Friday, December 2, 2011

A Swirly Sort of Tree

Today's cards use the SU set Snow Swirled, which not only has a pretty, swirly, flourish-y Christmas tree but some lovely snowflakes that I will use on tomorrow's cards. Yep, this set is so versatile, I will make four cards from it instead of two!

First up, a clean and simple one-layer card in my favorite winter color scheme.



Memento London Fog and Rhubarb, with silver satin ribbon and lots of dark red bling added for fun, make a pretty, pretty card!

Next, a card that transforms the tree into a swirly, flourishy border that doesn't look like a tree at all.



To make the border, I masked the edges with large post-its, then used a stamp positioner to get stamp the tree repeatedly to fill the space.

The gold accents come from a Prisma metallic marker and gold lame Smooch. This is also a one-layer card, though if you had some pretty designer paper, you could edge it with a metallic marker and use that for the same layout.

My first instinct was to put the sentiment in the sweet spot (one-third of the way up from the bottom of the card), but when I laid the uninked stamp (from a Hero Arts clear set) on the card, it looked weird in the sweet spot. When I moved it to center, it looked so much better. That's one advantage of clear stamps...you can "test" them on your layout and move them around until you get a pleasing placement.

Please remember to make sure the stamp is totally clean before laying it on your card. Just sayin'.

Regarding Yesterday's PSX Tree Stamp...Kay asked if I added something to the third card to make it look like the tree was dusted with snow. No. That's just the way the stamp looks. Beautiful, no?

24 comments:

  1. Oh, Susan, I'm totally inspired. I'm going to make a border using my tree from Snow Swirled. I would never have thought of that by myself!

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  2. Beautiful, beautiful! Love the red and gold pattern you created.

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  3. The cards are just gorgeous. I love the way you are making two or more cards with each set. I am a mass producer but feel inspired by the variety of cards you are making! Thanks for sharing them with us.

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  4. Oooooooooo! I have this set and love that it is versatile, but I never thought of making an accent or background with the tree. Thanks so much for the idea!

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  5. Love this image and well done using it as the vertical band on the second card! Two lovely cards.

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  6. Susan!
    Loving all the creations you are making...You know I love the bling bling! Hope you have a Wonderful Christmas!! Hugs, Cookie

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  7. Both cards are fantastic, and the tree that is now a border is just marvelous. I only wish I could get my Smooch to look like that. Mine is more like a dry peck. Ha!

    Last night I sat down and made two xmas cards. TWO. Only about 78 to go. Ugh.

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  8. Beautiful cards Susan, I am trying to follow your inspiration to make my cards. Thank you

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  9. What a great idea to use the tree to stamp a border!!

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  10. such talent! I adore the swirly border....must try to borrow that some time

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  11. Both strike my fancy. I may even CASE the 2nd card and use a SU roller. Talk about CAS, huh?

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  12. Taking a break from Pinterest to check out your blog. I am bowled over by the creativity of the second card. Just awesome!

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  13. How clever you are to use the swirly tree stamp to make the vertical border! The border is the perfect width. The sentiment size, font and placement are totally perfect. The card is a joy to behold! I'm so glad I receive your blog - what a daily delight!
    Thanks for sharing your talent.

    Thanks to Kay for asking about the possible snow on the PSX tree stamp - I was curious about it, also.

    Carolyn [mcw519]

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  14. Gorgeous -- love the way you have used the swirly tree as a border!

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  15. Both cards are stunning and truly inspirational. Thanks for sharing.

    hugs julie

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  16. A totally different tree from yesterday, but again, beautiful cards! You would never know that flourish-y panel was that tree!

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  17. I love the way you used the tree to make a panel of swirliness! I have to try it.

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  18. OH...MY...WORD. CASEing that second one--LOVE the way you used the tree!!! Thanks so much for all your fabulous ideas, Susan! :)

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  19. I just LOVE that stamp, i have wanted it for ages but it isn't available in Europe only you lucky US crafters can buy it... I even look on e-bay from time to time for a used set. I love how you made a border with it, freat idea.

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  20. Genius to use the swirly tree as a wide border strip! I adore this card! Sadly, I just sold my SU swirly tree set last week. Drats! :)

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  21. WOW I see my favourite SU stamp set in a whole new light. Thank you.

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  22. The second card is stunning - what a brilliant idea. And I like hearing that the sweet spot isn't always the best spot as sometimes I stamp in non-sweet spots!

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  23. can hardly believe that card 2 uses the same tree stamp .. that is amazing!!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!