I think it's becoming a habit of mine to use the word simple. When I refer to a card as simple, I usually mean that if I'd known where I was headed when I started working, I could have arrived at my destination in half an hour or less. Reality is that I usually don't know where I'm going with a card (beyond the defined boundaries such as stamp set or other specific product to be highlighted), and may take four hours to wander there before hitting upon something that pleases me.
Why the ramble today? Just to let you know that you're not alone if something simple takes a long time to get that way! You'll have pieces that you love, that took only minutes. But most often, it's just plain work. (Granted, it's more fun than washing windows or dishes though!)
This little card (4-1/4" square, folded) was one that I started, knowing only that I wanted to use the snowflake stamp from Just Rite's Christmas Ensemble. It's clean, fresh, graphic. It appeals to me. But I wanted to try to work around the Happy Holidays part; I'm generally an old-fashioned Merry Christmas girl. I thought about using a ribbon with a big pretty bow in the middle, and adding a tag that said Merry Christmas. The problem was that the bow covered too much of the snowflake. Hmmm. . . (More on this later.)
My next issue was that I have all sorts of lovely patterned papers and wanted to use them--give them some love. But I needed some visual quietness today. My favorite patterns seemed to overwhelm the single snowflake. I pulled out some World Win Papers that I'd been sent and found this rich, double-sided and duo-toned cardstock (DoubleMates Autumn Red) that was the perfect color. (The back side is darker--see the mat under the snowflake? That's the back color of the cardstock.) I paired that cardstock with a piece of Cosmo Cricket Oh Joy paper (Mitten, Mitten)--the plainer side--just so I could get a layer in that I could sand and distress. And since my focal image was obviously going to be a circle, repeating that circle on a different scale made sense. I considered rhinestones to add bling to the snowflake, but they looked a little too dressy. Ivory pearls worked much better--elegant but understated.
Now, back to the "Happy Holidays v. Merry Christmas" part: I used the 25 point Brayton letters to spell out Merry Christmas on one of the blocks from the Harmony Rectangular Set, and then stamped the words in Versamark on PTI's Gold cardstock, embossing in their Filigree Detail Gold Embossing Powder.
The new sentiment is longer than the old one was, but to help compensate for the added length, I layered extra foam tape under the center of the sentiment and put flat glue dots on other end, causing it to bow out slightly on the flat part center of the "Happy Holidays." That's it--now you have two sentiment options for this snowflake stamp.
Don't forget that if you have trouble getting a perfect image with the solid stamps, Sharon Johnson has written an excellent article on how to condition these stamps.
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Just a wee bit of enabling:
In case you have been considering getting the Just Rite Stampers Christmas Ensemble, a great deal came through my e-mail today--a buy one, get one free offer on several products. You can buy one for a friend's Christmas present, and still get one to play with! Or if you are totally altruistic (or already have one), you've got two presents covered. This offer expires on November 30.
Have a lovely day!
