Project Inspiration {Noel}

Hello and welcome! It's my turn for the Project Inspiration feature for Papertrey Ink and I chose to create a floral Christmas card using some old and new favorites! I had a lot of fun putting this card together and I will share details on each step as well as a few tips and tricks!

This card came together in 7 easy steps, so cozy up and let's get started!

I chose some of my signature details that I will explain as well!

Step 1: Add the hot foiled details using the Fresh Greens Hot Foil Plate using Spellbinders Champagne Foil on a panel of Pure Poppy cardstock. Trim it down as far as you can near the outer points of the widest leaves. This particular plate is a little bit more tricky to work with because of the straight lines inside the leaves, but I simply use a larger piece of cardstock and then line up the outer leaves with the edge of the plastic guard on my guillotine trimmer. It ends up being slightly smaller than an A2 size, which I like, but it you want it to be A2 sized, simply measure a little further away from the leaves. Use a corner rounder punch on the corners.

Step 2: Attach it to an A2 card base using foam squares.

Step 3: Cut a rectangle using the Rounded Rectangles: Pierced Die and attach it to the background using foam squares.

Step 4: Cut an oval from Ocean Tides cardstock using the middle size oval included in the Love to Layer: Ovals Die. Attach it to the rectangle using foam squares.

Step 5: Cut the flower using the Into the Blooms: Anemone Die from white cardstock and the center pieces from gold. Cut the holly leaves and berries using the Into the Blooms: Holly Die. I will share some of the extra details about the assembly and ink colors later in the post. Attach them in a triangle configuration using foam squares.

Step 6: Add in additional foliage.

Step 7: Cut the sentiment from gold cardstock using the Line it Up: Christmas Die. Attach it to the flowers and foliage using liquid glue.

I took a page out of Melissa's book and tried some Fossilized Amber Distress Spritz on the flowers and foliage. I love how it turned out and it really helped give this card a touch of vintage charm, which I always love!

We need to document the fact that this is the FIRST time since the anemone die came out that I actually used paper on the berry sprigs instead of pearls! ha ha! I simply added some ink to a scrap of white cardstock and then used the die for the berries to cut them out. I glued them to the sprig branch and then added some Ranger Glossy Accents over the top. I let it dry and then added a dot of white gel pen for the "shine".

I also love to add gems to the center of the anemones and for this card I used the smallest size included in the PTI Gems: Clear.

You may have noticed that I mainly use champagne foil, and not gold, if I need something with that tone. I find regular gold to be quite yellow and the champagne foil is the perfect choice.

I find it's really easy to cut all of the foliage and berries from white and then color them with dye inks and blender brushes. For the flower, I only added a hint of Stormy Sea ink to the center to give it slight shadow because I still wanted it to look white. The holly leaves are colored using Aqua Mist ink and then I used whatever ink was left on my teal brush. The other leaves and sprig branches are colored using New Leaf ink and the berries are Pure Poppy and Scarlet Jewel. I used a brown marker to color the tiny berry tips and then glued them onto the berries with liquid glue.

I trimmed down the sentiment just a bit on the left side so it would fit better within the white rectangle piece. I simply used liquid glue to the places that would touch the foliage and let it dry. You can see the gems on the center of the flower a little bit better in this photo, too! I didn't add any glitter or shimmer spray, which I might add later. The sprayer on my shimmer spray is clogged so I need to wait for my order to arrive! ha ha!

Thanks for fluttering by!