Hello everyone! Carolyn Peeler with you today to share my first Christmas card of the season! (It's never too early to get started, right?) Today's card features Essentials by Ellen + Hero Arts - a perfect holiday pairing. So, let's get started.
I began by stamping the beautiful Hero Arts Color Layering Cardinal onto Neenah Classic Crest Solar White cardstock. This bird is stamped in four parts, which gives it its beautiful highlights and shadows. To create it, I started with the lightest ink and ended with the darkest. (ps - There is a handy key on the back of the product packaging to show you the suggested order of building your bird - thank you Hero Arts!).
The first layer is stamped with Ranger Distress Ink in Spun Sugar. Don't worry if you apply the ink and it looks a little splotchy, like mine did. Because of the build up of layers, it won't matter :)
The next layer is stamped with Ranger Archival ink in Rose Madder.
Now we're going to add some contrast with Ranger Distress ink in aged Mahogany.
To finish off, lets give this birdy a pop of black for his eye and beak using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.
Now that the cardinal is stamped, you will want to use the coordinating Layering Cardinal Die die set to cut him out.
Next let's prep the branch that the cardinal will sit on. Although there is a bare branch in the Hero Arts stamp set, I decided to use the whimsical Christmas Scribbles Essentials by Ellen set for this as I wanted to bring some greenery into my card design.
To color the branch I used Ranger Distress markers in Pine Needles, Peeled Paint, and Gathered Twigs.
Using the markers, I colored directly onto the stamp design. After coloring, I used a water mister and misted the stamp so that the inks would blend into each other nicely. After spraying, stamp onto Ranger watercolor paper.
After stamping, use the coordinating die to cut the design out. From here, we'll move onto the assembly process. My card front is created with patterned paper from the Bloom 6x6 paper pad. You are not making a fully functional card during this step, but rather a card front (4.25" x 5.5").
I love that I was able to make papers from a decidedly non-Christmas collection work for this card. While the card is pastel, it is still unabashedly Christmas. I decided to set the cardinal on a 2-3/4" vellum circle which is cut from Essentials by Ellen Vellum. In order to have the green leaves on the branch cradle the cardinal, I cut a little snip on the bottom of the bird's tail in order to overlap the branch as you see in the image below.
For the vellum, you will want to put a dot of liquid glue in the center of the vellum to hold it in place as you sew it. Be sure it's in an area that the bird will cover as you don't want to be able to see the glue later. Then, glue the patterned papers together and bring the elements over to your sewing machine. Sew a zig-zag stitch where the papers meet, and a straight stitch around the vellum circle.
Next, stick your bird onto the card front using low profile 3d foam adhesive. Then stamp your greeting, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and the "Tis the Season" stamp set from Essentials by Ellen.
Your final step is to glue this card front onto a card that you've made by folding a piece of 8.5" x 5.5" white cardstock in half.
Thanks so much for joining me today. Please feel free to leave any questions in the comments section and I'll be happy to help you out.
Have a super week and be sure to check out the products used today in the Ellen Hutson shop.
