Christmas Star Card -FMS#160

Happy November everyone!  Halloween is over and the clocks are turned back once again as we head into late fall.  Although it's been a while since I've been able to post, I'm back in circulation again, and starting the count down to Christmas with some great cards and techniques. 

I'm starting off my month with a wonderful easy sketch I found on Freshly Made Sketches that was designed by Rita Wright, of Rita's Creations blog.   I liked the simplicity of this sketch, which helped my card come together fairly quickly.  Make sure you visit the site and check out all the great entries by the design team and other participants.

Here's the Sketch:

Here's my card:

I wanted to create a vintage style Christmas card using some of the awesome designer papers from the Trim the Tree Designer Series Paper Pack.  I chose two complimentary papers with Garden Green and Crumb Cake designs and then paired these up with Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler and Garden Green card stocks.  

Supplies:
Ink:  Crumb Cake and Memento Tuxedo Black
Card Stock:  Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green
Papers:  Trim The Tree Designer Series paper Stack, Gold Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Stars Collection Framelits, Banner Framelits, Itty Bitty Accents Punch (star), Stripes Embossing Folder,  Paper Trimmer, Adhesive, Dimensionals, Glue Dots.

How It's Made:
1.  The card base measuring 4 1/4" x 11" and scored at 5 1/2 is cut from Crumb Cake card stock.  I sponged the front edges of the card with Crumb Cake Ink.

2.  My next layer was made with Champagne Glimmer Paper.  Now I love this stuff but I don't like wasting it.  As you'll see from the next two pictures, I make the most of it before using it as a layer on a card.

I used a variety of punches and framelits to punch out images from the center of the 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Champagne Glimmer Paper.

Here's the finished layer before I adhered it to the card front.   Looks pretty awful, but remember it'll be covered with the next layer of card stock and no one will ever know but you.   

After punching away the center of the piece (see above) I've cut away whatever scraps remained and left only a small border around the inside of the square.  This step saves on mailing costs by taking away the weight and bulk from the card

 3.  The next layer is a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of Cherry Cobbler card stock that's been texturized with the Stripes Embossing Folder before being adhered over the glimmer paper layer.   Note it's hard to stick card stock to glimmer paper so I used Tom Bow adhesive to attach.

4.  I cut a banner from the Trim a Tree Designer Series Paper Pack and a coordinating square which were both mounted on card stock to give them a little more stability on the card front.  The edges were sponged with Crumb Cake Ink to give them a vintage look.  
 

There are 48 sheets of 4 1/2" x 61/2" pieces of Christmas themed designer series paper in this stack.  Pages coordinate with  Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Sahara Sand, Early Espresso and Whisper White inks and card stocks.

5.  I stamped a medium sized star from the Bright & Beautiful stamp set in Cherry Cobbler ink on a piece of Crumb Cake Cardstock.  This star and a smaller one were cut out using the Star Collection Framelit dies.   I mounted the medium star on Cherry Cobbler card stock and fussy cut around it leaving a 1/8" border.  This was mounted over top of the banner with dimensionals.

6.  The smaller star was cut from the Garden Green piece of DSP and was stamped with the word "JOY", one of the five word stamps featured in the Bright and Beautiful stamp set. I cut out an additional small star from the Champagne Glimmer paper and mounted the DSP star to it with glue dots.  I also punched out five small stars with the Itty Bitty star punch and mounted them to the card front with glue dots.  

 

I hope you enjoyed today's card and brief tutorial.  Please leave me a comment if you have a moment, I really value your feedback.   Let me know how you do your Christmas cards........ all at once, or do you make a few at a time throughout the year and set them aside?  I'd be interested in any great methods you might have for making cards in bulk.  

Happy Stampin'!
Penny Tokens