SSS DieCember, Classic Leaf Ring

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

Hi friends! I have a couple Christmas cards to share today that mix old and new products from Simon Says Stamp.

I started by diecutting the Classic Leaf Ring die twice, from two shades of green cardstock. These were layered over each other, offset, to create a fuller ring/wreath.

For the sentiments, I used the Holiday Trio 1 dies, cutting the sentiments themselves from Matte Red cardstock, the shadow pieces from vellum, and adhering them together.

I wanted a nice subtle background, so I pulled out my Wonky Trapezoid background, stamping it with white pigment ink on kraft.

The backgrounds were trimmed down and adhered to my card bases, then the wreaths were added, and finally the sentiment pieces over top. 

Even though I didn't use dimensional adhesive, all the layers, and the mix of cardstock, vellum, and metallic cardstocks ands a lot of dimension and texture, but these are still nice and flat for mailing.

STAMPtember Blog Party, Wonky Trapezoid Background

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

Hi friends!  Today Simon is throwing a blog party to celebrate STAMPtember.  So many crafters are participating, sharing projects created using the new STAMPtember goodies.  If you want a full list of who is taking part, head on over to the Simon blog where they have linked to all the participants.  You'll also find some fun prizes/offers along the way, including the one I'm sharing here.  Use code FTHX to receive the Fancy Thanks die with any order you place through Sunday.

OK, onto my cards.  Today I'm sharing a few cards featuring my new Wonky Trapezoid background.  This is such a fun background to work with.  My first two cards show a couple ways to color it.

For this first card, I chose four pink Copics: RV11, RV13, RV14, and RV19.  I colored each of the trapezoids vertically from light to dark, but I varied the color I started with in each column to get a more random/organic feel.  

This is the perfect background for this type of coloring because the sections are small enough that you don't feel that the color is uneven, but not too small to make you crazy.

The sentiment is from the Yay You set.  It was embossed in white twice, die cut, and then adhered with foam tape.  I also added a secondary sentiment from the Reverse Yay sentiment strips which was also popped up with foam tape.

This next card shows a different way to create a pattern.  When I was looking at the background, I thought it would make a great 'knit' pattern, so I colored it to resemble a sweater.  This is just the tip of the iceberg as once my mind went down that path, I kept thinking of fun designs that could be colored.

I used three color combos:  YR23 and YR27, YR16 and YR18, and YG25 and YG67.  I colored each of the trapezoids with the lighter color, then added the darker along the left and bottom edges, and then went back over the intersection between where that dark and light met with the light color again.  Just a couple times, not really trying to get a gradual blend, I wanted the contrast to really stand out.

I used the Here For You die set to finish things off.

Then I thought I would do some watercoloring.  I started by embossing the background in gold on watercolor paper, and then watercolored to create an ombre background.  Once dried, I adhered the panel to my card with foam tape.

By happy coincidence, I used the Fancy Thanks die that you can get for free with ay order this weekend.

It was cut from Champagne Matte cardstock, adhered to three more layers of the Thanks die cut from regular cardstock, and then adhered to my watercolored panel.

For the last card, I also embossed on watercolor paper, this time with clear embossing powder although it really looks very gold in the photos and in real life.

I then sprayed the background with a combination of Blueprint Sketch, Cracked Pistachio, and Twisted Citron Distress Spray Stain along with a bit of Merry Mint Distress Mica Stain.  I sprayed just a bit of water to help move the color around some, and then set the panel aside to dry.

Once the panel was dry, I trimmed it down, this time with the trapezoids running horizontally to mix things up, and adhered it with foam tape.

I sprayed a scrap piece of watercolor cardstock with the Blueprint Sketch Spray Stain, dried it, and die cut the sentiment shadow, from the Love Ya die set.  The sentiment itself was cut from that same Champagne Matte cardstock.  They were adhered together and popped up with foam tape.

This is one of those backgrounds that I think will become a staple.  I love that it's subtle and small enough to be a great basic background, but can really shine on its own too.

That's all for me today.  Head on over to the Simon blog to check out everyone participating in today's party!