paper" 

Falling leaves from the Textured Notes was never more easy to achieve.

smiles,

Laurie

🍂 A Fall Feel SImple Card with Charming Day 🌹

Sometimes a simple layout is all you need to create a card that really shines. For this project, I reached for the Charming Day stamp bundle and worked to give the roses a warm, autumn vibe. Pairing them with Soft Seafoam, but ultimately with this month’s featured colour—Lost Lagoon—added the perfect seasonal touch without feeling too heavy.

I kept the layout super simple (something everyone can try!) and let the colouring and monochromatic tones do the work. A stamped sentiment, a little layering, and just like that—you’ve got a beautiful card that’s ready to send a smile to someone special.

To create the background stamping, I even shared an easy hack, complete with an adjustment you might need to make to have it work!

This card reminded me that even floral sets can be dressed up for any season just by playing with colours. Lost Lagoon gave me the cozy fall feel I was looking for while still keeping things fresh and elegant.

💌 Have you tried making “fall-ish” cards with non-traditional stamp sets? I’d love to hear what colours or bundles you reach for!

smiles, 
Laurie

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One Sheet Wonder for 3 Quick cards

 If you like to have some pretty cards on hand for that occasion where you need a card in a hurry, these are a great place to start. With just one sheet of 6x6 DSP, you can create these three cards in a quick minute. You can add the right sentiment, a ribbon and some bling and into the envelope they go to mail off as the perfect card for any occasion! 
They also can be packaged up as a pretty coordinating gift bundle of cards.

One Sheet Wonder

view the video to see cutting ideas

3 or 4 cards from one 6 x 6 " piece of paper. Cut in half at 3" with Direction running up and down on the 3 inch pieces. Take 1 piece and cut at 4", save the 2 " piece, this is the optional 4th card piece. Take the 3 x 4" piece and cut into 3- 1" strips.

Take the other 3 x 6 " piece and cut at 3" One 3 x 3 is a card for you! Cut the other 3 x 3" piece at 1.5" x 1.5" squares for 4 squares to make another card. Add sentiments and ribbon plus some bling. Ta da!

I do frequent Lives on Facebook giving great insights on creating your own cards.

I have a wonderful community membership, with a monthly fee, please Join us, check it out! Weekly classes on Zoom, shop your own stash, challenges, prompts and inspiration to keep you stamping and playing and a private facebook group to share your creations to a supportive audience!

smiles,

Laurie LaRose

Please choose me while shopping www.stampinup.ca

A mashup of a trio of Stampsets

 I started off the video using inspiration from the garden and stamping up some things from Flowering Rain Boots stamp sets. to complete the card, I pulled together a few things from my desk. AND love the outcome! 

I have been pulling out lots of older sets lately, shopping my own stash, so to speak. Loving using what I have curated over the years as a demo! 
My recurring monthly club is a community of stampers that are demos and customers alike, all keen on using what they have and making cards together on a weekly basis with a zoom meeting. Either in person or with a recording and a pdf to work with. 

Our private facebook group is a source of gathering to share inspiration, ideas and our cardmaking, while we form friendships. You are welcome to become part of it all. hope you're curious enough to ask me more about it! 

smiles,

Laurie

Vase Shortcut for a realistic look with less fussy cutting!

 I love using slits and snips to shortcut layered looks in our cardmaking. It's always fun to use cups, or rubberboots or boxes  to hold flowers on our cards we're creating! we have many flower images so when we can combine them with other favourite images it's always a good idea.

What combo have you used recently that you loved the result?

smiles,

Laurie

Fast and Fabulous Card

 Need a card, quick! this is perfect. 

3 1/4 x 4 3/4 Basic White panel with a smattering of Pretty in Pink inked flowers. Accented with a lovely butterfly coloured with Azure Afternoon Blends, matted on Basic Black and mounted at an angle on a cardbase. Perfect for beginners or experts. 

All stamps from an older wood mounted set called Butterfly of Happiness, circa 2008

I love using sets that I have procured in the 23 years I've been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. 

Do you have an older favourite htat would work with this layout? 

