davebrethauer

An Accordion Snow Scene

Here's a "different" concept in creating a card! This accordion fold is a clever way to present a card in a non-traditional format. Just a simple accordion pleat allows you to tuck all sorts of things along the hills, and the card folds up into an envelope,then unfolds to display beautifully wherever it is sent.

 

The snowman and snowflake punches are all from Martha Stewart - and they are really nice to work with. I punched the snowman's buttons, hat and stick arms out of some of our shimmery Chocolate cardstock - which went nice with the Polar White Flower Soft "snow" and the clear glitter glue on the snowflakes.

The base of the card is made out of a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch piece of Robins Egg cardstock scored 5 times. I scored the cardstock in evenly spaced rows, but try scoring it closer to each other on one end and further apart as you go - it will make the "hills" in back stand up a bit more.

A little "Glossy Accents" glue was spread across the front of the card and sprinkled with the Flower Soft for a little frosty snow.

 

I love that you get some "depth" with this card - the snowflakes float a bit in back of the snowman!

Frosty Wreath

Seeing the frost outside on a cold winter's morning is what inspired this card. The delicate branches of the Bramble Wreath (E1276) image were decorated with white liquid pearls and glitter - and when you look closely, it's almost as if sunlight is sparkling on each twig. The whole effect of this card, from the light reflected off the metallic white notecard to the sparkles on stamped image, reminds me of all that is beautiful in winter.

 

Stamp the Wreath in Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate ink onto Robins Egg cardstock and allow to dry. Make tiny dots of White Liquid Pearls around the wreath - I made lots of them as you can see above - and then sprinkle with prisma glitter while still wet.

 

I mounted the Robins Egg layer first on a piece of shimmery Frost cardstock and then onto a layer of Quartz cardstock that I edged with a Martha Stewart Snowflake Border (so easy to use!).

Celebrate a beautiful winter's day with this greeting!

Snowy Little Birds

I have been watching weather temps around the country on my phone all this last week, wondering if the northwest is going to get any snowy weather. I drove the kids into school this morning in bone chilling 21 degree weather (clear blue skies out), but then I looked up the weather in Wray, Colorado, where my grandparents live - and it was 5 degrees. Brrrrr. 

Best to just stamp "snowy" cards instead I think.

Here's a frosty version of our Birds on Branches stamp - painted with watercolor and glittered. The image was stamped on 140 lb watercolor paper (cold press) with Brilliance Graphite Black ink. Once dry, wet the surface of the watercolor paper, and paint with Teal Zircon and Majestic Blue watercolor paints - and allow to dry again. 

 

The image is then cut out, mounted on a layer of shimmery Frost cardstock and then onto a stamped Water colored notecard. The polkadot stamp that we used on the notecard is from B Line designs - embossed with Judikins White Diamond embossing powder.

I drew a line of White Opal liquid Pearls between the birds, along the branches, and then dusted with prisma glitter while the liquid pearls were still wet. Be sure and do the liquid pearls and glitter once all of the layers have been mounted - to prevent smudging the pearls!

Paper, Glue and Scissors

Sometimes the most fun you can have with paper doesn't even involve stamps (did I hear a gasp?). Here's a card that you probably wouldn't make a 100 of, but this type of paper sculpting is so beautiful (and easy) that anyone can do it if you have some time.

I used a sheet of Opal cardstock from our Soiree collection, an Opal Notecard, Diamond Jewel stickers and some glitter glue. Begin by cutting a triangle out of the Opal Cardstock, and then cut it crosswise into pieces, in a scalloped pattern (use scalloped scissors if necessary).

 

Now you can begin assembling your tree. I used foam mounting tape, so that there was a little bit of dimension between each layer. Begin at the bottom by attaching the widest bottom piece to the card. Then start layering each piece, slightly overlapping the piece below until you get to the top. Don't worry if things aren't quite perfect - we'll put some jewel stickers on the card and nobody will notice!

You can see here that each layer is tucked under the next, all the way up to the top of the card.

 

Once assembled, you do a little embellishing. I placed a few Diamond Jewel stickers here and there, like little ornaments on the tree. 

Last, trim the scalloped edges with glitter glue. I "drew" a line of glitter glue along the edge, and then while it was still wet I sprinkled it with some glitter (ultra fine prisma glitter from Judikins). Glitter on glitter - you can't get more sparkle than that!

Border Glitter Technique

I demonstrated some fun techniques this weekend at Impress, and wanted to share one favorite little tip with you. Glitter on the border of a card looks so cool - and makes things really festive and fun. I've done many things over the years - glues with glitter, embossing, glitter glue - you name it, I've tried it. But here's a nice technique that will give you a really straight border of glitter, without worrying about the adhesive drying too quickly.

Now, when I make my samples to go out to stores I use a 3M ATG gun (tape gun) to adhere all of my layers together. It takes a little getting used to, but once you do, you won't want to use anything else. It's economical and the adhesive holds layers together perfectly without any chance of warping the paper.

To apply glitter using the tape gun, you simply run a strip of glue on the front side of your layer, and dust with glitter. The adhesive remains tacky even if you have to answer the phone or go sample some dark chocolate brownies from the neighbor, so you can add glitter anytime. A bonus is that you get a nice straight border of glitter (not that there's anything wrong with an irregular border of glitter - it's more "vintage" that way).

 

For this card, I stamped the E1302 Tree Silhouette twice - once on Robins Egg paper and once on white paper. Just cut the hills out of the white paper and glue them onto the Robins Egg paper.

Now you just run the tape gun along the edge (keep a scratch sheet of paper underneath to grab any overhanging adhesive) then sprinkle the glitter on. Press the glitter gently into the adhesive strip then tap the excess off - you'll be left with a transparent border of shimmering glitter (I used Judikins Ultra fine prisma glitter).

Once you've mounted onto a card (doesn't this look like a winter wonderland mounted on a Quartz notecard?), then add little dots of liquid pearls to the sky.

 

I used "White Opal" liquid pearls for the "snow" in the sky. Just take your time (and don't press too hard!) when applying the liquid pearls to the sky. The combination of the pearls and the glitter is beautiful!