Happy Christmas

I'm slowly but surely getting back to working on holiday cards. Christmas is in just a few months (eek!), and my stash is not nearly large enough yet! I created this one for the My Favorite Things 2016 "Card Design Superstar" challenge.

I got my design inspiration from a card that I saw online. Don't ask me where--I have already forgotten! :( The sample card had a panel on the front with stamping, and the stamped images below the panel matched up with those on the panel. So I decided to recreate that look in my card.

I began by cutting my background panel from white cardstock to 4x5.25". I die cut an angled panel, also from white, with one of the dies from My Favorite Things' "Blueprints 18." After taping my main panel to a cutting board, masking off a 1/8" border on all sides, I traced the bottom edge of my angled panel onto that, to guide my stamping. I then stamped a few of the snowflakes from "Sophisticated Snowflake" (also MFT, but apparently discontinued) in Hero Arts Tide Pool ink, just along the diagonal line I'd drawn.

I cleaned my stamps, and adhered my upper panel with temporary adhesive to the top of my background. I stamped the snowflakes on that in Versamark ink, lining up the ones along the bottom edge with those I'd stamped on the background. I removed the angled panel from my background, & heat embossed the snowflakes with Ranger Silver Pearl embossing powder. I finished that panel by ink blending Tide Pool over the whole piece. Then I set that aside to dry.

For my greeting, I used MFT's "Little Letters" & "Little Lowercase Letters" dies for the "Christmas" word; and one of the "Happy Trio" dies (discontinued). I inked a scrap of white cardstock with Tide Pool, using the direct-to-paper technique, and dried that with my heat tool. I then taped my dies in place, and ran the piece through my die cutting machine. I set the die cuts aside to let the ink dry thoroughly for a few hours.

To adhere my die cut greeting, I applied tiny dots of Perfect Paper Adhesive (matte finish) to the back, and glued them in place. I stamped a few more snowflakes on the lower part of my background, around the words, with Tide Pool ink. Finally, I removed the painter's tape that I had used to mask the edges of my card, adhered my angled panel with foam tape, and mounted the card front to a white A2 card base. As one last touch, I added Crystal Stickles to the centers of the snowflakes, and several dots around the rest of the card.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"
Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday: "Stamping"