You should pull it out and stamp it up! 💗 

post it over on the Public Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1062798050787275

smiles, 
Laurie

Need a Quick Card? Check this out

This is a great card using Summer Splash DSP to create an amazing quick background to showoff a pretty focal point of flowers and a sentiment. So Quick, so Easy!

 Cocktails and Cards tonight, I’m creating a quick and charming card, using the Charming Day stamp set as the focal point—paired with a clean, quick background of Designer Series Paper for a fresh, fun look.

smiles,

Laurie

#ActOfStamping #CharmingDaystampset #SimpleCards #DSPCard #StampinUp #QuickCardmaking #CASdesigns

Beautiful Bokeh Backgrounds ~ Texture Tuesday

 Bokeh Beauty! Stunning Backgrounds sponging with White Craft Ink 

Ready to make your card backgrounds steal the show? In this video, I’m sharing a gorgeous technique using white craft ink refill and templates to create a soft, dreamy bokeh effect that’s perfect for layering your greetings, sentiments, or focal images. It’s elegant, eye-catching, and totally do-able!

✂️ What You’ll Learn:
✅ How to use white craft ink and templates to achieve a bokeh-style background
✅ Tips to blend softly and build beautiful, glowing layers

Since we made our own DIY Black Memento Ink Pads from the blank Craft White ink pad, we have the extra bottle of white Craft ink refill, so looking for ways to work with it pairs nicely with this Texture technique today!

Grab your blending tools and get ready to add a little extra magic to your next card. 

💬 Question of the Day: Have you ever tried the bokeh technique in cardmaking? Tell me how it went in the comments!

PS Bokeh is pronounced like a bouquet of flowers! who knew?! : D

smiles,

Laurie

Tuesday Textures – Wax Paper Resist for a Background Deluxe! 🎨🕯️

Welcome back to Tuesday Textures, where we explore all the fun ways to add depth and interest to your cards! 

This week’s technique? Wax paper resist—an easy, playful way to create a stunning background using wax paper, ink, and your trusty blending brushes. The result? A textured masterpiece that looks fancy, but is totally beginner-friendly.

Using wax paper as a resist with ink is a fun idea. I've been a demo for 23 years ago, and long before we were using the Cut and Emboss machine, we used this technique to create some fun backgrounds to work with just by crumpling the paper. 

I suppose I've always loved texture techniques! 

Grab your supplies and play! 

smiles,

Laurie 

Blended Background + Stamped Ocean Scene – Inspired by Paper Pumpkin!

 

I love how this card turned out! Creating a fun ocean scene using blending brushes for the background and layering stamps over top for a whimsical, eye-catching result. The twist? We’re ditching the typical blues and using non-traditional colors inspired by a recent Paper Pumpkin kit—because sometimes the best scenes come from unexpected palettes!

✂️ What You’ll Learn:
✅ How to use blending brushes to create soft, dreamy backgrounds
✅ Tips for stamping scenes over ink-blended layers
✅ How Paper Pumpkin can spark creative ideas with color and theme

If you haven’t tried Paper Pumpkin yet—it’s creativity in a box delivered right to your door! Let me help you get set up with a no commitment subscription today! 

smiles,

Laurie

ABC's of Stampin' Techniques T for Trees

 In this episode of the ABC’s of Techniques series, we're turning our focus to T for Trees—because tree stamps are some of the most versatile and beautiful in your collection! From backgrounds to focal points, their natural charm shines through.

An abundance of techniques can be used with tree stamps and leaves. They are a natural  (pun intended) for several classic creative ways to create backgrounds and main panels.

I showcase several cards from this series and my Lives. Like the Babywipe technique with leaves and heat embossed. So fabulous. Getting inky and using trees for silhouettes, yes!

