Peace

 

This week's challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is to use the colors teal & silver. Small amounts of black &/or white are allowed, but the primary colors need to be teal & silver.

I began by heat embossing the large background image from WPlus9's "Joyful Poinsettia" stamp set (discontinued) in silver onto a panel of white Hammermill 100 lb. cover weight cardstock. I love this particular cardstock for stamping and ink blending, as it is very smooth & not overly absorbent. Once I melted the embossing powder & let it cool for a few seconds, I ink blended over the entire panel with Salvaged Patina Distress ink. Then I went around the sides with Mermaid Lagoon Distress ink, not going all the way to the center so there would be a bit of a "glow" effect from the Salvaged Patina. Finally, to up the drama & contrast, I ink blended just around the edges with Uncharted Mariner, which is a deep teal blue color. I did a little more blending with Salvaged Patina, just to smooth the transitions among the 3 shades, & then wiped off any ink sitting on the embossing with a dry cloth.

I had a leftover peace die cut (made with a discontinued die from Winnie & Walter) sitting on my desk from a previous project It was white, but I thought it might work for a greeting if I die cut it from silver metallic cardstock. Not to let anything go to waste, I decided to layer the silver word with a couple of white die cuts, just for a bit more dimension. So I die cut the peace from Recollections Silver Foil cardstock & a scrap of white cardstock, & glued all 3 layers together.

To finish my card, I adhered my emboss-resist background panel to a white A2 top-fold card base. Then I glued the layered peace die cut on, centered on the panel. I considered adding some sequins or something, but decided to leave it as-is.

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

Paper Funday Challenge #80: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Die Cut Divas September challenge: "Anything Goes"

613 Avenue Create September challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Enjoy Your Day

The sketch for the current challenge at Try a Sketch on Tuesday inspired the design of my card.

I had the die cut background panel left over from another project. It's been sitting on my desk, & I decided to use it finally for this card. I cut a piece of white cardstock to 4x5-1/4" (the size of my panel) & glued the die cut panel to that. I wanted it to be there, but subtle, hence the white-on-white. Then I die cut a window in the panel with one of  Creative Expressions' "Octagon" dies (discontinued). To make a narrow frame for that, I die cut another octagon from green cardstock with the same die. Without removing the die, I traced around the outer edge. Then I was able to cut around that with scissors. Finally I glued that to my panel & adhered a scrap of patterned paper behind the window.

I used Altenew's "Vintage Flowers" layering stamp set & coordinating dies for my focal element. I decided to go with peachy-orange for the large flower, & used blue on the smaller ones, since blue is the complement of orange. After stamping the flowers & leaves, I die cut them & glued them to my card front. I used a bit of foam tape to pop up the main flower.

For the greeting, I pulled out one of my new favorites, "Sentiment Strips: Birthday" from Pretty Pink Posh. I stamped it on green cardstock with Memento Bamboo Leaves ink & die cut it into a banner with one of the "Sentiment Strips" dies. I glued it to my panel so the banner end slightly overlaps the bottom blue flower, just to make the design more cohesive.

To assemble my card, I trimmed about 1/16" off each side of my background panel, and adhered it to a 4-1/8x5-3/8" mat. Finally I adhered that to my white A2 card base.

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

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Layer It Up/Use Ephemera"

Creative Knockouts Challenge #554: "Lots of Layers"

The Paper Funday Challenge #80: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Ellibelle's Corner Crafty Wednesday Challenge: "Anything Goes"

Ellibelle's Corner Garden Party Challenge #7: "Anything in or from a Garden"

Die Cut Divas September Challenge: "Anything Goes"

613 Avenue Create's September Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Double Trouble Challenge #199: "Sweet Surprise" (also TSOT Challenge #678)

Joy to You Teepee Card

The August technique challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is to create a teepee card. (Because there were 5 Saturdays in August, this challenge ran through today.) To my knowledge, I have never so much as heard of a teepee card, so went looking for a tutorial. (The challenge hostess did provide a link to a video tutorial, but I found another one by Sam Calcott at Mixed Up Craft that was easier for me to follow.) I discovered a benefit with a card like this is the base can be made from a lighter weight cardstock, as long as you add the mats & layers with a good, strong glue. So I used Beacon 3-in-1 glue for the main construction on my card layers.

