WWC #163 - Penny's "All About Christmas" Challenge

I find at this time of year there's always lots of appointments, paperwork, spring cleaning and other tasks that take over my life and settling into a routine after a vacation absence doesn't always leave much time for doing the things I love to do.  With a long list of "must do's" it was a little hard to focus on this week's All About Christmas Challenge for Watercooler Wednesday, which I'm hosting, but focus I did and I came up with a card that I'm very pleased to share with you.   

The Watercooler Wednesday WWC163 Linsky is open until 5:00pm Mountain Time on Monday April 2nd, 2018.  If you're looking to get a head start on your Christmas cards, challenges like this are a perfect way to get them done.  I hope you'll join in with your own creation, and also check out the beautiful cards created by our very talented Design Team.  

Inspiration:
My inspiration for this weeks card came from one I made in a class held by Cheryl LeFore, using the Good Tidings stamp set and featuring the Eclipse Technique.  I thought it would be fun to make one using the Merry Patterns stamp set.  Here's the Original Card: 

Here's My Card: 

I love how the Eclipse stamping and lettering merge and give the front of this card so much dimension.   

The inside of the card is special because the stamped panel is designed to hold a gift card.  

Supplies:
Stamp sets: Merry Patterns(R), Hearts Come Home #145416
Ink: Cherry Cobbler and Garden Green
Card Stock: Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green and Very Vanilla
Accessories: Big Shot, Paper Trimmer, EK Success Alphabet (1 1/4" dies), Foam Strips, Basic Rhinestones, 1" Circle Punch, Tom Bow Glue

How It's Made: 
1.  Cut an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Cherry Cobbler for the base and score it at  4 1/4".

2.  Cut two 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" pieces of Garden Green for the first layer on the card front and inside.

3.  Cut a 5 1/4"" x 4" piece of Very Vanilla cardstock for the stamped layer.  Using Cherry Cobbler and Garden Green inks randomly stamp a pattern using the deer and branch images from Merry Patterns.

4.  Place the stamped piece on the big shot platform and place the "N" "O" "E" and "L" die cuts in the center of the design.  The letters should be close together, almost touching, and in a straight line. Run through the big shot and remove the letters.  Adhere the stampled panel to the Garden Green layer.

5.  Using a scrap of Garden Green card stock cut a second set of letters and adhere them to the backs of the patterned letters.  Attach Foam Adhesive Strips to the backs of the letters.

6.  Before removing the backings on the foam strips temporarily place the letters into the negative image slots left on the patterned paper when the dies were cut out. Adhere the center of the "O" carefully realigning it through the center of the foam mounted "O" to the negative space.

7.  Once the "O" center is in place, remove the adhesive backings and carefully place the letters in the negative spaces pressing down to adhere.

8.  Finish off the front of the lettering with some randomly placed Basic Rhinestones.

9.  Cut a 1 1/2" x 4"  and a 5 1/8" x 4" piece of Very Vanilla for the inside card panels.

10.  Stamp the sentiment "Wishing You a Beautiful.........." from the Hearts Come Home stamp set in Cherry Cobbler. Stamp a couple of boughs in Garden Green to the bottom right hand side of this panel.  Adhere to the Garden Green layer.

10.  For the gift card holder, stamp the boughs and deer images on the 1 1/4" x 4" piece of Very Vanilla and then cut a half circle from the center right with  the 1" circle punch.  Add adhesive to the back side on the top, bottom and left hand side and adhere to the larger panel.  

It may look like a lot of work, but really this is a very straight forward card to make and it's got a really "wow" look to it.  If you haven't tried out the Eclipse Technique yet I urge you to experiment with it.  You're going to find that it's fun and I'm sure you'll have fun with it.  Don't worry if you don't have any alphabet dies, just try the same technique with any punched shape or die cut.  Experimentations the key! 

