Talvipuutarhassa

Paperillan korttihaasteessa nro 4 haetaan lumihiutaleita. Tunnustettakoon, että ajattelin ensin aiheen olevan aika kökkö, joulukortit kun tulivat ensin mieleen...mutta onneksi välähti tuon jouluna tulleen lumipeitteen ja pakkaspäivien kauneus. Onhan talvessa muutakin kuin joulu! Tämä voisi sopia vaikka talviseksi syntymäpäiväkortiksi. Osallistun tällä myös pariin muuhun haasteeseen:

I am posting this little winter card for the SimonSaysStamp Wednesday challenge and Papertake Weekly challenge... for both of which anything goes. The background has been made with a stencil from The Crafters Workshop and Chocolate Baroque stamps. The girl is Viva Las Vegastamps "girl in princess costume" that I stamped incompletely to undress her crown after which I drew the hair and socks by hand.

Päätin kasata joulun alla tehtyjä "vikakappaleita" pois laatikoista. Korttipohja on joulun alla Suomalaisesta ostetusta neliökorttipakkauksesta. Ostin pari luonnonvalkoista, yhden helmiäis- ja yhden kraft- pakkauksen, kun ne olivat syksyllä tarjouksessa. Leimailin äidilleni koko paketin (10 korttia) luonnonvalkoisia kortteja joululahjaksi. Leimasin suoraan korttipohjaan, sillä korttipohjan laatu on tosi hyvä - ja onnistuin tekemään pari suttua. Nyt siis piti tehdä tausta, joka peittäisi tärähtäneen leimauksen kokonaan. Käytin TCW n tähtisapluunaa vahaliidun kanssa: ohuehko paperi sapluunan päälle, ja hinkkaus lappeellaan olevalla vahaliidulla... Päälle helmiäisvesiväriä ja tausta oli valmis, tulkitsipa lumihiutaleiksi tai tähdiksi. Leimailin Chocolate Baroquen kukka- ja hiutalereunukset Versamarkilla ja valkoisella kohojauheella sekä lisäsin kimalteista Stickles-liimaa. Reunoihin lisäsin vähän tummempaa sinistä sekä ressausta. En omista ressaustyökalua, vaan raavin ensin saksilla ja ompelemisen jälkeen ratkojalla "vastakarvaan" mikä toimii oikein hyvin.

Sininen tyttö jäi tähteeksi joulun alla tehdysta askartelusta, johon hän oli väärän värinen. Kyseessä on Viva Las Vegastampsin prinsessatyttönen, jolle olen käsin piirtänyt hiukset kruunun tilalle ja villasukat jalkaan. Siitä löytyy enemmän tästä postauksesta, jos kiinnostaa.  Leimakuvilla ei onneksi tule kylmä, joten tyttönen saa kulkea mekossa ulkona lumisateessa :)

Where are you?

I love light green, and so I was delighted to see the ongoing Chocolate Baroque colour challenge with light yellow, light green, light blue and pink. I decided to start with a spread in my art journal (so far all the spreads have been green with lots of vegetation :) I am entering this spread for the CB colour challenge and the SimonSays Stamp Wednesday Challenge (Anything goes) and the SimonSaysStamp Work It Wednesday challenge (Something you love).

The text is from a lovely book called "In the beginning there was a garden" (Alussa oli puutarha, Johanna ja Juha Tanska) which is a meditative book on gardens and gardening... Asking "Where are you?" and pondering the difficulty of being in the here and now. Excellent thoughts for stepping into a new year. I wanted to build the image of an outgrown garden, and did loads of inky stamping and fussy cutting. All the stamps (except the alphabet stamps) are from CB and the stencils used in the background are from the Crafters Workshop. I wasn't sure how well the micron pen would have dried on the acrylic paints used on the background, so I wrote on a piece of tissue paper (enjoying the possibility of placing it on a striped background so I could write straight) and decoupaged it on the finished page.

