Christmas Boutique
When I got this die set I felt kind of meh about it. But now that I’ve created a card with it, I think it’s super cute! It was fun to put together, too. It’s called Spellbinders Christmas Boutique and it was the Large Die of the Month for October 2023. It’s only $20 right now.
Die Cutting
Follow the cut list table below and die cut all pieces.
I suggest using dark green for the back of the card, because it’s going to be visible as foliage in the finished card. Score along the bottom of the roof on both building pieces. That’s 1 ¾” from the bottom. Reinforce the folds with your bone folder. Put aside the backside of the card for now.
Card Front
On the front of the card, cut away the foliage and flowers. These cuts may be visible on the finished card, so make them neat and tidy. I first cut with scissors, then tidied up the edges with my trimmer.
Glue the rain gutter to the bottom of the roof. Then glue the roof to the card front, taking care not to get glue below the score line.
Glue the windows to the door. Also add a door knob, if you’re using one. I think you’re meant to use one of the round ornaments. But I used a silver paint pen in the round depression on the door. You could also use a little flatback pearl. Then glue the door and the windows to the card front.
Glue the awning to the roof. It needs to be centered on the door and the bottom should extend below the bottom of the roof. Take care not to get glue on the part of the awning that sticks out beyond the roof. You could pop up the awning on some foam tape. I think that would be cute. You could also add some snow on top of the awning and the gutters.
Add a few ornaments to each tree, then glue them to their pots. Place a tree in front of each window. I glued mine down, but next time I’ll probably pop them up on foam tape. Make sure the pots don’t stick out below the bottom of the card front. It would be cute to use flatback pearls as ornaments instead of die cuts.
Fence
Fold the fence at the perforated lines on both sides. Then glue the tabs to the backside of the card front. Make sure that the bottom of the fence is level with the bottom of the card front.
In theory the tabs should make the fence stand out from the card front. In practice mine bowed inwards. I fixed that by adding two layers of foam tape behind the threshold and leaving the release paper on, so the fence can slide back and forth.
The back side of the card front looked pretty bad, so I cut out the building one more time from pattern paper. I used my trimmer to remove the part above the scoreline. Then I glued it to the back of the card front. You can see it in the video at the bottom of this post.
Card Base
Glue down all the green leaves. One holly leaf is partially hidden behind the poinsettia.
Then place all the berries.
Glue together the three roses and add them to the card base.
Glue together the four layers of the poinsettia and add it to the card base.
Sentiment
Foil “Spirits Bright” from Christmas Die & Glimmer Sentiments. I foiled it with pink foil. Then I cut out “Making” from pink foiled cardstock and white, so I could stack it. I also stacked the shadow layer before I put it all together.
Assembly
Dry fit the card front to the card base, so you know how they fit together. On the back side of the card front, spread glue above the score line. Then glue the card front to the card base above the score line.
Finally glue the sentiment to the fence, taking care not to glue the fence to the tree.