I love creating this little scene and versamarking the entire image to clear emboss over. I've always said, it's no wonder my Versamark pad is not very pristine : /

Trees also are amazing starting point for a Masculine card!

smiles,

Laurie

Yes I am a Bison farmer as well as your Stampin' Up! Cardmaking Inspiration

 

Cocktails and Cards each Friday Night on Facebook

 

Grab your favorite cocktail (or mocktail! 🍹) head over to my Facebook page to join us Live@8pm MT on Friday nights https://www.facebook.com/StampingwithLaurieLaRose/ Don’t forget to like and follow over there to get notifications, so you never miss a sip or a stamp.

Creating and sharing card ideas. This week I pulled out a new bundle, Thankful Garden, which includes masks to add colour and highlights to the images! These turn out beautifully! check out how easy they are to pull together.

If you're from Canada, I'd love to help you get them ordered up, or choose me as your demo at stampinup.ca . Thanks 😊

Smiles,

Laurie

ABC’s of Stampin' Techniques –Paper Piecing This Week!

Today on the Live I continue the series of ABC's of Stampin' Techniques. We're having fun each week pulling out old ideas along with some new ones. Check out my Youtube channel for all the other letters we've unpacked ~ and subscribe to the channel to catch them in the weeks to come!

 I love Paper Piecing as part of my creative repertoire! In this video, I show how to use some of your favourite Designer series Papers to create beautiful images for your cards! 
Like this amazing umbrella that looks like she purchased it from a Museum Gift Shop : D

Clothing is one of my favourite ways with this technique, using a bit from a background paper to pull it forward with their sweater, or raincoat. 

Have you used this technique before...grab some smaller patterned images from your stash and craft along with me!

smiles, 
Laurie

ABC's of Stampin' Techniques ~ Ocean Themed Interactive Gel Shaker Card 🌊

 Dive into Creativity

Join me as we create a fun, interactive Ocean-themed Gel Shaker Card using the Otterly Amazing stamp bundle! 🦦 This project brings the sea to life with a cool gel-filled window, giving the illusion of real water—perfect for adding a playful touch to your handmade cards.

📌 In this tutorial, you’ll learn how incredibly messy my crafting area is, but how adaptable I am : D  Also:

✔️ How to create a gel shaker element for a realistic water effect
✔️ Stamping & coloring adorable otters from the Otterly Amazing bundle
✔️ Layering ocean-themed elements for a dimensional underwater scene
✔️ Tips for assembling and sealing your gel shaker so it’s mess-free!

If I could edit these Lives, I could save you a few minutes spent searching for my Otters, those playful critters were off playing in some deep recess of a pile, not to be found!! Not to worry, they'll surface! 

smiles,

Laurie

Watercolor Pencils are still relevant!

I was experimenting with this new SAB set back in January and different methods of adding colour to the images. Including Reversible Stamping, inspired by the Natural Botanicals stamp set. In the video I show techniques with Watercolor Pencils and a spotlighting method with black ink for pops of colour.

On my Live yesterday, I shared the ABC's of Stampin' Techniques - Masking...and the card I created, after showing several methods of Masking, was an idea, I claimed I had not tried yet!  But while downloading videos I saw this card from Jan 3 and am clearly wondering about my brain process 

Do you have blips like this! 

smiles,

Laurie

 

ABC's of Stampin' Techniques - Masking

Masking techniques in cardmaking and paper crafting allow you to create layered designs, protect areas from ink, and add depth to your projects. Here are several methods you can use:

1. Paper Masking

• Stamp an image on a separate sheet, fussy cut it, and place it over the stamped image on your project.

• Ink or stamp around it, then remove the mask for a layered effect.

2. Tape Masking

• Use washi tape, painter’s tape, or masking tape to block off sections of your card.

• Ink over it, then peel away the tape to reveal crisp lines.

3. Stencil Masking

• Use stencils to cover portions of your card while applying ink, texture paste, or sprays.

• Great for creating backgrounds or spotlight effects.

4. Die-Cut Masking

• Die-cut a shape from masking paper or cardstock and use it to block ink or stamping in a specific area.

• Reverse masking: Use the negative space of a die-cut to create a framed effect.

5. Post-it Note or Sticker Masking

• Stamp on a sticky note, cut it out, and place it over a stamped image.

• Works just like paper masking but with less shifting.

