CAS-ual Christmas Cards

Hi, everyone,

First of all, a huge thanks to everybody who took part in the OWH's Midweek Throwdown color wheel challenge. Your cards were fabulous. It was just great seeing the different color combinations. Who knows what Jan will have in store for us tomorrow?

CFC62: Back in Black

This week's Cas-ual Fridays Challenge is to make a card with a black base. For some reason, Christmas popped in my head. Shortly after, Glistening Boughs and A Seussian Christmas were born. :)

The bases for both cards are Bazzill black cardstock. Also, heat embossing was used on each. Oh, and the little star punch I picked up while shopping with a dear friend at Hobby Lobby last weekend was a must for both cards!

Card 1: Glistening Boughs

Bazzill cardstock; heat embossing with metallic powders; gel pen; mini hole and star punches

• Because of the texture of the cardstock, the embossing was not as uniform as I had hoped. So, I embossed the gold tree twice. I decided to keep the silver trees a little "barer" -- so to speak -- using a silver gel pen to fill in each tree just a bit more.
• A 3D glue dot was used to adhere the star.
• Next, I added the circles in the corners to add a little interest and repeat the gold color.
• Then, I added the gold border lines to frame the card and ground the trees. 
• Helpful Hint: Dryer sheets aren't just for static clean anymore. A great tip from Spotted Canary is to rub a card base with a dryer sheet to prevent embossing powder from sticking where it's not suppose to stick!  :)

Finally, credit where credit's due. The inspiration for this card was a Pizazz It! Card Club creation. Such fond, bittersweet memories...  

Card 2: A Seussian Christmas

You all know how it is when you come up with a card that you just love -- really LOVE. Well, A Seussian Christmas is one of those cards for me. I just adore this card!

Papers: Bazzill, American Crafts Christmas collection; heat embossing with clear powder; star and hole punches

The idea for this card was a twist on a card I made for my dad a couple of years ago.

• Because of the black background, I decided to use the quirkier colors in the AC pack (a reddish brown for the trunk, lime green for the branches.)
• The star and ornaments are from the cream color in the pack. To add a little shimmer, I heat embossed cream cardstock using clear powder and then punched out the shapes.
• To pop the tree and draw even more attention to the star and ornaments, I matted the tree's base paper on a piece of the cream cardstock.
• Since the tree was angled left, I angled the star and cream-matted paper to the right.

Parting Thoughts

Hoping to get to this week's Sunday sketch challenge later this week. Last week seems to have been just a brief respite in the crazy pace at work. Busy is good, but just a little less busy would be even better -- at least as far as my creative juices go. :)

Thanks for visiting and happy scrappin'!