Beaded Frost

Another Christmas card, but I was hoping this one was kind of generic enough to do for any greeting. The beads on this little branch remind me of the heavy frost that used to crystalize all of the plants on the farm where I spent much of my childhood in Ontario.

This card was feeling rather boring, but I didn't want the design to get heavy looking, so I just added some dry-embossed squares off to the right. Amazing how dry-embossing can make a card feel a little more finished somehow. I have the S.U. light table and both kinds of stylus (I prefer the cheap little one actually.) You can do dry embossing on the window though, just tape your work up on a window (with some low-tack painter's masking-tape so it doesn't ruin your card maybe.) Have the template underneath and use your stylus to press the image into your cardstock. After the initial investment, it's a great way to embellish for free (embellishments can cost a small fortune, so I love these cheap tricks!) :0)

Card Supplies: Cardstock: "Soft Sky," "Blue Bayou," "Not Quite Navy," and "Naturals White." The blue bayou is stamped with a rose vines and thorns stamp in "Blue Bayou" ink (sorry I can't for the life of me remember where I got that stamp! I had to use it though because of the subtle religious imagery; I'm not overly religious myself: more "spiritual" actually. However, being an English major, I just love symbolism...blah,blah,blah...) ;0)

The "Soft Sky" card is rolled with the "Leaves a la Carte" (wheel current S.U.) in versamark ink. The main image is embossed with "Chocolate Chip" craft ink and clear embossing powder, then doodled on with a blender pen (dipped in "Blue Bayou" reinker.) The beads are adhered over top of that with Crystal Effects (best adhesive EVER!) The edges are distressed with the Distressing Tool (fancy that!) ;0)

Thanks for lookin'
Mel

P.S. The patterned paper, that's the backdrop for this picture, is by Basic Grey(from their fruitcake collection); it's called pine bough (FRU-595) Just in case you're curious.