Merry Christmas to all who start the celebrations tonight!
I thought I was going for a quick last make before Christmas, but this card took way more time than it should have, and it turned out both painful and joyful. Deciding which products would deserve to be used before next year was already painful enough. While I lost the last bit of my soul (or mojo to be less dramatic) die cutting the kitty and assembling the wreath, the background was my redemption... Full story in this blog!
This card was a revelation for me, or a confirmation of how I've been feeling lately about my cardmaking, and maybe I'll share a little more about it when the time is right, but it leaves me full of hope and good resolutions for 2026
Products:
Joyful wreath dies (Concord and 9th)
Finger puppet cats die (A pocket full of happiness)
Cats and Pugs sentiments and Cheerful kittens (Spellbinders)
Lovely layers: Scaredy cat (Honeybee stamps)
Herringbone parquet (The Greetery)
I started this crafty journey by die cutting the Concord and 9th Joyful wreath from Spellbinders Peridot and Lawn Fawn Noble fir cardstock. While die cutting the wreath, I remember thinking that the wreath base was a pretty clever die set and having seen some gorgeous fluffy wreaths made with that die, I was really excited about that project. But as I started assembling the wreath, my die cutting anxiety hit me. I was trying to follow the pattern on the wreath base and quickly realized I would need to die cut more leaves and what was going to be a quick card would be a full hour of assembling just the wreath. It is a bit ironic that this die is called Joyful wreath because it took away every bit of joy I had before starting it. What makes this die particularly tricky is that the leaves are very short so you need to glue a lot of them to get a rich design. I ended up die cutting each die 4 times for a total of 50-ish leaves to glue! After die cutting some more, I tried to reason myself and decided to stop overthinking the assembly and started to glue the leaves randomly and that eventually worked well.
I used white and vanilla cardstock for the berries. The die comes with two layers which makes them particularly realistic. For the bow, I used Concord and 9th Red foil cardstock and only die cut the knot base, not the layering parts.
Next, I die cut all the pieces for the kitty, using the Finger puppet cats die from A pocket full of happiness, from various grey shades of Lawn Fawn cardstock, black for the eyes and white for additional details. I assembled all the tiny bits and stripes with glue. This was a labor of love, totally acceptable as this kitty was a version of Kali (my cat), but still very draining. The die didn't have a tail nor paws. For the paws, I used the same die as for the eyes, and for the tail, I used the Lovely layers: Scaredy cat from Honeybee Stamps.
For the sentiment, I wanted to use the Spellbinders Cats and pugs sentiments stamp, so instead of using the banner that comes with the wreath die set, I used the Spellbinders Cheerful kittens die set which coordinates with the stamp set.
I die cut the banner from white cardstock and stamped the sentiment with black ink. To bend the sentiment and have it follow the banner, I used a piece of acetate to position the sentiment over the banner in my stamping press. The banner comprises 2 layering pieces which I assembled with foam tape.
I glued the kitty at the base of the wreath, tucked in the tail. I then glued the banner and adhered the paws on it. And finally, I adhered the little bow underneath.
So far, not so good. At this stage, I still need to come up with a background, and I already feel overwhelmed from the assembly of the wreath and kitty. I decide to go with a wood background as this is what has always worked the best for me with wreaths. Because I had decided to keep the leaves plain without ink blending, I thought I needed a background with a bit more interest. I chose to work with the Herringbone parquet die from The Greetery which I die cut from white cardstock. I then adhered another layer of cardstock at the back to keep the planks together.
To keep the wood texture, I decided to not use any brush and dab the pads directly onto the panel. I used Ranger Distress oxides and started with a light hand of Walnut stain, added Tea dye in the remaining white spots. I then came back with Scorched timber to add a few strokes of darker shades. The background looked way too clean so I decided to splatter some white gesso all over it. I was a bit too fast doing so and the browns smeared into the white drops making it look very muddy.
I let it dry, but, at this stage, I thought my background was totally ruined and too basic.
I wanted to add a few touches of a very distinct color, either blue or red, like old planks that have been repainted several times and crackling over time, revealing previous colors. But all I had in my stash was some teal acrylic paint. So I added random splatters and brush strokes and wiped them with a paper towel, which turned out also very muddy, but colored the gaps between the planks in a nice way. Still not looking like what I initially wanted, so having nothing to loose, I decided to add more brush strokes of white gesso, wiping the excess out, which turned into more mud, but also completely covered the wood veins.
I'm leaving the background in that stage, to prepare lunch and I'm thinking I'll have to make a new one when I resume work. But back from lunch, I decided to add more Scorched timber, leaving some white and it totally saved the background. What made it look nice is the fact that the white gesso got into all the veins of the wood and those stayed white after dabbing Scorched timber over the raised part.
If I were to redo this background, I would probably take similar steps, but skipping all the splattering: I would start with dabbing Walnut stain and Scorched timber. I would then add a colored acrylic paint, insisting on the gaps between the planks and wiping it out. I would then add white gesso over the planks, wiping the excess out. And once dry, I would finally dab Scorched timber with a light hand over the raised parts.
I adhered the background to my card base and the wreath with foam tape. To finish the wreath, I spread some Ranger Distress Grit paste on the tip of the leaves and random spots of the banner, and poured Rock candy over it. And let it dry out.
I know this card is not a master piece, has nothing really impressive about it, but the joy I felt fixing that background, but also mostly experimenting to see what could work and what not, felt extremely good. I felt something I hadn't felt for a very long time!
Comments
Post a Comment