Christmas Card File 2026

Hello friends!

If you’re like me, you knew the Tim Holtz STAMPtember kit was a must have when it was released earlier this month by Simon Says Stamp. The kit was a tremendous value! Not only did it come with 2 stamp sets, but also the matching dies and other add-ons including 10 exclusive bottles of Distress Stain, cards, tags.
To make the Christmas Card File, I used the STAMPtember kit, an Idea-ology Card File, a pack of File Cards, plus and a mix of festive idea-ology Christmas products. The beauty of the Card File is that there’s no wrong way to build it! It works for any season or style—meaning once you start, you won't stop at just one. Plus, it’s a brilliant project for using up leftover scraps! 

If you would like to see how I created the Christmas Card File, follow the link to the Simon Says Stamp Blog for the information and lots of step-out photos! So many ideas for cards!

So many ideas for cards!

Now carry on,

paula

Palette Card File

Hello friends,

I created a new Card File using both Green and Yellow Palette papers. The 8 x 8" Palette paper is the perfect scale for the 3 x 4" cards. The mix and match nature of the paper packs make it easy to have all the prints you need right at your fingertips. There is also something so refreshing about the Green and Yellow combination—it feels like the first breath of Spring. 

By sticking to a limited palette of three Oxide Inks, the entire Card File remains cohesive even with a variety of textures and prints. It’s a garden-inspired project that fits right in the palm of your hand, perfect for storing little notes, quotes, or tiny mementos.

Now lets get started!

There are lots of cards in the Card File, but working through them three at a time makes it manageable! 

I started with the collage paper on the tabbed cards. 

The Palette paper series comes with sheets of paper that are printed in strips. I cut along the pattern to get lots of strips to work with.

I used the strips to cover the folded cards, then stitched with my machine along the seam lines. I also added Clipping Stickers, Cello Tape and string.

I covered the flat cards with paper from both the Palette Green and Palette Yellow. They go together perfectly. The stamped pieces were made with the Mini Motivation stamp - they fit perfectly across the 3" card.

I bought a new embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp. It's called Dancing Flowers and it makes the most beautiful impression.

I decided to color the cards with Oxide Ink in Speckled Egg, Tattered Rose, and Bundled Sage. As you can see, I pressed the Oxide Ink onto the glass mat and picked up the ink with a paintbrush to paint the flowers. 

With the cards painted, I was able to cover the envelopes and add blue stamp cards inside. These would be great for a gift card holder too!

For the pockets, I used Green Palette paper on the outside and covered the tags with Palette Yellow. 

The addition of the Mini Paper Dolls and Clipping stickers made each tag just a bit different.

I knew I was going to need some ribbon for this project so I colored 1/4" rayon ribbon with Distress Spray Stain in Rustic Wilderness, Tattered Rose, Antique Linen.

The three library pockets were covered with a Palette Yellow floral. For the insert cards, I stamped numbers from the Deconstructed stamp in Scorched Timber. Stamps from the Postmarked sticker book and Cello Tape added a bit more color, as well as eyelets and the ribbon.

The last of the cards are the three fold-out of zig zag cards. I kept these very light an airy with ver simple stamping using the Floral Outline stamp repeated over and over. I used the same three Oxides as before to create the soft look, using one color at a time. 

Once the image was stamped over one of the zig-zags, I went back with a soft brush and added watery ink of the same color to fill in parts of the image. This is such a soothing technique I could do it for hours!

Here are the cards folded up. I used ribbon and Tiny Clips to keep them together.

And open, you can see I used Photobooth, Noteworthy stamps and Field Notes Snippets for the zig-zag cards.

Bundled Sage

Speckled Egg

Tattered Rose

The three zig-zags together.

The three stamped cards were made with Spellbinders Cardstock and the Motivation 3 stamp set. I tucked one card into each section of the Card File.

I should mention that I removed the handle that comes on the end of the Card File and added a Label Frame with a Quote Chip Label. The words were perfect for the theme of this Card File and the Label Frame was the perfect size for the front of the File.

Here are some other Card Files that I have made in the past:

Palette Orange Card File (using fabric)

Halloween Card File (this is a series of posts starting with this one) 

Christmas Card File

Christmas Card File

Festive Art Christmas Card File (I love this one because it is so different!)

Now carry on,
paula

Palette Orange: Card File

Hello friends,

It's nice to be here today talking about Palette Orange fabric! I like the color orange, but I really don't use it much in my work. Maybe we just don't have many products that fall into the orange family? But now that is changed, because the orange Palette fabrics are beautiful! Of course they look good together, but many of them stand on their own too.
Today I'm using Freespirit Palette Orange along to create a idea-ology Card File. The neutral File Cards are the perfect backdrop for the fabric. Giving you a not only a great base, but cards that you can sew right through if you choose to. Of course the entire project can be done with Collage Medium, so there is no excuse if you are not a sewer.

I used both Card File Packs (there are two different packs)to make this project. 

It currently has 21 cards/pockets + six #5 tags used as inserts.

Working in groups of three, I sprayed each card with Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain, then wiped the stain away with a paper towel to get rid of the spray pattern. I repeated the step and then dried with a heat tool. It honestly did not take much time to complete all the cards (front and back). And it made it so easy to just reach over a grab a card to work with, without have to get the spray out again.

I cut strips of fabric for the cards. Many of the fabric are directional, like the flowers in the center of the photo. I ended up cutting another piece of that one so I could have a 3 x 4" piece with the flowers going the right way. Same goes for the toadstools.  Anyway, pay attention to the direction of the fabric before cutting! "Which way do I need this to go?" is a great question to ask before cutting!

