Rudolph Day - An Embossed Die Tree

Good evening on what has been a pleasant & quiet Sunday. Have been catching up some comments, visiting my Christmas Card Club Team members, and now finally have a few moments to post my card for Rudolph Day. In case you don't already know this, the 25th of each month, our wonderful Hostess with the Mostest (Maureen of Scraps of Life by Scrappymoi) opens the gates for sharing Christmas themed cards. Honestly, that's the only rule...something of Christmas. The challenge closes at the end of each month, and such inspiration you will see if you pop over to have a browse. Maybe decide to enter a card. I think this is last Rudy Day of 2016 however. So why don't you have a look, and maybe plan to join in for sure next year. Helps to build a good Christmas stash.

OK, here goes (using an embossing with dies technique shown on this video by Jennifer McGuire)

 

- background created by sponging quite heavily, DI shades of green (Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron, Clover, Mowed Lawn...the glow around the tree is from the Twisted Citron). Sponged and blended until I got the look I wanted, then made the corners darker. Burnished with a handy dried out baby wipe. Then sprinkled some Biscotti Perfect Pearl mica powder over the inks, burnished with a fluffy brush until it was all spread evenly. Then again, with the dry baby wipe and this creates such a sparkle...which of course does not show well in the photo.

 

- S/B 2012 Holiday Tree die was inked well with Versa mark. Used a 2nd layer under the background piece, as sometimes the die can cut through. I do the sandwich with: the cutting plate, the embossing pad, the c/s, the die face down, the top plate. . I learned to emboss with the die face up; even with taping the die, it would always seem to slide.  Even with the extra c/s between bkgrd & die, there were still some places that embossed very deeply.

 

- Sprinkled Ranger's Princess Gold (not nearly so pretty as the Queen's Gold IMHO) all over, and heat embossed. Had to do some trimming to fit this on an A2 card that I normally mail. Harder to find the Queen's Gold of late..guess Ranger has discontinued it.

 

- white c/s inked at the edges with Versamark, and then more Princess Gold to get a matching gold around the edges.

 

- Memory Box die sentiment - 3 layers, inked and heat embossed with Princess gold, and it looks a bit metallic. I had used just the "Merry" part of this die on the CCClub cards yesterday.

 

After adhering the sentiment, decided to use Ruby Slippers Nuvo Crystals for the 'i' in Christmas (and this time I had the little piece available too!). After seeing the color over the 'i', decided to add some more 'pearls' for ornaments. It was one of those situations where once again I asked "Should I have left it alone?". Do you talk to yourself while creating? Maybe it's a sign of something that I'm doing that!!! LOL.

 

Please think about entering a Christmas card over at Rudolph Day and say Hello to Miss Mo. You will definitely get some fantastic inspiration from the Guest Designers and all the players!

 

Thanks for joining me tonight, and big hugs. See ya soon. (oh yes, added a new card to the Cards by Friends section too)