Make It Today 38 Die-Cut Cards for Christmas

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£9.99 | Issue 38 Oct/Nov 2018

Die-Cut Cards

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ALL-NEW PERFECT FOR FRIEN DS & FAMILY

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stylish cards to create with your gift!

G WITH US!

Gift Ideas ★ New Gadgets

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Festive Faves IN 30 MINUTES

Designer Papers ★ Expert Tips

Your Christmas Wishes Dies

Die-Cut

CARDS

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Get creative with your gift

As winter approaches, we’re already getting into the festive spirit with our crafting! This issue of Make It Today comes with a Christmas Wishes die set with super-festive motifs to give your cards the wow factor. Try these fabulous ideas by Helen Fitzjohn to create greetings that you won’t find on the high street...

POINSETTIA BOUQUET

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Make a white card blank, 15cm square. Matt red card on the front and add a 5mm grey frame on top. Make a wide band of green and white card and stick across the centre.

Die-cut stars, thread onto twine, then wrap round the card and tape in the middle.

Essential Kit

Christmas Wishes Die Set PLUS Die, small star Embossing folder, holly Craft punch: scalloped circle, 2.5cm; circle, 5cm Papers: patterned; watercolour Coloured card, assorted Foam board Mountboard: dark red; grey Acrylic paint: red, gold, green, white Embellishments: ribbons, twine, gold wire, gems Adhesives

HOLLY WREATH

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Create a rectangular blank and add a blue panel.

Remove the centre and tape an embossed pattern in the aperture.

Cut out a blue circle, punch an off-centre 5cm circle from it, then fix to a green rectangle.

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Layer circles in the centre, using foam pads to fix the grey one. Die-cut poinsettias from watercolour paper and shade with watery red acrylic paint, adding tiny gold spots in the centres. Finish with die-cut motifs and festive ribbon.

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Die-cut lots of holly from watercolour paper and paint in greens and red. Die-cut ‘Joy’ and glue in the centre. Add a narrow blue strip and star near the bottom.

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Cut your own letters to make this Ho Ho Ho card with a tiny Santa

“Combine a themed die set with basic shapes, such as stars and circles, for maximum versatility” HELEN FITZJOHN, DESIGNER

TRIO OF TREES

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Make a white card blank, 15cm square. Measure 7.5cm from the middle, then score and fold. Keep the card folded and remove the middle section, leaving three rectangle areas to support the trees. Draw a wavy line at the base and trim the excess.

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Die-cut trees from watercolour paper and blend with a wash of green paint. Stick to the card

Die-cut gift motifs from foam board, paint with acrylics and add tiny labels 6

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and add gems. Cover 9cm of the base with red and patterned paper. Add a thick cardboard strip to keep the easel sitting nicely. Finish with die-cut motifs on red circles.

Painted Effect

SANTA’S SLEIGH

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Cover a square card blank in green paper. Cut a capital ‘H’ from coral paper and matt a patterned one on top. Make a large circle and punch a smaller one from it off-centre.

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Add the letters to the card and fix snowflakes within the ‘O’ along with dots of white paint. Die-cut more Christmas motifs and stick to the front.

LOVELY LIBERTY

Step behind the scenes of iconic department store Liberty London, through the pages of Christmas at Liberty.

Featuring beautiful designs to colour in, with animals and iconic prints, it reveals the story behind this amazing shop. £9.99, harpercollins.co.uk

SIMPLY PRECIOUS

The POSCA Mono Tones paint marker pens in gold, silver, white and black will add a touch of class to any project, and are ideal to use on paper, glass, ceramic, fabric, wood and much more! £9.99, uniball.co.uk

BEAUTIFUL BAUBLES

Create gorgeous decs that you can display any time of the year, with CozzaCozza's DIY Party/Baubles/Decoration Kit. It contains card cutouts in pretty colours, thread, finishings and instructions – just add glue. £6, etsy.com/uk/shop/CozzaCozza 8

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Delights Die-cut

Kick-start your Christmas makes with these paper craft essentials!

