Spread Holiday Joy: Ready, Set, Christmas! Challenge
Good day, fellow crafters. Are you feeling the holiday spirit and looking for a creative outlet to express your love for Christmas? Look no further than the "My Favorite Things Ready Set Christmas Card Challenge"! As someone who enjoys making homemade cards, I couldn't resist the opportunity to share my favorite holiday elements with others. From cozy fireside scenes to snowflakes and candy canes, I can't wait to let my imagination run wild and create a one-of-a-kind Christmas card that captures the joy and magic of the season. Join me in spreading the holiday spirit by submitting your own unique and creative Christmas card to this exciting challenge!
At first glance, this project seemed straightforward and simple to execute in theory, however getting to the end result was a challenge as it deviated significantly from my original design plan once I began selecting materials. In the following discussion, I am thrilled to share with you the fascinating results of this project that started as a simple idea and turned into a creative adventure.
To begin this project I reached for my go-to pre-cut White card base. I frequently choose white cardstock because it symbolizes cleanliness and purity, which can add an elegant touch to any design. However, for this particular card, I aimed to convey a more religious context, and thus, I intentionally selected white to represent divinity, goodness, and spirituality. By using white cardstock as the foundation for this project, I aimed to incorporate these symbolic meanings into the overall design of the card. I then adhered a Gold mat to the card base that was just slightly smaller than the card base. I choose Gold because it adds a touch of elegance and festivity to the design as well as the fact that it is associated with wealth, prosperity, and luxury, making it a fitting choice for the holiday season. I followed along with that logic and added the Green Tartan pattern, which reminded me of the gift wrapping paper you see at the holidays. The Red and Green of the paper are also complementary to the Gold mat and ups the aesthetic.
The first step of my experimentation involved using foil on my card. I love the way it adds elegance, and I have tried various methods with varying degrees of success. Initially, I used the Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil system, which works well, but I felt constrained by the limited number of plates, the expense, and the lack of my own originality in the images and sentiments I had to use. I also tried the Cricut Foil Quill, which allowed for more options but wasn't always convenient for quick foiling projects. Since I like to keep my supplies organized and out of sight, it wasn't always practical to set up my Cricut for just a small amount of foiling. These limitations led me to conduct an experiment to create the sentiment for this card.
To create the sentiment on this card, I tried a unique twist on the popular laserjet printer and laminator hot foil method. In case you're not familiar, the laserjet printer uses toner, a fine powder that's charged electrically and applied to the paper using a rotating drum and laser beam. This powder is then fused to the paper using a heated fuser assembly, creating a permanent image. The key to this technique is that the toner is heat-activated, so when you print something on your laserjet printer, place foil over it (foil side up), sandwich it between some parchment paper, and run it through the laminator a few times, you'll get a foiled image that has stuck to the toner powder.
While this method can be used to create any image or text, sometimes you may not have exactly what you need on hand. That's where this variation comes in, which I learned from another card maker. Instead of trying to create a custom design, simply stamp the image or sentiment you want in black ink and scan it onto your computer. Then print it on your laserjet printer and use the foil method I just described. This technique is a fantastic time-saver, but I did find that it may not work well with very thin or ornate script fonts, as the foil doesn't have enough toner to stick and may peel off or not stick at all. In order to avoid that for this card I chose a bold style of font and used the My Favorite Things (MFT) Merry & Bright (CS-506) stamp set and then foiled it in Gold on a coordinating Green cardstock.
The second area of experimentation came from my use of Vellum, markers, and glossy accents and the way they were combined together to create these beautiful and realistic fake Christmas lights. To get there I started by using the MFT-1836 Christmas lights die kit I cut out all the pieces required to make the lights. The power cord for the lights was from another coordinating color of Green, the bulb base was from Silver, the element inside the bulb was from a Foiled Gold cardstock and the light bulb itself was from vellum. My original plan was to use the vellum's translucent quality to create a soft, diffused light effect by coloring the back with Copic markers, but the colors didn't come out as vivid as I wanted. Plus, the gold element inside the bulb wasn't visible when placed behind the vellum, which was a letdown. That's when I had the idea to use glossy accents to create a realistic, glass-like effect on the front of the bulb. It was a stroke of genius! The final result was so amazing that the photos didn't do them justice. The glossy accents gave the bulbs a realistic shine and dimension, and the vellum even curved slightly due to the resin's heat as it dried making the look even more realistic.
Experimenting with new techniques and materials can lead to some amazing results in card making. The use of different die cuts, foiling methods, and combining various materials like vellum, markers, and glossy accents can create unique and beautiful designs. It's important to not be afraid to try new things and be willing to learn from the mistakes made along the way. With each experiment, you can gain valuable experience and knowledge that will help you grow as a cardmaker. So, embrace the spirit of experimentation and push your creativity to new heights!
