A Snowman Card

Well the unusually high seasonal temperatures have been replaced with an all day cold rain. Brrrr. After being out in T-shirts for the last few weeks this feels colder than ever. We were getting very spoiled!

This was another get-out-of-the-house day so we walked around the mall – small mall so that didn’t take long; dropped stuff off a the food bank; went to the library; out for Chinese food for lunch – yum; to Staples to get paper, envelopes and to look at a possible new printer; stopped at Michaels – picked up a $22.00 Art Impression stamp for $3.99 and an Inkadinkado stamp on sale for $7.99; got groceries and then bread at the Bread Depot. Tired tonight….but it’s a better tired than sitting in the house watching the rain fall!

Today’s card is for this challenge: http://hjcchallenge.blogspot.com

 

This is a long post but full of some useful (I hope) information.

The challenge was to use a snowman on your card. Well, I just happened to sit down the other night and started to make the Christmas cards. The background is kraft cardstock that was run through the wood grain embossing folder that had Stampin’ Up Crumb Cake rolled on the flat side before embossing. This really makes a difference as it adds another colour do the debossed parts. This was then glued to the card base.

The window die is from Memory Box. The window frome was die cut from the old greeting cards that someone gave me. I started looking at them and realized that most of these are heavier than the cardstock I usually use…and it’s free….and it saves it being put in the recycle bin so I die cut a whole stack of window frames. The edges and embossed areas were inked with brown ink – just ran it from one side to the other, flipped it over and did the same thing. Most people leave them white but I happen to like them antiqued.

I’m sharing a trick with you now. The trick to not having to run the die cut window frames (or any other die cut shape) through the Big Shot or what ever machine you use to emboss them after cutting them is to double the cardstock or in this case the card. As long as the card does not have glitter or is embossed I just fold it over so it is double and run die cut it. This works for all dies. If I’m die cutting a shape, say a circle, I layer the cutting pad; an old greeting card; the cardstock and then the top pad and run it through. Just throw the greeting card in the recycle bin when done....I always have a stack that cannot be used for anything else by my desk just for this purpose. By having that extra layer, the circle will have that nice embossed rim. Try it for yourself.

I always save the clear plastic packaging from craft supplies and it is cut to fit behind the open windows of this die. It really does make a difference. I know it’s another step but once again, the plastic is free and would normally go in the garbage so all it costs is the bit of glue to hold it in place.

Okay, another confession. The snowman is also from an old greeting card. I just thought some of these cards were too nice to just throw into the recycle bin and were calling out to have a second life.

There is or was a die for a window box as a companion piece for this window frame die but…well, you have to buy it so instead I just use scraps of the same cardstock as the window frame and die cut just the bottom ledge; place a dimensional glue strip along the bottom and glue it in place. It looks like a window box and no extra die required……yes, I’m a bit thrifty! To add the ferns to the window box, just add some wet glue and immediately put in the ferns – these were made with the Martha Stewart punch. Any time I have bits of green cardstock left over I just punch a few ferns so I always have them on hand. To make sure they are glued in nice and tight I run another line of wet glue over them.

Each card I made was decorated differently. This one has two of Tim Holtz die cut branches that were painted with glitter glue on the left side and a nice red ribbon was glued on top. The banner is a Little B die and the sentiment is a gold peel-off. Once everything was glued in place I added the snow flakes by dipping the end of a stylus (or the end of a paint brush) into acrylic paint and making the dots.

  

This is already a long post but there is one more thing I want to share with you. To make several of these at one time, here’s the process….make and set aside each one until all are finished.

1.     Emboss all the background paper with any embossing folder.

2.    Glue to the card base.

3.    Die cut all the window frames and ink the edges if you like that look.

4.    Add plastic to the back of the window frames.

5.    Die cut the bottom parts to use as window boxes.

6.    Die cut another window frame from an old greeting card; mark ‘template’ on it and use that to place over old greeting cards to see which ones look nice through the window. Draw around those ones and cut them out. Store the template with the die for future use.

7.    Die cut any leaves or other trim and paint on glitter glue and set aside to dry. I did a bunch of these from various greens and just stored the ones I didn’t need.

8.    Glue the pictures to the back of the window frames.

Okay, now start decorating.  At this point you decide how you want to decorate it and this will determine if you want to glue the window frame in the middle of the card or off to one side and if you want to add the window box or not. Some of mine have them, some don’t. Decorate each one as you wish.

Wow, that’s a long post and I hope you got some good tips and hints for making your cards. I use this window box frame for making many different types of greeting cards. Some times I use a stamped and coloured image behind the frame; sometimes it’s an old greeting card.

And finally, that’s all for a cold and rainy October, 2016-10-20.

Cheers

Violet

 Don’t forget you are more than welcome to save any cards to your Pinterest account for future reference. Simply place the curser over the picture until the Pinterest save sign shows up in the top left corner and enter. This will take you to your Pinterest account. If it doesn’t work, please leave a comment and let me know. Thanks.