"Christmas Cards" by Gwen Wruck

Hi Creative Friends,

Gwen with you today on the blog.   With Christmas just around the corner, I thought I'd do some last minute Christmas card creating! I have not made many cards this year so this was a heap of fun :)

For this project, I started with my background.  I wanted a subtle look with all the shimmer so went with the Colour Shimmer Spray in Bling which I sprayed through a stencil.  It is a little difficult to see in the photo below but it is soft and sparkly and super pretty!

While I was waiting for that to dry, I cut some leaves with my Silhouette and embossed them using the Colour Embossing Powder, also in Bling.  This is a messy embossing powder so not the best for stamped images if you want a very clean look, however, it does an amazing job of chipboard and die-cut pieces like these, the shine is so so pretty and the coverage is excellent.  It is also very easy to get back into the generously sized jar which is a plus for you clean scrappers out there!

It was time to work on the second layer of my background.  Using a circle stencil, I added a layer of Colour Paste in Snow White.  I love this paste so much! It is super sparkly and adds a lovely texture to the background.  As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, you don't need a lot of this to go a long way, it spreads really nicely, like soft butter!

Next up, a couple of close-ups of the details, first, the 2 leaves die cuts, one in plain white, the other all embossed and looking pretty. I have applied only one layer, as I mentioned previously it has really great coverage!

and a close up of my finished background with the layer of Bling Shimmer spray followed by the layer of Snow White Colour Paste.  This photo really shows you the beautiful texture the paste gives you.

Once my background was complete, I added a few embellishments and the cards were complete.  I will add here that I have gone for a really subtle look with my cards, however, this technique would work so well with any colour combo, something darker such as Deep Water with the Snow White over the top would make the paste stand out more, and the shimmer of the Bling is stunning over a black cardstock.  So have a go at different combos, I'd love to see what you come up with. 

I kept these pretty simple so that they could be posted and so as not to distract from my pretty background.  There you have it, three simple and sparkly Christmas cards ready just in time for Christmas!  

I give this project a "mess level" of Medium/High.  It's high simply because of the Colour paste and Embossing Powder.  However, the paste does not stain your stencils and the embossing powder is super easy to pour back into the generous container so that brings it back to a medium rating from me!  Totally worth the mess!

Thanks for popping by today, and as this is my last post of the year, I'd love to wish you all a Happy Festive Season!

Until next time,

xo