The 10 fabric names are:

Botanical

Tiny Print

Collage

Toadstools

Ephemera

Stamps

Sketchbook (orange flower)

Map

Tickets

Vintage (solid)

TABBED CARDS

I had to start with my favorite of all the prints, Botanical. It just speaks to my heart! I used a very thin layers of Collage Medium to adhere the fabric pieces to the tabbed cards. I added the Ephemera print to the one of the cards as a "patch" so I could use the strip of fabric I cut going the wrong direction (fyi: I have a thing about making things work).

I'm a sewer so I did a rough stitch around the fabric.

I cut a piece from the Ephemera fabric (it's turned over in the photo below) to sew on as a patch. I found that if you add some Collage Medium to the back of the fabric and let it dry completely, it keeps it's shape and makes it easy to sew. 

The stamps are for use later in the project, but I wanted to get them drying so they would be ready when I need them.

Quick and easy to sew on, once the glue is completely dry.

I used a Tiny Blending Tool to ink around the edges of the cards. This really helped to rough up the fabric and adding more strings to the card (I love that look).  In fact, most times I just used the tool itself, with no added ink, to go around each card. Don't underestimate the use of this Tiny Tool to fray the edges of the fabric!

#5 TAGS 

These will be used inside the pockets with the hole in the center.
I followed the same method to add the fabric to each tag and inked around the edges.

Using the Mini Blending Tool brought up so many strings, that I decided to stitch them down. So perfect.

Here are the pockets. 

I used Scor-Tape to add Transparent Layers over the front of each pocket, then cut away the excess.

I colored some 1/4" ribbon with Rusty Hinge and Crackling Campfire Distress Spray Stain for the holes at the top of tags.

Then I just inserted the fabric tags into the pockets.

LIBRARY POCKETS

I also created three more #5 tags with stencils and Opaque Texture Paste. These tags will go into the library pockets. I left the tags to dry while I worked on the pockets. 

NOTE: I cut off about a 1/2" of each tag so it would sit better in the pocket.

Once the paste was dry, I sprayed them with a variety of Distress Stains: Tattered Rose, Crackling Campfire, Rusty Hinge, Gathered Twigs + water. 

I sewed around the fabric before I added it to the pocket.

Then I added Worn Wallpaper Scraps to the top of each pocket. I don't know why I haven't used this product more in the past, because I absolutely love all the patterns we put in in the package (including this small ditsy print).

NOTE: I also used paper from Worn Wallpaper Scraps to cover the outside of the Card File box.

Then I just added a few pieces of ephemera from the Field Notes Ephemera pack. I think that looks pretty darn good.

FOLDED CARDS
I used the Collage fabric for the front of each card, then sewed along the lines between the patterns (you can see what the inside of the card looks like on the bottom left). 

I also added the stamps as "patches", that I previously painted with Collage Medium.

ENVELOPES

These envelopes were really fun to make - I love the combo of the old time images (collage paper photographic) and the fabric.

Start by adding Collage Medium to the front. Add the Collage Paper over the top with another layer of Collage Medium.

Add a little watered down ink with your fingertip.

Then flick with the ink. Dry with a heat tool and sand off the excess paper.

How I LOVE this look!

Again, I sewed around pieces of fabric I had previously added Collage Medium to, then just glued them to the envelopes.

A little Cello Sticker Tape makes it perfect!

FLAT CARDS

I needed three cards for the envelopes so I trimmed off a bit of the cards that come in the pack so they would slip into the envelopes. I also rounded the corners.

The backgrounds were stamped with Pumice Stone Oxide and images from the Stampers Anonymous Embroidery Stamp set (more on that later).

Then I just started adding patches of fabric, words from the Metallic Sticker book and Cello Sticker Tape.

The circle on the string is from the Snippets Curator pack. I used 2 pieces that were a similar size and glued them back to back with the string in the center.

The fabric tab on this card is from the Collage Fabric. I just folded it over and stitched it on.

ZIG ZAG FOLDERS

I saved my favorites for the last! The are the most involved of all the cards, but you can decide how much you want to add in.

We're going to start by stamping the zig zag cards with the three stamps from the Embroidery stamps set. Each folder uses one of the stamps + you can add any kind of text stamping - I used the text from French Garden.

Once the stamping was complete, I added the fabric and the embellishments: Photomatic, words from the Metallic Sticker book, and Cello Sticker Tape.

On one, I even added a patch.

I really liked the way they looked, but then I thought why not try coloring the flowers with Crayons? I knew it was a risk, but I thought, why not give it a go!

I started with Wild Honey and Crackling Campfire...

Then added Rustic Wilderness and Evergreen Bough for the stems and leaves.

Then the exciting part, adding the embellishments.

A different stamp from the same set was used on the next folder and of course different crayons (dusty concord, stormy sky, and tumbled glass).

And the third and final folder, I used Rustic Wilderness, Fossilized Amber, and Abandoned Coral.

For the cover, I wanted to add more fabric, so that is just what I did. I did stitch around the fabric and glue it is place, but then I had the bright idea to add a Photo Studio frame to each of the zig zag folders and that covered up the stitching. Oh well!

I used different colored Photo Studio Frames + ephemera from the Field Notes Ephemera pack.

Here is a closer look at each cover.

Honestly, you can use the fabric to make so many different cards - it's almost endless. The orange is so beautiful mixed with the neutral cards. It's the right amount of respite for the bold color. I am happy with the way this turned out and I hope you are too!

Thanks for stopping by to see Palette Orange! Now on to Palette Yellow! The perfect color for Spring!

Now carry on,

paula