Season of Simple Grace

Whew! Just finished with round 1 of my "Headstart on the Holidays" class which went great despite my printer going on the fritz so I couldn't print out the "step by step" directions before class. Thankfully, these were pretty simple and easy to figure out without directions...besides people like me never both reading directions anyway! I really enjoyed having a chance to share these "achievable" (sounds better than easy, doesn't it?) holiday cards!

Since this particular card has generated a lot of questions about how it was done, I thought I would just share an individual photo of it along with some simple directions. First of all, this card was inspired by a card done with a similar technique on SCS created by "maketime2stamp" and it got me going on "out of the box" ways to use this image. I love the way the color gradient makes it look like the whole scene is glowing from the golden light starting at the manager, don't you?

So, first the recipe and then some step by step directions.

Stamps: Season of Simple Grace (item # 111778 for $25.95) which is available starting Oct 1st from the Holiday Mini. Great set...it also includes a shepherd image and one of the Wise Men in addition to the manger scene and star.

Cardstock colors used: White Glossy, Chocolate Chip and kraft. This looks GREAT with a matching kraft envelope, too!

Ink colors used: Basic Brown (waterproof), More Mustard, Ruby Red, Bravo Burgandy and Chocolate Chip.

Accessories: Sponge daubers and Stampin' Sponges. Assorted markers (Creamy Caramel for the skin tones and Mary's head scarf, Summer Sun for the "halos" and Brocade Blue for the baby's blanket), Embossing Buddy (critical item!), Encore Metallic gold pigment ink, Gold detail embossing powder and an embossing gun (e.g. heat tool) plus a crayon. Yes, a plain old ordinary leftover crayon!

What to do:

1. On the white glossy cardstock, stamp the manger scene in Basic Brown. Color in skin tones, clothing, etc. with markers and give it a minute to dry good then using the crayon (any color will do, I prefer a crayon with some color to it so I can easily tell where I have already applied the crayon, it won't show after you rub it off later, I promise!)

2. Now the fun begins! Using a sponge dauber (or stampin' sponge) apply More Mustard ink centered around the manger and Baby Jesus. I love using the daubers because they are so easy to "control" and keep my fingers from getting too inky! Apply as far up as you want but enough to cover the inside areas around the manger.

3. Next color--Ruby Red! You can use a dauber or a sponge depending on how dark you want the color. If using a dauber be sure to blend the ink by rubbing in circles rather than just dotting it with color. The Ruby can overlap some of the Mustard and then advance beyond and behind the Holy Family.

4. Bravo Burgandy is next. Sponge (or dauber) this overlapping the Ruby Red and extending all the way to the edges of the card so there is no white space showing.

5. If desired sponge a little Chocolate Chip around the edges.

6. Pat the glossy cardstock generously with your Embossing Buddy (this keeps the ep from sticking where you don't want it and glossy c/s has a lot of static!) then tap off any residue of powder, stamp the star with gold embossing ink then dump on gold embossing powder. Tap off the excess then heat with the heat tool until melted. Once that is done, go back with a tissue or paper towel and rub on any excess Embossing Buddy power, gold embossing powder and the crayon. At this point, the original colors should show up very well. If you have any white spaces where the crayon extended out too far, now is a good time for a little "touch up" with a matching marker.

7. You are almost done! Adhere the white glossy cardstock to a slightly larger layer of Chocolate Chip. A little hint on this...I always apply the adhesive on the bottom of the layer I am trying to attach rather than on the top of the cardstock where I'm attaching the layer. This way I can't extend the adhesive out farther than the incoming layer. If you forgot and have excess adhesive (e.g. sticky gunk!) on your layer, there is always the adhesive remover but so much easier to avoid that problem in the first place.

8. Stamp the sentiment in the bottom right corner of the kraft card with Chocolate Chip ink. I tend to position the stamped layer on top of the kraft to see where I want it but I don't fasten it down until after I have stamped the greeting just in case I need a little "wiggle room".

9. Adhere the Chocolate Chip layer to the kraft & voila! you are finished!

Now wasn't that easy? I'm so glad that everyone gave it a try...even my friend "M" (not squealing on her name!) who thought it would be too hard gave in and was surprised at how well hers turned out.

Since my gals worked so fast and finished early, I had time to post to my blog before my next class starts this evening. Check back later for details on some of the other cards we did and thanks for stopping in! Jan