Bright and Shiny Christmas Wishes

11/10/2010

Hi there!

Here's a project just full of bright and shiny Christmas wishes using the Christmas Collage stamp. This stamp is very versatile. It can be a background stamp, it can be a single image for a card front, or it can be inked in specific places so that only an area of the stamp is utilized. For this blog post, I'm showcasing how the stamp can be used for a card front.

With a stamp image of this size, a card made using this stamp will exceed the usual card size of 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". To stamp this image on a piece of cardstock sized for a "normal" card front, I'd have to exclude one or more of the lovely images on this stamp and I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

(click on card to see larger image)

As with all large single image stamps from Stampin' Up!, this stamp is designed to be mounted on a wooden block. I began by laying the stamp on its wooden "back" and tapping the ink pad to the rubber to completely ink the image. Once the stamp was completely inked, the cardstock was placed face down on top of the rubber and a hard rubber brayer was rolled over the cardstock to ensure that the ink was completely transferred to the cardstock. I used Basic Black ink on glossy white cardstock so that I'd have a bright, crisp image to work with. Then I began adding color to selected images with a blender pen and Classic inks (using the "squish the ink pad lid to the felt" method and picking up the ink left on the lid with the blender pen). Here are the colors I used for each of the areas:

Joy: Old Olive for the holly leaf base with Always Artichoke in the centers to create depth; Cherry Cobbler for the holly berries, and the stripes and dots on the bells; More Mustard for the bells; Not Quite Navy for the ribbon

25: More Mustard around the rim of the circle

Silent Night: Old Olive for teh holly leaf base with Always Artichoke in the centers to create depth; Cherry Cobbler for the holly berries

A Merry Christmas: Old Olive for the pine bough base with Always Artichoke in the centers to creat depth; Real Red for the poinsettias with More Mustard for the flower centers

When all the color was added to the cardstock, I cut a 3/4" slit on the outside of the circle on both sides of the 25 and slid a Real Red 5/8" Satin ribbon underneath the 25 and around the back of the cardstock to tie off on the front. The stamped image was matted to a piece of Brushed Gold cardstock and Always Artichoke cardstock and then adhered to the card base of Real Red Textured cardstock.

The stamp image was inked again with Basic Black ink just in the area of the rectangular box to the right of Joy and a piece of Brushed Gold cardstock was pressed against the inked area. The rectangular box was cut out and adhered over the glossy white rectangular box with Stampin' Dimensionals. The sentiment on the Brushed Gold box comes from the Sincere Sentiments stamp set and was stamped on glossy white cardstock using Cherry Cobbler ink. I used Paper Snips to cut out the image an adhered it to the Brushed Gold rectangle with Stampin' Dimensionals.

(click on card to see larger image)

The neat thing about the Christmas Collage stamp is that it incorporates a number of truly lovely images available in other products found in the Holiday Mini Catalog. Most of these images are found in the Bells & Boughs stamp set, so I used this stamp set to create the inside sentiment area of the card. The card base was lined with a piece of Whisper White cardstock, the edges sponged with Always Artichoke ink and matted with a piece of Always Artichoke cardstock. The holly bough image was stamped randomly on the top and left sides of the Whisper White cardstock and the bells image was stamped in the upper left corner using Basic Black ink. I used the same process and colors to color these images as was used for the card front (Old Olive for the holly leaf base with Always Artichoke in the centers to create depth; Cherry Cobbler for the holly berries, and the stripes and dots on the bells; More Mustard for the bells; Not Quite Navy for the ribbon).

Because this card is larger than I normally make, I didn't have Stampin' Up! envelopes to use for the card. If I made this card for my annual Christmas card, I would likely go to my local office supply store and choose a bright white envelope lined with gold paper in the size that fits this card. Of course, if I were hand delivering the card, I would most likely make a decorated sleeve using a coordinating piece of the Deck the Halls Designer Series Paper, some Cherry Cobbler or Always Artichoke seam binding, and a couple of buttons from the Deck the Halls Big Designer Button assortment.

Thanks for stopping by to visit. My next blog post will focus on how this beautiful card front can be cut apart and recycled to make gift tags.

Stamps: Bells & Boughs, Christmas Collage, Sincere Sentiments; Inks: Always Artichoke, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard, Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, Real Red; Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Brushed Gold, Glossy White, Real Red Textured, Whisper White; Embellishments: Real Red 5/8" Satin ribbon; Adhesives: SNAIL, Stampin Dimensionals; Tools: Paper Cutter/Scorer, Paper Snips, Bone Folder, Craft Knife & Cutting Mat, Blender Pen, Sponge

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