Thanks for visiting my site.  I hope you'll let me know what you think of this card.  I love receiving comments on my work.  If you haven't already checked out the other Design Team entries here's a link to the WWC163 challenge.  I hope you'll drop by again.  In the meantime.....

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot 

Creative Circle Design Team's December Blog Hop

Welcome to the Creative Circle Design Team's December Blog Hop.  If you're new to the crafting world or not familiar with the acronym, CCDT stands for "Creative Circle Design Team". This is a group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators from around the world who love creating using electronic cutters for their designs as well as Stampin' Up! products and who love to participate in blog hops.  

We hop on the first Thursday of each month and every 3rd month Liz Holloway, the leader of our group provides a pattern and challenge to create something using her 3D SVG and Silhouette formats.

The teams' challenge this month ties in with Christmas and is to create a Church of our choice using Liz's pattern but it must include some type of holder for cards, a mini album, candies or even home decor.


Here is My Project:
For anyone who lives in or who has been through the Sumas Washington area you may be familiar with an old landmark church on the way to Mount Baker that was turned into a pub in its later years called the "Holy Smoke".  This was the inspiration for my church design.  My holder is for Christmas cards.  Enjoy!

In this picture you can see the drawer which opens on the backside of the church open and holding the cards.

Supplies:
Stamp Sets: Hearts Come Home
Inks: In Colour 2017-18 Markers (Lemon Lime Twist, Berry Burst, Tranquil Tide, Powder Pink, Fresh Fig),Momento Tuxedo Black, Versa Mark 
Card Stock: Whisper White, Basic Black,White Glimmer Paper
Accessories: Big Shot, Paper Trimmer, Liberty Bell, Dimensionals, Sticky Strip, 1 3/4 Circle Punch, Gold Thread. Stitched Shapes Die Cuts, Detailed Gate Thinlets Die, Sponge, Tom Bow Glue

Details:
I won't be providing measurements for any of the church assembly since it's all covered in Liz Holloway's design package.  But, the following are some of the things I added to my design for the challenge portion of it.  

I made a small box half box to fit inside the church and hold two battery operated candles.  The Church fits over top of the lid of the box and the box holds the church in place.

This is the insert for the support box for the church and holds the candles in place.

In this photo you can see how the church fits over top of the support box.  I actually attached the support box to the center of the drawer platform I made and it very effectively holds the church in place. 

In this photo you can see the base of the church is now mounted to the drawer.  It works similar to an easel card box.  The drawer is located at the back of the church and has a little bead pull to open it.  The drawer will hold four cards and envelopes.

Here you can see the cards inside the box and the drawer pull on the outside.  the platflorm is covered with glimmer paper so it looks like snow. 

When I was decorating my church, I opted to add three windows to the back of the church which was quite plain. 

This view shows the church off the platform.  I created a fancy door and scroll work on the sides and back of the church using the Detailed Gate thinlet die.  I cut one full gate from Basic Black card stock and then cut it down to three pieces of gridwork and the door portion.  I really liked the addition of these pieces to the overall look of the church. 

This is a closeup of the door.  It is cut from the top center of the Detailed Gate.  I mounted it on Whisper White card stock and cut around the design to form the door.  This was added with dimensionals to the front of the church.  The wavy lines you see on the church panels were made with the Seaside Embossing folder.  I wanted to give the appearance of wood siding on the church.

I absolutely love this Detailed Gate and the fact that it's not just for Halloween.  This beautiful die is from the Holiday Occasions catalogue and is only available until January 2nd, 2017.  It is product # 144669.

Here is my night view of the church.  The candles are on and you can see the lights flickering through those cute little vellum windows.  Unfortunately I don't have a closeup of the windows but them were assembled with the SVG cut outs and the vellum was coloured with this years In Colour Markers to give a pretty glow.

I found the degree of difficulty with this SVG design high but achievable and it was a fun project to tackle. I hope you've enjoyed my post and will check out the other design team artists to see their incredible projects.

  










Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot