Stampin’ Up! Christmas Roots and Baubles

It’s FRIDAY! Busy weekend coming up for me! How about all of you? Great plans? Or just relaxing and enjoying some quiet time?

Well, let’s get on with today’s card, shall we? I know that is why you all came. I chose pretty traditional Christmas colors for today’s card-green and red.

It also fits in with the Holly and Ivy Challenge #38 – Anything Christmas Goes

My thoughts went to the recently received Beautiful Baubles Bundle and I thought I would use the big, beautiful bauble, and even put the stamp on a block ready to use. But wait! My thoughts turned to trees and a forest scene. (What? Me? make a forest scene?) I looked more closely at the thinlits in that bundle and came up with this card.

The first thing I did was to use the large wreath (or whatever it is) thinlit to cut a circle from my Old Olive panel. Not wanting this to be too plain, I used the Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Folder to dry emboss it. Perfect!

I then centered this over my Real Red mat and very lightly marked in pencil this circle on the panel. Using my grid paper I then marked the center and extended the marks out to the edge of the circle.

To line everything up perfectly I put the Layering Circles Framelit on my grid paper to mark the centers on it with a permanent marker the same way I had marked the paper circle. (Since there is no center in the die, the marks are across from each other, but centered, marking the quadrants) Next, I placed the Real Red panel with the marked circle on my grid paper again and put the marked thinlit on top, getting all the marks perfect, then used Post It tape to hold everything in place and ran it through the big shot.

This red mat was adhered behind my Old Olive wreath panel with Liquid Glue. Oh, I am liking this! Now we are ready for the artwork.

On a 4″ square of Whisper White I marked the center, then traced a pencil line around the wreath framelit to help me with placing the stamping. A Sponge Dauber and some Balmy Blue ink (mostly sponged off on my scratch paper before touching my Whisper White) give just the barest hint of sky. With Old Olive and Mossy Meadow I inked up the single conifer and the twin conifers from Rooted in Nature and began stamping. Some of the trees are full strength and some I just kept stamping without re-inking, staggering the placement. This gives the illusion of a forest with some trees further away.

I moved this square around until the stamped design pleased me within the cut out circle, then very lightly marked in pencil where it would be. This was my guide for using the large plain framelit in the Beautiful Baubles Bundle to trim my design to fit. Liquid Glue again does the adhering. This is my ‘go to’ adhesive.

One bit of advice: DON’T FORGET TO ERASE ALL PENCIL MARKS each step of the way! Do this before assembling. If you made very light marks, they are easy to erase with no telltale signs.

This 3-layered card front was then adhered to my Mossy Meadow card base, again with Liquid Glue.

For the sentiment, I used the words from Merry Christmas to All Bundle and stamped them in Mossy Meadow on Whisper White. Using the small banner die from Lakeside Thinlits I cut half of the sentiment, then turned the die around the cut the second half. I edged this with my Real Red Stampin’ Write Marker, stuck a few Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals on the back and adhered it to my card front.

For the inside, I stamped the sentiment from Merry Christmas to All in full strength Real Red and some more trees in Mossy Meadow, again both full strength and stamped off once or twice. Actually, I stamped the trees first so I would know where to put the sentiment.

It looked a bit plain, so I added three of the smaller red dots from the Santa’s Workshop Enamel Shapes. Done! This liner was adhered to a Real Red mat and into the card base with Liquid Glue.

Hmm. Now the front looks plain. A bow! Of course, a bow.  I used the Real Red 3’8″ Mixed Satin Ribbon (Holiday Catalog page 6) and made a nice, small bow which was adhered with a Glue Dot.

Card finished! On with the envelope, as we can’t have naked envelopes.

A few more Mossy Meadow trees on the front and a pretty stamped Real Red bow on the flap is all this envelope needs to tie it to the card that will go inside. The bow is from the Wishing You Well stamp set.

I rather like this card, and might try another with a different scene, maybe different colors too. The die from Beautiful Baubles will lend itself to many styles.

Card cuts and products used are below, as is a place for you to leave a comment.

It’s Time to Sign Up For the November Holiday Paper Pumpkin!

If you’re interested in subscribing to Paper Pumpkin, you can either sign up for a subscription where you’re billed monthly for your kit or you can purchase a prepaid subscription in my online store.

COMING SOON! Actually, on November 1

Let it snow! Or at least… create a snowy wonderland using this incredible assortment of products. With two stamp sets, paper, accessories, the only limit is your creativity!

This suite of snowy goodness is currently available only to Demonstrators (or…in a Starter Kit!) – but YOU can order it on or after November 1. However, be aware that this is only available until November 30, or while supplies last. That means that if the supply is sold out before November 30, that’s it. Done. Gone.

Host Code: EV7ETS99 good through the end of October.

Go here to learn the details on using the host code and my customer loyalty rewards program.

If you don’t have a demonstrator and need products or have questions, please contact me. Or if you would like a catalog, let me know.

CARD CUTS: Mossy Meadow: card base 5-1/2″ x  8-1/2″ scored at 4-1/4″; Real Red: front mat land inside mat 4″ x 5-1/4″; Old Olive: 3-7/8″ x 5-1/8″; Whisper White: tree scene 4″ x 4″, sentiment banner 1″ x 5″, inside liner 3-3/4″ x 5″.

Product List