Warmest Wishes

Merry Monday Challenge Blog's theme this week is "The Magic Number is 5." Basically, make a holiday card, using 5 of an item. For this card, I used 5 snowflake stamps from My Favorite Things' "Sophisticated Snowflake" set (apparently discontinued).

I began by stamping my snowflakes in Versamark onto a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper I'd cut to 4.25x5.5". Next I heat embossed them with Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder so I could do an emboss resist technique. I used Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch, & Wilted Violet Distress inks to ink the panel, overlapping & blending the colors to create as smooth a transition as possible.

After I'd finished inking, I used my Distress Sprayer to mist droplets of water over the panel. I let that sit for several seconds, then blotted up the water with a paper towel. This bleached out the ink in those spots, adding some visual texture to my panel. Then I went further on my mixed-media kick, and splattered Golden Iridescent Pearl & Iridescent Silver acrylic paint over my panel. I don't know how well the pearl drops showed up in the end, but the silver definitely is there! 😊

I used my heat tool to dry the paint splatters more quickly, and then cut off the bottom 2" of my panel. I trimmed 7/8" off the top of that strip, and added fun foam to the back of that & my larger panel with Scor Tape.

For my greeting, I used 3 stamps from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Christmas Pine" set. I cut a scrap of white cardstock to 4.25" wide, and marked where the top of my narrow watercolor paper strip would go. I measured 7/8" up from there & drew another light pencil line. Then, with the cardstock piece in my MISTI, I used a grid sheet to center my greeting stamps within that 7/8" section. I stamped my greeting with Hero Arts Pool ink.

I adhered my bottom inked strip to the cardstock, below the greeting, and then used more Scor Tape to mount that to the bottom of my white A2 card base. Finally, I adhered my top panel in place. I considered adding sequins or gems, but decided I had enough going on as it is.