GOLD STANDARD

Glam up your Christmas projects – and wrapping – with this classy gold foiled washi tape. Each pack contains two 5m rolls, featuring a star and a striped design. £3.49, gingerray.co.uk

CRACKING CHRISTMAS

Cambridge Imprint designs a range of beautiful papers, plus kits to make projects with them. We love their Christmas Cracker Kit (£25), packed in a stylish keepsake box, plus the equally gorgeous Origami Star Garland Kit (£13.95). Visit cambridgeimprint. co.uk

ALL IN ONE

New from Paperchase, the Christmas Craft Book contains papers, tags, stickers, cards, mini envelopes and more to make your own lovely greetings. With classic festive designs, plus cute penguins and llamas, you'll be spoilt for choice! £10, paperchase.co.uk

JUST FOR YOU! Die-cutting machines are a godsend for Christmas crafting, particularly for personalising your makes. The Brother ScanNCut takes it one step further, allowing you to transform hand-drawn designs into digital sentiments ready to die-cut! Visit brotherscanncut.co.uk

MAKE IT SPECIAL

Crafter's Companion has all kinds of new papercrafting treats coming out in October!

We particularly love the Treasure Box dies – great for packaging gifts – and the Tessellating Dies for lovely cards, both from Gemini. Visit crafterscompanion.co.uk

RAINBOW BRIGHT

Unicorns: Scratch and Reveal Colouring takes mindfulness a step further, featuring art cards with beautiful fantasy-themed images.

Simply use the stylus included to work along the grey lines, revealing the vibrant shades beneath! £7.99, octopusbooks.co.uk

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Essential Kit

Dies: Creative Expressions by Sue Wilson, Finishing Touches Passion Flower, Festive Mini Expressions Stacked Merry Christmas, Paper Cuts Poinsettia Edger Card: red, green, white, gold glitter Nuvo Crystal Drops: Bright Gold, Autumn Red White tag Vellum Sequins Ribbon Adhesives

Make it Merry Combine classic colours with a touch of sparkle for these festive greetings

How many flower dies do you own in your stash? We can only guess that it’s a lot!

Christmas cardmaking doesn’t always need to involve going out and buying brand new dies, you can easily use what you already own. Julie Hickey has shown here that blooms can be given the festive touch just by creating them from classic seasonal shades.

Now, that’s thrifty!

CLASSIC RED

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Cut red card to cover the front of a blank, 12.5cm x 17.5cm, then glue in place. Trim a strip of gold glitter card, then die-cut the Poinsettia Edger and adhere to the front.

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Attach a strip of red card down the left-edge. Wrap red ribbon around the card, then tie into a bow and secure in the top-left corner. Die-cut ‘Merry Christmas’ three times from red. Layer together to create dimension.

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Glue the sentiment to vellum and cut around, leaving a small border showing. Attach to the front using foam pads.

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Top tip: Adding a layer of vellum to the

sentiments when made from the same colour card helps them to pop off your greeting

Snowflake Central

Essential Kit

Dies: Gemini Dimensional Expressions, Snowflakes, Reindeer, House, Christmas sentiment, Snow sentiment, Snowflake border, Holly and Bow, circle and scalloped circles Card: red, white, light blue, dark blue, lilac, brown, red glitter, yellow glitter Sewing threads: green, beige, red, pink, dark brown Patterned papers Stamp, Noel Wooden hoop, 12.5cm Ribbon, red organza Embossing folders: polka dot, snowflake

SIMPLY SNOW

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Create a top-fold blank, 10.5cm square, and cover with dark blue card, then layer light blue on top. Take a smaller, white square and use an embossing folder to create a snowflake pattern.

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Die-cut scallop-edged circles and regular circles from white, light blue and dark blue, then layer together. Take a red circle and die-cut a large snowflake from the centre.

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Adhere a white snowflake to the layered circles, placing into the negative die-cut. Secure to the blank using 3-D foam pads.

Die-cut a red ‘Snow’ sentiment and glue to the greeting.

Top tip: Add

embellishments such as snowflake glitter stickers to spice up the greeting 14

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Get crafty with these impressive cards

Every snowflake that falls is different from the next, and Tracey Daykin-Jones is here to make sure your Christmas greetings follow this pattern. From scoring to embossing, your skills will be improved with every crafty move. If you haven’t used a negative die-cut before, this project makes for an attractive start. It’s a simple and effective process – once you’ve got your head around it, you’ll be using it at every opportunity that presents itself!

