May Your Season Sparkle

Writers have been known to remark that when they write, their characters often take over, seeming to develop a mind of their own and change the plot as they see fit.

In creating art, it seems that this can also be true; what you sit down to create may not always be what you end up with because the tools and media you use react in ways that may not be what you intended.

Tonight I sat down to craft a card with my beloved Woodland Embossing Folder. (Have you heard? Stampin' Up is bringing it out of retirement and putting it into the new annual catalog due out in May! How great is that??)

On Pinterest I have seen many different backgrounds used with the folder but I hadn't seen red. I thought that using Real Red would be very festive and I could pair it with a nice green and a coordinating ribbon and have cheery Christmas card.

I started by inking up the inside of the folder (the side with the Sizzix on top) using a brayer and Real Red ink. I then placed my Thick Whisper White card stock on the uninked side of the folder, closed it, and ran it through the Big Shot.

When I opened the folder, I was not as pleased as I thought I would be. I needed the red to be stronger. Because the embossed paper seemed to be still clinging to the other side of the folder, I re-inked the folder, closed it, and smoothed all over it with my hands to press the ink into the paper.

It still didn't look as I had imagined it would.

I used my Basic Black Stampin' Write marker to touch up the birch trees but that still wasn't the answer.
I thought that by playing around with matte colors and the card base color, I could make it look better. Black seemed to be right for a thin matte layer but red for the card base didn't seem to look great. Mossy Meadow was too dark and Garden Green didn't look quite right either. I decided against Old Olive because it was too light.

I still couldn't get it looking quite right.

With nothing to lose, I turned to a crafting girl's best friend–glitter!

I employed a technique that Jenny Day demonstrated in this video. I covered the entire embossed panel with Versamark ink and then sprinkled Heat & Stick powder all over it. I heated it just until it was completely wet looking and then sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds Glitter over the whole thing. I heated it once again to seal in the glitter.

Now, it was looking better! See, almost anything can be improved with glitter!

I started playing with matte and card base colors again only to realize that my tree background was no longer red–it had taken on a rosy hue due to the covering of glitter!

Instead of Real Red card stock, I needed Rose Red for my card base; I used black for the matte. Before adhering the panel to the black matte, I used a sponge dauber with some Basic Black Archival to ink up the sides.

I wrapped some Silver Sequin Trim around the bottom of the panel, securing it at the back with tape. The sentiment, from the Sparkly Seasons Stamp Set seemed appropriate so I stamped it in Basic Black Archival on Whisper White and then punched it out using the Large Oval Punch.

I used the Scalloped Oval Punch on the Rose Red card stock and then layered the sentiment on it with Dimensionals. The label was then adhered to the card front over the sequin trim.

The finishing touch for the card was to add some rhinestones to frame the sentiment and provide a little added sparkle!

Though I set out to create one card, I ended up with a different version of the card but one I may not have created except by trying out an idea!

Have you tried out an card making idea only to end up with something else? Drop me a comment below about it!

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