The floral & greenery cluster on my card was inspired by Dawn Woleslagle's lesson on Day 1 of Online Card Classes' "Holiday Card Workshop 2022." I ink smooshed some scraps of mixed media paper with different green & brown Distress inks. Then I die cut a few each of pinecones, pine sprigs, & holly leaves from those to fill out my floral arrangement.
The pinecone die has little inner bits that pop out. Because I wanted them to stay in the outer portion of the die cut, I added a piece of dryer sheet under my cardstock when I die cut each one. That kept everything intact. After I finished die cutting, I used a piece of yellow Frog tape to tape over the front of each pinecone. That basically did the same as the dryer sheet on the back, but allowed me to add glue to the back after I removed the dryer sheet. I glued each whole pinecone to a scrap of white cardstock. I removed the tape, just so it wouldn't get stuck permanently, and let the glue dry completely. Then I used my fussy cutting scissors to cut around the pinecones. I angled the blades slightly under each die cut, so the white backing piece wouldn't show. That way, all the little inner bits stay in the die cut. Fiddly & time-consuming, yes, but effective.
I cut & adhered my patterned paper pieces to my card base, as per the sketch. Then I glued down my pieces for the floral arrangement. In the sketch, the focal point is in the middle of the card, but I decided to place mine off-center, to give me enough room for the flower, greenery, pinecones, and greeting. I heat embossed my greeting on a scrap of the teal patterned paper I'd used for the corner triangle, cut it into a strip, & glued it in place, with the left end tucked into the arrangement.
To add a little sparkle to the poinsettia center, I decided to use Gold Ice Stickles. I squeezed on a good-sized dollop. It looked a little lumpy (for lack of a better word), so I whacked the back of my card against the table to flatten it, like you can with Nuvo drops. Welllll, it turns out Stickles is thinner than Nuvo drops, so it spurted out over my poinsettia! Thankfully, I was able to scrape up most of it, though there are still little specks of glitter on the bracts of the poinsettia. But I squeezed more Stickles into the center - without whacking anything this time - & just let it dry. I really LOVE how this card came out!
Date: Saturday, November 12, 2022 GMT Views: 424
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Stamps: Simon Says Stamp "Holiday Greetings Mix 1"
Paper: Canson XL Mixed Media paper; The Paper Studio "Old World Winter" 6x6" patterned paper pad; graphic45 "Christmas Carol" 6x6" patterned paper pad; white, teal
Accessories: Essentials by Ellen (Ellen Hutson) "Poinsettia & Pine" & Poppystamps "Blooming Poinsettia" die sets; Ranger White Super Fine Detail embossing powder; Gold Ice Stickles