Twelve Days of Holiday Cards - Day Three + Giveaway

Welcome to Day Three of the Twelve Days of Holiday Cards!  I am having a great time putting this series together for you this year!

Today's card features a set of dies from Birch Press Designs.  Nativity Star is a four-layer stacking set that is simple with very clean lines and a look that is so elegant.  One of the things I love about this die is that you can save all the little pieces from when you cut it out and add additional elements of color to your finished piece.

Lately, I seem to be on a "shades of blue" kick and so I wanted to do something in blues for today's project. I pulled Shimmer Cardstock from PaperPapers.com in Aquamarine, Lagoon, Peacock and then some of my gold card stock.  I use various sources on Amazon to get my Gold Cardstock because its the most reasonably priced of any place I've found.  Most of the time I use the Hygloss Brand found here at Amazon.  They have matte gold and mirror gold.  The matte gold is more yellow in appearance than metallic gold, so I use the mirror gold.   I don't want to be limited on how much I use, so  Even though I typically like silver with blues, it kind of got lost with these colors so I changed over to gold.

My card base is made from Cougar Super Smooth Digital White #120 cardstock and the mat layers are White Pearl from PaperPapers.com and Glimmery Ocean Blue from Simon Says Stamp. The Peacock is just a shade or two deeper than the Glimmery Ocean Blue.

Next, I decided what order to do the layers in.  I decided to do the base layer of the star in the medium color, then the next layer from the lightest and the 3rd layer from the darkest to give each shade a good amount of contrast in between.  I save all the small pieces and when I had the bottom three layers put together, I went back and added the darkest bits behind the bottom layer's openings.  I used the center circle from the medium tone behind the top layer's cross.  I added a crystal to the center of the top layer.  I made a tiny pencil mark at the tom and bottom of the panel so I could align it.  I used Scotch Foam Tape to adhere it to the card base.  I die cut just a single layer of the sentiment, Peace Cheshire Script, and attached it using glue.  I wanted to focus to remain with the Nativity Star and not be outshined by the sentiment.

I love the detail in this set of dies.  My favorite style of decor and architecture is Art Deco and this fits right in with that style as do many of the Birch Press Design styles.  It's not the only style I like, but it is my favorite.  It always makes for a really clean and layered card. 

I was curious about this Nativity Star and so I googled Art Deco Star and found this lovely platinum and diamond brooch.  It is considered French Art Deco and is an antique Platinum and Diamond Brooch that was once offered by Lang in San Francisco.  They have been in business for 50 years there and offer a wide variety of vintage and Art Deco jewelry pieces and maintain an excellent online library of pieces they have had through the years.  Jewelry is most assuredly where my love of Art Deco began as I used to work in a jewelry store.  While our specialty was loose diamonds, we often held events that featured Vintage Jewelry or people who wanted to remake their vintage jewelry into something more modern.  All joking aside, that makes me shudder!  I have a platinum, yellow gold and diamond brooch that belonged to my great-grandmother.  I even have a picture of her in one of my albums where she is wearing the brooch.  I would never change it.  I don't have too many occasions to wear it, but I have worn it for special events throughout the years such as weddings and the like.

Truth be told, working in a jewelry store is probably where my appreciation for well made and beautiful things comes from and I am often inspired to try to create such lovely things from paper.  I typically use gems or pearls for my card embellishments and people often ask what kind of gems I use.  I love to use Swarovski Crystals and I buy them in 12 and 16 SS Flatback Stones. I only ever use two colors so far; Clear and Aurora Borealis.

This is, once again, a project that you could sit and do some die cutting while you're watching TV or listening to an Audiobook, Podcast, or music.  If you have one of the little Sidekick die-cutting machines or a Mini Blossom from Altenew, these dies go through just fine.  With the Sidekick, you will need to rotate the die a few degrees to the left or right of the vertical center position.

I usually use Ranger Multi Medium Matte or Gina K Designs Connect glue for this type of project and the small size of these containers works well if you just want to sit and glue die-cuts together.  It's somewhat of a mindless task and then you'll have a whole bunch of these ready to make fast and easy cards.

Please, be sure to comment for your chance at winning one of the daily prizes that are being offered for the Twelve Days of Holiday Cards series. I will have a Winner's Post on November 30th.   Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I've included a linked supply list for your convenience.

Affiliate Links may be used at no additional cost to you.

Birch Press Design - Nativity Star Complete Set Shop at: SSS	Crystal Katana Tool Shop at: SSS	Gemini Junior Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS	GKD - Connect Glue Shop at: SSS | GKD
Kokuyo Long Dot Adhesive Shop at: SSS	Memory Box - Peace Cheshire Script Die Shop at: MB	PP.Com - Cougar White Digital Smooth - #110, 200 pack Shop at: PPC	PP.Com - Curious Metallic Aquamarine Shop at: PPC
PP.Com - Curious Metallic Peacock Shop at: PPC	PP.Com - Stardream Lagoon Shop at: PPC	SSS Glimmery Ocean Blue Cardstock Shop at: SSS