Clean & Simple II

I don't normally enter more than one card in the Simon Says Stamp Weekly Challenges but I've been anxious to play with some of my Christmas Dies.  Since that is what the Wednesday Challenge is this week, it was a good afternoon to do a little work in my studio.

I'm still trying to figure out what design I am going to use for my Christmas cards this year.  It has to be pretty simple as I will need to mass produce them. Cards just don't get much simpler than this design.

For this card I started with a landscape, side folded Lipstick Red card base.  This is one of Simon Says Stamp's 100# card stocks.  They are thick and smooth and make beautiful cards.  I treated my card front with some Shimmer Spray made by Tsukineko and set it aside to dry while I designed the rest of it.  This spray gives your paper a sparkle but you can't get too heavy handed with it or it will warp your paper.  Two light coats is far better than one saturated coat.

Next I wanted just a bit of sparkle on my card so I attached a 1/4th inch strip of gold glittered card stock from a mat stack by Die Cuts With a View onto a piece of Bazzill Marshmallow 100# Card Stock.  After that I cut the panel with my ever faithful Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die.  That extra little touch of stitching just adds that finishing touch to whatever project you are working on and I always prefer the finish of a die cut over a trimmer cut.

A new trimmer is on my wish list as the one I have no longer has replacement blades available.  I've also learned that if you buy titanium blades, they will last much longer than a regular trimmer blade.  I cut a lot of paper, so I'm totally going for that.  The one on my wish list is a Fiskars Wire Guide Premium Cut Line Trimmer and Simon's also has Titanium Blades available for purchase.

I cut the Christmas Blessings die cut in a Die Cuts With a View Red Foil Card Stock. The little dots on the I's are very tiny, so its important to keep track of them.  For the final element on my card panel, I cut some Holly & Berries with a Martha Stewart Punch that I've had for several years out of green shimmer card stock and red foil for the berries.  My goal was to accent the greeting without overwhelming it.  To me, nothing says "Christmas" quite like Holly & Berries does.

I assembled everything with Ranger Multi Medium Matte and attached the panel with Tombow Mono Permanent Adhesive.   I have two of these dispensers and several refills on hand.  This particular card would have been a good one for the ATG because I was not using watercolor card stock.  There are 36 yards of adhesive on one roll of that and the refills come in a 2-pack for $5.99 at Simon Says Stamp.  That is the most economical adhesive that I use but the size is pretty intimidating.

I have a few more works in progress on my desk so I'll have more cards for you soon. Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.