Fantabulous Friday Freebie: Christmas Card Shaper Sample + 3 Tutorials

I'm so excited for today's post! I've been working on this all week long. Even skipping my regular Project Wednesday activities to get this all ready.

I've been invited to join the blog Card A Day as a regular contributor! What a fun opportunity! Before I forget, click over there to check out this month's challenge. Participants have a chance to win fabulous prizes! It's okay, click over there, I won't be offended. Unless you don't come back. Then I'll be highly offended and will yell "I'm not gonna be your friend anymore!" while I run away crying. Oh wait, no... that's just what Hailey would do. It's okay, I won't be offended if you click.

...Just be sure and come back...

It's been a while since I've focused on cardmaking and I think it's about time I got doing it again. This was the perfect opportunity to jump start my cardmakery. And surprise! It is my turn to post the card of the day! I really had a hard time deciding what to do. So, as usual, I just started making stuff. In the end I made two cards. Now, I know that the blog is called Card A Day, not Two Cards A Day. But, of course, I just have to rebel a little posted both! I'm excited to be able to share these cards in more detail here.

On top of the cute cards I'm also sharing three tutorials for techniques I used to make them... AND if that weren't enough, I'm sharing a freebie so you can create one of these cards for yourself today! Woo Hoo! Don't ever say I never gave you anything.

Here's our first card today. Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man! I'm kind of lazy, so I usually just call him Gingerman. It's like a new super hero... Gingerman! Faster than an old baker woman, more powerful than a barn full of farm workers, and able to leap tall cows in a single bound! Sadly, not able to outsmart a fox. I guess he's not all that super after all. Super cute, though!

Anyway... where did all that come from?

I cut this little guy out from one of my newest card sets: Christmas Card Shapers 1. Rather than cut the decorations separately, I cut them out of the brown along with the outline of the cookie shape. The card base I cut from white cardstock, so it just looks like I decorated him with white icing. This way my embellishments really stand out. I made my own little pompoms out of embroidery floss and tied a tiny bow using a fork. Homemade pompom and a bow on a fork, you say? Why, yes, would you like to know how? Oh, that's too bad, I'm going to tell you anyway.

Tutorial #1 is: Twine or Floss Pompoms

First, up, how to make pompoms using Baker's Twine or Embroidery Floss. Or Baker's Twine made from Embroidery Floss. Take your pick.

Materials:
Baker’s Twine or Embroidery Floss
Crochet or Heavy Thread
Fork
Scissors


I chose to use embroidery floss to make my pompoms out of. You could use a couple of colors of embroidery floss or your favorite color of baker's twine.

1. Wrap bakers twine or two or more colors of embroidery floss around two tines of your fork. Make sure the two tines are the same size or your pompom will be lopsided. Wrap 20-30 times around. The thinner the twine/floss the more times you'll wrap.

2. Tie a piece of crochet or other heavy thread around the center of your twine. Tie it as tightly as possible. I mean... really tight... or you may have trouble with your loops slipping out when you start to cut them.

3. Slide the pompom off the fork.

4. Using a pair of sharp scissors, snip the loops on one side of the pompom.
5. It will initially look very flat. Use the scissors and give it a trim to shape the pompom into a more round shape.

6. Repeat for the other side.
7. Roll, pinch and squish the pompom into a nice, round, fluffy shape. Repeat after me... pinch and squish... pinch and squish...
8. Clip off the ends of the crochet thread.

That's it! Pretty easy. I like the idea of making whatever color pompom I need to match my project. Here's the tutorial in a nice easily portable form. Perfect for taking on the road. Just click to enlarge and then save.

You may also notice that there's a cute tiny bow on that card. That's the one I made with a fork. Yes, a fork is the newest hottest crafting tool around! Here's how I made that cute little thing.

Tutorial #2 is: The Fork Bow

What I love about this bow is you can use a very small amount of ribbon and still end up with a nice bow and not lose any hair over it.


Materials:
Ribbon
Fork
Glue (Optional)

1. Take your ribbon and wrap it around your fork once. The end that’s in front of the fork should be on the right hand side.

2. Take the end that is behind the fork and bring it up and over the other end, then down through the center of the fork tines, above the bow.

3. Take the end that’s in front of the fork, bring it up and over the other end and down through the fork tines underneath the bow.

