We often buy coordinating dies to make it easy to cut out our stamped images. But why not stretch them and get more out of them by creating texture to a plain background behind your focal images. So for this card, we are going to create a dry embossed die-cut background on this Christmas card, using the Pace, Love & Holly stamp & die set from the new Nordic Woods release from Catherine Pooler designs.
PRODUCED AS PART OF MY BRAND AMBASSADOR WORK FOR CATHERINE POOLER DESIGNS - SEE END OF POST FOR MORE DETAILS
creating the dry embossed background
Start off by colouring a piece of white card stock with Cranberry Fizz Catherine Pooler Ink, by swiping the ink pad directly onto the cardstock. Next, separate the ‘Peace, love & holly’ die, positioning the small dies over your coloured cardstock.

Place this into your die-cutting machine, set up for dry embossing and use a silicone embossing mat to place your cardstock onto. Once you have dry embossed this, reposition the dies and dry embossed again. Continue to do this until the background is complete.

adding the stamping
For the stamping on this card, ink up the small foliage stamps from the stamp set with Cranberry Fizz CP ink. Wipe off any excess ink on the branches and leaves as we are just colouring the berries.

Next, stamp the foliage again in Deck the Halls CP ink, removing excess ink on the berries so the berries remain red in our stamping. Once complete, use the coordinating dies to die-cut them out.

The sentiment was heat embossed in Gold onto a white card strip. This was foam mounted onto the card panel to one side. The stamped images were added with varying levels of dimension, clustered around the sentiment. Lastly, the card was embellished with sequins from the Oak City Sequin Mix from Catherine Pooler Designs.





Supplies
dry embossed background with coordinating dies
Affiliate links used at no extra cost to you at these shops: Altenew (ALT), Scrapbook.com (SB), Hero Arts (HA), Picket Fence Studios (PF), My Favourite Things (MFT), and Craft Stash UK/US (CS UK/US).
****When shopping at The Little Paper Tree (LPT), use the code TLPTVERITY to save £1 off your order****
All other shops are not affiliated links: Bumbleberry Papercrafts (BP) and WOW! UK/US (WOW UK/US).
Peace Love & Holly stamp set – Catherine Pooler Designs Shop at: CPD | Woodland ‘I want it all’ Bundle – Catherine Pooler Designs Shop at: CPD | Peace Love & Holly die set – Catherine Pooler Designs Shop at: CPD |
Deck the Halls Ink Pad – Catherine Pooler Designs Shop at: CPD | SB | Deck the Halls Reinker – Catherine Pooler Designs Shop at: CPD | SB | Deck the Halls Ink Bundle – Catherine Pooler Designs Shop at: CPD |
Cranberry Fizz Ink Pad – Catherine Pooler Designs Shop at: CPD | SB | Cranberry Fizz Reinker – Catherine Pooler Designs Shop at: CPD | SB | Cranberry Fizz Ink Bundle – Catherine Pooler Designs Shop at: CPD |
![]() WOW! Clear ultra slow drying embossing ink pad Shop at: CPD | CS (UK) | CS (US) | WOW (UK) | WOW (US) | ![]() WOW! Clear ultra slow drying embossing ink refill Shop at: CPD | CS (UK) | CS (US) | WOW (UK) | WOW (US) | ![]() WOW! Clear ultra slow drying embossing ink pad & refill Shop at: CPD | CS (UK) | CS (US) | WOW (UK) |
![]() Metallic Gold Rich Pale – WOW! Embossing Powder Shop at: CS (UK) | CS (US) | WOW (UK) | WOW (US) | Oak City Sequin Mix – Catherine Pooler Designs Shop at: CPD | ![]() Premium White Cardstock: 8.5″ x 11 – Catherine Pooler Designs Shop at: CPD | LPT |
Original MISTI 2.0 – My Sweet Petunia Shop at: ALT | CPD | SB | HA | BP | 2-3/4″ Round arcylic block – Catherine Pooler Designs Shop at: CPD | ![]() Gina K Designs – Connect Glue Shop at: BP |
![]() Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam squares 1/4″ white Shop at: CPD | SB | BP | ![]() WOW! Dual Speed Heat Gun (UK version) Shop at: CS (UK) | WOW (UK) | ![]() WOW! Dual Speed Heat Gun (US version) Shop at: CPD | WOW (US) |
![]() Teflon Bone Folder – Lawn Fawn Shop at: CPD | BP | ![]() Tim Holtz 8.5 Inches Comfort Trimmer – Tonic Studios Shop at: SB | CS (UK) | CS (US) | ![]() Trim and Score Board – We R Memory Keepers Shop at: SB | CS (UK) | CS (US) |
![]() QuickStik – We R Memory Keepers Shop at: CPD | SB | CS (UK) | CS (US) |
love TO SEE ANOTHER project like this?
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for more inspiration check out the

CATHERINE POOLER BLOG
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I would love to hear what you think of the project!

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Design team work:
DISCLOSURE
This post was produced as part of my Brand Ambassador work for Catherine Pooler Designs I have not been paid to make this post, but I am given supplies from Catherine Pooler Designs to use. However, I create projects with creative control and produce projects I am proud of and with products that I love. The information provided is based on my own personal experience – I am not an expert.