Holly Leaves for Addicted to CAS

Hi Everyone.  Happy Saturday.

It's the very talented Doni's turn to host our Addicted to CAS challenge this week and she has a great code word for us:

My initial thought had been to create a fall card, but remembered that I had an old Papertrey Ink Holly leaves set and thought that they would look great using the foiling technique. 

 

So, I began by stamping the leaves with Versamark ink and clear embossing powder and then covered the leaves with green foil paper.  I ran the leaves through my laminating machine and - voila - nice shiny leaves.  I then used the dies that came with the set to cut out the leaves.  

 

For the focal base layer, I die cut a piece of vanilla card stock using my stitched rectangle die and used my Ranger sprays to add some gold spray.  Once that I was dry, I stamped the sentiment and mounted the die-cut leaves onto the gold sprayed layer with dimensionals.   Of course, I had to finish the card off with three red pearls that I adhered using a little squirt of Crystal Effects.

 

Here's my card:

 

The foiling is a little hard to see in the photo, but you can see the light and dark leaves.  It is very striking in hand and I think I will be making more of these as Christmas cards.   If you haven't seen - or tried - the foiling technique, you can check out the videos that Jennifer McGuire has created using this technique.

I hope that you will play along with us this week.  If you are looking for some great inspiration - check out the design team cards.  As always the team have created amazing - and varied - cards for you.  Including our guest designer - the very talented Dawn from down under.  You can check out her blog at this link DesignsbyDragonfly

If you play along with us - you also have a chance to win a wonderful prize from our sponsor and the prize is a Euro 12.50 stamp set of your choice.

 On a personal note:

Lou and I have just arrived back from two weeks in England and Scotland where we spent time with friends and family and spent 10 of those days traveling with a very special person.  I can't believe how much ground we covered and how much we saw during that time.   We did everything from riding on the Harry Potter Express (well the Jacobite train that was used in the Harry Potter movies) and travelled for two hours from Fort William in Scotland to Mallaig on the coast.  Prior to arriving in Fort William we spent time in the Lake District and up at Hadrian's Wall. 

In Fort William we did a quick harbour tour and managed to see seals, cormorants and a pod of dolphins that rode the waves created by our boat.  Then it was back onto the Harry Potter express back to Fort William. 

This was our first trip up to Hadrian's Wall and beyond the border into Scotland.  It was amazing visiting some of the Hadrian's Wall sites and walking through the archealogical digs that were taking place, reading the details of the soldier's lives and watching videos on the furthest northerly point of Roman occupation in Britain.

We were lucky enough to be in Edinburgh the day that Queen Elizabeth II reached the momentous milestone of being the longest serving British monarch.  And, indeed, she has served her country with grace, dignity and passion.  Amazing for a woman who had never expected to find herself in that position.  Long may she continue to reign :-)

As we are now back Stateside, I should be able to get back into a somewhat normal routine but this first week back at work is going to be really busy as I catch up from being away for two weeks.

I'll be back with my Paper Players card tomorrow.  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight - and thank you to all of you for your patience as I took these last two weeks away from my blog.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe:

•     Stamps:  Mistletoe and Holly - Papertrey Ink
•     Foil:  Green foil - Deco Foil
•     Ranger Distress Stain Spray

Comments

[bhavana kesarkar]

The holly leaves look beautiful against the sprayed background. Loved this design. :)

[anja curvers]

Wow great to see you used Holly leaves and I love them.

[ColleenB.~Texas]

Welcome back. Sounds like you had a wonderful and enjoyable trip.
Love you technique on your holly leaves. Who had thought that they would turn out so beautiful.
Very simple, but Very lovely card

[D~DesignsByDragonfly]

Your leaves are beautiful. LoVe the foil. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for having me as this month's ATCAS Guest Designer.
Your trip sounds amazing.
Crafty hugs,
Dawn
DesignsByDragonfly.blogspot
Addicted To CAS Guest Designer

[Sarah G]

Love the beautiful foiling on these holly leaves, Jaydee! It adds a touch of festive luxury. It sounds like you have had an amazing trip - glad you enjoyed the UK :)

[Kelly W.]

Hi Jaydee! Your card is stunning! I've never seen foiling on a card before and I love it! It's so beautiful, I'd place your card in a frame and showcase it on the mantle!!! The font is lovely too. Thanks for sharing the link to Jennifer's blog to check out this fun technique.

Your trip sounds outstanding and so very interesting! So happy to hear that you both got some time away. I hope you'll share some pictures with us!

[Doris D.]

Missed you these last few weeks and just knew you were in the English country side. I just love the lake district and Edinburg and all the other places you visited sound intriguing. You card is stunning. Love the foiling.

[Sarah]

What a brilliant idea to use holly - it's a leaf too!
Love your crystal effect BG and a perfectly crisp holly image.
Love it. x

[ceal]

Gorgeous card, love that you though of Christmas with the code word, most like myself immediately thought fall.

[Loll]

Beautiful card Jaydee. Have not tried foiling, but did watch Jennifer's video tutorial a while back and thought I should be a laminator and foil. Hasn't happened yet, but I'm hoping to get into trying this. Your holly leaves are so pretty and I love the red peals for the berries. But it all starts with your card base. Love the stitching detail and you pretty spray of gold. Sounds like you had a wonderful holiday! xx

[Nancy Baxter]

Dear Jaydee,
Your trip sounds fabulous! I'm glad you shared it with us. Thank you also for the link to Jennifer's video. What a wow factor the foil has! I signed up for her newsletter while I was there. I highly recommend her videos. Have a great day!
Nancy B

[Barb Ghig]

Foiling? I was wondering how you achieved such a beautiful finish on your leaves and variation in the shades of green! Gorgeous CAS card, Jaydee...I love it!
So glad you had such a lovely holiday! I've only dreamed of seeing such beautiful places...how wonderful that these sights will be in your memory forever :)

[Ksenija]

Jaydee, great take on our challenge! You broke the associative chain, leaves - Fall, Winter - snowflakes :) Beautiful card, foil is always difficult to picture

[Doni High]

Jaydee, love the look of the foil on your holly leaves! I'll have to give this technique a try soon. That little bit of gold spray on the background is perfect. I tend to spray too much too close and end up with a mess...but I'll keep trying...thanks for the inspiration.