6. Layered Masking with Multiple Techniques

• Combine different masking techniques to create depth, shadows, and dimension.

Would you like ideas for these techniques? Be sure to watch the video, I showcase several ideas before teaching the Reverse Masking technique using the Thoughtful Expressions stamp set.

The  ABC's is a Live@10am MT Thursdays on my Facebook page Head over and like the page to receive the notifications not to miss any 

smiles,

Laurie

 

Texture Tuesdays: Try this Easy Cardmaking idea! Faux Linen

 Create a beautiful faux linen texture using simple tissue paper! In this video tutorial, I’ll show you how to transform ordinary to extraordinary! Create a soft, fabric-like background with just a few easy steps. This technique adds gorgeous texture and depth to your handmade cards.

 What You’ll Learn:

 How to create a faux linen effect with tissue paper. 

 Tips for adhering and enhancing texture

 Perfect ways to use this technique in cardmaking. 

The Black and White is a new idea to me and I find it pretty exciting for all the possibilities! Over the patterned paper! so easy! So much inspiration! 

Smiles, 

Laurie

Creating an Otterly Amazing Card: Scene Building & Texture Tips

 

If you love stamping and creating fun, whimsical scenes, you’re in for a treat! In this video, I’m sharing a brand-new cardmaking tutorial featuring these cutest otters, along with some easy texture-building techniques to add depth and dimension to your cards.

 I was inspired to work with them this evening as I am thinking about my amazing weekend at the Rugby Sevens tournament in Vancouver. The athleticism of the players, their heart and determination on the field!  The teamwork! 

Why You’ll Love This Project

There’s something so fun about crafting with critter stamps, and otters bring such a playful energy to any design. In this video, I’ll walk you through:

 Stamping & Coloring – How to bring these adorable otters to life with shading and blending techniques.

 Scene Building 

 Texture Tips – Techniques to add depth and make your card pop!

Ready to dive in?

Watch the Video & Get Inspired! see these adorable otters come to life on paper!

I’d love to hear what you think! Leave a comment on the video and let me know how you’d use these techniques in your own cardmaking. And don’t forget to subscribe for more creative inspiration !

smiles, 

Laurie

#ActOfStamping

Stunning Mirror Reflection for ABC's of Stampin' Techniques

Learn how to create a breathtaking landscape using the mirror reflection technique with stamps, ink, and masking! In this video tutorial, I’ll guide you step by step as we transform simple stamping into a stunning scene with realistic reflections. Perfect for cardmakers of all skills!

I haven't used the plastic before and it was very easy to work with to my delight! Masking for a moon to blend the sky and water and adding in mountains and trees and then their reflection ~ viola!

 Don’t forget to comment and subscribe for more creative inspiration!

Smiles, 

Laurie

Texture Tuesdays Inaugural Video

Welcome to the very first Texture Tuesday video, the weekly series where we'll dive into techniques that add visual texture to your cardmaking! This week, we’re using stamps in creative ways to build layers and dimension. Several stamp sets are perfectly suited for adding texture—whether it’s backgrounds, borders, or subtle details that take your cards to the next level. ✂️ What You’ll Learn: ✅ How to use stamps to create textured effects ✅ Which stamp sets are great for background building ✅ Simple layering techniques to make your cards pop with personality

What to look forward to? New ideas to create texture and interest to your cards. Step up your designs and have fun playing! Touchable textures add wow factor to your designs, next week we have a perfect one for that!

**Bonus Cary and I are just back from travelling in Uruguay, South America. I share a couple minutes at the beginning telling a story or two in my roundabout way..to get to a highlight of applause on the beach!

smiles,

Laurie

Friendly Seagull Belongs Amongst Wild Flowers

Crafty Happiness with this cute card.

Using Memorable Blooms and the Free SAB set Friendly Seagulls to create a sweet card. Great sentiments and dies in the Blooms Bundle. 

I share a storage solution for your 6 x 6 paper packs in the video, too. Sharing measurements and simple instructions for a handy holder! let me know if you love this solution as much as I do!

smiles, 
Laurie