Easy DIY Christmas Cards with Creative Memories Charming Village Border Punch!

Hi friends! This sweet Charming Village Punch from Creative Memories is really getting a workout in my craft room! I had lots of fun creating these cards and sharing them with you on a Facebook Live on the OCM Facebook Page, (If you didn't get a chance to join me live, you can still watch the replay here: http://bit.ly/34w4hRJ) and I thought I would do a quick blog post with the measurements, instructions and a few screenshots from the video for easy reference! (Please excuse the poorer quality of the screenshots!)

WINDOW CARD

Supplies:

• 8.5" x 5.5" cardstock, scored and folded in half to make standard card measuring 4.25" x 5.5"*
• One piece cardstock 3.75" x 5" for the window layer*
• One piece patterned paper 3.5" x 4.75"for the decorative layer*
• Charming Village Punch*
• Cardstock to use with punch*
• 12" Trimmer with straight and scoring blades
• Custom Cutting System with Blades and Oval Templates
• Tape Runner, Repositionable and Foam Squares Adhesive
• Silver Metallic Dual-Tip Pen
• Rubber stamp for greeting (optional)

* Note: Use whatever colour cardstock and patterned paper you like. I used Navy cardstock for the card base, Platinum Shimmer cardstock for the window layer and a scrap of navy and white patterned paper from Sugarplum Paper Pack for the decorative layer. I punched the Village with the Charming Village Border Punch from White cardstock. Although this was an exclusive promotional punch and is no longer available, other punches that would work well for this type of "scene" are the Cityscape Border Punch or Majestic Mountains Border Punch combined with something for the foreground, such as Tulip Border Punch. You could also use a coordinating Variety Mat Card that has a sentiment or design on it, and trim it down to 3.5" x 4.75" to use for the decorative layer behind the window.

Instructions:

Create your "scene" on the decorative layer. I simply added a section of the Charming Village border onto the 3.5" x 4.75" navy and white patterned paper and trimmed off the overlap, leaving enough white space at the bottom for my greeting. Use regular Tape Runner Adhesive on the solid areas of the punch and Repositionable Adhesive on the areas that have open spaces, such as the houses with the windows.

Centre decorative layer and adhere to card base.

Using the Red Blade and the outside edge of the smallest Oval CCS Template, cut a window in the centre of the 3.75" x 5" cardstock. Save the oval piece.

Add Foam Squares all around the back of the window layer. Centre and adhere over the decorative layer, popping the window up off the surface of the card for some dimension.

Use the Dual-Tip Pen to write or stamp a greeting on the front of the card.

Feel free to add extra embellishments such as gems or small accent stickers to your card!


MULTI-COLOURED VILLAGE CARD

Supplies:

• 8.5" x 5.5" cardstock, scored and folded in half to make standard card measuring 4.25" x 5.5"*
• Two pieces white cardstock 5" wide and approximately 2.5 to 3" high
• Charming Village Punch*
• Cardstock in various colours to use with punch*
• 12" Trimmer with straight and scoring blades
• 12" Decorative Trimmer*
• Tape Runner and Repositionable Adhesive
• Silver Metallic Dual-Tip Pen 
• Rubber stamp for greeting (optional)

* Note: Use whatever colour cardstock and patterned paper you like. I used Navy cardstock for the card base, and punched the Village border with the Charming Village Border Punch from Red, Leaf Green and Aqua cardstock. If you love this look but don't have the Charming Village punch, cut small rectangles with triangular "roofs" in various sizes and colours, and triangles for the trees. If you don't have the 12" Decorative Trimmer, simply draw a wavy line along the edge of both pieces of white cardstock and cut out with scissors.

Instructions:

Cut a "wave" on one long edge of each piece of 5" wide cardstock. These will be the snowy hills. Try to have the waves on each piece staggered so that the houses on both hills can be seen when they are layered together on the card.

Punch several border strips using the Charming Village Border Punch from various coloured cardstock, leaving at least an inch below the village.

Cut the village border strips apart so you have individual trees, houses and churches in various colors. Begin adding the individual pieces behind the wave on the white cardstock, alternating colours as you like. Trim off any punched shapes that overlap the end of the white cardstock. Repeat with second piece of white cardstock so you have two rows of multi-coloured village scenes.

Centre and adhere both "village hills" onto the card base using Tape Runner Adhesive for the sold areas and Repositionable Adhesive for the houses.

Use the Dual-Tip Pen to add dots and/or small stars for the night sky, and to write or stamp a greeting on the front of the card.

Feel free to add extra embellishments such as gems or small accent stickers to your card!

Once the outside of your cards are done, don't forget to finish off the inside! For the Window Card I simply added the Platinum Shimmer oval that I cut from the window to the inside to provide a spot to write or stamp another sentiment on. For the Multi-Coloured Card I used a small piece of scrap white cardstock and added a couple of the leftover houses and trees.

And they are ready to send! Love that! I hope these easy DIY cards inspire you to make some "charming" Christmas cards of your own!

*All Creative Memories products featured in these projects are available in Canada on my CM website (or you can find CM Advisors in the US and other countries by using the Advisor Lookup feature.) If you are interested in joining my cross-Canada team of CM Advisors, feel free to contact me, or click on the "Join" tab on my CM website. Finally, please join me on my Facebook Page, YouTube Channel and  Instagram feed for more ideas and inspiration, and check out the online courses I teach in the OCM Classroom.

Happy Scrapping!