Today's craft session started a little differently than usual. I pretty much grabbed a bunch of Stampin' Up! dies and the Lights Aglow Specialist Designer Series Paper pack, plus the Festive Foils Specialty Designer Series Paper, Very Vanilla glimmer paper and Gold Foil sheets, and I started die-cutting all kinds of shapes and images that I thought could make great basic pieces to design with.
I prepared pieces for a good two hours and then ideas started coming so I first created a shaker card using the Santa Claus image. I backed this piece with acetate and I created my own mix of sequins to match the collection. I used the really cool bokeh patterned paper for the base, I added a gold rope that comes from a nautical die set, I added vanilla glimmered snowflakes, a gold jingle bell and my sentiment embossed in gold on Soft Succulent bokeh paper. It is one of those things where I would never have thought to pull out all of those die sets if I had been working on that card, but because I was fishing through my pre-prepared pieces, it helped me to break out of my usual mould.
The second idea came from the gold foil frames that are already included in the Specialty DSP. They're not cut out, so I had to die-cut the circle out, but I liked the size of the largest jingle bell in the frame, so it became the focus point of the second card. You can see the sentiment block is exactly the same as on the previous card - it's because my stamping was a little fuzzy, but I managed to save it by overtamping in VersaMark and embossing in gold to hide the fuzzy ink. The little gold holly leaves come from the bell on the first card, and I framed my sentiment with them.
I added a swirly circle die-cut behind the gold-foil frame, and layered various greenery pieces. I added a small poinsettia to the jingle bell, topped with a gem. That gold rope made a second appearance as well. The background was embossed with a stitched plate for added texture.
For the third card, I assembled the poinsettia and mounted it to a tag. I tied ribbon to another tag and paired them over a black bokeh background. I had leftover vanilla glimmered snowflakes that I used to fill in the space a bit, as well as a circle doily, that I squeezed between the tags. The little vanilla banner die-cut also comes from the nautical set and I found a small enough sentiment to stamp on it.
The last card was an embellishment that became a tag that became a card. I never grow tired of using that slate die, I've loved every single project I've ever made with it. The skate looks particularly cool die-cut out of vanilla glimmer paper. I struggled to find what to use for the background. With the three layered pieces, I already had a lot of patterns. I started looking at possibly doing an embossing folder on regular cardstock, but I remembered that I have the Birch background stamp and was curious how it looked. I tried it stamped full force in Basic Grey, then as a second generation for a softer look. I went back to the full-force inked background and I turned the cardstock 180 degrees, stamped the background again in VersaMark and embossed the details in gold powder. This is inspired by a lovely Christmas wrapping paper than I own (and that I paid a pretty penny for since it is gold-foiled). Isn't the result cool? I liked it and decided that's what I wanted to use. I added a strip of black paper with a bit of ribbon to anchor the tags down, and I used the other vanilla banner I had die-cut from the nautical set, stamping Joy on it this time.
I managed to make this four different and intricate cards in an afternoon. I used most of what I had die-cut, and I left the few remaining pieces in my DSP package to be used on future projects.
Stampin' Up! Supplies (Unless Otherwise Noted)
Stamps: Birch, Moments lumineux, Joyeux moments
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Thick Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Succulent,
Gold Foil Sheets, Glimmer Specialty Paper
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Lights Aglow, Festive Foils
Ink: VersaMark, Basic Grey, Evening Evergreen
Dies: Too Many to List!
Accessories: Envelope Punch Board, Polished Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals, Window Sheet,
1/8" Gold Ribbon, Soft Succulent Woven Ribbon, Soft Succulent Taffeta Ribbon,
Evening Evergreen Woven Ribbon, Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Soft Succulent Stampin' Write Marker;
Farm Sweet Farm Say It With Crystals (Prima Marketing);
Sequins (Little Things from Lucy's Cards, Simon Says Stamp, Cartwright's, Stampin' Up!);
Vintage Shimmer Pearls (Studio Katia)
