Gold Swirl Noel Christmas Card: Watercolour background with metallic ink

Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Gray Granite and Golden Glitz mix to create the rich watercolour background

This watercolour background came out so dramatic and rich that I was reluctant to cover any of it up!  So I used half of the sheet and simply cut some letters with the Hand Lettered dies, added a border of Gold Foil Sheet and mounted it all onto a Blackberry Bliss base card.

Read on if you'd like more details on how I went about creating that background.  

To make the backgrounds, I dropped ink and squirted gold from refill bottles, then spritzed with water

I randomly dropped ink from reinker bottles onto a craft sheet and then squirted on some Golden Glitz from the refill bottle.  Then I spritzed very generously with water.  I also spritzed the watercolour paper (or cardstock) before placing down onto the ink craft sheet, pressing gently and swirling.

There was plenty of ink for several backgrounds, so I experimented with a variety of cardstocks.  Obviously, the first piece has the more dramatic gold markings but, even after the inks had more or less blended, the gold was still in suspension and settled into pretty markings.

Inks and gold metallic ink backgrounds.  The large pieces are watercolor paper and the small piece is normal Whisper White

Close up of the lush gold wash on the backgrounds

The same ink mix used on Basic Black, Gray Granite and Blushing Bride cardstocks

I made a stencil for myself to ensure I glued the letters on straight!

After gluing on the letters, simply remove the stencil.  I'll be keeping it for future cards.

 I'll be sharing projects make with the other backgrounds in upcoming posts.

Thank you for visiting.

'Til next time!
Stephanie

Product List - All available for purchase from my online store

Hand-Lettered Prose Dies

$66.00

Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper

$15.75

Golden Glitz Delicata Metallic Ink Refill

$15.75

Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

$6.50

Gray Granite Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

$6.50

Rich Razzleberry Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

$6.50

Stampin' Spritzer

$5.00

Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock

$15.25

Gold Foil Sheets

$8.75

Mercury Glass Acetate: Peaceful Boughs Noel Card

A glamorous Christmas card that's actually quite easy to make
It features the Mercury Glass Acetate, Brightly Gleaming paper and Beautiful Boughs dies

Well, I'm still addicted to the Mercury Glass Designer Acetate!  Look back over a few of my other posts and you'll find it popping up a lot!

The base card is Pool Party and there are layers of Brightly Gleaming Specialty Designer Series Paper and Noble Peacock Foil Sheet.  The foliage (from the Beautiful Boughs dies) is cut from Coastal Cabana cardstock and there's also a layer of that behind the acetate so that I could tuck the ends of the foliage behind it.

The letters are cut from Pretty Peacock cardstock with the Hand Lettered Prose dies and I added some Shimmery Crystal Effects for a bit of subdued sparkle.  I also added some to the foliage.

close up of the foliage treated to a layer of Shimmery Crystal Effects

I'm not sure if they're stars, snowflakes or flowers - but whatever they are, they're cut from Silver Foil Sheet with dies from the Detailed Deer set.

Thank you for visiting.
'Til next time!
Stephanie

Product List - All available for purchase in my online store

Mercury Glass Designer Acetate

$20.00

Detailed Deer Dies

$59.00

Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels

$10.50

Pretty Peacock A4 Cardstock

$15.25

Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana

$15.25

Pool Party A4 Card Stock

$15.25

Silver Foil Sheets

$8.75

Noble Peacock Foil Sheets

$17.50

Beautiful Boughs Dies

$61.00

Shimmery Crystal Effects

$8.75

Brightly Gleaming Specialty Designer Series Paper

$25.00

Hand-Lettered Prose Dies

$66.00

Mercury Glass Acetate Noel

Mercury Glass Acetate forms a beautiful backdrop for the die-cut letters.
The stunning Feels Like Frost foiled papers create quick, easy and beautiful Christmas cards!

Well, I've become addicted to the Mercury Glass Designer Acetate!  I shared an #Elfie card here and that was just the start!

Today's card is soooo simple ... and looking at it again now, I can see that I could have made it even more simple for myself!

To the Coastal Cabana base card I added a piece of the beautiful Feels Like Frost Specialty Designer Series Paper.  The next step is to adhere a piece of the acetate to a larger piece of Noble Peacock Foil Sheet (I actually backed the acetate with a piece of Bermuda Bay cardstock - not necessary!)  Then I adhered this to a piece of Coastal Cabana card before adding it to the card front.

The letters are cut from Bermuda Bay cardstock using the Hand Lettered Prose dies.

I can't resist an extra bit of bling, so I added some Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

Thank you for visiting.
'Til next time!
Stephanie

Product List - All available for purchase from my online store

Mercury Glass Designer Acetate

$20.00

Feels Like Frost Specialty 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper

$25.00

Noble Peacock Foil Sheets

$17.50

Hand-Lettered Prose Dies

$66.00

Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels

$10.50

Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana

$15.25

Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay

$15.25

Masculine 60th birthday card - Hand Lettered Prose

Can you guess who this card is for?

Masculine birthday card made with the Come Sail Away paper,
Hand Lettered Prose and Well Written dies

With just a little bit of planning, this is a very simple card to make.
I started out with the Sahara Sand base card and layer of Early Espresso.  Then I cut the piece of Come Sail Away Designer Series Paper to size, positioned the letter dies (see tips below) and ran it through my Big Shot.

The letters are layered and sponged 

I used some old, retired cardstock to cut the letters three more times and adhered these behind the letters cut from the patterned paper to provide depth.  I wasn't concerned about the colour I used for these layers because I knew I would be colouring the edges (the only bit that shows) with Early Espresso ink.

Having sponged the edges of the letters, I stuck them into position on the card and then added the final elements.  I'm afraid the numbers are from a long-retired set which I keep to hand because they're the perfect size for most of my age cards.

The scatter of Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins finished the card.

TIPS:
Cutting the letters: To ensure that I positioned the letters exactly as I wanted them before cutting, I created a little template for myself.

Creating a stencil to ensure accurate placement of the letter dies

Using the stencil to accurately position the dies for cutting

Colouring the edges: To get into all the nooks and crannies around the edges of the letters, I used a Stampin' Write Marker.  I chose to do this before I added the final, decorative layer so that I didn't have to be careful.

Using a Stampin' Write Marker to colour the edges of the triple layer letters, before adding the top decorative layer

To delicately sponge the edges of the letters, I used a tiny little make-up sponge.

I used a tiny make-up sponge to apply a little ink to the finished letters.

Thank you for visiting.
'Til next time!
Stephanie

Product List - Available for purchase in my online store

Come Sail Away Designer Series Paper

$20.00

Hand-Lettered Prose Dies

$66.00

Well Written Dies

$70.00

Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins

$12.25

Sahara Sand A4 Card Stock

$15.25

Early Espresso A4 Card Stock

$15.25

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

$13.00