Nov 18 2007
My Punchy Santa & Tutorial
There have been a lot of punchy Santas made over the years…a lot of punchy everything, actually. Still, I thought it would be fun to design my own punchy Santa and see if maybe you might like to try him, too.
My Santa is a little more involved than some I’ve seen but once I had the design and measurements all figured out and my list in front of me I had four of these cut out and put together before I could say “ho ho ho”. I don’t know if the scallop punch has been used for a beard before. Chances are, it has been. I’m not usually the first person to think of these things. It was an epiphany for me, though, and maybe…just maybe it’s a new idea.
The background on this card uses papers from both the SU! Holiday Harmony and Apple Cider collections, as well as one piece of white wheeled with So Swirly. The zigzag stitch is Hero Arts and the little card he’s holding is a stamp from SU! Glad Tidings. I had so much fun with this! I felt like a little kid with a school art project. He reminds me of some of the things my son used to bring home.
So…if you’d like to play, too, I’ve included instructions which are much more detailed than you need, I’m sure. But just in case…
You’ll need:
Red — 2 1/4″ square for body, 2″ x 1 1/4″ for legs, 2″ x 3/4″ for arms, 1 1/4″ square for hat
White — 2 3/8″ x 1/2″ for coat trim, scallop punch circle for beard, 1 3/8″ x 1/4″ for hat trim, 3/4″ x 1/4″ for sleeve trim, 1/4″ punched circle for pom pom
Blush — 1 3/8″ punched circle for head, 1/4″ punched circle for nose
Black — 2 1/4″ x 3/8″ for belt (can use ribbon instead), 1″ punched circle for shoes, 3/4″ punched circle for mittens
I used a heck of a lot of punches, but you can improvise, too. The punches sure do make it easier, though.
Here’s an overview of Santa’s parts. I’ll explain why some of them look the way they do in the step by step. As you can see, the Santa in the card I’ve pictured had his beard Cuttlebugged before it was punched. There’s lots that can be done to dress him up but I mostly kept it pretty simple.
1. Prepare at least one layer of the card. You’ll be gluing Santa directly onto it.
2. Score legs at the 1″ mark. Glue to lower edge of card. Cut the 1″ black circle in half and glue to legs as shown in the finished card.
3. Cut the 3/4″ black circle in half and tape to lower edge of arms. Glue arms to body at shoulders. You can position the arms however you want. Just keep in mind that you don’t want them hanging too far off the edge of the card. The next photo shows how my Santa’s arms and body look from the back after taping and gluing.
4. Glue white trim to sleeves. Glue coat trim to lower edge of coat. It will be slightly wider than the coat. Glue belt just above white coat trim.
5. Glue assembled coat just above legs, leaving the arms free.
6. On the head, color two small black dots for eyes and two larger pink spots for his rosy cheeks. Position head on body. You can tilt the head, as I’ve done here, or just set it straight on.
7. Cut a slice off of the scallop circle. Please refer to the photo of Santa’s parts for an example. Turn the sliced off piece upside down and glue to beard to form a mustache.
8. Glue beard to face so that just the tops of his rosy cheeks are visible. Center 1/4″ nose circle over mustache.
9. Cut the 1 1/4″ red hat square in half on the diagonal. Cut the tips off the ends of one piece as shown in the photo of Santa’s parts. Glue white hat trim to lower edge of that piece. Glue hat to Santa’s head just above his eyes.
10. Glue the other half of the square (which is now a rectangle) to Santa’s hat. Glue the 1/4″ white circle pom pom to the tip that overhangs.
11. Give him a belt buckle of some kind. I used a ribbon slide but cardstock or a large brad or eyelet would work, too.
Now you can finish assembling the card and add whatever creative touches you’d like. He’d look great with liquid applique, white puffy paint, fun flock or maybe a little glitter. I’ll finish up with one more photo of another Santa card I made, using the same layout but different colors and papers.
Have a super great Sunday! I’m having a rainy, stamping kind of weekend. I hope to try out a different sort of project tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for me! See you again soon!
This is simply adorable - and super clever use of punches, gonna have to give this one a try!
Love it! A keeper for when the grandkids visit - they love paper crafts, too.
OMGoodness! LOVE him!!! How cute is that CB’d beard!!! Very creative, Leslie!
Wow!! These are so adorable!! I love him! The beard is the coolest Leslie. I love how creative you are. The tutorial is fantastic as always:)
Dee
That’s just the cutest idea! Love, love, LOVE the beard! I will have to try it. Great job on the instructions. I need details, so it’s perfect!
As Cambria says “You are the BOMB!!!!!” This is THE CUTEST punchy Santa I’ve seen or made. Awesome idea to use the scalloped punch for his beard - I do believe that is an original Leslie idea. I must try one of these. Excellent tutorial, too.
OMGosh, Leslie — your Santa is amazing!!! I absolutely love him and must try one — you are so clever and the cards are fantastic!!
This is just adorable and FANTASTIC!!
He is totally cute.
WOW, WOW, WOW!!! This is the cutest Santa EVER!!! What a creative genius you are, I LOVE your Santa…thanks for sharing him with us!
SO Sweet Leslie!! You are So creative!!!!
Vicki
You ROCK! This needed to be submitted for publication!
Get out of here!!!!! Leslie this is absolutely outstanding — so clever and creative. Girl I have got to try this!
WOW this is AWESOME! Love your instructions. They are really easy to follow.
Oh, Leslie! This is so amazing! I can’t wait to try some Santas of my own! Thanks for the great instructions!
This is soooo cute! Thanks for taking the time to prepare the instructions and pictures. They are SO helpful!!
OMG Leslie! This is adorable! I’ve got to try this - my nephews will love it! Thanks for the instructions!