Donald Duck ATC:s

Just before Christmas I decided to try making a set of ATC:s from a torn sheet from a Donald Duck comic-magazine. I am entering these for the SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge (Anything goes and the Stampotique Designers Challenge (Anything goes).

I have heard that in other countries Donald is usually not as popular as other Disney characters, but in Finland we still have a Donald comic that is published every week on Wednesday, and my father happens to often visit us on Wednesdays and read the comics :) Perhaps he feels nostalgic, because the magazine has come to his home when he was a child over 60 years ago... So he received these as a Christmas gift.

This was a single torn and worn sheet from 1973. It was crunched up in a box containing other comics my husband had bought, and I immediately hid it in my stash for later use. I tried to complement the colours of the comic strips by giving each card a background made of colours missing in that part of the strip, but dominant in the others. I did some background stamping and embellished with washi tape and some cutouts made from the leftovers of unmounted rubber stamps.

I love this "Yikes!"

...and the end of the sheet that says (to be continued)...

Paskis #258

Tein joulunajan Paskarteluhaasteeseen jo yhden kortin, mutta luodessani linkkiä huomasin, että olin muistanut värit väärin... uusi oikeamman värinen kortti sai odotella joulukiireiden yli, mutta tässä se nyt on. Tämä iltapimeällä kuvaaminen ei tee oikeutta millekään värille, mutta huomenna en ehdi tätä tehdä, joten parempi nyt, kuin ei ollenkaan. Sinänsä tämä on sen edellisen kortin kaltainen, en vain tehnyt "joulukorttia" tällä kertaa ja vaihdoin vihreän turkoosiin.

Tyttöleima on VivaLasVegaStampsin "Rain under umbrella girl" ja olen väritellyt Distress-mustetyynyillä suoraan leimaan ja suihkaissut vedellä ennen leimaamista. Tässä on käytetty värejä Seedless Preserves ja Chipped Sapphire (tyttöön ja varjoon) ja Iced Spruce sekä Broken China (sateeseen). Suttasin harmaata (Black Soot) musteenlevittimellä suoraan korttipohjaan ja ompelin kuvan kiinni.

Ompelukone osoitti mieltään, mutta onhan tämä aika persoonallinen näinkin, ja nyt ei haittaa yhtään, että lankojen päät piti pujotella ompeleisiin :)

Last minute gifts...

I bought some  4x4 card bases last summer, and decided to use a package to make notecards for my mom for Christmas. The pack had 10 off white cards in Lyon paper, which has a silky finish and some texture. I stamped two each of five different images. The elephant tree and sea turtle are from Crafty Individuals and the floral images from Chocolate Baroque. I am entering this project for the the Allsorts challenge ( last minute gifts).

I stamped the Elephant tree with Versamagic inks, and nothing else needed to be done. The other images were stamped with Versafine and coloured with Inktense pencils and a fine waterbrush. I decided to skip backgrounds except for the turtle.

This turtle is my favourite of these cards, I love the colours and the bubble background that is from CB. To make the background subtle and light -but detailed- I inked the stamp using ink blending tools and Distress inks in Faded Jeans and Peeled Paint. I guess another option would have been second generetion stamping, but I always have trouble deciding where to lay the "extra" first stamp (wouldn't like to throw it away...) and I think I would have lost part of the detail.

Walking in a winter wonderland...

I made this card for a colour challenge without double-checking the colours... And I had remembered them wrong! There should have been a turqoise blue instead of the green... So I'm skipping the colours for the time being and entering for the Stampotique Designers Challenge where anything goes all through December!

The winter weather here in southern Finland has been depressing, and this is a Christmas card ( the text is from a Finnish Christmas carol and says "a warm breath passes through the winter weather as Christmas arrives" ) I guess an English option for the same effect might be "walking in a winter wonderland..." I'm totally out of date with this, because this week the forecasts say that we are in for  "stereotypical" Christmas weather = a white Christmas after all! The stamp I've used is the lovely Rain Under Umbrella girl from VivaLasVegaStamps.

