Wednesday, April 25, 2018

WWC #167 - Gail's All About Christmas Challenge

Hello friends.  Gail is hosting our Watercooler Wednesday challenge this week and it's "all about Christmas".  What better opportunity for you to get a head start on your annual Christmas cards. 
If you need some ideas just  head on over to the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog and check out all the fabulous inspiration from the DT and then play along with us!  You can find all the info you need right HERE.   We hope you'll join in this challenge which is open until 5:00pm Mountain Time on Monday April 30th, 2018.  

Here's My Card: 
Creating Christmas cards at this time of year is such fun.  There's no pressure and it allows me an opportunity to explore different techniques and use stamp sets that might have seen little ink.  



For this week's card, I've gone back in time to use a Stampin' Up set called Wonderland.   It was one of my all time favourites and I took inspiration for this particular design from Alexandra Agelean and her Youtube video.  

Back in the day, I bought this set solely for the "Silent Night" sentiment and for the trees...........I absolutely loved that tree cluster and had all kinds of plans for it.  For this card, I've paired it with a newly retired stamp set called Musical Season. I loved the sentiment in this set too but it barely saw ink.  At the end of the day I have to scratch my head, as I've probably only used these "top of my must have stamp sets" two or three times.  Does this happen to you too? 

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Musical Season and Wonderland
Ink:  Emerald Envy, Whisper White, Smokey Slate, Soft Suede Marker 
Card Stock:  Emerald Envy, Whisper White and Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Big Shot, Paper Trimmer, Tim Holts' Alterations Snowflakes (661599), Iced Rhinestone (R), Whisper White A2 Envelope, Tom Bow Glue, Dimensional. 

Details:
1.  The Emerald Envy card based measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and is scored at 4 1/4".

2.  The Dazzling Diamonds layer measures 4 1/8" x 5 3/8".  Note:  I removed the center of this layer with a 3 3/4" x 5" rectangular die, after all you simply can't waste Glimmer Paper.

3.  The Emerald Envy layer measures 4 x 5 1/4". Note: The surface of Glimmer Paper and cardstock simply don't mix so I used  Tom Bow ink in the center part of this layer and Glue dots around the edges to secure it to the Dazzling Diamonds layer.  Worked like a charm.  

4.  I stamped the tree image on a piece of Whisper White that measured 3 3/4" x 5".  I began by stamping the image in Smokey Slate image on the right and left side leaving a gap in the center.  I cleaned my stamp, re-inked with Emerald Envy and stamped the image in the Center and partially on the right and left sides.  Then, I cleaned the image again and inked it up with Whisper White.  I stamped the Whisper White over the Emerald Envy tree images and while the ink was still wet I sprinkled on  Dazzling Diamonds Glitter and used a heat gun to set it.  Note:  I probably should have taken the lead from Alexandra and applied the glitter with a two-way glue pen, as it would have stuck to the card stock better.  Oh well, that's what experimenting is all about and this is a good  "Learn From Your Mistakes" lesson for next time.  
Although this picture doesn't capture the beauty of the Glimmer Paper and the Dazzling Diamonds, trust me it is beautiful and so shimmery.

5.  I stamped the snowflakes from the Wonderland set in Smokey Slate and the Silent Night sentiment in Emerald Envy.  
6.  I didn't have any Stampin' Up! snowflake dies so I used an old Tim Holtz set to die cut a medium sized one from Dazzling Diamonds.  I placed it in the bottom left corner of this panel and added a large Iced Rhinestone to the center with Glue Dots.  

7. For the inside panel I used a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Whisper White card stock.  I stamped off in Smokey Slate ink and stamped the tree image in the center of the card.  I stamped the sentiment from Musical Season "May the spirit of Christmas be the melody that plays in your heart all year long" over top of the trees in Emerald Envy.  
This is one of my favourite Christmas sentiments because it's so meaningful.  For me Christmas is about the heartfelt stuff not presents or commercial things.  It's the peaceful feeling after a walk in the snow or a visit with good friends and it's something that applies all year long.   

8.  I also stamped the tree tops in Emerald Envy on the front left corner of the Whisper White A2 envelope and the small pinecone branch on the flap.  I coloured the pinecone and branch with a Soft Suede Marker.  
I didn't take a picture of the front of the envelope as you know what the trees look like, but this tiny little branch from the Wonderland set is so beautiful I just had to share it.  It made the back of the envelope looks as inviting as the front. 
And that's it for today's post.  I hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane with these two Christmas themed stamp sets.  I hope you'll leave me a comment and let me know what if you have a favourite Christmas sentiment you like to use.  Until next time.............

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot 

4 comments:

Heidi Weaver said...

Wow, Penny, I love this card! I, too, bought the set for that wonderful "Silent Night" and for the trees. I haven't used it as frequently as I had thought I would but plan to CASE this beautifully designed card of yours if you don't mind. That Emerald Envy is gorgeous but I'm wondering how it will look with some of our new greens. Should be fun to experiment. Love the way you've made this a complete set by continuing into the card and also onto the envelope. Beautiful work!

Penny Hanuszak said...

Glad to hear someone else bought it for the same reason I did. I think that's a great idea to experiment with some of the new colours too, and may do that for my Christmas in July stamp a stack class. Just to modernize it. CASE away my friend. Thanks for stopping by.

Heather Hopson said...

I love your card and the Emerald Envy is so bold and beautiful.
Great card Penny.

I am late as usual, just realized the closing was Mountain S. T. Oh Well, I will save my card for end of next month's challenge.

Penny Hanuszak said...

Thanks Heather for stopping by and leaving me some kind words. I love the Emerald Envy too. Just a different colour for Christmas time, and I think it works okay. Too bad you missed the cut off, but you're right you can put it in for the next challenge. I know you've been so busy! Hugs.

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