Happy Holiday Wishes

I am honored & excited to be guest designing for Christmas Card Throwdown sketch challenge this week! You can find all the details & enter your card at their site.

Christmas Card Throwdown Sketch

For the images on my card I used WPlus9's "Poinsettia Builder" stamp set. This layering set is very easy to use. I stamped the first layer of each flower with Lawn Fawn Guava ink, then followed with Memento Love Letter, Altenew Ruby Red, & finished with a double-stamping of Ranger Red Geranium Archival ink. I used Delicata Golden Glitz for the flower centers, & Delta Emerald Green and Memento Cottage Ivy for the leaves on the 2 larger flowers. The smallest flower doesn't have a leaf layer to go with it, & looked rather naked without any. So I just used a couple of Tombow markers to indicate leaves on that one. I stamped my greeting, from Simon Says Stamp's "Holiday Greetings Mix 1" set, onto a scrap of white cardstock & cut it into a banner.

I wanted to try something different for my background. I used an A2-size panel of navy cardstock & Prima's "Flourish" stencil (discontinued). I temporarily adhered the stencil to my panel, and used a makeup wedge to apply metal leafing glue through the openings. After I removed the stencil, I let the glue dry until it was tacky, then added Nuvo Radiant Gold gilding flakes to the adhesive. After I covered the panel with the flakes, I used a stiff bristle paintbrush to scrub away the excess. Finally, I lightly buffed the surface with a sanding block to remove any "straggler" flakes.

I die cut each flower with a circle die, and cut mat layers for them from Bazzill Icy Mint cardstock. After I glued the circles to their respective mats, I glued them & my greeting to my background. Finally, I adhered my background to a white A2 card base. I really love how this card turned out. Now go create your own holiday card & enter the challenge! :)