Hanging Ornaments

The theme for the September Christmas at Sweet Stampin' challenge is Christmas decorations and this Freshly Made Sketch seemed perfect for it:

I decided to use a wide Merry Christmas sentiment to create the illusion of the strip across.  I used a die from Birch Press Design and stacked three cut from Stampin' Up Gorgeous Grape cardstock topped with one cut from Gold foil paper slightly offset.  This gave the sentiment lots of dimension.

Now for the ornaments!  I made them using the Simon Say Stamp "Ornate Ornaments" stamp and die set with Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder and colored them with a Violet Zig Clean Color Real Brush marker.  I simply swiped it across the embossing and blotted up any bits of ink that might have been on the embossing.  No need for detailed coloring when you are only using one color!  The original plan was to use gold embroidery thread to "hang" the ornaments and place it on a Gorgeous Grape card base, but as I laid everything out the card seemed pretty boring, so I used substituted black for those elements which gave it more pop.  I wish I had used regular sewing thread because the embroidery thread is somewhat fuzzy.  I had also planned to let the ornaments swing freely, but like so many plans, that needed to be revised as the bottom two ornaments kept switching places and the round one on top of the almond one did not look right.  After I glued them all down I realized I could have left the almond one loose like a tag.  Y'all may see another version of the hanging ornaments in the future.  I had to finish the front off with (what else?) bitty sparkles.  The folks at the Winter Wonderland Challenge blog want to see my favorite embellishment.  If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that sparkles are my favorite!

Here is the inside using a sentiment from Close to My Heart's "To You and Yours" stamp set which I stamped with Black Versafine ink and embossed with clear detail powder.  No messy black embossing powder for me!

I also plan to enter this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Monochromatic Challenge.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi