Jolly Stars (Totally Lovin' Christmas #6)!

I'm rolling along finishing another card that I started at Liz Thayer's Totally Lovin' Christmas cardmaking event!  This one if full of jolly stars, and indeed, we did have a jolly time making cards, seeing old friends, and socializing as we made Liz's superbly designed cards.

I have to confess that I can seldom make a card exactly as it is designed and presented at an event such as this.  For some reason, when I see an already designed and finished card, my creative mojo starts zinging into my mind, and I have all sorts of ideas of how to tweak or change a card just a bit to make it more me.  Everyone has their own style and ideas in cardmaking, and I hope my hostesses do not take offense if I don't end up with the exact same card as designed.  One thing I know for sure, I love larger than A2 sized cards and I also like more layers of color than many other do.  My changes usually incorporate adding layers, which ultimately makes the card a bit larger.

On this Jolly Stars #5 card, I was not fond of the Iridescent embossed smaller stars, it changed the color too much, and made it so they didn't quite match the shades intended.  I thought I'd try clear embossing, which turned out so well that I decided to clear emboss the larger stars as well.  While I was at it, I embossed the Jolly greeting with Cherry Cobbler embossing powder rather than just stamping it in Cherry Cobbler ink.  Next, I decided the layers needed to have a bit more of an edge between layers, and also I felt it needed a white layer to set off the Mossy Meadow and the Red Glimmer papers.  Thus, I added white as a bottom layer making it my new cardbase.  My final addition was to add Clear Wink of Stella all over each of the stars and to the Crumb Cake band to add a bit of shimmer.

For those of you who are not familiar with the "Winks," they are a liquid brush pen that adds a coat of thin shimmer gloss to any surface by painting it on with its brush tip.  It comes in many colors, clear, black, gold, and silver to name a few.  Spoiler Alert:  the new Occasion mini catalog, which will be introduced on January 5, 2016 and run through May 31st, introduces the Wink of Stella Clear and Gold pens for purchase.  I know you'll like them.  Unfortunately, it doesn't really show up all that much in my card photo, but you certainly can see it when you view the actual card!

Recipe:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Whisper White, Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Red Glimmer.  Merry Moments dsp.  Stamps--Oh, What Fun.  Star Framelit dies (size #1/ #2; #1 = smallest).  Decorative Label punch.  Clear Embossing Powder.  1/4" Real Red Cotton ribbon.  Other:  Clear Wink of Stella.  (Thanks Liz Thayer for the original card design).