PTI Simple to Spectacular: Baker's Dozen

Hello! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas surrounded by those that are most dear! My heart is always filled with gratitude and love and one of the ways that I express that love is through my cards. For this installment of the Papertrey Ink Simple to Spectacular feature, I decided to create a trio of snowy cards using the versatile Baker's Dozen stamp set and coordinating Baker's Dozen dies. I will add these to my stash of holiday thank you cards that I made earlier in the season. You can see them HERE and HERE. I'm really excited to send these out because I feel that even the "simple" design still has a lot of fun details!

I will explain each of the cards in detail as well as explain the process as I added in different steps and elements to step it up to "spectacular".  I think this is such a fun feature because it allows you to create some fun designs even if you're short on time! I'm also going to share a simple "recipe" that you can follow that will ensure that your simple designs are just as special as the spectacular ones. This is a recipe that I shared last year, but it's been a while and I feel like it really works to create cards that you are proud to send!

I used to watch "What Not to Wear" regularly and learned Clinton and Stacy's mantra on how to put together an outfit: Color, pattern , texture, and shine! I love using these four simple rules on my cards as well and find that it really helps a simple design pop! I had considered sharing these tips for a Design Team Tips feature, but decided to share it in this post instead! You can see that I was able to add each of the four elements on this simple design. To begin, I took a 4 by 5 1/4 inch piece of Spring Rain cardstock and embossed it using the Bold Borders: Flurries die with an embossing mat. This created some amazing texture as well as pattern in one simple step.  I spritzed it with Shimmer Spray to give it some sparkle and shine. The cupcake is stamped and colored simply using Copic markers. I also stamped the border and sentiment using Weathervane Ink. I also added a few Nuvo drops to the centers of some of the embossed snowflakes as well as the sprinkles and snowflake on the cupcake. This was a very quick and easy card, but still has some fun details.

The next card uses ALL of the same elements, but in a different way with the addition of the Soft Stone Bitty Big pattern paper behind the focal pieces. I love how the big polka dots add in some extra pattern as well as interest! For this design, I actually die cut the Bold Borders frame and adhered it to a white A2 card base. You can read some trouble shooting tips for these intricate dies HERE. I cut a piece of the Bitty Big pattern paper to fit inside the frame.  Once that was done, I spritzed it with shimmer spray. The cupcake is colored using Copic markers, but this time I added in a few extra colors for some added shading and dimension. The sentiment is heat embossed in silver for some extra shine. The "sprinkles" on the cupcake have two different Nuvo drops. A few sparkling rhinestones frame the cupcake.

And finally, the "spectacular" version. This one has just a few more steps and details to really make it pop! For this version, I die cut two of the Bold Borders frames and glued them together. Once that was done, I added some Nuvo Shimmering Pearl Glitter embossing powder. This is the powder that I have used on all of the cards that I have made with this same technique. I've had a few of you ask, and I feel bad it took me this long to let you know! I hope I'm not a broken record showing this again, but I just love how it looks! I promise I'll lay off for a while! LOL! I layered it it onto an A2 cardbase. This one also has the Bitty Big paper, but I used some foam squares for added dimension. I die cut the sentiment panel out of Spring Rain this time and heat embossed the border as well as the sentiment. I layered it onto the frame using foam squares. 

The cupcake, which has even more colors added in as well as tinsel glitter and three types of Nuvo drops, is popped up onto a white circle that was die cut and embossed using the Nesting Basics: Circles and the Nesting Basics: Pierced Circles. This is added in the center of the frame. I also added some sparkling clear rhinestones around the cupcake as well as in the center of some of the snowflakes in the frame. I love how these look shimmering in the light!

These were so much fun to make and I can't wait to send them out to family and friends! I love the Baker's Dozen stamp set because of all of the cute seasonal cupcakes. I'm sure I will be using this one quite a bit in the future! To be honest, I feel like I've forgotten how to make a card that isn't "seasonal".  Hopefully I can get back in the groove! LOL! As always, if you have ANY questions, please feel free to email me or leave a comment and I will get back to you as soon as possible! Thanks for fluttering by!

P.S. For those of you who follow my "Keeping Christmas" series, I've put together a whole list of new content for the upcoming year. If there is anything that you would like to see, please feel free to leave some suggestions in the comments and I will see if it fits into my plan! I will be doing a recap of last year's series in my January post!