I adore the Rustic Crate bundle, and I believe this is the first Christmas card that I’m sharing using it. One of the thing that I love about the images in the stamp set is that they are ideal for coloring with the Stampin’ Blends. They aren’t so large that it takes a long time, but they are big enough so you get the nice pop of color on your finished project. The images in the set are fantastic for all seasons, and this set is not retiring so you’ll be able to get it for a while. I still encourage you to check it out here if you want to grab it for your crafting enjoyment.
I used one of the sentiments from the Cozy & Bright kit that I made last year. This kit has some really great fonts and the sentiments are a great size for pairing with other Christmas imagery. That’s something that I appreciate about Paper Pumpkin and other kits – the stamps are great for using for other projects. So if you have any of those stamps from past kits, don’t forget about them when your creating.
I created this card a couple of months ago during an online stamping retreat. This card has a unique and unexpected twist ingredient – a sheet of paper towel. The more interesting the “embossed” design on the towel, the better. I’ll describe how you can do this technique so you can try it out for yourself. I’ll warn you, it is very easy to go overboard with the ink (as I did with my sample), so on that step when I say “lightly” I really mean it. You can always go slow and add more ink, you can’t take it away once it’s down.
Here’s how to create the interesting paper towel layer:
- Cut a piece of cardstock in the size for the layer – on my card it is 3 3/4″ x 5″
- Cut a paper towel a little larger than the cardstock layer
- Cover the full surface of the cardstock with adhesive – I used adhesive sheet for this, but any adhesive will work
- Place the paper towel over the adhesive and lightly press it to adhere it down
- Wrap the edges of the paper towel around the back and adhere with Scotch tape
- Trim the excess paper towel if needed
- Use an ink pad to lightly swipe across the paper towel gently applying ink
- Repeat until you’ve achieved the desired look
- Set the paper towel layer aside to dry
- Use the layer in your project as an interesting background layer as planned
The color of ink that you use will create the vibe for your card. I used Shaded Spruce which (to me) is the perfect Christmas Green. You could do this with a pink, lavender or red for Valentine’s Day, or use a light blue for a sky like background for a pretty floral image. You can also use the un-bleached paper towel with a brown ink to create a cool, rustic looking background. Your imagination is the limit – give it a try!
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