I tried to think of the most non-traditional Christmas I've had, and it brought back great memories of our trip to Australia in December of 2008. Coming from the Midwestern USA where winter means snow and wind, being in Australia with tropical trees was surreal for me.
So this card, which fits a business size envelope, has a theme of a tropical holiday. The bicycle is from the Stampin' Up! "Bike Ride" stamp set, and it's matching dies "Build A Bike". The bike is stamped using SU Tranquil Tide ink.
The wagon is from an SU retired 2006 "The Wheel Thing" stamp set. It was stamped twice, once in SU Real Red, then once with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I fussy cut the red wagon out, then punched the black wheels out with a 3/8" punch, and glued them over the top of the red wheels. I fussy cut the wagon's black handle, making sure to separate the movable handle from the wagon hitch so I could glue them back together at the angle I needed for being pulled by the bike.
Using the impressions "stone" die from the SU "Build A Bike" dies, I dry embossed a stone path by running the SU Whisper White main panel (3.5" x 8") through my Big Shot machine multiple times with a rubber embossing pad under the cardstock. This left a raised stone pattern on the other side (which was going to be the front of the panel). I ran this impression die through multiple times being careful to not allow any impressions I'd already made to be on the rubber pad (or else it would smash the pattern I was creating). After I had dry embossed the stone path, I flipped the white panel over and using a craft sponge, sponged the path with SU Crumb Cake ink to highlight the stones.
The sky is sponged with SU Soft Sky, and the grassy area with SU Wild Wasabi. I next inked up the palm tree from the retired 2010 SU "Plant Hope" stamp set. I inked the canopy with SU Wild Wasabi, and the trunk with a SU Stampin Write Crumb Cake marker. This tree was stamped on the right side of the card, then I re-inked the canopy, and stamped it close the the "ground" on the left side to look like a Sago palm.
The "Christmas" tree being towed home for the holidays was a silhouette pine tree from the retired 1998 SU "Pines" stamp set. I created the boughs within the silhouette using the pine needle spray from the same set inked up with SU Garden Green ink, and repeatedly stamping directly onto the tree silhouette. I then stamped the silhouette image onto a piece of SU Whisper White, the after it had dried, sponged SU Wild Wasabi ink over the entire stamped image. I then fussy cut the tree out.
The bike and wagon were mounted on the card front with adhesive foam strips to raise them off the background. I tied a red "sold" sign on the tree with SU Linen Thread, then also tied the top of the tree to the bike's rear rack. I cut off a bit of the lower half of the tree to allow it to rest inside the wagon.
The clouds in the sky were stamped with SU Soft Sky ink using the clouds from the SU "Lift Me Up" stamp set, then die cut using the matching SU "Up & Away" thinlits dies.. They were mounted with Tombow glue and adhesive foam strips.
Finally, the sentiment from the retired SU 2005 "Sleigh Full of Toys" was inked with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and stamped in the empty sky in the upper left corner.
The finished main panel was glued to a 3.75"x 8.25" SU Real Red cardstock mat, then the whole assembly glued to a SU Whisper White thick cardstock card base (8"x 8.5" folded in half to create a 4" x 8.5" card).
Because of all the fussy cutting, assembling the bike, knot tying, and careful dry embossing I am rating the difficulty of this card as a "5" out of "5". It took at least two hours to create, so that is a factor as well. I know exactly who I am going to send this card to this coming Christmas season... they will appreciate a tropical theme for sure!
Date: Sunday, July 22, 2018 GMT Views: 786
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Stamps: SU Bike Ride, Plant Hope, Definitely Decorative Pines, The Wheel Thing, Sleigh Full of Toys
Paper: SU Whisper White Thick Cardstock, Real Red, Whisper White
Paper Size: 4"x 8.5"
Ink: SU Tranquil Tide, Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, Crumb Cake, Soft Sky, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: SU Build A Bike Framelits Dies, Recollections 3/8" Punch, SU Linen Thread, Tombow Multi Liquid Glue, Adhesive Foam Strips, Paper Snips, Craft Sponges
Techniques: Die Cutting, Sponging, Fussy Cutting, Dry Embossing