December Inspiration Station Monthly Blog Challenge!!

Click the link below to check out the blog and play along!!

https://inspirationstationchallenge.bloCgspot.com/

Can you believe it! Here we are at the last blog challenge for 2023!! I hope you all had a blast following and playing along with the Inspiration Station all year, and plan to play along for 2024! For this last challenge inspiration of the year, I decided to go all out-over the top!

I love the colors in the sky of this background, so I really wanted to nail that. I chose to use Altenew Crisp Dye inks first in Wisteria, the blending with Tide Blue, blending those together with Hero Arts Hero Hues White dye ink, and then coming in with Altenew Fresh dye ink in Navy to blend it all together. I kept the lighter areas the same as where they were in the inspiration photo. After blending the inks on Gina K Layering White cardstock, I embossed it with a retired Stampin’ Up! 3D embossing folder that is all Christmas trees just to give it some extra texture.

The next layer to this background was the stars and I did this in two parts. First, I used watered down white acrylic craft paint to splatter “stars” over the lighter areas only of the background.

The next was adding glitter stars and for this I used a very fine gold glitter and crystal white glitter. I watered down liquid glue and splattered it like I did with the white paint. I sprinkled the gold glitter over those splatters. Then I splattered again and sprinkled with the crystal white glitter.

I set the background panel to the side to dry and took out my Canson XL 140 lb cold press watercolor cardstock. Using Hero Arts Fancy Die Christmas Tree Pieces, I cut two of the Christmas trees from the watercolor cardstock. One with the rough side up and one with the smooth side up. For the painting technique I had in mind, I wanted to see how each surface took to it and would use the best out of the two for the finished tree.

I set up my Altenew Artist’s watercolor palette as well as a palette made with Altenew Alcohol Ink in Grass Field, Altenew ink spray in Antique Gold and some 91% isopropyl alcohol.

On each Christmas tree die cut, I started with the two lightest watercolor paints, wet them down and ran my brush over the edges of the tree to what will be highlighted undertones. I then used the darker green watercolor paints to fill in the middle of the trees. I saturated the trees with water from my Altenew Mini-Mister so the watercolors would naturally blend and mix together.

When these were dry I went to the alcohol ink palette and ran some of the green alcohol ink, both straight and a bit watered down with the alcohol over the middle of the tree.

I then mixed the green alcohol ink with the Antique Gold spray and went over the entire trees. At this point I decided to go with the tree that I was painting on the rougher side of the watercolor cardstock as it definitely made a difference in the tone of the colors.

From the same die set I cut all the ornaments and presents as well as the tree star, in all of the colors I found dominant in the inspiration picture. To add depth under the ornaments I used my 1/2″ hole punch in the same colors and began adding those first to the tree with Aleene’s tacky glue. I used the Altenew Stampwheel to hold my tree down so I could apply the layers of decorations.

Next, I applied the die cut ornaments and added Hero Arts Lacquer Pen in “Sparkle Clear”. I added another of the ornaments but left them plain, and I brought out the Ol’ Cricut Expression to cut out some red bows and added a layer of those to the tree.

Heading back over to the blended embossed panel, I had to cut it down and to clean up the edges, I edged it in the Navy Altenew Fresh Dye Ink. Next it was layering up the card. The card is a 5×7″ from Gina K. Whisper White cardstock, a layer of Recollections holographic cardstock. To this I attached the blended background.

To start the final round of finishing the card, I cut a 1″ circle from the same yellow cardstock I cut the tree star from and centered that on the panel. This helped me decide where to place the actual tree.

Because cutting down the blended panel created a blank space on the bottom of the card, I used that as an opportunity to make a layered-up cardstock area for the sentiment. After attaching the tree, I adhered the first two layers of the sentiment area.

I used Altenew Artist marker in Evergreen to ink up the tree trunk. I then started applying layers of the presents… I glued the background layer of the presents straight to the card, then the next layer I used foam squares to bring them up for depth. I then used Hero Arts Heroscapes Winter Woods Stamp Set for the sentiment and embossed it on blue cardstock with Altenew Antique gold embossing powder. After attaching the sentiment, I added another layer of presents under the tree. (As a final touch I also used the Lacquer Pen to add some sparkle to the tree star.)

And yes, this card too awhile to complete, but really it was more for drying time than anything. And I am happy to say it actually came out the way I saw it in my mind’s eye, so I am really happy with it.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial and I hope you check out the Inspiration Station blog and join the fun!! Remember, if you try any of the techniques I used, please tag me on Instagram @scrappystampthefunup, I would love to see your work! In the meantime, have a wonderful winter holiday and we will see you in the New Year!!