Good morning to you! It’s November 9th, which means there’s another amazing release today at Concord & 9th. I am telling you, I don’t know what is in the water over there at C9 headquarters, but each month they simply outdo themselves. I’m going to need them to design a wallet stamp and die set soon. You know, to replace the one that I burn out at their store every month.

Okay, let’s get to my card. Our theme this month at Where Creativity Meets C9 is Christmas, and I just simply had to use this Merry & Bright stamp from the Ornamental stamp set. It’s the perfect size to fill up a card front so you can go clean and simple, or use the additional image stamps in the set and go wild. I chose the clean and simple route.

Now you might be saying to yourself, “Self, how did she blend green and red together and not get brown?” Well, I’ll tell you. I cheated a bit. Or I discovered something. I’m not sure. I first laid down a layer of Fossilized Amber oxide ink in the middle, so that when the Peeled Paint and Candied Apple inks were applied, and met in the middle, they wouldn’t muddle into a brown mess. And, somehow it worked. Yay!

After I got the ink blended to my satisfaction, I used a gold shimmer spray over the entire panel. I let it sit there for a moment or two, then blotted it up with a rag. Then I let the panel dry for a few hours, so that it was easier for me to heat emboss. Before stamping the sentiment I used a scalloped die to cut out my card front.

For the sentiment, I used Black Soot oxide ink. The oxides emboss beautifully with embossing powder, and I thought I’d have the best chance of avoiding an ink interaction if I stayed in the oxide family. I used my stamping tool and probably repeated the stamping four or five times to get the best coverage. Now, remember, this particular stamp is designed in a sketch format, so the image is not perfect, by design. I then covered the sentiment with clear embossing powder, preheated my heat gun, then melted the powder. Every single time I do that, it’s like magic to me. I love it.

There’s a closer look of the embossing and gold shimmer spray. It’s absolutely beautiful in person, but there is no way that my camera skills can match the beauty. I mounted this panel to some fun foam, then on to a black card base. Some sequins for some more sparkle, and we have a very simple, yet impactful, Christmas card. Would be very easy to make multiples of this design, I just might have to do that.

For the inside of the card, since it’s a black card base, I added a piece of white cardstock, using the same die. You have to have a space for writing in your cards, right?

I hope you’ll join us this month for our challenge. It’s a great theme, and we all need Christmas cards this time of year, right? So you might as well try to win a prize for yours!

Supplies:

OrnamentalEH | SSS | C9	Scalloped Rectangle StackablesEH | SSS | AZ	Fossilized AmberEH | SSS	Candied AppleEH | SSS
Black SootEH | SSS	Peeled PaintEH | SSS	Hero Arts ClearEH | SSS	Neenah 110 lbEH | SSS
Black Card StockSSS	Canson XL Watercolor PaperEH | SSS | AZ	Crystal ReflectionsSSS	Be Creative Tape, 1/2″EH | SSS
Mini Glossy AccentsEH | SSS	Craft FoamSSS | AZ	Stamp ShammyEH | SSS	Mini MISTIEH | SSS
Powder ToolEH | SSS	Ink Blending ToolEH | SSS	Craft SheetEH | SSS	Rubber BrayerEH | SSS
TweezersEH | SSS	Paper TrimmerEH | SSS