Matching Christmas Cards

Been busy this week making 12 cards to go with the MDF bag i made last week.

It was a lengthy process as there were many layers to create, images to be stamped and hand cut and white card to be kept clean.

Tried to create an Aurora Australis for my non-traditional Christmas theme colours. This is part of the Challenge requirements over at Christmas Fun Challenge.

Took white card from stash, cut into A6 sized pieces and used Pan Pastels to create the background (Turquoise Shade, Pthalo Blue,Ultramarine and Violet) added Dylusions Spray ‘After Midnight’ and ‘Martini’ to get the deep colours of the Aurora onto the card.

I enjoyed adding the Dylusions Spray to the sky, used three different baby wipes (per colour) to get the desired look.

Dropped a tiny amount of the ink onto a plastic lid and dipped baby wipe 1 into it. Smooshed the colour onto the sky, dried with a heat gun. Took baby wipe 2 and removed some of the colour and smooshed again then dried. Took baby wipe number 3 and wiped the colour towards the top of the card. By moving the colour upwards in a wavy line it looks a tad like the ribbons within the Aurora.

Repeated this with the lovely Martini Dylusions Spray colour, this time i added the tiniest amount as i didn’t want it to be too strong, just a hint is enough.

The sand is also Pan Pastels this time the Ochre shades and Burnt Umber, left the area under the sky lighter to try and create some depth.

Wanted the sand to sparkle a tad, mixed some Rich Gold Pan Pastel with warm water, mixed it thoroughly and then sprayed onto the card.

A macro image shows the lustre of the Rich gold and how subtle it looks.

Next it was the fiddly jobs, cutting out the stars and colouring the Stampotique characters of, Twinkie, Daniel’s Tree Topper, Teddy and Tinglyitchiness.

Used Andy Skinners Hippy Chick stencil for the stars, Fresco Paints to colour the characters and the stars.

Used Black Archival ink for all the stamping.

Coloured them on the reverse of tissue paper (normal household tissues). When dry they are easier to work with.

Stamped O Tree from Stampotique onto old book paper and ripped the shape by hand so as to get a non straight edge. This helps the edges disappear when you add the adhesive.

 

Here are the individual elements ready to be assembled. The sentiments are from Dyan Reaveley’s Christmas Plate.

Like to stamp the reverse of the cards, this year i have chosen this sentiment which was a freebie from Craft Stamper Magazine.

Made inners that match but used 2nd generation images as wanted a watermark effect.

Stamped Characters onto metallic envelopes to match the cards.

Finally the completed cards.

Protected in bubble wrap they are being put away and given as an Christmas present.

Thanks you for sticking with the post, it feels like it is one of the longest i have written.

Apologies for some of the images, they were taken during the night.

Would love to read your comments if you have the energy to leave some, thanks for dropping by.

xxx