I began by creating the panels for my card base. Initially, I was going to have it be from sprayed/ink-smooshed panels. So I cut three 5x5" squares from Strathmore Mixed Media paper - a heavyweight paper that can take a lot of water well. I pulled out my never-before-used Distress Oxide sprays in Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves, & Blueprint Sketch to color my panels. I quickly gave up on the Milled Lavender, as it was just too pale to compete with the other two colors. After I finished spraying, I dried the panels with my heat gun & did a bit of ink smooshing with Villainous Potion Distress Oxide ink to add a bit more contrast. I also added water droplets with my Distress Sprayer. I didn't pick up the water with a cloth, but rather just dried the panels with the water on them for a less-bleached look. Finally, I used Frozen Fog Distress Mica Stain to add a shimmery spritzing to my panels.

I glued the panels together, positioned as per the tutorial, & quickly ran into my first problem. Apparently, if you use one-sided cardstock like I basically did, it does matter which way the cardstock layers face. I managed to glue one panel facing the wrong way (so the back showed when the card was popped up, rather than the front). 😝 Because I used a strong glue to adhere my panels together, I had no way to undo my mistake. Rather than start over though, I just shifted course. I was able to cut the triangular layers that would go on top from my "ruined" card base, & cut new card base pieces from solid cardstock. Problem solved! So I went ahead & cut my triangular mats to size from Recollections Silver Foil cardstock & glued those mats & layers to the card base. I also added 2 small bits of Velcro where the one side overlapped the other to keep the card closed when it's upright.

Angled view of card

My original idea for decorating was to use ornaments & make it a "Christmas tree." So I stamped & die cut several ornaments using the "Holiday Style" stamps & dies from Sunny Studio Stamps. When I looked at them on my card, though, I just wasn't feeling it. So I shifted course again & decided to die cut snowflakes from white glitter cardstock. Fortunately, I had a large enough scrap of glitter cardstock in my stash to accommodate several snowflakes. I die cut the snowflakes with the "Paper Snowflakes Mini" set by Tim Holtz (discontinued). I used matte Perfect Paper Adhesive glue to adhere them all in place. I did keep Sam Calcott's tip in mind to have overhanging bits on a particular side, so they don't overhang the card edges when it's folded flat. (That would necessitate using an even larger envelope.) In the end, I only had the one large snowflake overhanging an edge, but it's still a good point to keep in mind.

For the greeting on the front, I used the "Season's greetings" from Honey Bee Stamps' "Pretty Poinsettias" stamp set (discontinued). But wait - the greeting says "Joy to you." Yep - another course shift. I stamped the Season's greetings in Villainous Potion Distress Oxide ink, die cut it with the coordinating die, & adhered it to my card with liquid glue, with the card laying flat. I put an acrylic block on top to keep the greeting from popping up, & left it for a couple of days. When I removed the block, I noticed 2 problems: a bit of the ink had bled (presumably "encouraged" by moisture coming through the cardstock from the glue) & when I propped the card in its display position, the greeting slanted. I had aligned it parallel to the bottom of the triangle, not even thinking that that side would slant when the card was popped up. Again - liquid glue = no clean removal. I was in no way about to start over, though, so I found the Joy to you greeting in Simon Says Stamp's "Holiday Greetings" set (discontinued). I stamped it - again with Villainous Potion - & die cut it with a Hero Arts "Nesting Oval Infinity" die. I die cut 2 more ovals & layered them behind the greeting oval for more stability. I made sure this time to add liquid glue only around the edge of the oval, where it shouldn't affect the ink. Finally, I used a combination of double-sided tape & liquid glue to adhere it to the card front, covering my messed-up greeting. This time, I made sure to have the card propped up so I could level the greeting correctly. And that FINALLY finished this card! It was quite a journey with a few twists & turns, but I wouldn't hesitate to make another, especially now that I know the pitfalls to avoid!

I am also entering this in the following challenges:

Little Red Wagon Challenge #823: "Fancy Fold"

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday September challenge: "Anything Goes"

613 Avenue Create Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)