CottageCutz: ~Tree Tops Glisten~

Hello Scrapping Cottage friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit today. It's Mary Marsh here bringing you the Friday edition of the Blog.

Even though the temperatures are still soaring like summer is never going to end, we all know that our summer season is fading away rapidly. Next week marks the official start of Autumn. And, before you know it Christmas will be knocking on our doors.

So it's not too early to start working on your Christmas cards. That way when December rolls around there will be time for all the other festive holiday traditions. So with that in mind today I am bringing you a Christmas card using one of the new CottageCutz Christmas 2016 dies.

This one is the Birch Trees & Deer dies. The die cuts the trees in 4 different pieces. I think that makes it much easier for placement and attaching to your cardstock. And, I love the antlers on the deer. They cut so smoothly.

Without further delay, let's get started on some details of how I made this card.

White Card Base: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Light Gray Layer: 4" x 5 1/8"
Image Layer: 3 7/8" x 5"

I started my card by creating the background. It was done by using both a brayer and a large sponge dauber. My ink colors are a medium blue-green and a teal.

Tips on using Brayer: I always use dye based inks because it dries quickly and when you mix the inks they will stay true to color. I use a soft rubber brayer from Speedball.
My cardstock is a smooth white cardstock. Because it's so smooth you won't get a lot of spots in your work like you would by using a textured cardstock.

When you ink up your brayer, roll in one direction. If you roll it back and forth you won't ink the entire brayer.
When I start the actual brayering, I have the brayer right next to my cardstock and roll upwards and then come back and catch the edge of the paper. And then go back and forth, back and forth.

I used the lightest shade of ink and went about 1/3 of the way down my cardstock. I repeated this several times until I got the shade and look I wanted.

Then I inked up my dauber and started sponging the darker shade of ink. I kept applying color until I had the shade I wanted. I didn't cover the entire background because I knew I was going to add a snowbank to this card.

Once this part of my background was complete, I pulled out a snowflake stencil to create some background snow. I secured the stencil with some painters tape. Works like a charm for me.

I used 3-D molding paste and smoothed it over the stencil with a spatula. Once I have the paste in place I remove the tape and carefully lift off the stencil. I set it aside for about an hour to dry.

While this was drying I cut the snowbank from white cardstock and stamped my sentiment in the teal ink. Then I added some glue and chunky glitter. Just wanted a little sparkle on the card.

I cut the trees in a light gray cardstock and my deer in a medium brown cardstock. I also added chunky glitter to the treetops to make them glisten and sparkle just like my sentiment says.

Now with all the elements complete, I am ready for the card assembly. I attached the trees with Ranger multi-medium matte and I used glue dots for the deer. The image panel is layered over the light gray cardstock. And, to this layer I cut some white fun foam to lift it off the base panel. It just creates more dimension on your card. You could also use mounting tape.

Here are some close up shots of the trees and the deer. You can also see the little bit of chunky glitter I added to the treetops for the glistening effect.