Frosty Forest

Hello and welcome to my blog  :)  Today I am sharing my FIRST Christmas card of 2017 with you!   I wanted to create something special with my new Chocolate Baroque Christmas stamps, they are so beautiful and different from any of my other Christmas stamps and I have SO many ideas for them!
I have used stamps from the Reindeer Landscape, New England Winter, and Winter Birds sets; dies from Crafters Companion and Sheena Douglass; Chocolate Baroque Seasonal Journey stencil, Designs by Ryn Floral Spirals stencil; Distress Oxide inks, white Gesso paint, Brilliance ink - Ice Blue, Silver Aztec paint, clear EP and Opal EP.

I began with a piece of white stamping card then applied DOs straight onto my glass mat.  I spritzed the inks with water then dragged the card through the inks in a circular movement to give a distressed, textured and blended look.  I then stencilled silver paint with a sponge randomly all over the background panel to represent an icy wind blowing.   I stamped some snowflakes randomly over the top third of the card with white gesso to complete the background.

Next I stamped the Reindeer scene image onto the panel with Versamark ink and embossed it with Opal powder.  I wanted to extend the scene as the BG panel is square, so I removed the ink from one edge of the image before stamping and embossing, then re-inked, stamped and embossed the image again.  A faint line was left but I was using a die over the whole panel so it didn't matter too much.    

I took another piece of white card and die cut a stag scene, embossed it then blended DI  over it to accentuate the embossing.

On a white base card I stamped and embossed the snowflake corner and some of the snowflake images, then stamped other worker images around the edges of the card to create a border.  I added two types of 'snowy' glitter on the background panel and the front panel.  I attached the BG panel to some mirror card, then attached that to the base card.  I used 3D foam to attach the front panel as I wanted to create some depth to this piece.  

I stencilled the word 'Winter'  in one of the bottom corners of the card which is where I would put a sentiment.  I wanted to create a card that would be suitable for a winter birthday as well as Christmas.

I added some gems to the stamped snow flakes then die cut several snowflakes, attached them to the card and added some gems.  

I really enjoyed creating this card!  It's quite technique heavy - like a lot of my designs - but it was loads of fun to do and the finished piece is just as I wanted it to be!  The whole design has a peaceful, frosty fun feel to it.  Definately a special Christmas card.  
Thank you very much for dropping by today, I hope you've enjoyed this post and will pop in again soon  :)