Happiest Christmas Wishes!

Working on my sixth Totally Lovin' Christmas make over.  I loved the non-traditional colors on this card, but somehow the layout just didn't really send me over the top, so I changed up the whole card, which keeping most of the colors, the ornament image, and sentiment.

Meanwhile, I enlarged my card closer to an A6 card sized by adding an Early Espresso cardbase and a lime glitter paper mat layer.  Next, the original Perfect Peacock cardbase became the card front color.  I rotated the peacock foil patterned piece to vertical and added a lime glitter paper mat layer.  

For my image layer, I cut down the size of the ornament layer and added layers below the image to make it a three-layer combination.  I die-cut the bottom Pretty Peacock layer with a decorative layer die modified to leave only one curly bracket shape on its right side to host the vertical sentiment.  I wanted more color so I incorporated both the lime and peacock colors on my ornament with Copic markers.  To the lime coloring, I added a bit of Wink of Stella-Clear to give it some shimmer.  To finish, I Versamark stamped and heat embossed the vertical sentiment with Early Espresso embossing powder and popped on three peacock-colored rhinestones.

This is a very non-traditional colored Christmas card!  Take a peek below at the finished inside and outside designs.

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Early Espresso, Pretty Peacock.  Patterned--Noble Peacock Specialty paper.  Stamps--Lots of Cheer (sentiment/ ornament - 2019-20 Annual).  Dies:  Labels Collections (retired).  Embossing Powder--Early Espresso (retired).  Holiday Rhinestones (2019 Holiday).  Punch (inside): Curvy Corners (retired).  Other products:  DCWV Glitter Paper--Olive; EK Corner Punch: Victorian Corners.  Copic Markers (lt. aqua (pool parlty)/ olive (olive).  Wink of Stella: Clear.  A6-4-1/2 x 6-1/4 inch cards.

A Christmas Nativity Bauble!

WHAT A WAY TO END THE YEAR!

THIS CARD IS NAMED A 

SPLITCOASTSTAMPERS' FAVORITE 

OF THE WEEK ENDING - DECEMBER 30, 2017

Sorry, I've been missing in action most of December!  Usually, my blog is loaded with all kinds of Christmas cards...not so this year!  I have been unable to do much crafting with some hand issues that may require surgery, especially my left hand.  The right one is working on it, but not quite there for surgery yet.  I have some "lovely" thumb guards (sarcasm dripping) that I am to wear pretty much 24-7, with a short timeouts if absolutely necessary.  So...that's the story...not able to do much crafting, as that really sets off the pain and swelling in the entire hand!

I did manage to get to my craft table and work up this little Christmas Nativity bauble.  I worked with several dies and modified my Cottage Cutz Nativity to fit inside the bauble.  I now have a baggie full of date trees, little sheep, and the Star of Behtlehem.  I used some more of the gold glimmer wrapping paper that I stabilized with a cardstock backing and lots of tape runner, row after row, especially with the paper used to die-cut the pine boughs.  

I tried a new stamp set to get gold embossed stars on the night sky.  I was really unhappy with how it turned out.  The stamp was not a background size, but an odd shape, like an amoeba, with totally uneven curves and bulges, so it was difficult to even get it stamped evenly over the paper.  I also sprinkled Gold  glitter embossing powder, and wasn't too happy with that either...it left smudges.  

I planned to make several of this design, so I will definitely be trying something different to my starry sky.  I seem to be liking the black and gold glimmer look this year, and I was pleased with my overall design, but not the sky, so take a peek below at what not to do on your starry background sky!

I will also be entering this into several Splitcoaststampers Challenges:  

• December 2017 Dirty Dozen Christmas Challenge:  Nativity scene.
• Alphabet Challenge (Letter O=Ornament/ Double Challenge = Letter L for lightfastness; Encore Metallic Gold a pigment, oil-base ink with slow drying time.
• Free for All - Merry December.  Christmas my favorite December holiday.
• 2017 Christmas Card Challenge - June = Religious card.
• Dirty Dozen November Word Theme:  JOYS.  J=Jesus; O=Ornament; Y=Yule card (archaic for Christmas); S=Shiny, sparkle.
• Inspiration Challenge IC628 - Dept. 56 as the inspiration website.

