It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like ...

The timing on this card was perfect.  It's not long finished and I just got an email notification of the latest challenge at Double D Challenges.  There's lots of inspiration here - something I have struggled with over the last few weeks.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

If you're interested in the details, that beautiful large snowflake die is from WMS - I was lucky to pick that up before Claire closed her doors 😢 and I'm not sure if she has re-released it under the Gina K label like many of her stamp sets.

It's huge and will not fit comfortably on an A6 card so I did that off the side trick.  The other two snowflakes are also from WMS.  I thought the middle snowflake die resembled foliage so I had no worries about cutting it from green.  In fact when I looked for an appropriate stamp (to decorate the inside and the envelope) I found that she had designed a matching forest stamp - Claire is a genius at designing clever sets!

In my first design of this card, I used a red bead in the middle.  It looks great, but I'm not sure it's up to the long trip to Australia or post office franking machines.  So I used a red brad.  BUT it was just flat and ordinary SOOOO.  I applied about 3 coats of glossy accents to the brad to give it that enamel dot look (and a touch of glitter along the way for some interest).  This is an especially good trick (if you have the patience) when you want to match your  enamel dot perfectly to your project. Enamel dots are pretty expensive - and you can't possibly have them in every colour you might need.  I normally keep any "dotty leftovers" for such a purpose and I have a few dies that will quickly produce  a few different sized dots if I need them.  Because of the viscosity of Glossy Accents it stays on the dot - just make sure you keep your project flat until it's dry.  Here's a close up

Here are some other great challenges which I'm also entering

Just Add Ink - Just Add Glitter

Cuttlebug Mania - Let it Snow Challenge

Happy Little Stampers November Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

Make My Monday Challenge #59 Snow Fun

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Muse Christmas Visions Festive "Free for All"

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you like what you saw.  If you did, leave a comment so I can get to know your better and return the favour.  Your visits and comments are precious to me.

Kate