Die Mimicking - Full Inside and Out cards

Hello All! So today's post has been waiting on my computer for me to publish since Christmas in July 2019! Around that time the Spellbinders Joy Die Set came out and it was one of those ones I really wanted. It was sold out everywhere and so I got to thinking, how can I create the look of this die set with what I have? And that's how these cards came about! 

If you'd like to view the creative process, go ahead and click the YouTube link below, otherwise read on..

So I actually used some inspiration from Yana Smakula. I recently discovered her youtube channel and I love the colours she uses. I find it so blingy but elegant. She actually used the Spellbinders die set to make her card and I thought I like the look of this but I know I have some dies I currently have to get the same sort of effect. All you need are some large alphabet dies, pine branch dies and some small elemental dies (flowers, hollies, berries, etc.). 

So I made these cards one at a time because I wanted to see if I could actually get the desired effect. I started with the card above with some traditional Christmas colours. I first used some Distress Inks in Mermaid Lagoon, Salty Ocean and Chipped Sapphire and blended them (darker on the edges and lighter in the center) on teal coloured recollections cardstock. This panel is about 8' x 3 1/2' for a non conventional card size. I used the Tim Holtz blending sponges to get a darker colour along the edges, then a makeup brush to blend the colour softly into the center. I then took my Yasumoto Metallic Watercolours in silver, gold and pearl and created a splatter pattern on the ink blended cardstock with a paintbrush and acrylic block. 

I then used my branch dies to cut out the pine branches in gold metallic cardstock (Recollections). I also cut out the letters using gold glitter cardstock (recollections pad), and the little flowers were cut using a small Recollections punch. The hollies were cut out using a large die with small holly elements, so in this case I used only a portion of the die which is a good way to extend the use of your dies in your stash. I used Tim Holtz Idea-ology Metallic Jewels 8' x 8' cardstock pad for the hollies and flowers.  

I then put all the die cuts together on the card with Tombow Mono Liquid adhesive. I attached the letters with some foam tape for some dimension. I also added the Merry Christmas sentiment on a small strip of cardstock (covered in chipped sapphire distress ink) with Ranger Gold embossing powder. I then cut out the card base with some heavier white cardstock and made it a little bigger so I could have a 1/4' border, which I covered with gold glitter washi tape (from Amazon). Then before I attached the card front, I worked on the card inside. 

I used my make up brush with the same colours to create the faded look above on the side and bottom of the card inside. I then used a pine branch stamp from the Sunny Studios Christmas Trimmings stamp set with Encore Ultimate Metallic Gold and Delicata Dark Brown pigment ink to stamp out the images on top of the blended ink. These branches tie in the center of the card to the branches behind the "JOY" on the front of the card.

I used some VersaFine Clair ink in Twilight to stamp out the sentiment. The sentiment is from the Altenew Holiday Wishes stamp set. And I finished off the inside with some Red Rhubarb Nuvo Drops and some silver Stickles.

Finally I attached the front panel to the card and added some gold metallic gems (from Amazon) and some gold and silver stickles, along with more Red Rhubard Nuvo Drops for berries. 

I then created the YouTube video above showcasing how to make this card in non-traditional Christmas colours as in the card above. I used the same creative process with a few different products such as Distress inks in Wilted Violet, Dusty Concord and Chipped Sapphire, DCWV Metallics Washi Stack (branches), DCWV Glitter Brights Cardstock (letters), rose gold gems from Amazon and Pink Tafeta Stickles. The sentiment is from the Lawnfawn Winter Village stamp set. 

For the inside, I used all the same products except that the sentiment was done using VersaFine Claire Pinecone, some branches were stamped with Encore Ultimate Metallic Silver, the sentiment was from the Altenew Blessing stamp set and the embellishments were rose gold gems from Amazon.

And here's a final look at the two cards! I hope you enjoyed this post and that it inspires you in some way.