Tulipa sitten löydettyä selvä sukupolvien välinen kuilu tämän kortin kohdalla.

Olin jo aikaisemmin ajatellut tehdä tällaisen ironisen joulukortin eräälle ystävälleni (tämä joulukuun sää on ollut niin masentavaa), ja kun Paskiksen väri-aiheinen haaste tuli, totesin että kyseiset värit voisivat hyvinkin toimia tämän leiman kanssa. Huomaan kyllä nyt koneella, (kun kävin kopioimassa linkin haasteeseen), että haasteen väri onkin paljon sinisempi kuin mitä korttia tehdessä muistin, joten en lähdekään tällä Paskikseen, vaan postaan muuten vaan.

Väritin leiman DI-musteilla suoraan mustetyynystä (minulla on niitä minityynyjä, joilla pystyy jotenkuten tähtäämään) Suihkaisin vähän vettä leimalle musteen levittämisen jälkeen, ja jäin pohdiskelemaan leimaamisen jälkeä niin kauan, että kirkas kohopulveri ei tarttunutkaan enää koko kuvaan, mutta mitäs siitä. Niin, ja sitten se kuilu... Ohikulkeva teini-ikäinen tyttäreni huomasi hahmon ja jäi katselemaan sitä:

"Ai onks siinä joku tyyppi jonka sateenvarjosta sataa vettä? Vähän outo" ilmeisesti uteliaisuuttaan hän jäi seuraamaan kortin tekoa ja kun olin lisännyt tekstin hän ihmetteli, miten se oikein liittyi kuvaan (eikä siis ollenkaan tunnistanut laulun sanoja) Kortti on siis lapsen mielestä lähinnä ihan hölmö, mutta eipä se hänelle olekaan :)

Sattuipa sitten niin, että nyt jouluksi luvataankin "stereotyyppistä" joulusäätä koko maahan, eli tämä kuva ei ehkä olekaan niin ajankohtainen kuin viime viikolla näytti... hyvä niin:)

Vahaliitu resist

Addicted to Technics -haaste pyytää vahaliiduilla toteutettua resistiä. Ideana siis, että vesipohjaiset värit hylkivät vahaliidulla tehtyjä kuvioita... tätähän tehdään alakoulussa varmaan joka vuosi jossakin yhteydessä, ja totesin että ainoat talon vahaliidut olivatkin jonkun lapsen koulusta tuomia Carand'acheja.

Samaan aikaan tämän uuden haasteen julkistamisen kanssa Chocolate Baroquelta tuli uutiskirje, jonka liitteenä oli tämä artikkeli... ja ajattelin että sapluunan kanssa pelaaminen voisi varmaan hyvin onnistua lastenkin liiduilla (vaikka artikkelissa markkinoidaankin Faber-Castellia). Sitä paitsi tuo paljas Carand'ache oli helppo laittaa lappeelleen ja vedellä pitkin sapluunaa. Käytin valkoista liitua ja TCW:n lehtisapluunaa, ja maalasin päälle kuparinsävyisellä kimalteisella vesivärillä. Päälle joskus aikaa sitten väritetty Gorjuss tyttönen (näitä minulla riittää...), aito lehtiruoti ja muutama söpö haaraniitti. Olen pitänyt tapana koristella korttiin kuori saman tien, ja hyödynsin siihen tuota samaa sapluunaa: levitin ruskean värin musteenlevittimellä sen läpi.

the 24th of December

In Finland Christmas Eve (the 24th of December) is what all kids and grown ups wait for, because presents are opened at some point. We bring the tree inside on the 23rd (a real live tree, it can't hang around for weeks and the needles make a mess, but I love the scent of it) and decorate it. When everything is done, the presents can be placed under the tree. During the course of the 24th, the amount of presents gradually grows as everyone checks out what they have hidden away and perhaps grandparents drop by... and when we have had supper and teased the kids with some fresh air outside, we return to open the packages. Families that do Santa would have him dropping by with the presents at a suitable time.  And the 25th? That's when we really take it easy: sleep in, eat leftovers from the day before and enjoy being together and checking out our presents and what can be done with them.