Paper Pals

Add some extra pizazz to your Christmas creations!

The festive season provides the perfect excuse to go all out in your papercrafting – from shimmering foils and sparkly embellishments to fancy ribbons and die-cut toppers, nothing is too OTT! We’ve rounded up our favourite products to add that extra wow factor, because let’s face it, more is more!

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6 Deco Foil Adhesive Pen, £3.99, createandcraft.com 7 Jolly Santa ribbon, from 1 Gina K. Designs, 75p per metre, berisfords@ Fancy Foils, £7.99 each, stockistenquiries.co.uk createandcraft.com for stockists 2 Wreath 3-D Shimmer 8 Mountain Fox ribbon, from Embellishment, £2.50, 75p per metre, berisfords@ hobbycraft.co.uk stockistenquiries.co.uk for stockists 3 Santa 3-D Shimmer Embellishment, £2.50, 9 Sausage Dog ribbon, from hobbycraft.co.uk 75p per metre, berisfords@ 4 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads, stockistenquiries.co.uk for stockists £4.49, joannasheen.com 10 Kanban Christmas 5 Artiste dual tip illustration Wobblers, £29.99, markers, £9.99 for six, createandcraft.com docrafts.com makeittoday.co.uk

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We chat with Emily Dawe, designer and author of Paper Christmas

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ice cream packaging! But people are my best source of inspiration – working freelance can be somewhat lonely at times, so I make sure to plan in social time with other creatives that I’ve met via Instagram.”

mily’s passion for paper was first sparked back at primary school.

“We had the most wonderful teacher called Mrs McWilliam who encouraged us to create rainbows from strips of paper and stick them on the front of our ‘Busy Books’. I can still remember how magical it felt seeing this spectrum of We then quizzed Emily on the secret colour come together as we layered up the behind a successful papercrafting different papers.” project, starting with the most She also loves its versatility, adding, essential tools in her stash. “The first “I don’t think there is any other medium would be a decent pair of scissors – that can be folded, curled, scored, ripped, I love Fiskars for their quality. I use quilled, scrunched, twisted... and then their tiny scissors to achieve intricate painted, drawn, dipped, marbled and details, all the way through to a scribbled on... a piece of paper has so many decent pair of large professional beautiful possibilities. scissors. Oh, and I love Most of the workshops “You should love what my Cricut scoring tool I teach are paper – yes, a blunt knife you’re making, and based, featuring would also do the job, everything from also be prepared to try but when I’m scoring marbling, quilling and over 200 leaves for a new things out” most recently modern wreath, I need the calligraphy.” proper gadget for the job! Don’t be afraid When considering her next project, Emily to invest in good quality tools.” has no trouble coming up with ideas! “I can Emily adds that, “You should love what easily find inspiration around me every day, you’re making, and also be prepared to try from the tree I can see from my living room new things out. Having a clear vision of window, to falling down a rabbit hole on what you intend to make is good, but not Pinterest and Instagram,” she explains. always possible! I have gone into so many “I notice design wherever I go, whether it’s projects with a vague idea of what I want to a simple line drawing on a menu in a achieve and I’m never fully happy with the restaurant or the pretty colours on some result. That said, making mistakes along

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Perfect Papercrafts

Emily is inspired by children’s illustrations

the way is important and often happy accidents can come out of them, so don’t give up!”

Emily’s latest book, Paper Christmas, came about in a similar way, when she was in the right place at the right time. “I was shooting for Woman’s Weekly and met these wonderful ladies called The Woolly Felters. I got chatting to them about my dreams of creating a book, not knowing that one of them was the commissioning editor for Search Press!” she laughs. “I’ll be hosting some workshops teaching projects from the book during the festive season, so keep checking Instagram and my website for the dates!”

The versatility of paper allows Emily to create all kinds of projects

Get Creative

knitted blankets, plus I’ll be decking the halls with fresh foliage, quirky decorations and plenty of candles. I love making my When it comes to planning your Christmas own mulled wine (perhaps not this year crafting, Emily advises, “If you’re anything though as I’m expecting a baby in like me, you’ll probably have a load of January!), festive baking, catching up with people you want to send cards to, so stick loved ones, listening (and singing) to to a very simple yet effective design to Christmas carols whilst wrapping my avoid spending hours creating them. My presents, and the smell of cinnamon, fresh rolled up paper Christmas tree card is ideal pine and tinsel – yes, it has a scent! I also as you can make lots of long tubes and trim enjoy watching Kirstie’s Handmade them down to make multiple greetings at Christmas, especially this year as I’m going once. As for decorations, why not invite to be appearing on it as a guest judge. I’m your friends over for some wine, nibbles super-excited, so do tune in!” and decoration making? Supply coloured card, twine and glitter, then let the Fancy taking a workshop with Emily? creativity flow!”

