A Whimsical Santa

READY TO SPREAD JOY AND CHEER

TUTORIALSTENCILCHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY SEASON

11/28/20233 min read

Let’s Get Started:

Card Base: 5.5 x 8.5, scored and folded at 4.25

Kraft Border:5.5 x 4.25

Kraft Card Face: 5.5 x 3

Gold Strip: 5.5 x ¼”

Small pieces of kraft and gold cardstock for sentiment

Cord: approximately 12” total

Card Face:

I stamped Santa onto the right-hand side of the kraft card stock with black memento ink and coloured him with alcohol markers.
I scored this piece vertically ¼” from the left-hand side. I bent the score line back and forth a few times to break down the fibers in the paper, and then tore it along the line, leaving a rough edge.

Other:

I put the border layer into an embossing folder and ran it through the big shot.
Gold Strip: I started with a piece of gold foil cardstock that was about 5.5 x 2, scoring it vertically at ¼”. I bent this back and forth several times along the score line, and then tore it off, leaving a rough edge. I tore it at 1.4” even though I only needed ⅛” visible: this allowed enough of an edge to adhere behind the card face.

The rest of the gold cardstock was put aside for another use: I started with a piece that was big enough to handle easily as it’s hard to tear a narrow piece nicely.

I stamped the sentiment and (heat) embossed it in gold.
I used a small circular die to cut out the sentiment.
I die-cut a slightly larger circle out of gold cardstock.

Assembly:

I glued the gold strip to the back of the left-hand edge of the card face, leaving the torn edge exposed and adjusting it until I had approximately ⅛” visible. I left this to dry for a bit, as the surface on metallic cardstock is slow to dry when using liquid glue.
I glued this over the embossed layer, aligning them on the right-hand edge.
I gave this a couple of minutes to dry completely and then applied my Versamark pad to the edges of the paper. I wanted an irregular, distressed-looking border, and I applied the ink with that in mind.
I added gold embossing powder, using a dry paintbrush to clean up any excess powder and tidy up the border where necessary. (although I wanted it to be irregular, I didn’t want any harsh angles from the corner of the ink pad, and was able to soften them at this point.)
I set the embossing powder with my heat gun.
I secured the piece of cord with scotch tape on the embossed portion where shown in the picture.
I had previously made a small bow from the same cord, I put this in place as shown, securing it with a glue dot. (I like to use a bit of liquid adhesive on the back of my bows before I put them on the card: this is to be certain that they don’t come untied in the mail. I have to allow time for the glue to dry before using it on a card.)
I glued the kraft circle with the sentiment on top of the gold circle, ensuring an even border. When dry I glued it to the front of the card where shown.

Final thoughts:

This was an experiment, as I tried stamping and colouring on dollar store kraft cardstock. Ambitious, as I’ve never coloured on kraft before. ( or perhaps foolhardy! ) I found that the cardstock absorbed the alcohol ink, and required repeated applications to get to the colour I wanted. Initially, the colour looked fine but it seemed to become faint: it didn’t have the intensity I needed. Presumably, this was because of the quality of the paper, so I’ll change that the next time.

Overall I’m happy with the result, although the colouring took me longer than it should have. Live and learn.

Supplies: (and links where possible)

I have listed which products I have used, and where they may be purchased. It's a huge marketplace and in most instances, there are multiple sources and many alternatives to choose from.

Stamps: Cute Santa, Unity Stamps

Dies:

Hero Arts Infinity Dies, Circles: Scrapbook.com

Stitched Shapes, Stampin’ Up! (retired)

Ink: Stampin’ Up!

Memento Ink: Stampin’ Up!

Mint Tape:Scrapbook.com

Alcohol Markers

Stampin’ Blends, Stampin’ Up!

Copics, Michaels

Versamark: Simon Says Stamp

Gold Embossing Powder: Stampin’ Up!