Enjoy the Magic This Holiday Season

Greetings! I love the challenge of making holiday projects with non-holiday themed products. Earlier this week I shared a Christmas card created with Crafty Individuals' Trilby Cats Unmounted Rubber Stamp which is a fabulous cat stamp, albeit not Christmas themed. 

Since I still had my Crafty Individuals binder out, I decided to make another holiday card for Topflight Stamps using another non-holiday themed stamp. This time I used the Gentle Dragon Unmounted Rubber Stamp. After all, it IS one of the two magical seasons each year!

Here's the card!

Topflight Stamps Products Used:
Gentle Dragon Unmounted Rubber Stamp by Crafty Individuals
Holiday Sentiment Duos Clear Stamp Set by Heffy Doodle

Mystic Swirl Clear Polymer Stamp by Lavinia Stamps
Pine and Lime Punch Elements Inks by Lavinia Stamps
Emerald Green Brusho Crystal Colours by Colourcraft
Evergreen Prism Ink by Hunkydory Crafts
Onyx Black VersaFine™ Ink by Tsukineko®

Other Products Used:
140 Lb. Mixed Media Paper by Strathmore®
Solar White Classic Crest® Cardstock by Neenah

Bronze Metallic Cardstock by Recollections®

Tuxedo Black Memento™ Ink by Tsukineko®

Lightning Black Brilliance™ Ink by Tsukineko®

Copic® Markers: 

   Dragon: G20, G40, G43, G46, G85, <B91, Y21, Y23, Y23, Y26, Y28, R05, R17

   Background: B60, C0, C1, C2, YR30

Gossamer Gold Vintage Moon Shadow Mist by Lindy's® Stamp Gang

Nestabilities® Dies by Spellbinders®

Banner Die: Source Unknown

Stamping Platform

Fan Brush

3D Foam Squares by Scrapbook Adhesives® by 3L

Instructions and Notes:

True confession time. I usually put away all my stamps, inks, and such, then clean my surfaces and my floor after each project. However, it was a crazy week, so my Crafty Individuals Stamp Binder, my Pine and Lime Punch Elements Ink, and the Emerald Green Brusho Crystal Colours hadn't been put away since my last card. Instead they were in a pile on another surface. I decided that was a hint to just use them again.

1. Trim Bronze Metallic cardstock to 10" x 7". Score at 5", and fold to form a 5" x 7" card. Set aside.
2. Use Tuxedo Black Memento ink to stamp the dragon onto Neenah cardstock.
3. Color the image and background with Copic markers. Set aside.
4. Squish Lime Punch Elements Ink onto a craft mat. Spritz with water.
5. Dip a piece of watercolor or mixed media paper into the inky puddle until the ink is gone. Clean the craft mat.
6. Repeat Steps #7 and #8 using Pine Elements Ink.
7. Heat set the panel.
8. Sprinkle Emerald Green Brusho Crystal Colours onto the craft mat, spritz with water.
9. Dip your fan brush into the Brusho Puddle and splatter the panel. Repeat until you're happy with the splattered panel.
10. Sponge Evergreen Prism Ink here and there to change the green to match the dragon better.
11. Spritz the inks with water to move them around.
12. Decide to add some gold tones to the background to make the panel more festive and magical then spray way too much Gossamer Gold Vintage Moon Shadow Mist overtop.
13. Try to fix the blotchy mess by spraying water onto the paper to dilute the blotchiness. 
14. Press the wet inky paper with a paper towel to remove ink and discover a pattern that reminds you of dragon scales.
15. Deepen this look by placing the inky wet cardstock between paper towels, placing onto the platform of a die-cutter, place the cutting pads onto the paper towel, and run this sandwich through the die-cut machine several times. 
16. Chortle in delight over your "happy accident"!
17. Heat set this panel.
18. Use a Nestabilities die to cut an aperture in the inked panel.
19. Reserve the die-cut.
20. Use Lightning Black Brilliance ink to randomly stamp the Mystic Swirl around the aperture in the inked sprayed die-cut panel. Heat set.
21. Use the same ink to edge the panel and the aperture. Heat set.
22. Use magnets to secure the die-cut from Step #18 to the base of a stamping platform.
23. Place the sentiment face-down on the die-cut. 
24. Press the platform's lid onto the back of the stamp, lift the lid, ink the stamp with Onyx Black VersaFine ink, and stamp. Repeat inking if necessary to attain a clean impression. 
25. Remove the stamped die-cut from the platform and heat set the ink.
26. Use a banner die to cut the sentiment, then edge with Brilliance ink. Heat set.
27. Adhere the colored dragon image panel behind the aperture of the inked stamped background paper to create the card front.
28. Adhere the card front to the reserved card from Step #1.
29. Add dimensional foam adhesive to the center of the sentiment die-cut and adhesive to both ends.
30. Adhere the sentiment to the card front as shown.

Thanks for visiting today!