Friday, May 4, 2012

embossing around the christmas tree

so i'm thinking you are probably WAY ahead of me already, and have guessed that this week at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we're asking you to create a holiday card which features embossing. it can be of the "dry" variety, made by using an embossing folder (or stencil and stylus!) or the "stamped" variety obtained by using embossing powder and a heat gun. for that matter, you could use a scoring board to create a texture, or one of those "old school" corrugating thingies... or heck, even grab up some of those pretty pre-embossed papers i've seen out there! as always, we long to see YOUR take on this, so if you can think of a way of embossing which i haven't mentioned, that's probably fine, too! :)

i decided to do a couple of things, one of which (if you know me at all) will shock you: i've done A TECHNIQUE!!! even though it involved a *LOT* of steps, including watching a whole entire jennifer mcguire video, and THEN stamping, and THEN unearthing my prehistoric heat gun and clear powder to emboss, and THEN using about six different colors of ink and blending until my arm ached, the emboss/resist method is no longer a stranger to yours truly!

see??!?!

 (paper: basic grey; glossy white cardstock and distress inks: ranger; swirly flourish stamps: rhonna farrer for autumn leaves; white acrylic letters and clear acrylic snowflakes: heidi swapp--embossed with paisley cuttlebug e/f; felt snowflakes and rhinestone flourishes: michaels/recollections; rhinestone brad and rub-on letters: making memories; other inks: psx embossing, colorbox chalk inks; adhesives: scotch gluestick, 3m foam tape)  

my card is as direct a translation of jennifer mcguire's inspiration card as it was possible for me to create once i realized I DON'T HAVE ANY SNOWFLAKE STAMPS! which, admittedly, was a bit of a stumper, until it occurred to me that i do have lots of OTHER types of snowflakes and my inkiness could consist of the swirly, flourishy gust of wind that was blowing some of them into my title. or whatever.

the other potentially big setback was when i discovered that my ANCIENT embossing ink, which goes on pale blue, but then dries clear when you emboss it... (OR SO I THOUGHT!!!) ...actually goes on pale blue, but then dries pale blue when you emboss it!!!  luckily, i was planning to do the background in blues and greens anyway, and i had the nice bright white letters to stand out against that.

just in case i hadn't managed to quite pull off said inky hijinks, i'd already developed a backup plan: i had dry-embossed the pearly white acrylic letters that make up the rest of the word "SNOW" using a paisley embossing folder. you might need to embiggen (as leslie would say) the photo to see it, but in real life it gives them a subtle but much more noticeable texture that i really like!

and that concludes my adventures in technique... at least for the moment! ;) now i cannot wait to see what ♥YOU♥ will do, so please link up with us at  JINGLE BELLES between now and wednesday, may 16th!

12 comments:

  1. This is stunning ... I LOVE what you did ... so pretty and verrrrry effective ... LOVE the colours and the stamps you used ... A masterpiece if I may say so!

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  2. Omg, I love this! So incredibly gorgeous!

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  3. I think it is gorgeous. Did you know that you can do that resist technique with goosebumps too? Saw a video and might try it this's weekend to see if it really works.

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  4. WOW! Amazing and just beautiful! AND you have a Christmas card already completed! So very pretty.
    Lynn

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  5. SERIOUSLY!?!?!?!?!?! This is the most gorgeous card I have seen in some time. I love Stef's card for this challenge too, but this blows me away!!! Can I claim it as my Christmas card?? :) ;)

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  6. This is gorgeous Lauren! I admit that I too shy away from technique, especially if it seems long and involved, which often ends up not being the case. Either way, it was worth the effort, this is beautiful! Love the bling too!
    Shanna :)

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  7. WOW! girl all that "work" was so worth this stunning card!!!! :)

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  8. This card is just fan-tabulous ... and even more so since I know that stamping is not your favorite activity ... absolutely awesome my dear.

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  9. Oh, my. I've just watched the video, and now I need to make ALL THREE CARDS! GAH! That Jennifer McGuire is so good at what she does.

    I think you did a marvelous job of improvising with the s-crap you had on hand! THAT is what this is all about, non? You've made it your own and it is FABBY!

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  10. Oh, the trials and tribulations of a stamper! But what beautiful results after all the mess and fun of creating!

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  11. You have a Christmas card making blog and YOU DON"T HAVE ANY SNOWFLAKE stamps??? sacrilege, seriously. lol. If I had read this yesterday while I was at J's then you might have been ending up with some stamps or if I wasn't so lazy lately I'd carve ya some. (I still haven't done your shoes...oh the shame.) agh.. Love the card!

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  12. I THOUGHT I had commented on the absolutely glorious Christmas card last week and I DID mean to, but apparently work got in the way. ;-(
    I so looove this card with the stark white againt that striking blue background. I'd love to be the receiver of this card (hint) LOL. Love the textured letters too. Thanks for redirecting me to Jennifer's great tutorial. I watched it last year before I endeavoured on a one-layer Christmas card with distressing last August. You can view it hereif you're interested.

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