Elegant Holiday Cards with City Holiday Collection

The holiday season is the perfect time to create beautiful handmade cards, and today I’m sharing two festive designs featuring products from Spellbinders’ Yana City Holiday Collection. Both cards showcase unique techniques and materials that make them sparkle and shine, yet they are simple enough to recreate. I’ve combined the Happiest Holidays BetterPress Plate with soft ink colors for a modern botanical card and used the Shadow Joy Die to create a bold, dimensional design that exudes holiday cheer.

Card One: Happiest Holidays BetterPress Card

Creating the Pressed Design

For the first card, I used the Happiest Holidays BetterPress Plate to create a gorgeous, detailed letterpress impression. Instead of the traditional black ink, I reached for Distress Oxide inks to give the sentiment and foliage a soft, inked look. This press plate is layered and comes with registration template which makes it so easy to layer different colors. I applied shades of green and red directly to the plate using small blending brushes, carefully inking only each design in the choice of colors. This gave the pressed image a fresh, festive vibe with a handmade touch.

Building the Layers

Once the image was pressed onto my BetterPress cardstock, I trimmed it down into a square panel and matted it with deep red cardstock to create contrast. Behind the focal panel, I added a bold red glitter strip to give the card a touch of sparkle and tie it into the holiday theme. This simple layered design draws the eye straight to the pressed sentiment while keeping the rest of the card clean and elegant.

Balancing Simplicity and Festivity

Since the pressed sentiment and foliage are highly detailed, I kept the background crisp and white to let the centerpiece shine. The glitter strip acts as a visual anchor, while the red matting adds warmth and festive energy without overwhelming the design. The balance between texture, shimmer, and simplicity makes this card perfect for mass-producing yet still uniquely stunning.

Final Touches

To finish, I added subtle accents of clear shimmer to some of the foliage for an extra bit of holiday magic. The combination of BetterPress detailing with the softness of Distress Oxide inks gives the card a luxurious feel while still maintaining a handcrafted charm.

Card Two: Joy Shadow Die Card

Creating Dimension with Shadow Layers

For the second card, I used the Shadow Joy Die from Yana’s collection, pairing it with a stunning mix of plain red cardstock, glitter cardstock, and mirror cardstock. I die-cut the main “joy” sentiment from vibrant red cardstock and layered it over a sparkling red glitter shadow. Behind both layers, I added a subtle mirror cardstock shadow to give the entire sentiment extra depth and an eye-catching shine.

Embossed Background for Texture

To complement the bold sentiment, I embossed the background panel with a soft, intricate pattern. This subtle detail adds elegance and dimension without distracting from the focal point. The embossed white background contrasts beautifully with the rich reds of the sentiment, allowing the “joy” to stand out as the star of the design.

Minimal but Impactful Design

This card has a minimalist layout but feels luxurious thanks to the textures and finishes. I added a small black sentiment strip reading “Delivered” tucked behind the layered “joy” to balance the composition and provide contrast. The white-on-white embossing combined with layered die cuts makes the design modern yet festive—perfect for sending cheerful wishes during the holidays.

Polished Finishing Details

To complete the card, I mounted the embossed panel onto a crisp white base and popped up the layered sentiment using foam adhesive. The raised “joy” creates dimension and shadow play, making the card come alive under the light. Simple, sophisticated, and bursting with holiday spirit, this card is a perfect example of how layering and texture can transform a clean design into something extraordinary.

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