Christmas Candle

Well, it has been almost a month since I have put a card on my blog, but here is another Christmas card. There has been a few things going on, the Stamp Expo was at the beginning of this month. If you are into stamping and have never been to one of these, find out where there is one by you and go. This show comes to Minnesota a couple of times a year and I do look forward to it. It is a time to look at stamps that I might not see in the local stores and see some new techniques. This year, there was a Christmas Card Contest. I entered the two cards that I have on my site. I didn't win, but at least I tried. Of coarse the cards that did win were beautiful and very detailed. I ended up getting quite a few stamps, some inks and some tools. I also learned the technique for distressing paper as I did on this card. It isn't a hard tech, but I had to try it quite a few times before I got it to where I was satisfied. Also on this card, I don't know if you can see it, is some gold leafing. You can find gold leafing in stores like Michael's. I put some tacky glue on parts of the image and let it get tacky. I then took flakes of gold leafing and pressed it on the tacky glue. Then, I brushed away the extra gold leafing and the part that was pressing on the glue stayed. It really is easy and adds a lot to the card. To distress the paper I took some Ranger Distress ink and smeared it onto a nonporous mat, like a plastic coated mat. I then took the Mini Mister put out by Ranger and spritzed it a little. I put the paper on to this and moved it around a bit to get some marks on it and then took my heat gun and dried it. As I was drying it, if I didn't like a part of it, I would either spritz the paper to smooth the marks or put it on my mat in more of the ink. The strange thing was, I was trying to get this effect before I went to the Stamp Expo and just couldn't get the effect I wanted. Well, here is a list of the supplies I used.

Stamp - Christmas Light by Penny Black

Inks - Old Paper Distress Ink by Ranger, Baja Breeze, Cranberry Crisp, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard all by Stampin' Up

Paper - Baja Breeze by Stampin' Up, Almond Cream and Carob Cream both by Bazzil Basics Paper

Embellishments - ribbon, gold leaf by Mona Lisa Products, Cuttlebug with Forest Branch embossing folder

If you have any questions, let me know.