Friday, December 24, 2010

'Twas the Night before Christmas...




...But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Saturday, December 18, 2010

My Last Minute Christmas Card...

I seem to do everything at the last minute...I have very little time to plan ahead because I am always doing something at the last minute that needs to be done NOW, leaving no time for planning.  Sigh...

Nevertheless, I have been stealing bits and pieces of time here and there to plan bits and pieces of this year's Christmas cards in my head...this card is all of those fragments put together.  There is an interesting thread on Splitcoaststampers discussing whether stampers just "wing it" or plan out their cards ahead of time...neat to see how everyone creates!!  I like to and usually do create spontaneously but when I have taken the time to gather all the elements ahead of time and map out my card, less wasted cardstock and supplies is the result! 

This card also fits with the latest A muse Lounge Challenge "Sparkling Season"  - to make a card that sparkles...

So without further ado, here is my planned-out-ahead-of-time sparkling card:


Here is how it went together:
  • I traced the hill on a scrap piece of white cardstock and cut it out
  • I placed the white hill on the card base in order to properly position the sentiment and the snowman
  • Using my Stampamajig, I stamped the sentiment first and the snowman second (I pulled the white hill out of the way in order to stamp the snowman completely on the card base)
  • Next, I put the hill back on the base, lined up the snowman image on the acetate from the Stampamajig over the snowman on the card base, slid a post it under the hill (to avoid stamping over the card base) and restamped the (lower part of the) snowman on the hill.
  • Next, I ran the card base through the swiss dots folder on my cuttlebug and sanded the dots to make the white core appear on the cardstock - snow!!
  • Then, I adhered the hill to the base, lining up the snowman
  • Then, I stamped the snowman a third time on a scrap of white, coloured him with copics and cut him out (leaving off his arms and the snowballs)
  • I adhered the cut out snowman over the snowman on the hill.
  • I coloured the snowballs on the card base with white gel pen 
  • Lastly, I used crystal effects on the edge of the hill and on the snowballs and sprinkled on glitter (I used Diamond Dust which is soooo sparkly because it is actually tiny pieces of glass - sharp if you get a sliver!!)
Hope you enjoy the holidays...thanks for stopping by today!!

Supplies:

Paper:  A muse (winter sky), PTI (white)
Ink:  Palette hybrid noir
Stamps:  A muse (juggling snowman, enjoy the wonders)
Accessories:  Crystal effects (SU), Diamond Dust (twinklets), copics, pop dots, cuttlebug, swiss dots folder, sanding block