Like many of you, I make a lot of Christmas cards (my family has appointed me their own personal cardmaker! I love it!) and it is time to get started! Although technically today's card is more of a winter greeting, it is getting me in the mood. Mission accomplished! You can expect to see Christmas cards now and again with the intensity building as we progress into the winter season!
This quick and easy card made with Simon Says Stamp's Snowflake Builder was released last year. It is an all time favourite of mine with its beautiful layering snowflakes. So many possibilities! I love that the packaging makes it so easy to figure out which stamps go together ... no guesswork!
The Background
A panel of Strathmore's Bristol Smooth card stock, 4 1/4" by 5 ½", was ink blended with Distress Oxide inks; Shaded Lilac, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot. To achieve a glow, Shaded Lilac was applied with an ink blending tool to the centre of the panel with the darker colours working toward the outside edges. The ink was applied several times extending the colours into one and other causing them to blend.
Stamping
Each snowflake comes with two layering stamps. I chose the largest snowflake from the Snowflake Builder and stamped the bigger of the two stamps with Versafine Black Onyx ink using a stamping platform. The secondary sentiment was also stamped in black. TIP ... Versafine ink needs some drying time before embossing!!! After the ink was completely dry (you can check by putting embossing powder on it to see if it sticks), the panel was covered well with antistatic powder. The coordinating stamp was aligned with the black inked snowflake. TIP ... stand up and look down directly down on stamp positioned on top of the stamped image for good alignment. Looking at the stamp on an angle will not result in accurate layering. The second snowflake was stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with silver embossing powder as was the main sentiment. The panel was adhered to an A2 sized card base.
Embellishing
The points of the black stamped snowflake were adorned with clear iridescent crystals (Little Things from Lucy's Cards) in two different sizes ... the inside points had slightly smaller crystals. The centre of the snowflake was also embellished with a large crystal. I like to use Nuvo Precision Glue for embellishments. The glue pen is depressed on the paper leaving the right amount of glue!
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