Northern Lights Christmas Card

I have finally managed to finish my Northern Lights Christmas card that I started at the beginning of the week.

I wanted to try the emboss-resist technique so I cut a sheet of Whisper White cardstock in half and heat embossed the tree images on both pieces.

I sponged the northern lights on one of them but when I was finished 2 of the trees looked pink so I threw it away and sponged the northern lights on the other piece. Again I had pink trees so I posted a photo of it on Pootles Craft Forum because there are so many talented artists on there and I knew they would give me some advice.

Tracy Elsom commented advising me that Melon Mambo and the retired Blackberry Bliss inks cause this because they have a really strong pigment. Guess who used both of these colours : ) I thought I was going to have to throw it away and start again but thanks to Tracy’s advice I could continue making the card. YAY!

I left a comment on the Forum saying I would finish it on Wednesday but I was unwell. On Thursday morning I realised I had 2 very special birthday cards to make for Saturday so those took priority.

To make the focal image I started by stamping the row of trees, from the Lovely as a Tree stamp set, with Smoky Slate ink and heat embossing them with clear embossing powder. The trees on the left are from the Thoughtful Branches stamp set and I stamped the 3 tree trunks with silver ink and used clear embossing powder. I stamped the leaves with Whisper White Craft Ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder. For the tree on the right I used White Craft Ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder, this image is also from the Lovely as a Tree stamp set.

Tip: Instead of buying lots of embossing powders in different colours use your Stampin’ Up! Stampin’ pads and heat emboss with clear embossing powder.

To make the northern lights background I used So Saffron, Pacific Point, Blackberry Bliss, Melon Mambo, Emerald Envy and Night of Navy inks.

I started with the So Saffron ink and sponged 2 diagonal lines then I sponged Pacific Point ink so that it overlapped some of the So Saffron. To make the green brighter I went over it with Emerald Envy ink. I then sponged some diagonal lines with Melon Mambo and added a small amount of Blackberry Bliss ink. To make some of the areas darker I sponged a few vertical lines using a sponge dauber and night of navy ink.

My first thought was to make this into an easel card but when I laid it against the card base it didn’t look right so I laid it on an A5 card base and I didn’t like that either. There was something missing but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

I started to get frustrated with it so I made a coffee then went back to it about half an hour later. I looked at the Thoughtful Branches Northern Lights card I had made a few days before and had a ‘light bulb moment’, it needed a frame.

I die-cut a silver frame and adhered it using multi purpose glue, I was really happy with how it finished it off. The sentiment comes from the Reason for the Season stamp set which is in the 2016/17 Annual Catalogue. I stamped the sentiment on Whisper White cardstock with silver ink and heat embossed it using silver embossing powder. I die-cut the sentiment and then die-cut another out of the silver foil sheets to frame the sentiment.

The card base looked too bare so I embossed a piece of Whisper White cardstock with the Frosted Stripes Embossing Folder. I really love this embossing folder, I think it looks very pretty and elegant. I adhered the focal image with multi purpose glue and added a Rhinestone to the centre of each snowflake.

I wanted to attach the sentiment centrally onto the frame so I added a piece of tear and tape across the centre of it and I cut some dimensionals in half and added them along the bottom edge.

I had so much fun sponging the northern lights background, even if it was rather messy – this is how my hands looked after scrubbing them several times.

I really like this card and I hope you do too, I would love to know what you think. If you have any questions please leave them in a comment and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

I hope you find some time to have some crafting fun too, maybe you will give it a try.

Thank you for visiting today.

Dee x

If you would like to purchase any of the Stampin’ Up! products I used to make this card click on the image below:-

Lovely As A Tree Clear-Mount Stamp Set [127793]	Thoughtful Branches Photopolymer Stamp Set [143539]	Reason For The Season Photopolymer Stamp Set [139730]	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549]	Silver Foil Sheets [132178]
Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder [109130]	White Stampin’ Emboss Powder [109132]	Silver Stampin’ Emboss Powder [109131]	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin’ Pad [131179]	So Saffron Classic Stampin’ Pad [126957]
Pacific Point Classic Stampin’ Pad [126951]	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin’ Pad [126948]	Emerald Envy Classic Stampin’ Pad [141396]	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin’ Pad [126970]	Whisper White Craft Stampin’ Pad [101731]