First Christmas Card of the Year

It's late September, long past when I usually start making Christmas cards.  Never mind that temperatures have been running in the upper 80's...  This is my first of the season created using this Freshly Made Sketch:

I made the star using the thinlets that co-ordinate with Stampin' Up's Star of Light stamp set.  What I like about their die cut sets is that you can say they are value added.  Containing more than outline dies that let you avoid fussy cutting stamped images, they include dies that can cut layers, embellishments, and/or windows.  First I used an outline stamp to cut the star shape which I painted several times with a gold shimmer pen to give it a subtle background shine.  Next I cut the lacy layer and heat embossed it twice with white super fine detail embossing powder to give it shine and added dimension.  One things I like about this technique is that the sharp edges of the paper go away, giving it a molded look almost like icing on a cookie.  I wanted even more dimension to the star but hesitated to use pop up foam out of concern that the points of the star would be bent downward in the mail.  My solution was to cut three more background layers out of Kraft paper and stack them.  The finishing touch is a sparkle in the middle because sparkling is what stars do.

It's a little blurry, but this is the shot that best shows the gold shimmer.  I heat embossed the sentiment and two more stars adding sparkles, of course.  Here is the inside:

Originally I filled the center of the star with a brown marker, but it looked almost black, so I covered it with a bit of  Almond Glitter Glitz to better compliment the soft colors of the card.

There you have it.  One card down, 60+ more to go.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used:

Paper:  Oh Deer!, White Daisy, Desert Sand, and Cashmere cardstock, Kraft paper, all Close to My Heart

Stamps:  Star of Light by Stampin' Up

Ink:  Sea Glass, Juniper, Twilight from Close to My Heart, Versamark

Embellishments:  White super fine detail embossing powder by Ranger, Gold Shimmer pen, Brown and Blue sparkles and Almond Glitter Glitz from Close to My Heart

Other:  Star of Light thinlets from Stampin' Up