I have a bunch of new items to try out so I'm really hoping for more free time in the weeks to come, but tonight I tested out my new Jeweled Snowflakes 3D embossing folder on Shimmery White cardstock and it is SO gorgeous. I have collected a lot of snowflake everything over my many years of crafting, but this one is truly special. The 3D technology allows for so much delicate details. It looks like lace.
Then I was really eager to try out the Santa's Letter dies. They make a little pocket with the arms hugging over it. I was totally smitten with it when I saw this season's Sizzix release. I wanted to make the Santa a little more interesting so I swapped out the cardstock for specialty paper (Red Berries from Tonic). It should be noted that you are supposed to fold the piece in two to create the pocket, so if you are not using something that is the same on both sides, be warned that you are going to run into an issue. (That was the case here, since the little berries are only raised on one side.) I initially planned to cut the pocket off and glue it back in place, but as I started working on putting together the Santa, inspiration led me in another direction. By the way, all you have to go on to assemble the dies is the front picture so I had to figure out what where the eyes versus the cheeks versus the noses and which way to glue the face and stuff. I guess the first one is always the hardest. After, you just know and you get faster at assembling.
I was layering my pieces before gluing them and the arms moved. I realized it looked really cute with one arm coming up from the bottom and having the mitten cover Santa's mouth. For some reason, I was not liking the way to actual die-cut mitten looked, though. It bugged me enough that I decided to pull out an oval punch and make a difference piece myself.
I used a Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Frames die to frame my scene and I decided to use pink cardstock for my card base. Because I've recently acquired some gorgeous new Studio Katia pearls, I pulled out some Stormcloud and Rose Pink ones and added falling snow to the background. I added a few pale pink sequins in there as well for good measure.
I wound up with a couple of extra arms pieces, because I didn't do both arms on the Santa and also because I realized there were two dies for the arms and you had to die-cut the second one with the other die to get it in the other direction, so I had to rectify and cut an additional piece. I didn't really know how to embellish the inside of the card and envelope so I used those extra arms and that little mitten piece that wasn't working for the main Santa.
This turned out cute. I'm looking forward to assembling the second character, which is a cute little bear, and do an actual pocket the next time to test it out properly. Keep checking out the blog for more to come!
Supplies
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Soft Suede, Shimmery White, Petal Pink, Black Foil Paper (Stampin' Up!);
Fog (Lawn Fawn); Red Berries Specialty Paper (Tonic)
Dies: Santa's Letter (Sizzix); Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Frames (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Jeweled Snowflakes 3D Embossing Folder (Sizzix);
A2 Metallic Rose Quartz Envelope (envelopes.com); Pale Pink Sequins (Simon Says Stamp);
Stormcloud and Rose Pink Pearls (Studio Katia); Glitter Pen (Gelly Roll);
Foam Adhesive Strips (Stampin' Up!)
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