Just a few more days left until Christmas and time for me to squeeze in another holiday card design. I thought I'd use it to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year as this is my last CLASSroom post for 2012. It was a year of lots of changes, both good and bad, and I'm hoping that 2013 brings many blessings to your home as well as my own.
This holiday card design was also a great time to get back into my craft room and try out a new product, the Tsukineko Sheet Metal Pieces. When I first saw it in the Ellen Hutson shop it immediately sparked my interest and I had to try it out.
The package said this product could be embossed and die cut so I decided to put it to the test. Well, actually, I haven't die cut it yet. That will have to wait for test project #2. But I did emboss it. I wasn't sure how well it would emboss...metal in a plastic folder you know and all that. Using a Tim Holtz holiday embossing folder, the metal ATC is sandwiched in the middle and then run through a Sizzie Big Shot machine. One pass was all it took to get a beautiful embossed metal surface. Nice!
The metal was lovely and shiney and could have been left at the embossed step but I like to step things up a bit now and then. So out came the Gesso. Gesso is a primer that prepares surfaces for accepting paint. It sticks to almost anything including metal. If you simply painted the metal surface with white acrylic paint, you would end up with the problem of flaking paint.
Simply brush the gesso over the metal and allow it to try. I used a heat gun on mine and that sped up the process. I don't like watching paint dry! Grin.
When the gesso is 99% dry, buff off the excess from the raised embossed surfaces. You can also sand it off or lightly scratch it off depending on the look you are going for. It's pretty quick and easy and I love how it looks like an old sign or a pressed tin ceiling.
On to the main base of the card, I picked out three sweet prints from the Aspen 6x6 paper pad by Basic Grey. Soooooo pretty.
Now here's a fun fabric tape ribbon idea. I ADORE the new Maya Road fabric tapes. They can be used just like washi tape, to make a fun border, to make a background among other fun ideas. You can also make the fabric tape into ribbon by peeling off the backing, folding it over onto itself. It then can be tied into a very pretty bow...
A little tinsel, a pin and a star trinket pin finish off the design.
Thanks for joining me in the CLASSroom today! Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and a year of blessing to come!
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