Jingle All the Way

 

The November Sketch challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown inspired the design for my card.

One of the challenges for this year's Falliday Fest event at Splitcoaststampers.com is "Let it Snow in Technicolor." Basically, use snowflakes on a holiday/winter card, and make them any color(s) BUT white. I had a technique piece that I'd done in a class at a recent online retreat. It didn't turn out exactly right, but I saved it, because it was still a pretty, colorful background. So I decided it would be perfect, paired with the Black Magic technique, to make Technicolor snowflakes!

I clear heat embossed several snowflakes on my panel, using My Favorite Things' "Sophisticated Snowflake" stamp set (discontinued). Once the embossing had cooled, I blended Black Soot Distress Oxide ink over the whole panel. Because the panel surface was a bit slick, the ink coverage ended up pretty streaky, and a lot of the background color showed around the snowflakes. But, I figured I'd keep going, and tried coating the panel with black acrylic paint. Same streaky result. So I wiped off the paint, and applied more Black Soot ink, this time going direct-to-paper with my ink pad. Some of the background color still showed through, but I decided the contrast was close enough for jazz, and so just dried the panel with my heat tool. Finally, I wiped off the ink that was on top of the embossed snowflakes, to reveal the bright colors underneath.

I used one of the greetings from Hero Arts' "Merry Christmas Message" stamp set (discontinued). I triple-stamped it on a scrap of white cardstock with Hero Arts Tide Pool ink. (I thought that went well with the Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide ink I'd used on the original background.) I die cut that with a Waffle Flower "Nesting Squares" die, oriented to make a diamond. I die cut another slightly larger square, with an "Additional Squares" die (also from Waffle Flower), from the same white scrap, & inked it direct-to-paper with Tide Pool. I used that as a mat for my greeting.

I cut a panel of patterned paper, from Bo Bunny's "Candy Cane Lane" 6x6" paper pad, to 4-1/8x5-3/8". I adhered that to my white A2-sized card base, leaving a 1/16" mat on all sides. I cut my snowflake panel into 2 narrower strips, and adhered them in place. Finally, I glued on my greeting, using my T-square ruler to make sure I got it straight.

I'm also entering this card in 613 Avenue Create's November "Anything Goes" challenge (not playing the twist).

Season's Greetings

  

The October technique challenge theme at Christmas Card Throwdown is "Fancy Folds." I decided to make a cascade card for my entry.

 

I found a tutorial by Beccy Muir through Pinterest for how to do this sort of card. I used a heavyweight cream cardstock for the card base, and patterned papers from The Paper Studio's "Happy Holidays" letter-size pad to decorate.

For my focal image, I die cut a circle from more of the cream cardstock. I stamped & die cut images from Lawn Fawn's "Deck the Halls" set, and glued them around the perimeter of the circle. I also used a holly leaf from WPlus9's "Be Merry Florals" (discontinued) & the bow from "Holiday Style" by Sunny Studio.

My initial idea was to have the greeting stamped directly on the circle base piece in the middle of the wreath. But I messed up the stamping, so I had to figure out another option. I used the "Season's Greetings" from Hero Arts' "Vintage Christmas Post" stamp set (discontinued) and one of the "Build a Banner" stamps by Avery Elle (discontinued). I first stamped the banner, then curved the greeting stamp to fit the curve of the banner & stamped it. Finally, I die cut the banner with the coordinating die.

I used an old Fiskars border punch to punch strips of blue cardstock. I figured the present theme of the punch went well for a holiday card. I trimmed the punched strips with my paper trimmer, leaving a 1/8" edge along the bottom. I glued each to the backs of my card folds, adding the glue to the front of the unpunched edge of the strips. I added one more strip along the bottom of the front, as per the tutorial instructions, and glued my wreath in place. I will add a panel to the back for the "inside" sentiment. This card was really easy to put together, thanks to Beccy's excellent tutorial!