Welcome to the Winnie & Walter World Card Making Day Blog Hop! I am so thrilled to be joining with an amazing group of card makers! World Card Making Day is all about celebrating making and sending cards to those special people in our lives. As we start to approach the holiday season, its the perfect time to get started on holidays cards. That is exactly the inspiration that I am sharing with you today! The air is cooler, the days are getting shorter, and the thoughts of hot chocolate by the fire sound pretty good! Cozy up with a blanket and check out some great card making tips below!
First off, gorgeous stamps and dies make card making easier. Look at all the elements on my card. Gorgeous, right? Thank you Winnie & Walter for making me look good! :D
Tip 1: Create a beautiful background simply.
To create my background directly on my card base, I used watermark ink. Watermark ink brings out a deeper tone in the card stock.That deeper tone always adds texture, without being overwhelming. This is one of my favorite tricks! On this card, I stamped a large pine branch image, from In Bloom: Elsa's Floral, on my card base. I rotated the stamp as I worked around the outside edge of the card base.
Tip 2: Repeat smaller images for a larger focal point.
The wood grain panel was created with Mini Scenery Mulitgrain. The 3x4 image would never cover a larger space, but by stamping the image repeatedly, lined up next to each other, the image became expanded. I was able to die cut the image and create a base for the rest of the layers.
Tip 3: Stamp your images in something other than black.
I wanted the berry and leave images from In Bloom: Elsa's Floral to look more natural and fit in with my color scheme. By stamping the images in a light brown ink, they stayed softer in tone. Once the image was stamped, it was colored with color pencil. The images were also trimmed with detail scissors.
Tip 4: Add glittery accents with a glue pen.
On each of the berries, I ran a Quickie Glue Pen along one edge. Then I poured glitter over the top, gently pushed it down, and tapped off the excess. The results are sparkly berries that add to the holiday feel. Add glitter accents to any part of your card easily with a glue pen!
Tip 5: Stepping up your focal point.
The focal point of my card is this large die cut word, Joy. In A Word Joy Cutaway is the ideal size for a card and it creates a beautiful impact. To step up that impact, I added a gold-dipped detail to the word. A watermark ink pad was pressed onto the letters, slightly over half way. Then embossing powder was poured onto the ink. A small paintbrush was used to sweep away the excess, and remove powder where it was not wanted. Then the embossing powder was heat set. Instead of a plain word, this gold adds a serious wow factor!
Tip 6: Finishing touches
On most of my cards I add finishing touches at the end, which usually end up being sequins or enamel dots. These final touches add movement and another splash of color. I went with gold sequins on this card, however, clear ones would have been just as lovely. When you group these finishing touches, you want to bring attention to your focal point. On this card, that is the word Joy. You also want to work in a triangle or Z shape. Look at how the sequins are placed, all around the word.
There you go, lots of good ideas for your next card! You don't have to use all of them, choose one and have fun creating cards that will mean SO much to the person receiving them! Happy World Card Making Day!
I hope you arrived here from the talented Vanessa Menhorn! If not, head to the Winnie & Walter Blog and get in on this fabulous hop! Your next stop will be the fantastic Heather Pulvirenti!! There will be 3 names drawn from all the comments left on the blog posts. Those lucky 3 winners will each receive at $25 gift certificate to the Winnie & Walter online store! Good luck!
thanks for stopping by!
kimberly
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