The VivaLasVegaStamps December challenge inspiration board is absolutely fabulous. As soon as I saw it, I loved the shades of blue, the stripes and the ornaments. I interpreted the browns as gold, and decided to do a pop up card with a very simple mechanism (that I ran into about 20 years ago), and to add the Girl in Princess Costume, who would be decorating the Christmas tree...  I am entering my card for the VLVS December challenge (Ornament swap), the SimonSaysStamp Monday Challenge (Anything goes), the SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge (Inspiration board, top left: blue trees and stars) and the Stampotique Designer Challenge (Anything goes).

The front of the card is quite simple, with just a "Merry Christmas" sentiment in Finnish, but the actual focal point is of course inside! The pop up effect is created by cutting strips into the back of the card: always a pair of strips in the same length and the next pair about 1 cm shorter. I've used it for mass production cards sometimes, it is effective and the children have embellished the cards with stickers. Try it out on copy paper first and remember that the longest strip must be less than half the width of the card!

The plan was clear from the start of December, but this is such a time of year, that getting things done isn't always easy! I ordered some shrink plastic for the baubles (otherwise they would be too big for the girl) and after getting the worst of the Christmas cards done,

I started by playing with the baubles. This is an example of trying and retrying and making the best of whatever you happen to end up with. I stamped with Galaxy Gold ink, and the result was ok, so I did plenty, but wondered if it might be better, if I stamped in black and coloured the bauble with gel pens... I don't have Stazon, but I counted that Archival should work on glossy surfaces -hah- the black Archival spread into the crevices of the sanding on the plastic, and all I got was a grey smudge. I stamped on the smudge with the Galaxy Gold, and after shrinking realized that the image was beautiful and the detail of the stamped showed against the dark background! All of a sudden the first baubles looked quite dull and I had to do a new batch. I tried also with blue inks: smudged light blue and stamped with dark blue, only to find that the contrast wasn't good enough. I had already stamped a pile of them before I tried shrinking, so I did all of them and added texture paste through a TCW stencil to the bright gold and blue ones, to add more interest, as the details of the stamp weren't visible... some smudging with pastes and a couple of layers of glossy accents... and these are quite lovely.

I practiced by making a white card that got the first bright gold baubles, you can find it here.

Here is a picture of the stamps I mainly used in this project. The "stamps" on the right are cutouts from the leftovers of cutting out unmounted rubber stamps. I used the stripes as both mask and stamp for the background, and embossed the star ornaments with gold embossing powder. The stardust pieces are from some magical-themed stamps that came with my pound of rubber. I like magic as in fairytales and fantasy, but I'm not fond of magical shows, so I cut some stamps to pieces removing the bunnies in hats and wands, and ending up with stuff I might use like a large dove, a plain "Do you believe in magic" and these itsy bitsy stardust stamps. The little elf is running his errands on the back of the card.

I created the presents with Encore and Distress inks and a few stamps (Isn't that big one amazing? It's stamped with Chipped Saphire spritzed with water. I'm definately going to use those snowy trees as a background-texture stamp in the future! ) I forgot the bow arangement that I used for the big parcel.

My biggest problem with this project was the fact that the blue Bazzil cardstock isn't strong enough for a card base, this is really flimsy and the background inking made it wavy. With the weight on the branches of the tree, it barely stands upright... I fastened the baubles with gel medium and added the golden thread through the baubles + stardust stamping with Brilliance Galaxy Gold ink. I would have loved to emboss the stardust with gold, but didn't, because I had some trouble embossing the large stars (the embossing powder kept sticking to the inky background stripes).

