Pink Christmas
Week 1
Good day, fellow crafters. In the cozy embrace of winter, as snowflakes gently blanket the world in serene white, there's a delightful deviation from tradition awaiting you this holiday season. I warmly present to you the first of our Pink Christmas series in the Run Up to Christmas Hop 2023. Join us in embracing the spirit of the season with a touch of gentle pink, where love, joy, and creativity harmoniously converge. I hope you enjoy my submission to these challenges and if you would like to see work the other participants in the hop have done then check out #runuptochristmashop2023.
To create this card I first began with the background panel. Lately, I've been on a mission to minimize material waste, and this particular situation showcased the surplus pink ink remaining in my blending brush. It allowed me infuse a delicate pink hue into the white cardstock, making the most of my resources. I then set the background panel aside to dry.
Once it was dry to the touch I next added the sentiment. I placed the background into my Misti stamping tool and aligned the sentiment to the center of the background panel. I next coated the stamp in clear embossing and stamped the image. I next cover the inked sentiment with gold embossing powder and they set the powder with my heating tool until solidified.
The next step of the process was to create the foreground element. For this I started with some white cardstock and Gina K’s Precious Poinsettia layering stamp set, featured left. For the colors, I diverged from the conventional red palette to stay within the theme, I initially applied the darker shades of pink and green to the flower petals, stems, and leaves, utilizing the appropriate stamp layers. This method allowed me to establish the shadows and highlights in the image before adding the lighter tones. Once I had completed each layer I made sure to allow for the ink to dry so there was no accidental smudges.
Once everything was dry, I utilized the corresponding die set and cut out the foreground image. This left a bright white border around the image that I just did not like, so I utilized the the Bubblegum Pink ink and covered all the edges so that it would blend into the background panel. I next added some gold flat-backed pearls to the center of the blossoms for some extra visual appeal.
The next stage was assembly . I first trimmed the background panel down to its final dimensions and then for some visual interest and a departure from my normal matting, I chose to use a metallic gold cardstock that I purposefully trimmed smaller than a normal mat and then used an offsetting technique for the mat. I adhered it to the background panel with some double-sided tape and then adhered the composite to a pre-cut and folded A2 white card base. Lastly, I adhered my foreground element to the background and called the card complete.
