Christmas Inspiration: More Joyful Poinsettieas

This was another really quick Christmas card made using JustRite stamps, Spellbinders dies, and a silk flower from my stash.  I used:

• Spellbinder's Dies: Enchanted Labels Twenty-eight, Poinsettias, Fancy Tags Two, and Decorative Labels Twenty-Seven
• JustRite: Noel Christmas Ornaments, Festive Poinsettia
• Ink for stamping: Embossing ink, Red ink
• Embossing Powder: Silver, Clear
• Silk Flower

The biggest challenge with this card was getting the poinsettia dies to line up with the stamped and embossed poinsettia images, and mine are far from perfect.  After the fact I came across a really great tip:

1. Create a template in a square of cardstock using the die.  (Save the die cut for some other use).  What you want is the outer square with a hole the size of your die.
2. Now, stamp and emboss your image.
3. Next, line your cardstock template up with the stamped image and hold securely in place.
4. Now, slide the die into place -  by wiggling it around a bit you can feel where it lines up with your template. 
5. Tape in place with removable tape and run through your die cut machine.
6. Voila'!  Perfectly cut images every time!

Enjoy Your Special Day!

Materials:

• Glossy Cardstock
• JustRite Stamps & matching dies (Grateful Heart Vintage Labels Two)
• Black detail embossing powder
• Smooch inks (Ocean Soul & Lucious Lime)
• Aqua Painter
• Patterned Paper (from Rosemary & Thyme paper pack - HOTP)
• Teal and Aqua cardstock
• Green glimmer paper 
• Cutting Die - Elegant Labels Four, Gold Labels Four
• Outline Stickers
• Black StazOn Ink
• Sentiment Stamp (JustRite Vintage Rose Medallion)
• Embossing Ink
• Fine Black Embossing Powder

Method:

1. Create focals for front & inside of card as follows (I started with a pre-fab where I had already had done the alcohol ink and heat embossing with black):  Die cut the shapes first.  Then using alcohol inks (Stream & Opal Mixative) on the felt covered aplicator pounce all over the glossy side of the cardstock to create a nice mottled background.  Stamp with embossing ink & heat emboss with fine detail black embossing powder.  Color with Smooch inks.  For the flowers, just add color along the shaded areas, then brush over it with the aqua-painter water brush to create the look you see here.  Similarly for the inside focal, add color around the sentiment and then use the aqua-painter to lighten and shade a bit (see picture below).
2. Create matted layers with teal, aqua, green, and patterned paper.  Note 1: When matting a piece this size, I usually use a die and cut out a shape from the inside of the mats that will not be seen anyway.  (For the teal, I just happened to choose the die from Elegant Labels Four and then decided it would make a great mat for my focal!). Note 2: The patterned paper was from a 6" x 6" pad of paper - and the space I wanted to cover was longer than that.  I cut the width I wanted, then cut the length in half horizontally.  This allowed me to place the paper where I wanted it, knowing the gap would be covered by the strip of teal I ran across behind the focal.
3. Before I added my matted focal, I realized much of that teal mat would be hidden behind the focal, so took a Gold Labels Four die and cut out the center, embossing it and setting it aside to be used inside the card.
4. After I had the front put together, I realized I really wanted a sentiment.  I remembered some outline stickers I had with a rounded "Happy Birthday" and decided to use that.  Unfortunately, it was silver and I wanted black.  I usually cover outline stickers with alcohol ink if I want a different color, but I didn't have black alcohol ink.  I suddenly thought of my black StazOn ink pad.  I just rubbed it across the sticker before removing it from the backing page.  Worked great!  For the word "Mom", I used a JustRite stamp with embossing ink and black embossing powder.
5. For the inside, I used the sentiment I had prepared and matted it in much the same way as I had the one on the front of the card:

There you have it - a quick and easy card thanks to making those focal elements ahead of time!