I wanted the princess girl to undress the crown and wear warm socks (after all it is winter) so I smudged the ink of the crown and feet before stamping, and drew new details with a Micron pen. My drawing skills are not good enough for creating full characters: the proportions and expressions wouldn't have worked, but fitting some socks on feet that had a sensible shape was easier than I thought... the problem ended up being the colour: I wanted her to fit in the colour scheme, but pop out... so I made three versions before I was satisfied -the rest will be used somewhere else :)

As you can see, the little girl is having trouble concentrating on the last decorations, because someone has already placed presents under the tree :) This is probably one of the most beautiful cards I've ever done, sometimes it's so fun to do projects regardless of the time and effort required!

Dreaming of a white Christimas...

The weather in Finland is not as white as one might wish. We got some snow on saturday, and right now it looks slushy and grey! But I've been working with all the white stuff I could find in my stash, I am posting this white pop-up Christmas tree card for the Paperilla card challenge (white cards), the Allsorts Challenge (White Christmas), the SimonSaysStamp Wednesday challenge ( Bling it on!), the Stampotique Designers challenge (December: Anything goes) and the SimonSaysStamp Monday Challenge (Anything goes). The front looks quite simple and graphic, with the slits and "Merry Christmas" text... but the actual focal point is on the inside...

Leikkasin tavallisen 5X7 tuuman korttipohjaan lovetuksen, josta saa taitettua kuusen kortin sisälle. Opin mallin joskus 20 vuotta sitten, ja olen käyttänyt sitä silloin tällöin joulukorteissa vihreällä kartongilla. Suosittelen kokeilemaan, mutta tee ensin malli kopiopaperista (ja huomaa, että pisimmät lovet ovat alle puolet kortin leveydestä, etteivät liuskat törrötä kortin ulkopuolelle...)

For the background I have used a Snowflake Corner stamp from Chocolate Baroque (A Child is Born set) and on top of it The Crafters Workshop 6x6 templates North Star and Cornflowers. The baubles have been stamped with a VivaLasVegas stamp that has three baubles in a row. I am going to make a similar card in blue and gold, and as soon as it is posted the link will be HERE :)

Tässä on käytetty sekä valkoista että kaleidoskooppi -kohopulveria, tekstuuripastaa sapluunan läpi ja kutistemuovia joulukuusenkoristeisiin. Viimeistelin Stickles-liimalla ja pienillä valkoisilla helmillä. Kortin etukannessa olevan tekstin lisäksi kuusenkoristeissa on ripaus kultaa: Pallo on ensin leimattu kultaisella musteella kutistemuoville. Leimakuvan yksityiskohdat eivät oikein erottuneet kutistumisen jälkeen (muste oli aika runsasta ja kontrastia taustaan oli liian vähän), joten, lisäsin myös kuusenkoristeisiin tekstuuripastaa saman TCW sapluunan läpi, jolla tein tähdet/hiutaleet taivaalle. Jotta valkoinen ilme säilyisi, sottasin sormin gessoa kuusenkoristeiden tekstuuripastaan ja reunoille ennen kuin levitin Glossy Accents -liimaa. Kaleidoskooppi-kohopulveria on laitettu vähän joka puolelle. Riippuen katselukulmasta ja kuumennusajasta se kimaltelee värittömänä, vaaleanpunaisena, kellertävänä tai sinisinä...

Vellum with Bling

I made his card from an old vellum scrap onto which I had stamped the Chocolate Baroque Magnolia image with white and embossed it with a stylus tool. After sewing it onto the pink card base I realized it demanded something more and started playing around with some plain vellum flowers I have in my stash. The result is much more bling then anything I usually do :) I am posting it for the SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge "Bling it on".

