Hi Everyone. Happy Thursday and welcome to Jaydee's SU stamping space! Today's card was created using the fabulous square layout from the Stamping411 team. I really liked this layout so decided to use it a couple of times this week. This card will be sent to several of my friends this year!
Today's card features one of my favorite Christmas sets - Home for Christmas. I've made several cards using the sentiment, but this was the first one I made using the main stamp. The first thing I did was stamp the image in StazOn black ink, as I wanted a really crisp clean image. (I've made the images pop-up capable for you, in case you want a closer look :-))
I took out my SU water color pencils as I wanted to use them to color in the image. I used a mixture of greens and browns for the foliage, the wall, the door, the sled and the skis.
I really wanted to use my shimmer paint to create a snow effect on the steps, some of the foliage, etc.
I decided to use my trusty stylus and my White shimmer paint to create the snow.
Especially, as I wanted the snow on the steps to look as though it wasn't as pristine as when the snow is fresh ..... like it must be in many parts of Colorado and Wyoming today :-) Using the stylus allowed me to "blob" and spread the paint and get it just where I wanted.... in some of the folds in the stone, on the tree, etc. Any places I thought the snow might stick.
The next thing I had to worry about was .... what do I do with the greeting. I thought a great idea would be to use the Shimmer paint for the sentiment. Mmmmm... let's try that...
Well, it looks OK in the light.... but in reality..... it really didn't work out. Here's what it looked like without the light.
Mmmmm... where did it go!!! Flat as a pancake as my mother would have said. It really disappeared without the light. So, I decided to go with the red instead.
And here's the finished card. I must admit, I was very happy with it. Jaydee tip: you could use a blender pen to actually blend the colors, but for this card, I decided not to do that.
In the light the snow looks fabulous (as you can see from my earlier work in progress pic). I also added a score line above and below the striped matt piece, just to give it a little more definition. I used Always Artichoke and Ruby Red, as I wanted the softer greens and reds to go with the Kraft paper. Jaydee tip: Don't forget to add a little color to the lamp to make it look as though there's a flame... doing that as opposed to just coloring it yellow, gave it a more vintage feel - which I thought fit with the sled and the skis.
The sentiment is from the fabulous Christmas Greetings set which is 115448 and is $10.95 on preferred pricing. I love the font they used on this stamp, the sentiment... and the fact that the size fits perfectly on so many of my cards.
And if you are wondering why my photograph of the finished card isn't as crisp as usual.... well this is what was going on in my photo tent whilst I was trying to take pictures.
All the other pics I took had either Bilbo or Bailey in the background. It was a disaster in the tent, so I gave up for the night! Jean.... has Sandycat been communicating with my two mutts? :-)
As always, thank you so much for spending time in my area of the stamping blogosphere - your visits area always appreciated - and I really appreciate your support and comments. They really are what keep me going.
Peace
Jaydee
P.S. My Feedburner link has been broken..... hopefully it should be fixed today or tomorrow and you should start getting update notifications for me. I'm sorry that we haven't managed to get it fixed yet...but really appreciate your patience!
Wow! I love all of the detail, right down to the lamp. And of course there's the Merry Christmas that I love. I'm ordering it this week. Thanks for sharing the information.
Posted by: Kelli | 10/30/2009 at 10:03 AM
This card is really beautiful! I love your color choices and your coloring of the image. Fabulous work!
I look forward to seeing what you come up with for next week's sketch!
Posted by: Robin Merriman | 10/30/2009 at 06:52 AM