Our November Leading Lady, Jessica Frost-Ballas, is back for her sensational second performance! If you missed her smashing debut you must see it...CLICK HERE. Jessica's play on an elegant and dramatic color scheme will have you itching to try your hand at it too!
Ladies and gentlemen, Jessica....
My first card uses one of my most favorite craft products: hologram clear sparkle embossing glitter. To start I stamped the birch trees from Scenery: Into the Woods onto watercolor paper with hickory smoke distress ink. I used my MISTI to align the stamp to get a repeated pattern. Once it was dry I pressed a versamark pad over the entire background and heat-embossed it with the hologram clear sparkle embossing glitter. It practically glows!
Next I stamped the sentiment from Merry and Bright with Evelin T Designs onto a piece of vellum and heat-embossed it with silver sparkle embossing glitter. I trimmed it to a long, skinny panel and adhered it to the background by folding it over the top and bottom of the background panel and adhering it to the back of the panel. This way, you don't see any adhesive under the vellum. Finally I stamped my cardinal from Happiest of with Evelin T Designs in versafine, heat-embossed it with clear embossing powder, and watercolored him with distress inks. I fussy cut him and adhered him over the vellum panel so it looks like he's perching on the 't' of the word bright! It's a different look for a Christmas card but I really like the sparkle and shimmer with the pop of red!
My next card uses a fun distress ink technique that anyone can "master" because there is no wrong or right way to do it! I smooshed hickory smoke and black soot distress ink onto my craft mat, spritzed it with water, and pressed my watercolor paper onto the craft mat. I usually hold the paper into the ink for a few seconds to allow the ink to soak in. I dried it with a heat gun and then repeated the process until I was happy with the coverage. I repeated the process with another piece of watercolor paper using abandoned coral, festive berries, and candied apple distress ink.
Once it was dry I die-cut it with the In Bloom: Maggie's Roses Cutaways. I also die-cut the leaves from the same set with black cardstock. I adhered the roses and leaves onto my watercolored panel with liquid adhesive. Next I stamped the sentiment from Scenery: Bigger Bang Confetti (Hint: want to win one of your own of this limited edition stamp set? Read the Editor's Note at the end of this post.) and The Big, The Bold, and The Happy onto black cardstock and heat-embossed it with white embossing powder. I trimmed it to a label and popped it up over the dies with foam mounting tape. I brushed spectrum noir clear sparkle over the label and added a few sparkling clear sequins to finish the card.
My final card is also a Christmas card but it's a little more subtle. I stamped the foliage from In Bloom: Elsa's Flora and the sentiment from Merry and Bright with Evelin T Designs onto white cardstock and colored them with cool grey copic markers for a monochromatic look. Then I stamped the poinsettia from In Bloom: Elsa's Flora onto watercolor paper with versafine and heat-embossed it with clear embossing powder. I used zig clean color real brush markers to watercolor the flower with shades of pink and red. I fussy cut the flower, curled the edges, and popped it over my foliage with foam mounting tape. Finally I added a few metallic silver sequins for a little sparkle!
I hope this trio inspires you to play with shades of greys and a pop of color and, of course, a little extra sparkle!
I'm super excited that Shay has generously given me a $30 gift certificate to Winnie and Walter to gift to one lucky commenter! Leave a comment on any of my Leading Lady posts for a chance to win. Leaving a comment on multiple posts will give you additional chances to win so be sure to check back each Saturday!
Thanks so much for visiting and have a wonderful weekend!
-Jess
EDITOR'S NOTE: In honor of Jessica using our limited edition Scenery: Bigger Bang Confetti we will be giving 1 away to a randomly chosen commenter. Please comment including your email address on this post by November 30, 2016 at 11:59 p.m. CST for a chance to win.
