Color My Heart Snowflakes

Welcome to my first post as a design team member of Color My Heart. This week's colors are Indian Corn Blue and Ruby. Well, I had to substitute Cranberry because I don't own Ruby (yet), but I think you will be able to see how either of these reds will work on the cards below.

I couldn't decide which one of these two I liked the best, so I decided to post both of them. Please note, anything in this post designated using italics is a CTMH product. The basic technique is the same, but the one above shows it a little better so I chose to use it as the larger image on this post. Stamps are Snowflakes and Pirouette. I stamped Snowflakes in Indian Corn Blue ink on both banners (cut with Artiste). For the blue background banner, I added a few Cranberry snowflakes. I then used an embossing buddy (cornstarch inside cloth) to make sure there was no lingering wet before stamping Pirouette in Versamark and covering with clear embossing powder. After shaking off the excess, I melted the powder with my heat gun until it went smooth. (Short heat time gives you a grainy look, medium heat gives you a smooth look, and extra long will melt your powder into the background and give you sloppy/fuzzy edges which can be a very fun look sometimes.)

Next, I pulled out my rubber brayer. Remember rubber brayers? We used to use them all the time, but they have fallen out of fashion. I have rediscovered mine and am having a ball with it lately. Top card was brayered in Cranberry, bottom one in Indian Corn Blue. As you can see, the underneath images are very visible under the Cranberry but barely visible under the Indian Corn Blue. If you want to completely hide the underneath images where they aren't covered in embossing powder, use a darker ink. You will need a clean cloth or paper towel to wipe off excess ink. (If you don't have a rubber brayer, you can achieve this same look using sponge daubers, but it will take more time.)

I sewed both banners using a combination of straight and zig-zag stitches. The blue banner has two rows of stitching, one for the banner and one for the ribbon (because I didn't think to put the ribbon on first...duh!) I added small pearl accents to the red banner.

 

This card also works with the following challenges:

Heart2Heart: Snow Much Fun (my second entry)

Operation Write Home: Sentiment Free

CASology: Winter

Thanks for sticking with this long explanation. (It took less time to make both cards than it did to explain it.) If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below.

Until next time,

Becca