The First Christmas Card of the Season

There is something about snowflakes that get me in the mood for holiday card making, so its no surprise that the card above is the first one I made this year.  Here is how I did it:

I started with the patterned paper used in the background.  I sometimes like to make my own patterned paper, and since this was my first card of the season I didn't have any holiday paper in my stash yet.  I used the emboss resist technique here.  I started out with some 8.5" x 11" white card stock, and stamped various sized snowflakes all over it with Versamark ink, and embossed with clear embossing powder.  After this I used sponges to layer various shades of ink over the card stock. I started with the lightest and ended with the darkest so I could see where to put the dark without going overboard. When satisfied with the shading I went over the whole thing lightly with silver pigment ink.  This gave the paper a lovely sheen that is difficult to see in the photo. I made sure to wipe off the snowflakes in between each layer so they stayed nice and white.

Once the patterned paper was dry, I chose the card stock to put with it - navy for the matting, and dark grey for the card.  I cut the 8.5" x11" grey card stock in half lengthwise, so I ended up with a piece measuring 4.25" x 11".  I scored the fold line at 5.5", so my final card measures 5.5" x 4.25".  The navy card stock was cut to 3.75" x 5", and the snowflake pattern to 3.5" x 4.75".  I cut the pieces for the sentiment before stamping, the navy measures 1.5" x 4" and the white is 1.25" x 3.75".

After corner rounding the small pieces I stamped the sentiment on the white using a Stamp-a-ma-jig, and inked the edge with navy ink using a sponge, then I ran the silver ink pad lightly over the edge.  I matted the white on the navy and added silver brads.

The patterned paper was also inked with navy around the edges.  Its hard to see but I feel like it gives the pattern a bit more depth.  Once matted on the navy card stock I added grey ribbon horizontally, and grey patterned ribbon vertically.  I punched two snowflakes out of white and inked the edges with navy, added some crystals to the middle and adhered them to the card where the two ribbons meet.  I attached this to the card front, then attached the sentiment using foam squares.

And there you have it!  Once the patterned paper was done it was really a simple card to make. I think I made eight of these total.  Definitely one of my favourites.

Here is a list of supplies I used.  Many of the items I have from Stampin Up! are retired but you could easily substitute for similar items.

Card stock:  Stampin Up! Whisper white, Night of Navy, and Basic Gray

Inks: Stampin Up! Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Going Gray (retired), Night of Navy.  Versamark Watermark Ink.  Tsukineko Brilliance Starlite Silver.

Embossing powder:  Martha Stewart clear.

Adhesives: Tombo Mono Permanent Adhesive runner, Zots, foam squares. 

Ribbon: Offray (plain gray) and American Crafts Silver and White Snowflake.

Embellishments: Recollections brads (from Michaels) and Stampin Up! Basic Jewels.

Punch:  Stampin Up! Snow Blossom (retired)

Stamp sets:  Stampin Up! Many Merry Messages and Snow Burst (retired)