Just Add Ink #479 Color Challenge with Nature's Beauty Card

Hi Craftin' Friends.

I've been building up my leg muscles running up and down the stairs at my house as my Mom-in-law and hubby have both been sick with colds and needing some tender loving care, as well as meals on (my) wheels. Fortunately they're both doing better and so I took a little break to play with stamps, paper and ink!

Today I have a Christmas Card to share with you in non-traditional colors. The Just Add Ink #479 Color Challenge really appealed to me. I absolutely love Coastal Cabana and Whisper White, and adding a little Pear Pizzazz seemed like a recipe for success.

For my card, I chose to use two stamp sets from the Holiday Catalogue 2019 - Nature's Beauty and the Greatest Part of Christmas. They make a great pair because one set is entirely images and the other set is entirely sentiments.

 Many of you know I love to try Fun Fold cards. Today's card is a Joy fold card with a little twist. I used a Z fold base in Coastal Cabana, then added the Joy fold to it. I've also used some favourites products from the Annual Catalogue. I can't seem to make a card with a deer without using the Woodland Embossing Folder, so I cut Whisper White Cardstock to fit the front panel and the inside of the Z fold and ran it through the Big Shot with the Woodland EF, and glued them to the Z fold. Next I cut a piece of Coastal Cabana 8 1/2 by 3 3/8", and scored it at 4 1/4". This is the Joy fold piece that opens backwards in the card. 

For the stamping, I cut two Whisper White pieces, 3 1/4" by 4 1/8". On the first piece, I stamped the deer in Smoky Slate. For my color challenge friends, yes, I know, that's another color. But I figured in this case the gray was a neutral and could be accepted. Memento Black just seemed too dark for this card. Next I stamped the first sentiment in Coastal Cabana. To draw the Pear Pizzazz colour into the card, I stamped the bush/grass image multiple times in Pear Pizzazz ink, stamping off once to keep the light feeling of the card. Although it doesn't show up well in the photo, I also brushed some Wink of Stella onto the deer and the grass, then flicked some onto the panel to look like snow. (It is lovely in person!) The last step for this panel was to emboss it using the Subtles Embossing Folder. I love the textured look you get on a stamped image with this folder.

Since I'm referring to embossing folders, I thought I'd share my tip for remembering which plates to use with which folder. I have no trouble remembering the thick folders require one less clear plate to go through the Big Shot, but remembering when to use the blue plate for the new 3D folders was a challenge, as they're closer in thickness to the old thick folders. My fix is super simple. I bought some small coloured dots at the dollar store and add a small blue dot to the folders that require the blue plate. Easy peasy and no confusion. 

Now, back to my card. For the inside of the joy fold, I stamped a wreath using the leaves from the Nature's Beauty Stamp Set and my Stamparatus. In Pear Pizzazz ink, I stamped off once, then stamped the leaves 8 times by stamping in the round. If you haven't seen this done, there are tutorial videos out there.  I used my Stamparatus grid paper and cut a 3 1/4" square out of it. After removing the square, I placed it over the cut out piece of grid paper rotated 90 degrees and drew pencil lines to show where to rotate my paper for stamping. However, my paper wasn't square. So I drew very light pencil lines on either side of my panel to leave a 3 1/4" square in the centre. I was able to line up  my panel with the square on my grid paper even though it extended beyond the square underneath. Here's my stamped wreath.

 I added a second sentiment in Coastal Cabana ink, and after erasing my pencil lines, I glued it inside the Joy fold panel. Finally, I glued the joy fold panel to the inside of my Z fold card base and stapled a small bit of Whisper White flax ribbon tucked behind the front part of the Joy fold panel.

In my cards, I like to allow space for writing, and I think in this card you could write on the Coastal Cabana side of the Joy fold. However, I did find it difficult to stand the card up for display purposes as the front panel will not stay closed over the Z fold (see picture below). So if you're planning to display a card like this, I recommend an inexpensive picture stand as shown in the first photograph above.

Hope you enjoyed today's card. It was fun to make, but I wouldn't recommend it for beginner stampers. Those of you who like a challenge - give stamping in the round a try! 

I don't want to forget to mention that the Nature's Beauty Stamp Set is a special product, because for each sale of this set, Stampin' Up is making a donation to Mental Health organizations. For my customers, that means $4 from the sale of each set will go to support Mental Health in Canada. If you'd like a look at another card made using this set, check out my Facebook Live video from last Thursday.

Happy Stamping Friends!
Craftin' Granny