I may have mentioned this before, but of all the holly images available from Stampin’ Up! right now, the one in the Christmas Gleaming Stamp Set is my favourite. I love the size, the fact that there’s four berries, and how the leaves are arranged. It’s perfect for stamping directly onto a project, and not to difficult to fussy cut if desired. So I couldn’t resist using it again on a card in both these ways.
STRIKING BACKGROUND
I began by making the striking background panel from a piece of Old Olive foil from the Noble Peacock Foil Sheets. I embossed it using the Stylish Scroll Embossing Folder which may be on the Retiring List coming out tomorrow.
Once I’d embossed the foil I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue to mount it onto some Mossy Meadow Card. Then I added it onto the front of a card base made from Thick Very Vanilla Card.
Next came the sentiment from the Christmas Gleaming Stamp Set. It actually says “& be jolly this season” which wasn’t quite what I wanted. So I inked up the sentiment with Mossy Meadow ink and covered the “&” with a piece of sellotape. Then I stamped the sentiment onto some Very Vanilla Card. With that done I punched it out using the Pretty Label Punch.
HOLLY ACCENTS
I was now ready to get to work on my holly accents and I stamped the image three times. Using Mossy Meadow ink I stamped the holly onto a scrap of Very Vanilla Card. Then I stamped it in the bottom right corner of a layer of Very Vanilla Card. Finally I stamped it in the bottom right corner on the front of a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope.
With all the stamping done, all I needed to do was colour in the holly images using Stampin’ Blends.
TIP – The alcohol colour in Stampin’ Blends is designed to saturate the card. Consequently I always place some scrap paper underneath where I’m working. When colouring on an envelope I place some scrap paper inside to prevent it leaking through to the other side. Just remember to take the scrap piece out before you mail it!
I took each image in turn and started with the leaves, using dark Old Olive along the veins and close to the berries. Then I coloured the whole of the leaf using the light Old Olive, blending in the dark lines.
For the berries I began by colouring them completely with a light Mango Melody Stampin’ Blends. Next came the dark Poppy Parade in a C shape around the opposite side to the dot. Finally I went over the berries with the light Poppy Parade to blend in the colour.
Once the holly images were finished I used liquid glue to add the Very Vanilla layer to the inside of the card base. Then I cut out the holly from the scrap piece using Paper Snips. Finally I fixed the holly piece to the sentiment with Stampin’ Dimensionals, and then used another layer of Stampin’ Dimensionals to add the assembled sentiment to the card front.
THIS ONE’S A KEEPER
I must say that I thought when I started this project that it would be a stunner and I wasn’t wrong. I love the shiny embossed foil layer and the way that the curves of the j and y in the sentiment fit neatly within the curves of the punch.
Of course it goes without saying that I love how the holly images turned out. Whatever happens when the Retiring List is issued tomorrow, I have a feeling this is one stamp set I’ll keep for years to come.
You’ll find some other projects with this holly image in my blog posts:
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