Christmas Hope

I've been participating in Online Card Classes' "Background Check" class this past week. On Day 1, Kristina Werner did a lesson on watercolor backgrounds. I combined that with another lesson by Jennifer McGuire on emboss resist (Day 2), to create the background for my card. The design is inspired by one of the finished cards Jennifer did for Day 3 of class.

I began by stamping the "Small Snowflake Background" (discontinued) from Our Daily Bread Designs onto a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, with Versamark ink. I heat embossed that with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. Then I taped the panel to a cutting board that I use for watercoloring. I chose Distress inks in Squeezed Lemonade, Mermaid Lagoon, Chipped Sapphire, and Seedless Preserves. Starting with Squeezed Lemonade, I smooshed some on my non-stick craft mat, and spritzed it with a homemade Perfect Pearls mist. I spritzed my watercolor paper with plain water, and picked up some color with a brush and daubed it onto different spots of the paper. I moved on to Mermaid Lagoon, following the same process, daubing it in different areas. I decided at that point my paper was a bit too wet, and I wasn't getting the color intensity I wanted, so I dried it with my heat tool. Then I went on, alternating with Seedless Preserves & Mermaid Lagoon, and finished with Chipped Sapphire.

I still didn't have the color intensity I wanted, so after drying it again, I used my mini ink blending tool to blend Chipped Sapphire, Mermaid Lagoon, and Seedless Preserves over most of the panel. My idea was kind of a night/galaxy sky look, to go with the snowflakes, which I think I finally got at least close to.

I next die cut a circle out of that panel, with one of the "Stitched Circles" dies by Simon Says Stamp. I die cut the "hope" using one of the dies from WPlus9's "Seasonal Sentiments" set, spanning the die across the die cut circle. At that point, I figured out the circle wasn't large enough to accommodate my stamped greeting, so I enlarged the circle with the next larger die. I also die cut the "hope" out of white glitter paper, die cutting a heart out from the "o."

I die cut a corresponding circular window in the front of my A2 card base, then sandwiched a piece of acetate in between that and the embossed/inked background panel I'd done. I ran the glitter "hope" die cut through my Xyron Sticker Maker, then adhered it in place over the acetate window.

For the rest of the greeting, I used one of the stamps in WPlus9's "Pretty Patches Christmas" mini set. I had to cut it in 2, to get it to fit. I mounted the pieces on my MISTI, and stamped the greeting with white Staz-On ink onto the acetate. Thanks to MISTI, it turned out perfectly the first time! :)

I die cut 3 hearts from the white glitter paper, and glued them around the window with a little Ranger Multi Medium Matte. Finally I lined the inside of the card with dark blue cardstock, to help the white stamped greeting pop when the card is closed.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Monday "No Ordinary Paper"
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"
Our Daily Bread Designs "Anything Goes with ODBD Stamps"

Merry Monday #167 "Hearts"