Hi everyone! Carolyn Peeler here. I don't know about you, but I love the Christmas season. I'm a fan of the music, the decor, and the crafts - oh, yes, I love Christmas crafting products. In order to indulge in my favorite season for as long as possible, I'm breaking out the holiday crafting projects early and sharing a holiday card with you today. We're going to combine one of the Essentials by Ellen stamp sets by Julie Ebersol with Avery Elle and some patterned paper. The complete supply list, and a link to the products in the Ellen Hutson store, is provided at the bottom of this post.
Let's start by gathering our stamps and dies. We are going to use the "Joy to the World" coordinating stamp and die set by Avery Elle. To create the globe base, I colored the stamp with "Brushed Corduroy" and "Gathered Twigs" Distress markers, then stamped it onto white cardstock. Using the coordinating die, cut the image out from the paper.
For the globe itself, I was going for a graphic feel with an homage to the chalkboard trend that is so huge across the visual arts fields at the moment. Using Memento "Tuxedo Black" ink, I stamped the globe onto white cardstock and then cut it out once again using the Avery Elle coordinating die.
Next, we're going to shine this baby up! Using the ever popular Glossy Accents, cover the globe with the product. (Quick tip: The easiest way to be sure that your glossy accents stays where you want it is to first outline the circle with the product, then fill it in with the glossy accents.) Now, set the globe aside so that it can dry (this will take several hours).
(Note, as seen in this photo, Glossy Accents will look cloudy when you first apply it, but will clear as it dries.)
Next it's time to build our card base. We're going to use 2 papers from the Basic Grey "Evergreen" paper pack (the red ones), 1 paper from "The Archivist" pad by Prima Marketing (the black one), and we are also going to make our own background using the evergreen boughs from the "Christmas Scribbles" stamp set by Essentials by Ellen Hutson.
To create the custom bough paper, we will use the "Christmas Scribbles" stamp, a water spray bottle, watercolor paper, "Bundled Sage" Distress ink pad and "Mowed Lawn" Distress marker. First, press the stamp onto the "Bundled Sage" ink pad, then using the "Mowed Lawn" marker, randomly add a few hits of this brighter green to the stamp. Holding the stamp approximately 6 inches from a water spray bottle, mist about 2-4 times with water in order to get a lovely soft watercolor look. (The more water you add/spray, the softer the stamped impression will be with less detail.) Randomly stamp the boughs onto a strip of watercolor paper 5.5" high and 2" wide.
Now that your papers are prepped, glue them onto a 4.25" wide x 5.5" high piece of cardstock (any color). First, glue the custom bough paper we just made onto the right side of the cardstock. If you want the same dimensions as my sample, the red watercolor paper on the top left of the card is 2 6/8" wide x 3.5" high. The bottom portion of the card is the red and white floral pattern. The black paper from "The Archivist" paper pad is 5.5" high x 1/2" wide, and before gluing it down, you will want to cut a decorative scalloped edge using the "Blueprints 23" die by My Favorite Things.
Next, we're going to add some holiday pizzazz to the Basic Grey red watercolor paper. Using the snowflakes from the same "Christmas Scribbles" set by Essentials by Ellen, and white ink, stamp snowflakes onto the paper. Once the ink is dry, apply "Star Dust" Stickles overtop of the stamped images. Oh, so PRETTY!!
Using your sewing machine, sew a zig zag stitch vertically down the front of the card where the black paper and red papers meet.
Take a small strip of white cardstock and Memento "Tuxedo Black" ink and stamp the "The Lord is Come" onto it.
Using "Brushed Corduroy" ink, lightly distress the edge of the strip of paper.
Using the "My Favorite Things" tag die, cut a tag out of white cardstock. Glue it front and center onto the red patterned papers on the left side of the card front. Take a small remnant of ribbon and tie it into a bow. Tie a button onto the front of the bow. Then, using a glue dot, stick the bow to the front of the tag.
Using a dimensional adhesive (pop dots), stick your "The Lord has Come" strip centred across the bottom of the tag, as shown.
Glue the base of the globe onto the paper then, using dimensional adhesive (pop dots) glue the globe in position. Finally, to help the globe pop off the background a bit, use a "Pumice Stone" Distress Marker and draw a very thin line to add a bit of a shadow on the left side of the globe.
Finally, cut a piece of white cardstock 8.5" wide x 5.5" high. Fold in half to make a card base, and then glue the card front, which we just made, onto the front of this card. By building our card this way, we hide the tell-tale sewing lines so that the inside of the card is perfectly clean and does not have stitching lines through it.
Thanks for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this project. I can't wait to see the holiday projects that my fellow CLASSroom instructors share over the next 2 months!
