Poinsettia Petals in a One-Sheet-Wonder Card

I must admit that I have had tremendous writer’s block for almost the entire month of November.  It wasn’t writer’s block exactly because I was creating and trying to write a lot of posts.  But I just could not get anything done to my liking.  I was beginning to feel a bit disheartened.

And then I decided to design a card just for myself.  Do the stamping the way I liked to without the end goal of a completed blog post.  So, I sat down with the Stampin’ Up! Poinsettia Petals bundle and started to create my own One-Sheet-Wonder.

I find this technique so relaxing and creative.  You will find a detailed description of this technique in my September 13^th blog entry – in excruciating detail.  But I have decided to share it with you again, here, using a Christmas theme.

I also think that the pictures will describe my technique best – and if you would like the Russian-novel length version, please take a look at my original entry here.  This time, though, I will use pictures to show you the steps that I took.

I used the most ornate version of the poinsettia in the set to start the stamping.  You might also see in this first picture that I used the Stampin’ Up! Very Versailles cursive writing background stamp with Crumb Cake ink to dull the stark white cardstock.  This also adds to the shabby chic feeling of this technique.

Once the flowers were stamped in Real Red – and before going on the evergreen fill, I used a Blending Brush to provide some color to each flower.  It almost looks like cheek color to me – just a bit darker.  Then I went to work on the Old Olive evergreen branches from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set.

While I fussy cut a mask of the poinsettia flower to keep the evergreen stamping from muddying the main flowers up, this is entirely optional.  My first attempt showed me that over stamping the Old Olive evergreen branches took away from the poinsettias.  So, this second attempt used the masks.

Once the branches were stamped, I used the stamp from the same Poinsettia Petals set that looks like a branch with berries on it.  I used Crumb Cake to place these branches around the 8-1/2” x 11” canvas and then the accompanying stamp with Real Red to add the berries.

And the last step was the addition of the centers of the poinsettias using Versamark Ink and gold embossing powder.  I heat set the embossed flower centers and considered this complete!

But then, I decided that it was sparkly enough.  I decided to try a technique using the Wink of Stella pen.  But instead of coloring with it, I used it to “spritz” shimmer all over the card faces.

To do this, you should be sure that the Wink of Stella “ink” is running well.  Then, rap the Wink of Stella pen against a brush handle or ruler so that it splatters ink on the surface of your “canvas.”  I did quite a bit of it – but this is entirely up to you.  But when is enough really enough, though?

Once the panel was complete, it was time to cut it into four even panels of 4-1/4” x 5-1/2”.  We now have designs for 4 cards.  However, these are too big if they are going to fit on the standard A2 card base with a mat behind it.  In fact, here are the standard measurements for cards like these:

As you are getting ready to trim the stamped panels to size, please note that the plain side of the panel will offer a place for a stamped sentiment.  But you need to trim those panels down in a way that will provide you with strips to use for the inside panel.  Cut the flowered panels down like this:

Here is a picture of the images as I cut them:

I mounted the 4 images on Stampin’ Up! Gold Foil cardstock cut as mats per the chart above.  I then used my Stamparatus to stamp the sentiments on the face of each panel.  (If you stamp well and tend to get a good image on the first try, you don’t need the Stamparatus!  However, I don’t trust myself to get it right on the first press, so the Stamparatus allows me a do-over.)

The matted panels were then glued to the Real Red cardstock card bases.  Look at the images to decide how you want to lay them out.  In this set, I found that all 4 images were fine in a landscape lay-out.  Two of them needed to have the sentiment stamped closer to the top edge, while the other two cards wanted the sentiments stamped at the bottom.

The inside message panels measure 4” x 5-1/4” for the white cardstock.  I used a long strip of the scrap cut from the flowered panel to line the lower edge of each message panel.  Use Stampin’ Seal to adhere to the inside of each card and you are done!

I know that this is a lot on the first try.  But if you like this design and are willing to spend a little time and a piece of 8-1/2” x 11” cardstock, I think that you will find playing with this Christmas design to be fun.  It is a great creative outlet that is apart from cutting and measuring.  This technique is truly a good relaxation exercise for me, and it seems to work when I am not feeling creative.  Even the finishing isn’t hard as the panels do not require much more embellishment than the gold embossing and the spattered Wink of Stella.

Good self-care is about relaxing – and it certainly helped me a lot.  Enjoy, my friends! 

If you are looking for a supply list, please note that this one is pretty short as I tried to keep this project to a single stamp set and basic Christmas colors.  Please let me know if I can answer any questions that you may have or help in any way!