“Celebrate” Blog Hop

Amy’s Inkin’ Krew Blog Hop theme today is “Celebrate!” That single word covers a lot of territory….birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, weddings, babies, graduations and on…and on…!

I am choosing to celebrate the birth of Christ with the Wise Men From Afar stamp set.

One of my all time favorite Christmas hymns (though I like them all) is “We Three Kings.” I was so happy to see the stamp set Wise Men from Afar in the Stampin’ Up Holiday catalog this year. To go along with that is the Merry Music Designer Series Paper with the “We Three Kings” music. For our hop today I am pairing those two items as well as some Designer Series Paper from Merry Little Christmas.

So, take a look, then go on to see what the creative minds on our team have put together.

I began by cutting my card base from Basic Black card stock. The front is matted in Whisper White, on top of which is the Merry Little Christmas DSP in black with white stars. This is the mat for the Merry Music art piece.

Using Basic Black ink, I stamped the Wise Men to the left of center and toward the bottom of the paper. I wanted a tiny bit of color on this card, but didn’t want to detract from the main theme. Hmmm. What to do? Well, I colored in the little dots on the three robes, each in a different color. I used my Stampin’ Write markers of Elegant Eggplant, Real Red and Pacific Point.

As these were men of wealth, I added a bit of glitz to the color with my Wink of Stella. I also added color to the white areas of their headpieces and more Wink of Stella.

Of course, they were following a bright star, so I made mine out of Silver Foil Sheets using the die from Night in Bethlehem. Before adhering the star, and before adhering the Merry Music DSP to the starry DSP, I cut another big star from the music. Using Liquid Glue, I attached the music to the stars paper. Then, I inset the silver star into the music. I really like this effect. This whole panel was adhered to the Whisper White mat with Liquid Glue also.

For the sentiment, I used the short one in the Wise Men from Afar stamp set, stamping it in Versamark on Basic Black paper. Before stamping, I rubbed my Embossing Buddy over the black paper so the embossing powder wouldn’t stick anyplace that was not stamped.

I heat embossed this in Silver Emboss Powder. I used my Paper Snips Scissors to cut a flag in one end, leaving the other end straight. To set the sentiment off a bit more, I put Versamark Ink on all the edges and heat embossed them in silver also. This gives a finished look to the sentiment banner.

I placed three Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals on the back near the straight end and wound some Silver Metallic Thread around to peek out from behind the sentiment. Using more of the Silver Metallic Thread, I wound it around the whole panel three times under the Wise Men, and just under where the lower edge of the sentiment banner would be, taping it on the back.

After adhering this card front with liquid glue to the card base, I added more Stampin’ Dimensionals to the sentiment banner and adhered it to the card front.

Card front….Done!

For the inside, I used the same papers, layered in the same order. The sentiment, also from Wise Men from Afar, is again heat embossed in Silver on Basic Black card stock. This was cut using the Lots of Labels framelits. The Silver Foil Sheets mat was cut with the next larger size framelit. All were adhered with liquid glue EXCEPT the sentiment to the foil. To be certain of good adhesion, I used Fast Fuse for this step.

On to the envelope. I stamped the three Wise Men on the front of my Medium White Envelope in Basic Black ink. On the flap I used Liquid Glue to adhere the leftover piece of “We Three Kings” music from the Merry Music Designer Series Paper.

I hope you enjoy this card. I think it is one I will repeat.

Card Cuts are below.

Now, just click on the ‘Next Blog’ button to go on to see what the super creative Mary Deatherage did for you today. Or, use the ‘Previous Blog’ button to see Jaimie’s creation.

If you prefer to just check out individual Bloggers, just click on their name to go to their blog. Enjoy the Hop! But before you leave, check out my rewards below, as well as the card cuts for today’s card.

Karen Finkle

Jaimie Babarczy

Julie Johnston (you are here)

Mary Deatherage

Sue Prather

Linda Richenberg

Jari Francis

Jackie Trimble

Amy Koenders

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Card Cuts: Basic Black: card base 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ scored at 4-1/4″, front sentiment 7/8″ x 2-5/8″, inside sentiment 2″ x 3-1/2″; Whisper White: outside mat and inside mat (cut 2) 4-1/8″ x 5-3/8″; Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper: front mat and inside mat (cut 2) 4″ x 5-1/4″; Merry Music Designer Series Paper: front art piece 3-1/2″ x 4-3/4″, inside panel 3-1/2″ x 4-3/4″, envelope flap 2-1/2″ x 6″; Silver Foil Sheets: star 1-1/2″ x 1-3/4″, inside sentiment mat 2-1/2″ x 4″.

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