4. Turn the fork over, pulling the ends of the ribbon tightly to the back.

5. Tie a knot in the ribbon.

6. Optional: To secure the knot, add a dot of glue. This is less bulky than tying a double knot, in my humble opinion. Let the glue dry before removing the bow from the fork.

7. Slide the bow off the fork and there you go! Instant adorability in a tiny bow.

Once again, here's a compact form of this tutorial for when you just have to save it for later. Click to enlarge and save.

Okay, that's what I used to make card #1! Ready for card #2?

I call this my Twinipop card. Yeah... dumb name, but I've typed it and I'm too lazy to go back and change it. This is another card from my new set, Christmas Card Shapers 1. If you are interested in getting a deal on this set, just stay tuned after the tutorials are done.

Tutorial #3 is: Baker's Twine Lollipop

Materials:
Card Base
Baker’s Twine
Liquid Glue
Button (Optional)


The lollipop card by itself is pretty cute, if I say so myself. With the addition of the baker's twine swirly-doo and the button, I think it's downright delicious!

1. Prepare your card base. I used my cutting file JB00511 - Christmas Card Shapers 1. Any card base will do. Just a square of paper and some ribbon for the stick would be just dandy!

2. Begin rolling your baker’s twine in a circle on a flat surface. I find it’s better to do this before you try to glue it on. Less mess and you will know how much glue to use.

3. Apply a circle of glue to the center of your card base about the size as your twine circle.

4. Pick up your twine circle if you can. I had no trouble picking mine up, but mine was made out of thicker homemade baker's twine. If you can’t pick it up you will have to re-roll it on top of the glue. It's okay, if you didn't do the "pre-roll" on the table, you wouldn't have known how much glue to put on your card base. No one likes a card with oozy glue showing on the edges.

5. Tuck the outside and inside ends of the twine to the back side of your circle.
6. Lay the cirlce on your glue. Adjust the shape as needed.

7. Optional: Add a button to the center of your twine circle. I love these vintage buttons still on the card. It almost felt like a crime to take one of them off!
8. Let the glue dry.

Ta Da!!!! Card #2 done in no time flat!

You knew it was coming... here's your condensed soup version of this tutorial. Click to open larger and save.

So, are you interested in those Christmas Card Shapers? I actually have three whole sets of these I made out of some of my most popular Christmas die-cuts. Easy to cut and assemble and look cute to boot!

The collection includes all three of the Christmas Card Shapers files at a 25% savings:

I also created a set of simple Christmas Ornament Card Shapers. These would look so cute with a photo inside!

Are you interested in a good deal on these? This weekend only, I'm offering another BOGO deal. Buy the Christmas Card Ornament Shapers Collection and get the Christmas Ornament Card Shapers designs for free! Your Christmas cards could be done in no time flat with these little guys! The deal will be good through Monday 11/14. Remember, you have to put both items in your card to get the deal!!!

While you are there, check out one of my other newest designs! A beautiful pen doodles file of an autumn leaf. I love using the pen tool on my KNK Maxx. You can choose any kind of pen to put in that machine since it doesn't need a special tool. Just put the pen in the blade jaw and doodle away!

Okay, time for the thing you've all been waiting for. The Freebie! I asked Samantha which card she liked better. She chose the Lollipop, which was good because that was the one I'd decided to share with you anyway. I'm sure the day will come when I will no longer be able to influence my children's decisions. That day is not today, though!

Today I am sharing my die cut design: Christmas Card Shapers Sample

This card is pretty cute by itself. You know you want to try that Baker's Twine swirly-do though! Do it!!!!

Boring but Important Legal Stuff: My terms of use are included in each zipped download. If you have any questions about how you may use this file, please read it. By clicking to download the file, you are agreeing to abide by the terms. If you'd like to share it, please don't. Rather, send your friends a link to this blog post. Once it's no longer available as a freebie, you might be tempted to share it with someone. Please don't! 'Nuf said!

This design will be up until Monday. Don't miss out! Click to gobble up your favorite file type:

Sorry!  This download has expired!  Look for the Christmas Card Shapers in the Sam & Hailey Designs store!

As always, if you make something with this design, feel free to post it on your blog or in the VDBC gallery and post a link down in the comments section!

One last thing! It's VDBC Newsletter time! You can get another free file by Sam & Hailey Designs in last week's edition. Click here to get it!

Time to get crafty, people!