Season's Greetings

Hero Arts is having a holiday cards challenge. There are only 2 requirements: it has to be a holiday card (obviously), and it needs to use one or more Hero Arts products. I created this card with the "Color Layering Cardinal" & "Vintage Christmas Post" stamp sets.

I used Sketch #SC590 from Splitcoaststampers.com for my design--with a twist. Instead of having the circle element be a layer, I die cut it from my card front to make the rest a frame.

For the cardinal, I used Hero Arts Fresh Peach ink for the base layer, Hero Arts Pale Tomato for the middle layer, Memento Rhubarb Stalk for the top, and Memento Gray Flannel for the "black" accents on the face & eye. I also used Rhubarb Stalk for the feet. When I had finished the stamping, I die cut the body & feet with the coordinating dies.

I stamped the branch with Gray Flannel first, then inked up the stamp with Hero Arts Cup o' Joe, and dabbed off the ink in some spots with a rag. Then I stamped the branch again, right over the first impression, to give it some subtle shading. I used my MISTI stamp positioner tool, which is invaluable for a technique like this, especially on such a small & relatively detailed stamp. Then I die cut my branch.

To create my card front, I cut a piece of pale blue cardstock to 4.25x5.5". I cut a strip of patterned paper from my scrap stash for the bottom, and a strip of white cardstock for the greeting. After adhering both strips to the blue, I positioned my die (Spellbinders "Standard Circles LG") onto the panel, just to check for where to stamp my greeting. Then I stamped the greeting, from "Vintage Christmas Post," in Gray Flannel ink. Finally, I die cut the circle from the panel.

I cut another A2 size panel of the blue cardstock, and traced the circle from my front panel onto that. I lightly erased the pencil line, so it was still visible, but faint. Then I inked up the top part of the panel that would show through the circle with Broken China & Peacock Feathers Distress inks, fading the Broken China out towards the bottom so the pale blue showed.

When I placed my bird & branch on the background, I decided it needed something more underneath, because the space was just a bit too bare. So I stamped and die cut the 2 smaller branches and several pine needles from "Color Layering Cardinal." I glued all my elements in place with Perfect Paper Adhesive. After adding my card front with foam tape, I mounted the panel to a white A2 card base. As a finishing touch, I added some black glaze pen to the cardinal's eye, and, when that had dried, added a catch light with a white gel pen.

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

A Blog Named Hero November Challenge: "Holiday"
Craft Your Passion Challenges: "Anything Goes"
Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"