Berry Christmas, Take One

Berry Christmas is an amazingly easy set to work with, especially for OLCs. I used every image stamp in the set at least once, and they are all a delight.

These were the first two cards I made.

The idea for the branch and bird card came to me immediately. This layout is classic and I use it a lot: main image on bottom right, something else top left. Instance balance. I usually put a ribbon on top with the knot on the left, but this time, I wanted to keep the card pretty flat for easy mailing. With the large and lovely sentiment from PTI's Signature Christmas, I knew it would be big enough to balance the images.

I am bothered by branches that float in space and want to anchor them on a card somehow...a button, a ribbon knot, or running it off an edge. Having it appear out of the edge of the card made most sense here because I'd decided to keep everything nice and flat and because the branch is so large for the space it needs to occupy on this standard A2 card. I chose very traditional colors: handsome hunter and real red. The branch was colored with markers, huffed and stamped. The sentiment is stamped in black. The rhinestones add a nice bit of bling, and give a touch of red to the sentiment that balances the bird better.

The bird's eye gave me a fit. I'd planned on using Hero Arts small black gemstones, but they weren't small enough. So I colored it black with a marker, but that looked...boring. So I pulled out black Stickles, but that wasn't sparkly enough, so while the Stickles was still wet, I dumped black glitter on it. Still not entirely satisfied, but take my word for it...it definitely looks better IRL.

Next up, the little wreath card measures 3.5 by 4.5 inches. It was a scrap left over from cutting a larger-than-standard card from a standard sheet of cardstock. Originally, the longer dimension was 5.5 inches, but after I stamped the wreath and bow (stamped bow first, then used positioner to get wreath just right), the balance looked off, so I trimmed the bottom inch off. Much better. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and was stamped in black using a stamp postioner BEFORE adding the bling.

This wreath BEGGED for bling (especially with that sentiment) so I gave it what it wanted. Lots of red and green rhinestones here, from several sources and in different sizes.

Next week, I'll show pictures of my embellishment drawers and craft room, and write a bit about how I organize my stuff because it makes embellishing cards like this really easy.

Some Give-Away Information:

Many thanks to all who have left comments on the give-away post. It's fascinating to read the diverse opinions of what I should (or shouldn't) do. And you're all so nice about it! The one common thing you all seem to want is SIMPLE. Well, I promise you, that's not changing at all!

If you haven't left a comment for the give-away, there's still time. The deadline is Monday night at 10:00 EDST.

I will also have a few more give-aways next week, but these will be mostly purge give-aways. My mom has finally given up scrapbooking (she only started scrapping to have an activity to do with my cousin and me; she's a fine artist, and her heart really wasn't in it!). I have a bunch of her papers, die cuts, stencils, etc. Plus I've added some random scrapbooking stuff from my own collection, including some Basic Gray paper. Also, there will be a glitter give-away, and a stamp give-away courtesy of my stampin' friend Sue, who bought multiples of several sets and offered them to me as a give-away. I'm so excited!

Supplies
stamps: SU Berry Christmas, PTI Signature Christmas, Hero Arts
cardstock: PTI white
ink: Palette Noir, SU classic handsome hunter, real red, chocolate chip
accessories: Stickles, rhinestones