Tässä kortissa taustan kuultopaperille leimattu kuva on käsitelty kohokuvioksi pallopääpuikolla. Lisäsin ympärille pikkuruisen kukkakehyksen pronssisen kohokuviointisapluunan ja pallopääpuikon avulla ja ompelin taustan kiinni... vain tajutakseni, että kortti oli aika tylsä. Päätin jatkaa kuultopaperilinjalla ja etsin laatikosta Vivigaden kuultopaperikukkaset, joista poimin pari. Leikkasin lehdet kuultopaperinpalasista kuviosaksilla ja leimailin kaikkii taustaleimasilla. Muotoilin kukkia ja lehtiä myös pallopääpuikolla ja ompelin ne kerros kerrokselata paikoilleen. Roikkuvat ompelulangan pätkät näyttävät minusta aika kivoilta. Lisättyäni kukkasen jouduin sitten värittämään alkuperäistä leimakuvaa, jotta se vähän erottuisi taustasta. Etsiessäni lisukkeita korttiin törmäsin rasialliseen punasävyisiä paljetteja, joten lisäsin niitäkin korttii. Ne on liimattu Glossy Accentsin avulla.

Kuultopaperia

Meneillään olevalla Paskiksella on kahden viikon voimassaoloaika, jonka hyödynsin laittamalla joulukortit kuntoon (niin kuin voisin kuvitella aika monen muunkin tehneen...) nyt kun ne ovat postissa, voikin jo miettiä muita juttuja, ja tein itse asiassa kaksi korttia kuultopaperilla. Molemmat kokosin laatikon pohjalla lojuneista kuultopaperille leimatuista kuvista. Koska ensimmäiseen tuli paljon kimalletta, päätin laittaa sen SimonSaysStampin arvontaan, ja tehdä toisen tätä meneillään olevaa Paskista varten. Tästä tuli yksinkertaisen kaunis, kuva ei todellakaan tee sille oikeutta, koska todellellisuudessa kuultopaperi kuultaa läpi enemmän kuin kuvasta näkyy, ja korttia käännellessä kuva näkyy toisista kulmista enemmän, toisista vähemmän. Kamerassa tämä näytti paremmalta kuin tähän siirrettynä, eli katselulaitteellakin on väliä...

Tein taustan levittämällä Vintage photo mustetta musteenlevittimellä ja roiskimalla päälle vettä. Koska kuultopaperin kiinnittäminen on hankalaa liimojen avulla, ompelin leimakuvan kiinni. Reunoja ressasin ennen ompelemista saksilla ja ompelemisen jälkeen ratkojalla, joka oli yllättävän hyvä. Leimakuva ei oikein tahtonut erottua, joten lisäsin siihen hillittyja DI musteita pensselin avulla. Lopputulos on varsin elegantti, varsinkin verrattuna siihen toiseen korttiin, joka on pikemminkin ällöromamttinen. Siinä on tosin hyödynnetty kuultopaperia monipuolisemmin, ja halutessasi löydät sen täältä.

Songs without words

I received a roll of old sheets of music from my aunt last summer. She sent them to me via my mother saying I could use them for something crafty... When I ran into this tag card last week, I realized I have the same stamp and I could use the old music sheets as a background for it. Searching for my Chocolate Baroque Peony stamp I also found it's "cousin" the Magnolia. I stamped the flowers and coloured them with Distress Inks. After fussy-cutting the flowers I tore the music paper (feeling horrid about it) and started to try and asemble a card. It didn't work very well for me until I saw the text on the top of the sheet and realized this would become a pair of ATC:s -my very first ATC:s as a fact!

As far as my skills in the German language go, this says "Songs without words" or "Wordless Songs" and I think these will make a suitable Christmas gift for my aunt (the one that gave me the music sheets). She has probably never heard of an ATC, but she loves music and all sorts of hand made crafty and artsy things. I still have lots of the music sheets left, and now that I have gotten a start at tearing them, I perhaps won't feel as bad about it next time :)

An ATC is really small compared to what I usually do, and it took quite a bit of fussing about to get everything to fit. The ATC sized card has been coloured with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink and the music paper was glued on. I wanted some green, so I did some stamping with Encore metallic Green and the harlequin stamp from CB Decorative Edges. I mounted the text on small pieces of cardstock and the flowers on 3d foam cushions, cutting really thin strips to place under the stems.

