2019 #20 A Bit of Sparkle: Christmas Cards with ESN {by Anneke de Clerck}

2019 Topic 20: A Bit of Sparkle

Anneke is right, sometimes clean and simple is certainly not quick and easy, but I'm sure you'll agree that this clever stamped grid effect is well worth it. The lovely stamps from Sara Naumann are used in a bold and beautiful way with these CAS projects.

Hi everyone, it's Anneke with you today, and I'd like to share with you 3 Christmas cards I made for the current 'A Bit of Sparkle' topic. 
On the cards I did some striking black stamping using stamps from the ESN40 stamp set designed by Sara Naumann. 

As you can see it's a set that holds a lot of beautiful text stamps. I've chosen to make minimalistic cards. I kept the designs simple because I wanted the text to be the eye catcher. 
To add that bit of sparkle I worked with Mica Flakes and Art Sugar. Glitter all over the place here; there will be glitter dust on my worktable until Christmas I'm afraid :)

To create the backgrounds of the cards I used a homemade one inch square stamp which I used to create the grid pattern on the backgrounds. 

I did the stamping with paint. On this card I used a combination of Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics London Bus, Seaglass, Pine Grove, Hint of Mint and Coral. After stamping I outlined the squares with a white pen. I inked up the text stamp from the ESN40 set using Archival Ink Jet Black.

I've cut all the tree shapes from this post out of 340gms Smoothy Heavy Card Stock. That paper holds wet media perfectly. It doesn't warp when adding texture paste, paint, snow, gel medium...my favorite paper to work with!

I applied a layer of Aleene's True Snow to the tree on this card using a palette knife. I sprinkled Finnabair Art Sugar 'White' on top of the wet snow. The sparkle doesn't show on the photo but believe me it's really there :).

Here I did the stamping with Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics Hint of Mint. Even if you're using only one single color, the grid pattern adds a lot of interest to the background.

To create the texture on this tree I applied texture paste through a text stencil (Tim Holtz Mini Stencil Set 32). After drying I painted the tree with Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics Cherry Red. I scattered Art Sugar 'White' over the wet paint.

On the final card I made a grid pattern with my homemade square stamp using Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics Snowflake.

I decorated the trees using Finnabair Mica Flakes. I adhered the Mica Flakes to the trees with Golden Regular Gel.

Mica Flakes don't come in colors. I colored them myself using Ranger Alcohol Ink in Flamingo, Watermelon and Pink Sherbet. It's a technique I learned from Tim Holtz. I put some Mica Flakes into a plastic cup, added a few drips of Alcohol ink, stirred well with a wooden popsicle stick and put the colored flakes on a paper towel to dry. After drying I stored the Mica Flakes in small jars, ready to use.

Although the cards look clean and simple they weren't quick and easy to make. Stamping the grid patterns was time consuming, more specifically the card in the middle. 

I experienced a few problems with the Mica Flakes as well. After applying Golden Regular Gel to the trees I scattered Mica Flakes all over the trees. That way I could cover most of the surface with Mica Flakes but I had to fill more than a few gaps. Picking up Mica Flakes with tweezers, adding Regular Gel to the back with a small paint brush and putting the Mica Flakes in place....I'm sure you get the picture :)

But after all I enjoyed making these cards. No effort too big to spoil my friends and family with my homemade Christmas cards :)

Thanks for joining me today.
I hope you'll have a wonderful and creative month of December. Enjoy!

Anneke

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