Warm Winter Wishes ~ Pop 'n Cuts & Copics
December 18, 2012
My friend Kelly Booth, who I blame entirely for the fortune I have spent on Copic Markers in the last few weeks, seems to think that she can make it all up to me by sending me an awesome Pop 'n Cuts Christmas Card and an adorable Art Impressions Whoots Beanie Owl stamp.
And she is correct!
For this card I wanted to see if I could combine my new love of Copic-colored stamped images with my addiction to patterned paper without the items over-competing. I chose this cute tree paper from Echo Park and cut the Label Pop 'n Cuts from it. I also put a scrap of purple cardstock over just the label portion of the die and cut a second label. I used a craft knife to cut away the interior of that second label, leaving me just a purple frame that I glittered and glued over the pop-up to frame it and provide contrast from the background.
I colored the owl with Copics as follows: Body: C1, C3, C5 and C7 plus I think I added just a little bit of a light blue, like BG10, Hat: BV000, BV01, BV08, Beak & Claws: YR04, YR18, and Twig: E11, E27, E29
I used pop-dots to add him to the front of the pop-up. After seeing Shelly's magnificent New Years Card, I warned her that I would be copying her wire twists pronto! And I did!
For the snowflakes at the end of the wire twists, I used a Hero Arts Stamps+Framelits set and added a few ECD glitter dots to each one.
The "Let it Snow" stamp is a 1997 Stampendous stamp that I'm fairly sure is retired. I stamped it in black over a portion of patterned paper that included a snowflake. I then cut around the snowflake with a craft knife and then, because apparently I love fussy cutting, I matted it in purple!
I always complete my card interiors first and then try to create a simple "lead in" for the front of the card. My philosophy is that with pop-up cards, the interior is where the magic is, and it is also the way the card will most likely be displayed. I make relatively simple card fronts so as not to double my work.
However, I spent a little extra time on this card front because I wanted to create a background using a metal snowflake charm. I started by coating the charm with Pearl paint:
Next, I rolled a clean brayer over the charm. It picked up the paint and kept the texture.
I rolled the brayer over my cardstock a few times. The paint transfers one pretty good image and then maybe one or two more faint ones before drying on the brayer. No need to clean it, simply repeat the process with the snowflake in another section of the brayer. Continue this process a few times until you get a background you like. Once the background is complete, then pop the head off the brayer and clean it in the sink with soap and water.
Once the paint dried on the metal charm, I sanded off the top to reveal some coppery veins and added a glitter dot. The rest of the card front is a Bigz Fancy Frame piece with the interior cut away with a craft knife just like for the card interior. The "Warm Winter Wishes" stamp is an older Stampin' Up! stamp.
In other news, the kids are into their second day of finals. Karl got to come home early today because he exempted his English final. Emma is at her Biology final. They really liked the triple clue we did on Sunday, so I've decided to do another triple tomorrow. Hiding clues and blogging every third day is much more manageable!
I listened to a lot of Christmas music while making this card and I am starting to feel (gasp) less "stressed-about-all-the-stuff-on-my-list" and more "fa-la-la-la-la!"
If I was a true friend I would send the card to Kelly, and I will . . . .after CHA! Ha!
Happy Holidays!