Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Christmas 2014 - the main card


Extreme Close UP!!!!  Yeah, because that entire image is very small.  I tried to make this card last year and wasn't happy with it.  I only revisited it after failing with my first choice card this year.  Sometimes you just can't force it.


And here is the load I made - I forgot to take the photograph before I had addressed them to go out, but wanted this photo for prosperity!


In the end I made around 80 nearly identical cards for my mass production.  Even streamlining as much as possible, I guesstimate that each card took around 30 minutes to complete from scoring, cutting, stamping, coloring, embossing, masking, stamping, embossing.  All those little steps take time.  I think I timed the coloring taking me about 7 mins per card.  That's why I had to do the extreme close up to appreciate the little bit of shading and texture I did in that image.  Even using warm grays for the fur and cool grays for his beard.  Then coloring the whole Santa image with Versamark to emboss it.

I did some test runs before I decided on the final finish of the card and although to be honest the embossing was a pain in the bum, it definitely needed it to give that final finish to the card.
Ingredients
Card size -  4 1/4" x 5 1/2";
Cardstock - Recollections 110lb white;
Stamps - Whispers;
Ink - Memento: tuxedo black, cottage ivy; Versamark pen;
Color - Copics (warm gray, cool gray, skin tone, blush tone, green, 2 reds (one for shadow), gold tone, darker gray)
Accessories - Clear embossing powder, Stamp-a-ma-jig, small T square.

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