Happy Thanksgiving!
What a beautiful day to spend relaxing with family. We're heading to mom's for dinner later this afternoon. My brother, Al, is in town from BC which always makes the special occasion even more special. He came by last night - he and Craig watched movies and caught up (Craig and Al were friends back in the '80's ... that's how I met Craig!) while I crafted.
I had quite the creative block all day. I have DOZENS of projects I need to create which always seems to slow things down. My first priority was to come up with a technique card for my class on Tuesday. I really struggled with something new and fresh. I ended up deciding on using the Heat and Stick powder. Even though it's more of a product than a technique I know people are interested in learning how to use it. Truth be told I've only used it once myself. I love that holding classes forces me to try new things! I played, designed, threw it way - played, designed, tweaked, played, played, tweaked, stared and tweaked some more. It took me 3 1/2 hours to come up with my final card!
My first card is beautiful ... but it was quite fiddly and I didn't think it would be a great card for my class. Nonetheless it's a "keeper". Here is what I came up with:
The picture really doesn't do it justice. The snowlakes are REALLY sparkly thanks to our beloved Dazzling Diamonds. I stamped the sentiment "Heart of Christmas" (page 15 from the mini - $10.95) in Marina Mist. This is a great stamp to own ... I can't believe I didn't buy it ages ago! I then ran some Whisper White card stock through the Snow Flurry Bigz Die (page 14 of the mini - $26.95) and then a piece of Marina Mist through to get the medium snowflake. I then inked the big and small snowflake with Versamark. I sprinkled HEat & Stick powder over them and heated them with my new Heat Tool. I then sprinkled them with Dazzling Diamonds and heated them again with the heat tool to set the glitter. Now it won't snow glitter everytime someone touches the card! I attached each of the snowflakes together using Glue dots. It's important to use those when attaching anything to glittery images - snail just doesn't seem to hold. That's it! A pretty, sparkly, simple card. If I WERE to use this in a class I would have people glitter the card stock BEFORE running it through the big shot die. It's quite fiddly to do it the way I did ... you either burn your fingers with the heat tool or can miss areas with the powder ... and/or the snowflakes blow off your desk if you try to use the heat tool with them loose on your desk. Of course the down side of glittering the paper first is that you use a lot more powder and glitter than you need and there is a lot of waste.
While I like the card I needed somthing that still showcased the Heat & Stick powder but was a little more user friendly. Although it took me 3 hours to come up with it, here is the final, rather simple card:
You can see the sparkles a little better on this one. I stamped the image from the ORnament Keepsake set (page 3 of the mini - $31.95 clear; $42.95 wood) in Versamark, applied Heat & Stick powder, heated it, applied Dazzling Diamonds and heat set again. I stamped the sentiment from Merry & Type (page 13 of the main catalogue; $22.95 clear; $31.95 wood) in Staz-on black. I used a small strip of Cherry Cobbler along the side, punching the edge with the Scallop Edge Border punch. A few rhinestones along the edge and at the top of the ornament finished it off. It really is pretty in "real" life.
... speaking of the Ornament Keepsake set ... Stampin' Up! is running a promotion during October with this set. If you purchase one of the bundles and a pack of the Candlelight Christmas Designer Series Paper (page 4 of the mini) you get the Festive Paper Piercing Pack (page 30 of the mini - $10.95) for free!
- If you were to buy everything seperately you would pay $94.29 (clear) or $116.42 (wood)
- Through this promotion you pay $79.58 (clear) or $89.97 (wood)
I will be placing my next order around October 15th. Contact me if you have any questions or would like to order the promotion (yes - club members can use this for their monthly commitment!)
That's it for today - I'm off to put on my stretchy pants *lol*. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving :)))
Tam
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