Red Christmas

This week's Fusion Challenge is Red Christmas and since I love using Red at Christmas, I wanted to join in.  I use a lot more red during the holiday season.  In fact, more than the rest of the year combined. It always says "festive" and I enjoy it.  I particularly like vibrant reds and scarlet tones paired with gold or silver and I have a second card today using those colors.  Let's face it, I love metallics or shimmery papers and I use them as often as I can. When I started stamping a couple of years ago, I loved the look of heat embossing but I was terrible at it. I got mixed results and most of them time it didn't look that good.  Because I loved it so much, I kept trying until I figured out how to make it work for me.  I got very good at doing it and I rarely mess it up anymore thank heavens. My powder tool is Baby Powder with a fluffy brush.  I like the feel of it and it has worked for me way better than my EK Success Powder Tool or Powder Pouch.

Between all the gold embossing I do and all the beads I've made for Christmas, I have used a lot of Versamark Refill although the majority of it has been for the beads.  I have a container of UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) that I've had for 2+ years that I have often wondered if I could ever use it all but with bead making, I have used almost the entire container.  When I got up on Monday morning (a.k.a. Cyber Monday), I had an e-mail from Michaels offering an extra 30% off of sale prices and free shipping for that day only, so I checked to see if they had Versamark Ink Pads and UTEE (my Versamark pads do get icky looking so I needed to replace a couple of them).  They did, so I got both for 30% off of the already half priced items and I didn't have to set foot out of the house. SCORE!  The problem with this is that I also saw some paper that I've become a fan off that wasn't available anywhere except in the actual store.

This past summer I went in to Michaels looking for a specific item and by chance found these cardstock stacks from a company called Craft Smith.  They have a big bunch of those on sale at Michaels for $5.99 right now so I did something I don't do very often - I drove into Tulsa after a couple of doctor appointments to see it in person. They had so many different ones and I dragged 5 of them home.  There was a particular one I wanted that they didn't have called "North Pole Gazette", but I found a suitable replacement called "Always Christmas".  This red and gold foiled paper was in this stack plus I got one in Rose Gold, Christmas Metallics (Gold, Silver and Rose Gold), and one Gold & White.  Did I mention that these were $5.99?  I could have brought many more home, but I didn't.

Specialty papers that have foil or metallics of any kind tend to run about $2.00 for a single sheet so I didn't think I could pass up a whole pad of those when they were only $6.00.  The Craft Smith brand tends to be thicker, heavier paper and one of the clerks told me it cuts better for her.  The paper is much smoother than most so it does cut cleaner.  I understood what she meant as I felt like I was constantly replacing my trimmer blades before even though I spent the extra money to get the titanium ones.  I can't stand raggedy looking cuts so I finally got a Tonic Personal Trimmer after I broke the handle off of my Creative Memories Personal Trimmer. That trimmer was never as good as the Tonic even when it was brand new.  I am surprised at how good this trimmer cuts every kind of paper and I plan to eventually get the larger version for my studio (after we move). I mostly cut everything with a die, so it isn't as big an issue as it use to be but I remember how it was a constant source of  irritation.  The smaller sized trimmer will cut up to 9 inches so I still have to use my big Fiskars trimmer for the longer sheets.

Getting back to my card, I got the Merry & Bright Stamp TV Kit that released last month I think it was. With my kit I ordered 2 of the cube ink pads to try them out; Cherry Red and Fresh Asparagus.  These inks stamp beautifully in one layer.  I do love the translucence of many dye inks but sometimes I want a better coverage without stamping multiple times. To get equal coverage in similar colors of my regularly used inks, I would have to stamp at least three layers. The red really stains but since Poinsettias are mainly pink or red, I guess it isn't a big deal. I know it doesn't affect the stamps, it's just my inner neat freak coming out.  In case you hadn't noticed, all red family inks stain, even many light pink inks.  They stain worse than black.  Now granted, I don't have a big variety of ink brands but I have tried several.

The inks I use most of the time are Papertrey and Altenew.  I have 48 colors in each of these brands.  I have Distress Inks in cubes and Distress Oxide inks in the colors that have been released so far but I only use those for techniques so I'm thinking of adding some of the Gina K Inks to my collection and moving my Distress Ink cubes to another area.  I also have several of the Tsukineko Brilliance Inks which are pigment (and Pearlized) and opaque and give a completely different look so I could store the Distress Inks with those as I have another container that is empty.  That would make enough room in my Ink Storage Chest that I use for all my ink cubes to add the Gina K Collection to my tools.  I am that impressed with these inks.  It all depends on what look you are going for.

This 7 drawer jewelry chest is what I use for my inks.  I primarily use ink cubes because the Rheumatoid Arthritis makes it difficult to manage the larger sized pads when I use my MISTI. I can control the ink application better in cases where I need to take the ink to the stamp versus the stamp to the ink.  That is most of the time.  I've even started using the Mini MISTI for the banners I tend to use for my sentiments.  My top drawer has a few Distress Inks in colors I almost never use along with the two Gina K Inks and this is where I'm thinking I will switch out the ink pads as I add a few Gina K Inks at a time.

I stamped these poinsettias, leaves and holly using the two Gina K Inks.  This was a single layer of ink.  I stamped the holly berries in the same Cherry Red but I decided to put Nuvo Drops over the top in the color Autumn Red.  See how smoothly those inks stamped?  It's pretty darn impressive and I am anxious to add a few colors at a time.

The Red and Gold Background paper was cut with the WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Die which cuts the full A2 sized Stitched Rectangle.  I also used some of the Gina K Designs Heavy Base Weight White #120 Cardstock for my card base and the sentiment panel which was cut using the Gina K Designs Decorative Label Dies.  Her coordinating dies in this Merry & Bright Stamp TV Kit are also incredibly easy to line up and cut after you've stamped them.  I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and Heat Set it with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder, then stamped it again and heat set it again just to make the sentiment a bit bolder.  This is my favorite new trick learned from Jennifer McGuire this year.  I attached that to the background panel with Foam Tape.  I adhered the holly and poinsettia with foam tape as well.

I have several other projects coming up this next week and I hope you'll come back again to check them all out.  Thanks so much for stopping by! The supplies I've used are linked below for your convenience.

Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS	WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Designer Dies Shop at: SSS	Gina K Designs Stamp TV Kit - Merry & Bright Shop at: GKD
Versamark Ink Shop at: PTI | SSS	Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS	Scotch 3M Faom Tape Shop at: SSS	Tonic 6 Inch Personal Trimmer Shop at: SSS
Gina K Designs Cherry Red Ink Cube Shop at: GKD	Gina K Designs Fresh Asparagus Ink Cube Shop at: GKD	Gina K Designs Heavy Base Weight White Cardstock Shop at: GKD	Gina K Designs Decorative Label Dies Shop at: GKD
Nuvo Crystal Drops - Autumn Red Shop at: SSS