Happy Friday everyone! I hope you had a wonderful week. Kelly’s here today with a gorgeous TGIF project. Let’s get right to it!
Hi friends! It’s Kelly here today with this week’s TGIF feature! I’m shocked that we’re nearing the end of
October and heading into the holiday season! As a card maker, I’m often inspired by store-bought and
pre-printed Christmas cards! I’ll see one that catches my eye and say to myself,” I have stamps or dies
that would work perfectly to recreate that look or feel”! Do you do the same thing? For today’s card, I
saw a beautiful Christmas card featuring a large dove gracefully flying above a cluster of flowers and a
central sentiment! I knew for certain the new Peaceful Doves dies and the Peaceful Doves Details stamp
would make an appearance and for the flowers, I chose the beautiful Pine Blossom stamp set. This is
one that I haven’t used for awhile so it was fun to pull it out and give it some love!
To begin, I die cut the main bouquet using the Pine Blossom die and used the step-by-step stamps to
bring the image to life. I set it aside and got to work on the background; I don’t know about you, but I
can’t get enough of the arches! I used the beautiful Elegant Arches stamp and stamped it onto a
panel of aqua cardstock using Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink. I also blended a bit of the same ink
around the corners for some dimension. Since I love layers so much, I decided to add even more depth
by adding an aqua arch that was die cut using the A2 Arches die with a hint of ink around the
edges. I layered it on top of the background using foam squares.
The card I used as inspiration used a Peace on Earth sentiment, but I opted for the Merry and Bright
sentiment from the Arched Holiday Sentiments stamp set. I like to die cut all of the different sentiments
at once and then stamp them using my MISTI so I have them on hand for other projects! I die cut the
sentiment using the Arched Holiday Sentiments dies and then stamped it in black. I have been saving all
of the bits and pieces from my projects for quite some time now and my plan is to sit down and make a
bunch of tags with the leftovers! Can you believe that I haven’t made a single Christmas tag this year?
My packages will be bare if I don’t get going!
I placed the Pine Blossom bouquet at the bottom of the arch leaving enough room for the sentiment. I used foam squares for both the bouquet and the sentiment; using double thickness for the sentiment so it would rise above the bouquet. I placed the two doves that had been stamped with the details, on either side of the sentiment. I felt like the card needed just a little something more, so I die cut the little sprigs and flowers using the Winter Medley die and colored them using finger daubers and Distress Oxide ink. I added the tiny flowers using liquid glue and then had fun tucking them here and there until I was satisfied with the arrangement. I added some white paint splatter for a snowy look. I also added some glitter to the doves, the flowers, and the extra dies for that holiday sparkle I love so much! I layered the entire panel onto a top-folding A2 white card base using liquid glue.
Once it was done, I was so happy with the depth and dimension that was certainly not on the pre-printed design!! Ha ha! I hope you get a chance to let something spark your creativity and pull out some fun combinations of products! It’s fun to get your mind working in new and different ways, especially if you’re in a rut (we’ve ALL been there}! Thanks for joining me today!
