Despite the happy summer sunshine outside here in Western Washington, I'm sharing a holiday card today! What you say? A holiday card?
I was actually a little giddy yesterday as I made a quick trip to JoAnn's on my lunch break and noticed that they had begun displaying their Autumn decor. I have to admit, I felt a grin grow wider and wider as I observed the beautiful oranges, reds, yellows and browns.
You might know from reading other posts on my blog that I LOVE Christmas and Fall decor means Christmas is just around the corner!
So here is my simply elegant holiday card. Its inspired by this weeks White Party challenge at Our Creative Corner. I really think this challenge is pretty awesome - I've never seen one like it before. When I read about it and saw the inspiration projects, I thought it might be hard but I was instantly motivated to attempt it. It actually turned out not to be as hard as I thought it would be. **Whew**
UPDATE 7/13/11: So I'm being brave and entering this into Moxie Fab World Stamp It! Cards Week Challenge. Wish me luck!
Using paint on your stamps is really harmless, you just need to make sure to clean them immediately after stamping. I usually take a little foam brush to the stamp while running it under water to make sure paint gets out of all of the little nooks and crannies.
Then I used a few different shades of distress ink which accent the ink stamped snowflakes. I topped them off with a little Liquid Pearl detailing. Then I let it set overnight just to give everything a chance to thoroughly dry.
The card was very simple to put together after that. I temporarily adhered the stamped piece to my card back so I could use my Spellbinders Four label die to create the window. I used foam dots to permanently adhere the stamped piece to my card after the window was cut. I closed the card and lightly traced the window to the inside of the card so I knew where to stamp my sentiment.
This technique is seldom used (at least that I can tell from the blogs and magazines I've looked at) but it is really a nice one. You can use matte paints or metallic - it doesn't matter. Its a nice alternative to ink because it seems the acrylic paint comes in many more colors than ink does sometimes and for me, I have better local access to paint than I do to ink sometimes.
Hope you enjoy! Thanks for stopping by.
Have a great weekend!
Holly
Wow! This is one gorgeous card. I really love what you did with stamping in metallic acrylic paint. I have tried and tried to stamp with white acrylic paint and the impression I get is always garbage. I'll have to try the metallic. You've achieved such a beautifully elegant look with it, plus that bow is so lush! Thanks for taking our White Party challenge with us at Our Creative Corner.
ReplyDeleteI also love how you did with the paint. I struggle with the even coating of it on stamps! Beautiful card, Holly!
ReplyDelete-Wendy
Be still my heart!!! I so love this, it is simply STUNNING!!! I love that you used paint instead of ink, it's my go-to solution when I don't have the color I want. I'm glad you had fun with my challenge and that it wasn't too hard ;)! Thanks for playing with us this week at the OCC, hope to see you again next week!
ReplyDeleteWow, this is a stunning card! The paint is so gorgeous against the card- so elegant! Such a beautiful take on the challenge. So glad you could join us at Our Creative Corner!
ReplyDeleteHolly, I just LOVE this card! It's so beautifully stunning! The decorative window is the perfect touch for such a wonderfully elegant Christmas card. Thank you for playing along with us @ OCC.
ReplyDeleteHolly, your card is stunning! The monochromatic scheme is elegant and the metallic paint (very cool!) is so striking! Wow! I can't believe you're working on holiday cards already--yikes!
ReplyDeleteHey Holly! Thanks for linking this up to the Stamp It! Cards Week challenge in the Moxie Fab World! I'm so glad you joined in on all the fun! :)
ReplyDelete