I love the delightful swirl that this card design offers! I love the versatility of the design, too, because it could be for ANY fun occasion: birthday, holidays, congrats – even a high school or college graduation with the school colors!! (I need to write that down somewhere…)
But for now, I decided to experiment with the holiday cards. I first saw a couple of Christmas cards – but you’ve seen me fretting over Hanukkah cards too! (I know – we now beyond Hanukkah, so the opportunity has passed. But there is always next year…)
Since I’m from Rhode Island, I am hoping that many of you will know what I mean when I say that this design is wicked smaht! It is also wicked easy – and you probably don’t even need to have much in the way of supplies: some paper, a compass (if you don’t happen to have the dies or paper punches), and an appropriate stamp or two.
I’ve used Stampin’ Up! products because I’m a demonstrator for the company – but, please know that you do not need much of an investment in supplies at all!
Here are the cutting measurements – and they are familiar:
| Measurements | ||
| Real Red Cardstock (or the color of your choice) | 5-1/2” x 8-1/2” | Scored on the 8-1/2” side at 4-1/4” |
| Silver Foil Mat | 4” x 5-1/4” | |
| White for inside panel (optional) | 4” x 5-1/4” | |
| Basic White for face panel | 3-3/4” x 5” | This will hold the swirl design. I chose to dry emboss this panel for some added texture. |
| 4 Cardstock or DSP scraps to cut circles | Here is the tricky part: Use the largest and smallest circles to cut the pieces for the outer edge, Use the two middle circle sizes to cut each of these circles in each color. (See the photo below.) | |
| Scrap of Real Red Cardstock | This will be die cut using the smallest circle die in the set. | |
| Scrap of Silver Foil | This will be used to die cut a large snowflake. |
You need to cut the largest and the smallest circles from 2 of your paper choices. 
Then you need to cut the two middle circles from the 2 other paper choices.
The dimensions of the circles are as follows: 3-1/2”, 3”, 2-1/4”, and 1-3/4”. The smallest circle that is used whole is also 1-3/4” but it is not cut in half. I used retired Stampin’ Up! circle punches to do this card. But the Stampin’ Up! Layering Circles die set may be used as well.
Don’t forget that the compass that every elementary school student has will do the trick – and is an inexpensive option too!
It took me a couple of tries to get the arrangement of the circle halves right because I just could not “see” it. Then, boom! I got it and the gluing the circle pieces is a snap. Here’s the trick:
- Cut each circle in half. You do not need to obsess over precision here – roughly half as the message strip can hide a multitude of sins!
- Arrange each stack with the flat side of the half circle facing up.
- Glue the layering circles so that they line up along the left side of its base circle.
Then I matched stack “1” as the bottom part of the swirl with stack “3” as the top of the swirl. When these are complete, you can see how the “swirl” takes shape:
Card front:
- Adhere the Real Red circle die cut on the end of the swirl and cover the end of the message banner.
- Glue the Silver Foil snowflake cut from the large snowflake die from the Stampin’ Up! So Many Snowflakes die set. This was the only bling that I used for this card.
- Glue the swirl panel to the Silver Foil mat and then to the Real Red card base.
Inside panel:
- Stamp a message on the inner panel of the card – or directly on the inside of the card base. I used “May magic and wonder bloom this holiday” from the Stampin’ Up! Poinsettia Petals stamp set.
- I chose one of the DSP patterns and created a strip that measured ½” x 5-1/4” to make a finished edge along the bottom.
- Attach the inner panel to the inside of the card base. (Just be careful that you attach it to the right part of the card base! Otherwise, your card will be wonky, and you will be ticked off…guess how I know!)
Voila! A truly fun card for the holidays – or for any occasion, really! And the cool part: this is NOT supply intensive! I will bet that anyone with a little bit of color cardstock, glue, scissors, and a couple of stamps can get these done!
And they are so much fun to look at!
And, of course, the Stampin’ Up! Tidings of Christmas Designer Paper Series has an assortment of great patterned papers to do this card in another color scheme. And so, I did one more:
And then I did a third design in shades of blue and silver foil (from the Stampin’ Up! Silver Foil Assortment Pack), so that I could just one more Hanukkah this season! (I may have mentioned that transitions are tough for me…I’m still stuck on Hanukkah and I will probably still be stuck on Christmas in January. It’s a problem, for sure…)
I have also entered this red and green version of today’s card into the Hand Stamped Sentiments Paper Crafting Challenge # 379 – Hand stamped Sentiments. I love their challenges as they provide inspiration and make us step out of our usual creating habits to explore new ways to design. Thank you all so much for the work that you do to provide these challenges!
Thanks so much for stopping in to see today’s creation! Please see the listing of the supplies that I used for these projects below. But know that you can use so many other things that you may already have!
Okay – this card is, in fact, wicked smaht! I love it! And I love the graphics to help us make one (or two!) for own selves!! Also? I think protractors are a thing of the past. Like…cursive. And parallel pahkin! 🙂
Hi, Mary – well now I’m worried! I figured that we can always find one of those little compass things to do these…I’m going to run over to Walmart or Target today to be sure that they are still around. Hmmmmph, and I thought that I had finally found a real use for those little things, other than drawing blood every time you reach for it in your pencil holder!
Thank you so much for taking a look at my card today!!
Thank you for such complete instructions. I received the pieces for a card like this, but didn’t analyze how they had been made before I put it together and then had no idea how to recreate the card.
Hi, Phyllis,
Thanks so much for stopping in to see my card today! And I will tell you that I have remnants of my first few tries. I just could NOT see how that swirl happened…and then all of a sudden, it made sense! Make those circles smile, glue them to the left side, and then they will swirl in all the right ways! Thank you so much for stopping in!
Yay! I got your blog post today!! 😀 Love your card, that’s so awesome! What a great design! 🙂
Amy – thanks so much for checking into my blog!! And yes, it was quite a journey to figure out what was going on – and I’m still working on a resolution with my service. But for now, lesson learned is to always check!
Thanks for your comments on this design – I think that it’s really cute and has soooo many applications. But Christmas works as well!
So fun, Susan, and what a great little tutorial on how to do the circles! I love these papers so much! Thanks so much for playing at HSS!
Hi, Heather – thank you all from HSS for these awesome challenges and for all the work that goes into creating them and then responding to all of us with such gracious comments.
I mentioned to Patti that I was a bit “distracted” as I was posting yesterday and neglected my reference back to HSS so that everyone knows about the challenge. Of course, that thought occurred to me around 3:30 a.m.! I’m so sorry – and I’ve corrected my oversight. Note to self: don’t drive or blog distracted!!!
With my thanks – Susan
This is so clever Susan! I thought it was going to be much more complicated, thank you so much for sharing. I will have to try this out. Thank you for joining us at HSS!
Hi, Patti – Thank you so very much for taking a peek at my card today! It took a couple of tries to figure out how this would work without a lot of angst! And then I saw it…just make the circles smile and glue along the left margin…flip and voila!
I was posting yesterday as I was getting ready to go to have a dental implant done…I was clearly distracted as I only realized that I had neglected to place the paragraph highlighting my entry into the HSS blog! I am so sorry and I’ve corrected that this morning. (“Distracted” is really code for “hysterical, horrified, and trembling”…what a wuss!)
This is such a fun design! I’ve never tried this one, but you’ve inspired me! I really love the addition of the silver snowflake. Thanks for playing along with us at HSS!
Jenny – thanks so much for stopping by to read my blog post – and an even bigger thanks for the awesome challenges that you all devise on HSS! I truly appreciate the time and thought that you all put into it!
Very pretty and clever! Thank you for the tutorial…I may try this with my stamp clubs! Have a blessed Christmas!
Thanks so much, LeAnne! I think that it would be an excellent stamp club project. The tough part for me was just seeing how to get to the swirl. Once I “got it”, the design is really a piece of cake! Thanks so much for stopping in to read my blog post!
What a wonderful technique for creating the swirl design and thank you for the tutorial! What a great way to use patterned paper. You created such beautiful cards and can’t wait to try it. Thanks so much for joining us at Hand Stamped Sentiments!
Thanks so much, Genevieve! I think that this might be a good “go to” design to get the creative juices flowing! Sometimes a sketch or a color scheme or a pattern can help you get something done! Thank you so very much for stopping in to see my blog posting on this fun technique!
Great card design. So easy and as you say, so versatile. Love all the versions you created. Thanks for joining us at Hand Stamped Sentiments. Cheers, Jolanda – DT
Jolanda – thanks so much for checking in on my blog posting! This was a simple technique once I could see how to do it. I have to say that it took a couple of tries – but once I did, I think that this is a good solution to a “what should I design for this card that I need today” situation! Pick a color and pick any sentiment needed and you are on your way! Thank you again!