You’ll find new ones announced at Of course, we had to ask Emily what emilydawe.com and on Instagram festive trends we’re likely to see in her @editbyemily makes this year. “Well, I’ve actually been working on my Christmas projects non-stop since January, so I’ve seen many gorgeous, inspiring decorations and trends coming through for 2018!” she reveals. “For example, did you know the llama is a popular character for Christmas 2018?

However, what I’m really loving is the blush pink trend that has emerged from interior and fashion, and I’m not talking about twee Barbie pink here. This is a gorgeous sophisticated shade, which when paired with gold, looks so unbelievably chic and modern.”

Like us, Emily likes to create a cosy atmosphere in her home for the festive season. “There’ll be furry throws and

W H AT ' S O N T H E R A D I O A S YO U W O R K ?

“I'm a bit of a rock fan and love anything from the 90s, so I usually have Absolute Radio on – but when I’m on deadline or feeling stressed, I listen to a calming meditation to soothe the soul!”

TEA OR COFFEE B R E A K S ? A N D W H AT ' S IN THE BISCUIT TIN? “I’ve always been a BIG tea fan, but when I fell pregnant I went off it completely! Thankfully, I have passed that stage, so a good old cup of English Breakfast or a Lady Grey with a packet of digestives if you please” H O W W O U L D YO U L I K E TO B E REMEMBERED? “As someone who is kind, happy, quirky and talented. An authentic artist and business woman who inspired people to try new things, get messy with paints, shaving foam, glitter and glue; who encouraged them to switch off from their busy lives and social media, not take life too seriously and enjoy some very valuable ‘you time’” TURN OVER FOR ONE OF EMILY’S BEAUTIFUL PAPER PROJECTS makeittoday.co.uk

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Surprise Package Essential Kit

Silhouette Cameo Digital images: #69930, #69812, #69810, #69811 Card: pale pink, pale green, aqua, white Patterned paper: Christmas-themed Bakers twine Adhesives

Top tip: The cartons would

look lovely hung from some cord as bunting or on a Christmas tree

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Craft a sugar plum keepsake set to re-use every December Handmade advent calendars are so popular at the moment; you can create them to suit your Christmas decor and fill them with little goodies each year. Designer Colette Smith fell in love with a 3-D advent calendar on the Silhouette Store which is made up of tiny little milk cartons and there’s also an optional tray to stand them in. Each box has a numbered tag made up from two layers, the first having the numeral cut out and the second is a background layer which makes the number stand out.

Fast & Festive Makes

Gear up for the big day with our brilliant collection of simple Christmas greetings that you can assemble tonight!

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DIE-CUT & EMBOSS

Cut white card, 13cm square. Mount a red and gold embossed layer, then blue and white. Die-cut a wreath, mittens and trim. Adhere the trim to the mittens and secure twine onto the back.

Fix the wreath, then poke brads around and add the mittens.

Two techniques in one

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LAYERED SENTIMENTS

Mount a layer of green card and red patterned paper onto a white blank. Add blue paper down the centre. Die-cut a ‘Merry Christmas’ sentiment from four colours. Stack slightly offset so each layer is visible behind the previous one, then glue.

Attach to the card.

Batch make me!

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1 0 sp

eedy cards

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EASY CUT HEARTS

Cover a top-fold card with green. Die-cut 15 white hearts and, starting at the bottom, adhere to the greeting. Punch ten small black hearts, then add red and pink foil. Glue the small hearts between the white and embellish.

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BUILD A DIE-CUT TREE

Cover a top-fold blank with paper, then mount white with rounded corners. Die-cut triangles from coloured card and patterned papers, then add a stitched effect on the coloured pieces.

Assemble, then fix a star to the top and a rectangle at the bottom.