It's so great to be back today sharing even more inspiration for the Recollective Holiday Collection from The Greetery with full reveals for today's featured products! I have three projects to share with you today, but first, make sure you take some time to head to The Greetery Blog for the official "Meet and Greet" for today's products! Also, make sure to leave a comment here. and on each designers' blog, for a chance to be eligible to win one of two $50 gift certificates to the shop! My first card for today picks up where I left off yesterday in terms of colors and feel. I wanted something rustic and earthy to showcase the lovely new Christmas Sampler stencil collection and the new Christmas Sampler sentiments and dies.
I love that I was able to pull in a few of the embroidery elements that were released this summer! To begin this card, I stenciled two identical panels; I set one aside to use as the background and then used the Aida Cloth Texture Plate over the top of the second panel to give it that great texture. Once that was done, I used the Hoopla Oval Inserts Die to die cut the oval shape. I also die cut the hoop using the Hoopla Oval Die from Rustic White cardstock and then added the color using sponge daubers and Distress Oxide inks. I glued it over the top of the oval piece and then added the silver "hanger" at the top using additional liquid glue. I layered it over the top of the background stenciled panel using foam squares for dimension, and making sure to line it up properly. Each of the included sentiments in the Christmas Sampler Sentiments stamp/die set fit perfectly in the white space. I opted to use "Peace on Earth" because the colors just seem so peaceful.
Rather than just stamping them directly onto the card, I opted to cut them out using the coordinating dies and then popping them up with foam squares. I toyed around with adding a bunch of Juniper branches, but in the end, simplicity won (who am I?) and I left it as is. I adhered it to a Kraft card base using additional foam squares for added dimension.
Now for something a little more "Merry and Bright" ha ha! Of all the products included in this release, this Plaid Tidings suite of products took me the most off-guard by sheer delight! I had SO much fun creating this card and I wanted to keep going! That being said, I can't wait to use it again!!!
I've paired the large sentiments with the oh-so-sweet Popcorn Garland that is accented with the new Peppermint bits here and there! My sweet tooth was gnawing while I was creating, I must admit! I'm not sure where it originated, but my family has a tradition of making something called "Popcorn Cake"; it's not really a cake at all, but rather a big wad of what would be a popcorn ball (with peanuts, gumdrops, gooey marshmallow) all pressed into a greased Angel Food Cake pan. My stinker brother and cousin both joked that if you swept up a movie theater and pressed it into a pan, you'd get "popcorn cake"! Gross! It's nothing like that, but rather a nostalgic, and delicious, treat that our family enjoys! But, back on topic,......the garland reminded me of that and that's why I was drooling! LOL!
Let me explain the Plaid Tidings a bit, especially since I'm so delightfully smitten by it! The suite includes the Plaid Tidings Stencil Collection, which is what I used to make the candy cane striped letters AND the green shadow. You could simply stop there, but I chose to use both the large shadow die that will die cut the ENTIRE "So Very Merry", AND the die that cuts out each individual letter. I chose this option as well for maximum depth and dimension. I used foam squares to pop up each of the letters lining them up with the shadow.
Now, you may be scratching your head thinking, "I thought she called it "Plaid Tidings"?" I opted to just make candy cane stripes by omitting some of the stencils, but by using ALL of them, you would end up with a gorgeous plaid sentiment. Hopefully that makes sense! I'm sort of obsessed with "cute" candy canes, and once I got done with this series of stencils, it just looked too cute to make plaid! ha ha! But, that's the great thing about paper, ink, and stencils....you can just keep making and making and making and never run out of possibilities!!!!
The accent sentiments "Hoping Your Christmas Is" and "& Bright" are included in the Plaid Tidings Sentiment set and allow you to create quite a few different greetings to really mix things up! I added the popcorn garland at the top and bottom of the card and accented with some of the holly images included in the sentiment set. Now, I WAS going to add Nuvo Crystal Glaze over the top of all of the letters to give them a true candy shine, but it's been a little finicky lately (we got a cold front that came in) and it ended up cracking on one of my recent projects and I just couldn't run the risk after I had worked so hard to add the letters with foam squares! ha ha! BUT, I still want to give it a try, so when it warms up in the next few days, I think I'll attempt it!
My third and final card for today is giving me ALL the vintage, nostalgic feels; from the lights, the colors, and the garland! This card features the new Bright and Bubbly stamp/die set paired with the Popcorn Garland (of course;)) and a few sprigs from the Winterland stamp/die set that was showcased yesterday!
I never did have any relatives that used these lights, that I can remember, but they still give me that vintage Christmas vibe that I adore! I chose retro colors to really give it a nostalgic feeling.
Now, the stamp set does come with a "glow/shine" image, but I opted for an overall glow and used the Sparkler Background Stamp. I love how it turned out! I found a picture of an actual set of these bubble lights and used the colors from that for a realistic look. My projects for today have really given me time to reflect on some of my favorite childhood memories of Christmas (Christmas is definitely a feeling, isn't it?) and I wish I could bottle them up and share with my kids! There's nothing quite like an old-fashioned Christmas, just like Frank Sinatra sings about, to get my heart glowing! I hope you've enjoyed today's projects and products as I've walked down memory lane! I sure love that Betsy has given us a glimpse into the recollections of her Christmases past and allow us to reflect on our own treasured memories! Stay tuned for tomorrow as we head even further down memory lane to reveal some products with tender significance to Betsy! Thanks for fluttering by!
Kelly (you are here)
