Warm Winter Hugs

Inspiration: Just Add Ink #434 (Big Bold Sentiment)

I couldn't resist the Little Snowman Agenda stamp set from Mama Elephant. It's just so adorable! I especially love the little melting snowman with the other two who seem shocked to see him like that (not used on this card, but they will be sometimes soon). I also like the snowman with the sombrero and the one with the sunglasses. With 20 snowmen overall, there's one for every taste!

I DID use other favorites on this card, though: the one with the coffee cup and the one with the big furry winter hat. Because I wanted to include as many as possible, I used the Tri Window Cover die and filled the windows with eight of them. The Hugs word is included in the die set, and I decided I wanted to write "Warm Winter Hugs" using it. I found the words "Warm winter" in the Baaah Humbug stamp set from Lawn Fawn, but when I die-cut the words I added them to the word, it became hard to read, as it was hiding the G too much. I kept moving the stamped words around on the card, but it was distracting from the design rather than adding to it, so in the end, I decided to sticks with the big Hugs on its own. I had already covered the Midnight Muse cardstock with some Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer anyway and it had turned the blue cardstock into a midnight sky shimmery goodness, so I was inclined to not hide it. I simply added snowflake sequins instead.

The patterned papers I used (I Love Winter by Lori Whitlock for Echo Park) really added a lot to the design as well. Initially, I had planned on a white frame die-cut out of thick white cardstock so that the patterned paper rectangles would really pop, but then I found this woodgrain-patterned paper in the stack and it made for the perfect frame. I glued the paper to cardstock before die-cutting it to make it sturdier and I used Stampin' Up!'s adhesive foam strips to pop the frame up. Mini-glue Stampin' Dimensionals were used to add the snowman in the frames, with one in each window popped on a double-layer to play with dimension (the heart-holding snowman and the coffee-holding snowman). Because the card is a little thick, I made my own envelope, based on the size of a 4-1/5" x 6" card even though my card is a regular 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" size. The extra room will accomodate the thickness of the card better. I used red cardstock and I clear-embossed a row of snowman at the bottom to tie the envelope to the card.

I decorated the inside as well and I really like how it turned out. Because I had backed my patterned paper frame with cardstock, I wound up with three leftover Midnight Muse rectangles. I used all three to die-cut the HUGS word from so I could stack the letters and make them thicker. I then used the negative space from one of the rectangles, glue it over patterned paper and reused my "warm winter" stamped piece inside the card instead. I had initially stamped 9 snowmen, not knowing how many I'd fit on the card, so the leftover one was glued inside, along with a few snowflake sequins. As for the inked background, the idea came from a leftover piece lying on my desk. I had die-cut snowflakes with the Blizzard Thinlits die (Holidays Catalogue, p. 39) and I kept the negative space piece, knowing it could be reused on another project. Here, I turned it into a stencil and I used a stencil brush to add light blue ink inside my card. The result is very soft and pretty. This might be one of my recently finished card I'm the most pleased with.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Little Snowman Agenda (Mama Elephant); Baaah Humbug (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Midnight Muse, Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: I Love Winter (Echo Park)
Ink: VersaMark; Bashful Blue (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Envelope Punch Board, Mini-Stampin' Dimensionals, Frosty Sequins,
Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder, Regals Enamel Shapes, Red Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic);
Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo); Tri Window Cover Dies, Little Snowman Agenda (Mama Elephant)

 

Comments

[Kim Badelt]

This is just stunning Cindy! The snowmen are so sweet and totally irresistible and I love your idea of filling two of your windows with them and admire your restraint in only adding eight of them (on the front anyway ;) Thanks for joining us at Just Add Ink this week.

[Jan M]

Such a cute card, Cindy with the snowmen peaking in through the windows! Beautiful colours and love the wood windows and bright twine bow too! Thanks for sharing with us at Just Add Ink this week.

[Susan Powell]

this is amazing! LOVE that little guy with the hot drink - I'm pretending it's a chai latte - and the way you've displayed all the snowmen is super cute. Thanks so much for joining us at The Card Concept.