You are one talented crafty gal! Such a jolly cute Santa! Deb
Thins in wonderful….what a great relevation and I can wait to make one. Thank for sharing att the details..GREAT JOB!
I LOVE YOUR SANTAS!! yes, I’m yelling, lol
So cute!
WOW , this is brilliant !!!!!!! I’m not sure that I would have the patience to figure this out for myself…….how generous of you to add a tutorial! Thank you !
Barbara
Whoa!!! What a GREAT project!!! This is adorable!!!
This is amazing! I can’t believe you had the patience to figure this all out - you are so talented! Thanks so much for sharing this FANTASTIC project!
How totally adorable is this?! I LOVE Santa’s Cuttlebugged beard - that was inspired! Your Santa cards are too, too cute for words.
Adorable … cute … fun … festive … love it.
Leslie…my kids were squealing with delight when I opened this page! Your punchy Santa is the CUTEST!! Thanks so much for the awesome tutorial! You rock!! (Of course I’m thinking I will be making at least three of these for the kiddos).
You are killing me. I put a link to this on the Gingerwood bulletin Board and sent them here! You are so creative!!
INCREDIBLE — TRULY INCREDIBLE!!!! When someone commented on my Blog about you doing a wonderful project, I had to come real quick and see — AMAZING!!! He is gorgeous — I love him!!!! Your scallop circle beard is truly wonderful, and the time it must have taken to prepare the tutorial — hats off to you — wonderful project, wonderful tutorial!!! I am sure we will be seeing a lot of these Santas popping up on SCS — LOL!!!
This is absolutely adorable - Thanks so much for sharing…
Super cute! Thank you for sharing your directions.
This is just absolutely cute and creative. Way to go girl. And thanks so much for sharing your genius with me! I love it.
WOW cute cute cute..thanks so much for the directions and for sharing!
WEll, I’ve never seen anything like it, but you can be sure, IT ROCKS!!
Ahhh! This is too stinkin’ cute! I haven’t seen ANYONE do this before, so I think you’ve got dibbs! Forget Santa’s list because I want to be on your Christmas card list!!!
This is too cute!!! I never would have thought of using the scallop punch like that.
While I have seen a scallop beard, I have never seen a CB beard. Great job and thanks for the measurements.
Your Punchy Santa is just so Darn Cute! TFS all of his parts! I think the scalloped cuddlebug beard is my very favorite part. Just so creative. And just look at how diff. your Santa’s look with different DP’s. Wow…….I sure hope I get a chance to make one, but may not want to give him away. Thank you, thank you for sharing your talents
Leslie, Leslie, Leslie!!!! you are so brilliant!!! I have always loved your works of “heart”. Great project. *wink*
Oh, is that darling!!! I can’t wait to make one! You are so talented. TFS the instructions in such great detail, as well.
Thank you, thank you!
Eileen
The only thing better than this fabulous, clever and CUTE punchy Santa is your wonderfully detailed tutorial on how to make him! Such great photos too! I’ll just bet you had lots of fun working out all the wonderful little details. Thank you for creating AND sharing this adorable guy! Truly outstanding, Leslie! Linda
He is so cute. Thanks so much for sharing
WOW! That is darling!
Oh my Leslie!! A scalloped punch for a beard! This guy is just beyond cute!!! You never cease to amaze me!!! You are so sweet to include the instructions too! The papercrafting world is a better place with you in it!!! Love, Cynthia
Anyone would love to receive a card like this one!!! Too cute! Congratulations on being selected for the Flourishes,llc design team
OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS…..MERCY ME!!….This is soooooooooo cool!! Thanks so much for the TUTE TOO!!
Leslie, how clever of you to do this and the tutorial makes this project fool proof! Thanks so much for the cute project!
Pinky
What a lot of work…but soooo cute! Fab tutorial too!
I LOVE your Santa Leslie - this is a great tutorial!
Pure genious! He’s so darn cute. Thanks so much for providing the How To, too.
Oh my!!
This is adorable! Wow!
Thanks for sharing!
This is so cute! Great tutorial! Thanks for posting it!
Have a great day!
Very neat, amazing what you can put together with shapes. I just love how these Santa’s turned out!
very cute santa and such a neat idea to use embossing for his beard!
This is SO STINKIN’ CUTE!!!! I’m definitely going to have to get ‘punchy’ this weekend and give this a try! I just love it!!
Oh you clever, CLEVER lady! This is fabulous, Leslie!
You are amazing!!! This is just so awesome, Leslie!!
OH! WOW!! Love the CB beard!! You are one cleaver lady!!!
Your Santa is beyond FABULOUS!!!!!! So much FUN!
Hi Leslie,
Your Santa card is just adorable. Thanks for posting the directions for the pieces, I just might have to case his face on my Christmas cards this year. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Thinking of you, Jennifer & Family
This is totally adorable!! Love the beard and mustache! So clever! Thanks for the instructions. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours
Your Santa is adorable! Thanks for showing us how to make one too!
I finally made one of your adorable Santas. Thanks again for sharing this awesome tutorial!!
Adorable, I’d love to try that! How fun!
Holy cow, Leslie! This is beyond amazing!!! Often times, assembled punched images look a bit awkward but this is incredible! MORE than incredible!!! Totally cute!!! Unbelievably adorable!!
so cute- I love his beard!
Hermosisima tarjeta. Gracias Leslie por tu ayuda, un gran tutorial !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, I’m a little late finding this and I don’t even remember how I stumbled across it today, but I had to say something - it’s incredible! I am saving it for next Christmas for sure. I might even make a few in the next couple of days, just so I don’t forget. Thank you so much for sharing and all the hard work and prep!