Christmas in July!

Hello again!   Now, I know this may be early for some of you, but one of the themes this month at Paper Rose Studio is Christmas in July.  And since I've been making Christmas cards already on my other design teams, I thought it was only fair to make one for Paper Rose Studio. 😀

Paper Rose Studio Supplies Used: Crisp Christmas A5 12pc Sentiment Sheets 19772, Three Candle Circle Metal Cutting Die 26026, Aussie Christmas - Gum Leaves & Holly Circle Metal Cutting Die 27397 , Holly 6x6" Stencil 19721

Other Supplies: Liquitex Gloss Heavy Gel, Distress Ink in Festive Berries and Aged Mahogony, Distress Ink reinker in Festive Berries, Distress Glitter Dust, Cosmic Shimmer Luna Paste in Moonlight Pearl, Ranger Glossy Accents, microbeads.

I started this card by doing some ink blending with the Festive Berries Distress Ink on an A2 card front, and I tried to get a darker application out towards the edges.  Then I die cut the Three Candle Circle from the center of the card.  I also cut this from white card and just cut out the candle and leaves portion.  I coloured the candles with Copic markers, and applied the Luna Paste over the leaves.  Then I covered the candles with Glossy Accents and while it was still wet, I sprinkled on a little of the glitter.

I wanted some more interest on the background, so I created a paste from the Liquitex gel, Festive Berries, and a little of the Glitter Dust. 

I spread this paste over the Holly stencil and set it aside to dry.  Once it had dried, I applied the Aged Mahogony ink around the edges.  I hadn't thought about adding the Aged Mahogony prior to applying the paste, but that would have been better.  The Liquitex gel is very glossy so it gives a very pretty finish and the glitter dust just helped to add a little sparkle that matched the one on the candles.

On a piece of white card, I applied a light layer of the Luna Paste and let that dry.  I cut the Gum Leaves & Holly die from this, and again from white card two more times. I layered these die cuts up with the Luna Paste one on top.  I paper pieced the leaves back into the die cut by applying a small piece of cellophane tape to the back of the die cut and then inserting the die cut leaves.  Next, I glued this stacked die cut over the Three Candle circle on the card front.

I struggled with what to put in behind the candles, as gold mirror card was too shiny and white too boring.  Finally, I applied a layer of double sided adhesive over some gold mirror card, and covered this with microbeads, and pressed them in using the release paper.  This doesn't show up well in the picture, but in real life, there's a really fun texture behind the candles.

I glued the card front down to an A2 sized card base.  I used my laminator to foil the sentiment, using a satin gold foil. I trimmed this down and lastly, glued it to the circle just below the candles.

Thank you so much for joining me today, and I hope you are ok with a very early Christmas card!