Visions of Sweet Sugarplum

For my latest card, I used a stamp set I fell in love with the very first time I saw it. It’s the Flurry of Wishes stamp set from Stampin’ Up!® Even though I fell in love it when it was initially released, I actually didn’t buy it until very recently. I’m not sure why it took me so long to buy it, but I’m so glad I finally did because I love it!! It worked great for this Christmas card which uses a very non-traditional color combination.

For the focal panel, I started with a piece of watercolor paper cut to 3-3/4 x 5″. I went over the entire piece using a powder tool then randomly stamped a variety of sizes of the snowflakes using VersaMark ink making sure to leave a spot for my sentiment. Once I had all the snowflakes stamped, I heat embossed them using white embossing powder.

To create the background of my focal panel, I created a watercolor wash using Sweet Sugarplum ink from Stampin’ Up. I did three different applications of color which allowed me to build the color to different intensities in different areas. I used my heat tool to dry the panel between each layer.

After the watercolor was completely dry, I added my sentiment. I inked the stamp with VersaMark first then added a layer of Basic Black ink before stamping it onto my panel. Using the layer of VersaMark first gave me a little more time to add some clear embossing powder over the sentiment then heat set it. I did this because I wanted my sentiment to have the same raised shiny appearance as the snowflakes.

It doesn’t show up well in the photos, but I traced over all the snowflakes using the clear Wink of Stella pen. This gives all the snowflakes a beautiful shimmer just like a real snowflake and looks great in person.

To assemble the card, I mounted the watercolor panel to a piece of Basic Black cardstock cut to 3-7/8 x 5-1/8″. Since my watercolor paper was a bit warped from all the layers of water and heat setting, I adhered it using Tear & Tape to ensure it stayed nice and flat. I wrapped some Sweet Sugarplum ruched ribbon around the panel finishing it off in a simple knot. I adhered the panel using Dimensionals to an A2 top-folding card base made from Emerald Envy cardstock. To finish the card, I added a few of the Sweet Sugarplum sequins from the Fancy Frost sequin mix using mini glue dots to adhere them.

I’m entering this card in the following challenges:

• Global Design Project – the current theme is a color challenge (Emerald Envy, Sweet Sugarplum, and Basic Black).
• HLS Christmas – the current theme is watercolor.

Speaking of the Global Design Project challenge, I just wanted to take a moment to thank the design team for selecting my entry in last week’s challenge for a Special Mention. Given there were so many entries, I’m honored!