Christmas Gleaming Revisited

With the Designer Series Paper sale on until the end of the month I’d planned to use DSP in today’s project. I even got so far as to cut the paper and glue it to some card. But then I realised that it was a distraction and set it aside to use on a future project. That happens sometimes and I’m OK with it. In the end I couldn’t be happier with how my Christmas Gleaming project turned out.

CHRISTMAS GLEAMING

This tag project all began with the amazing holly image from the Christmas Gleaming Stamp Set. This has to be one of my favourite Christmas images and one I love to colour.

My original plan was to combine the image with a piece from the Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. In the pack as well as poinsettia and pine cone designs, there’s also a pretty holly pattern too. So with that in mind I chose my card and ink colours to match.

For the outline of the holly image I chose Soft Suede ink and stamped it onto Soft Sea Foam Card. In fact I stamped the complete holly image twice and just the berry section once more. Then I chose Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers to colour it in. The Real Red and Old Olive weren’t a problem, but there are no Bumblebee or Garden Green Stampin’ Blends. Instead I selected Daffodil Delight and Granny Apple Green and set to work.

Starting with the berries I started by colouring them completely using the dark Daffodil Delight marker. Next I added some dark Real Red in a C shape on one side of a berry, before colouring most of the berry using the light Real Red. To add a touch of realism you’ll notice a little spot of Daffodil Delight still peeking through. Then using the same technique I coloured all the other berries before turning to the holly leaves.

I began by covering each leaf with light Daffodil Delight. Then taking each one in turn I coloured almost all the leaf with light Granny Apple Green. After that came dark Old Olive close to the berries and along the stamped veins. Finally I blended everything out using the light Old Olive almost to the edges of the leaf. Having completed one I then used the same process to colour in the three remaining leaves.

With the images coloured my next task was to use Paper Snips to cut them out. I kept the two complete holly and berry images as they were, but cut just the berries from the partial image. Then I set the pieces aside while I worked on the tag base.

TEXTURED TAG BASE

It was at this point that I changed my mind about the holly patterned DSP. I needed something much plainer so I cut two pieces of Very Vanilla Card 2″ x 4-1/4″. I set one piece aside and then decided to add interest to the other one by embossing it. After a little thought I chose the Wrapped In Texture Embossing Folders, specifically the one with the clusters of four dots.

After I’d embossed the strip of card I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to fix it to the first strip. Then using the Detailed Trio Punch I added an oval hole at one end.

Next I needed to stamp my sentiment and for that I went back to the Christmas Gleaming Stamp Set. Using Soft Suede ink I stamped “Deck the halls with boughs of holly” onto a 1-3/4″ x 2″ piece of Soft Sea Foam Card.

With that done I picked up the Detailed Trio Punch again but this time I wanted the corner rounder option. Using the punch I rounded the corners on the gift tag base and the sentiment giving them both a softer look. Finally I was ready to assemble all the pieces into my finished tag.

First, using liquid glue mounted the sentiment directly onto the embossed side of the tag. Then with Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals I attached the two holly images around the sentiment. Next, on top of the holly images I added the separate berries with Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals. On the top holly image I layered the single berry, while the triple berry piece went on the bottom holly sprig. Finally I threaded some Real Red 3/16″ Braided Linen Trim through the hole and tied it in a simple knot. And with that my Christmas Gleaming holly gift tag was complete and I couldn’t be happier.

In case you missed them, here’s some other blog posts featuring projects using the beautiful Christmas Gleaming Stamp Set: