Inspiration: Card Maps July 2018 sketch + Festive Friday #72 (house + twine + cranberry - the color)
I wanted to use my Hello Christmas collection from Carta Bella. The chipboard Accents were what I was most drawn to, then I decided to get the puffy stickers and the 6" x 6" paper pad as well. I was surprised to discover that Carta Bella changed how they do their chipboard now. It used to be entirely die-cut and adhesive--backed. This new version is plain chipboard, just brown underside, no adhesive. The pieces also have those little tabs keeping the images in place in the packaging. I'm sure this was done so that all of the pieces stay in place through shipping and when they are displayed in stores, as some pieces used to pop out and fall to the bottom of the packaging before. That being said, I have always hated when die-cuts have tabs on them, as if leaves an uneven edge when you pop the piece out. I always go back with scisors to try and trim the prongs off and get an even finish, but it's not always easy, especially not with chipboard. If you look really closely at the top of the house and the bottom of it, you'll see what I am referring to. This was the first piece of the package I was using, so we'll see how I feel about it in the long run, but so far, not a positive change as far as I'm concerned.
The chipboard has a few house images - this one here and another one of a house in a glass dome. I love it, but the shape of the house was easier to work into the design I was using. I kept thinking I wanted to use "I'll be home for Christmas (if only in my dreams)" as my sentiment. We often see the first part used on cards, but adding the second part made it work with the current situation. Who knows this year how the holidays will be. My mom and I had a phone call last week and she said she didn't think my dad and her would be able to visit based on the current situation as it is. Sadly, she is probably right, so I'm mentally preparing for a different kind of holiday season.
I paired the house pattern on top with the lovely green gingham at the bottom, die-cutting both with my largest Dotted Rectangle die from Lawn Fawn. I added a bit of die-cut lace in red in the middle and decided to do stenciling at the bottom. My latest find is Rose Quartz glitter paste in the sale bin. I love everything rose gold, so I was totally drawn to the colour and I don't own any texture paste in that colour, so at a third of the original price, I decided to give it a try. I'm liking it, it's a great texture and thick enough to get great details. The color looks lovely against the green. I used a mini stencil from set 38 from Tim Holtz.
For the sentiment, I wanted a typewriter font. I have the We R Memory Makers typewriter, but the font is fairly big, so the result would have been too large. I went to dafont.com and downloaded a couple of free typewriter fonts (everything is organized by theme or look, so you can really quickly find what you are looking for). I ended up using Typewriter Rustic and it's exactly the look I envisioned. I taped my 6" x 6" paper to a regular 8½ x 11" sheet of printing paper and ran it through the printer, then I die-cut the printed patterned paper with a die from the Everyday Sentiment Banners.
I added green thick twine and a couple of puffy stickers to finish the card, decorated the inside with a cut-apart image, and for the envelope, I used the same stencil and glitter paste then added a puffy sticker that reads "Home for the Holidays" as a tie-in.
Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Accents, Puffy Stickers: Hello Christmas (Carta Bella)
Dies: Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Everyday Sentiment Banners (Lawn Fawn);
Final Touches Edgelits (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Pistachio Pudding, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Rose Quartz Glitter Paste (Martha Stewart); A2 Avocado Envelope (envelopes.com)