Rudolph Day Cards - February

Hi Everyone,

I hope this finds you well and enjoying the week so far. Me, I'm on the mend ... the cough is still a bit of a problem, mostly at night, but otherwise I'm feeling much more human again. And well enough to get down to a bit of crafting at last :)

Which brings me to the pair of cards I have to share with you this evening - made for February's Rudolph Day Challenge over at Sarn's, Stamping For Pleasure, but, coincidentally, fitting in with Hazel's challenge over at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge 165 - to use a sentiment - and Pixies Crafty Workshop Week 113. That's the one hosted by Di that encourages us to use up our snippets and admittedly I've just used the teensiest snippets for the ribbon tags, but every little bit helps keep the snippet mountain manageable :) I'm so grateful to these wonderful ladies - if it wasn't for their efforts my Christmas card box would be empty and the snippet box would be overflowing.

Being ill means that you have plenty time, too much time, to become something of a couch potato and telly addict. In my case that means watching a fair bit of craft television which is where I saw Sue Wilson, Creative Expression, make a strikingly coloured card that had me thinking that I could do something similar.

So, the topper for my both my cards was made with the following steps.

Step 1: sponge the card with three contrasting colours of inks - Ranger's Iced Spruce, Evergreen Bough and Festive Berries - the brighter the better.

Step 2: spritz water over the inked card and dab with a paper towel to remove some of the ink ... creates a splotchy effect.

Step 3: Once the ink has dried dab randomly with Twinkling H2Os - Sea Spray, Just Peachy, Celedon - and leave to dry.

Step 4: The Penny Black Winter Bough was stamped with VersaMark, aiming for even coverage, and then heat embossing with white powder - Docrafts Papermania Seafoam White.

Step 5: Sprinkle the edges with powder from the Stampendous Frantage range - teal/gold mix - and heat emboss. That's all the inking and embossing done.

To finish the card I first stamped and embossed the greeting, a Stampendous Holiday Messages stamp, in white, die-cut a ribbon tag - I've had this set of Spellbinders dies for about 6 months and this is the first time I've used one - and threaded it with some beautiful teal organza ribbon. Attach the topper to the front of a plain white card base. The double bow was created separately and then attached with glue gel.

The inside and back are stamped with the Winter Bough stamp in Evergreen Bough distress ink.

I hope I've described the method well enough - I've tried to keep it simple - but if not, contact me and I'll do my best to clarify.

I'm off to bed now ... it's long past my bedtime.

Take care and stay safe.