I love that the phrasing happens to end with a pianissimo P.

I am entering these ATC:s for the Chocolate Baroque Colour challenge (purple, magenta, mauve, emerald green) and the SimonSaysStamp Monday Challenge (holiday projects, cards gifts etc)

Christmas cards: Red Edition

I am at last getting my Christmas cards done... Last weekend I made green, red and gold backgrounds on A3 watercolour paper, and all week I've been experimenting on different stamped images to use with them. Since I don't like throwing stuff away, I expect all the experiments to end up on the cards one way or another: Green, red and golden Christmas cards!

My red background was made with Distress Inks in Festive Berries and Aged Mahogany. After spreading the ink straight from the inkpads onto the paper, I sprayed with both plain water and Firefly red Cosmic Shimmer mist. The Firefly mist gave the background a golden tint that is hard to catch on photos. While the colours were settling, I added some grains of salt. I cut the A3 sheet into 8 pieces suitable for A6 cards. Part of the backgrounds got Aged Mahogany around the edges, don't they look cool?

I experimented with different techniques on the stamped images. These cards have been stamped with images from the Chocolate Baroque "Punky Flowers" -set. The ones to the left have been stamped in black and coloured with DI and mica watercolours. The images on the right have been stamped with the Distress Inks, on the less solid image there is some colouring too.

The stamp on the last cards is from the Mini Christmas Trees by Crafty Individuals. It has been inked with the Distress Inks and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

I am entering this card for the SimonSaysStamp Monday Challenge (Holidays) and the SimonSaysStamp Wednesday challenge (Holidays and Christmas)

Christmas cards: Gold edition

I am at last getting my Christmas cards done... Last weekend I made green, red and gold backgrounds on A3 watercolour paper, and all week I've been experimenting on different stamped images to use with them. Since I don't like throwing stuff away, I expect all the experiments to end up on the cards one way or another: Green, red and golden Christmas cards!

The golden background was made with Antique Linen Distress Ink, Teastain Color Bloom spray and salt. When the A3 sheet was dry I cut it in 8 pieces suitable for A6 cards and added brown Distress inks to the edges.

I experimented quite a bit with Flitterglu and Megaflakes in the colour Morris Dance, using solid images from Chocolate Baroque ( the sets are Winter Edges and Punky Flowers). The gilding wasn't as easy as I would have thought on basis of the videos I checked out before buying the flakes... These are the best images I got (its hard taking a picture with all that shine!).

The snowflakes were done using the Phat foam (that came with the starter kit) to spread the glue on the stamp. I found it was difficult to see if there was enough glue on the stamp, which led to uneven coverage (as can be seen on the larger snowflake image to the left). Wanting to have more glue on the stamp, I tried spreading the glue on an even surface with the spatula and "kissing" it with the flower stamp in the middle card. This worked well enough, the image is full and clear... But it still feels a bit sticky as if it could use some more flakes ( I tried adding them, but it didn't help) 

It also turned out that cleaning the glue from the stamps was a pain. I did as was told, and cleaned them before spreading the flakes. I scrubbed them with soap and warm water and a toothbrush (which was the advice in the package), but they were still sticky. I used different stamp cleaning mediums (including the one that came with the gilding set) and a stamp scrubber... And still kept finding sticky spots especially on the low areas of the stamps! I did the gilding at some point, and then returned to scrubbing my stamps. I probably spent more time cleaning my stamps over and over again, as doing the rest of the gilding... and I still expect to find some stickiness on the stamps next time I look at them. This annoys me quite a bit, and will certainly make me think twice when I consider experimenting with new stamps.

As with my other cards in green and red, I also used Mini Christmas Trees from Crafty Individuals too. This time I embossed the detailed fun tree with golden embossing powder. These are pretty and were really fast and simple to make, so I ended making several.

I am entering this card for the SimonSaysStamp Monday Challenge (Holidays) and the SimonSaysStamp Wednesday challenge (Holidays and Christmas)