Ingredients:  Paper:  Stampin' Up--Basic Black cs; Recycled Gold Dot gift wrap.  Stamps: Christmas Pines (sky stars).  Dies:  Cottage Cutz--Nativity Silhouette; Stampin' Up Thinlits--Delicate Ornaments, Pretty Pines.  Ink:  Encore Gold Metallic (coloring edges of gold paper, ornament and pine needles).  Offray 1/4" ribbon, Black Fun Foam, Computer verse (inside).

More Christmas Shoebox Exchange Fun!

Earlier in December, I attended a Christmas Techniques Shoebox exchange (see my November 18th post for more details about this event), and I wanted to share the card I made using my friend Carla's design.  The technique she was using was using texture paste to achieve dimension, and I might add she made her own texture paste from stratch!

This lovely card uses Spellbinders Elegant Labels Four Card-Creator, which is where we got the beautiful blue die-cut background and the white sentiment tag with the sheer organza ribbon woven through.  We also used the Spellbinders 2011 Heirloom Ornaments die to cut out and leave the negative space on the blue background.  We cut an additional white cardstock ornament, and an ornament topper in silver foil.

After all my die-cut pieces were cut out, I stamped our wintery scene onto the white ornament die-cut.  I applied texture paste the the  barn roofs, the mountains, and the drifts around the barnyard scene.  While the paste was still wet, I applied fine glitter, tamped off the excess, and set it aside to dry.  Meanwhile, I attached my blue die-cut background to my white cardbase and stamped my sentiment tag and prepared the woven ribbon.  This tag was popped up off the blue die-cut background.  While my ornament was drying, I made a smaller double bow with my wood ribbon maker.  Now to finish my ornament, I inserted and adhered my white ornament onto my blue background.  Next, I glued the silver ornament topper at its top and using my bone folder, I "drew" lines down my topper to replicate the grooves often seen on ornament toppers.  My final step was to glue-dot my ribbon bow onto the top of the ornament topper.

Take a peek below at this wonderful card that my friend Carla designed for our Christmas Techniques Shoebox Exchange.  It is so very beautiful and I loved making it and having the opportunity to work with texture paste in one of the many varied ways to use it.

After getting home from our fun shoebox day, I went right to my paper stash to see if I could find a match for the blue Carla used on the outside.  I wanted to create a verse and interior that would compliment this card's beautiful outside.  I was in luck, Carla and I must have both shopped at Michaels and bought the very same pack of papers in five shades of blues, because my piece was an exact match!

Ingredients:  Recollections cardstock:  White, Cape Code Stack (5 shades of blue).  Darice: Opulent Opal Glitter cs (inside snowflakes).  Stamp: Embossing Arts/ Snow-capped Barn; Sentiment--unknown.  Ink: Memento-Paris Dusk.  Dies: Spellbinders--Elegant Labels Four Card-Creator; 2011 Heirloom Ornaments; SU: Top Note BigZ (inside-retired).  Recollections punch: Mini Snowflake.   Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter.  Pink Posh: sequins.  Stash:  5/8" Sheer White Shimmer ribbon.

Delicate Ornaments on Your Tree - Christmas X10 - Card #6!

Card #6 from the Christmas X10 card event is a non-traditional color combination for Christmas, but oh my, it is a beauty. . .black with gold and silver shiny foil!  It utilizes one of my favorite of all time designer paper collections, WinterWonderland dsp, all in black and gold coloring with the foil element incorporated right into the papers.

I did tweak this card's design just a bit, because I wanted my card to be larger to give more room for the ornament design elements, which are good size.  Also, I wanted to pop up the sentiment instead of affixing it directly onto the card front. Therefore, I made my card a 5-1/2 inch square rather sticking with the traditional A2 card size of 4-1/4" x 5-1/2."  I also add a third layer, in-between the two layers on the original card, in the gold foil. . .I truly think this really enhanced an already beautiful card design. Again, thank you Dara Peterson & Luci Kirschbaum for this wonderful card event, but most of all, for the magnificent card designs.  You two out did yourselves for sure!

Recipe:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstocks--Basic Black, Gold Foil, Silver, Winter Wonderland dsp.  Stamps:  Embellished Ornaments - sentiment.  Delicate Ornaments Thinlit dies.  Gold Embossing powder.  1/8" Gold Metallic ribbon.