May Magic & Wonder Bloom This Holiday

 This is a fairly simple card that uses the technique of masking.  The important thing to remember when making your masks is to use thin paper.  I use plain photocopy/printer paper.  Most times, I lean down to see what I've recently thrown away and pull out anything that doesn't have ink or glue on it from whatever I was working on 5 minutes ago.

We also use a common technique that I've heard called a few different things.  I call it "stampin off".  Some people call it "2nd generation".  

Supplies Used

Stamp Set
Poinsettia Petals
Dies
Poinsettia
Wild Rose
Paper
Old Olive	3 x 4	5-1/2 x 8-1/2, scored in half
Real Red	4 x 5-1/4	3-3/4 x 2-3/4
Whisper White	3-3/4 x 5	4 x 2-1/2
Printer Paper
Ink
Real Red
Old Olive Crushed Curry re-inker
Other
Real Red Sheer Ribbon
Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels
Frost White Shimmer Paint Die cutting:  cut 2 of the large Poinsettias out of copy paper.  Using the shape shown, cut the 4 x 2-1/2 Whisper White.

Using the large Poinsettia stamp, Real Red inkpad and the 3-3/4 x 5 Whisper White cardstock, stamp 3 times.  Add a small amount of temporary adhesive to the backs of the photocopy poinsettias.  Lay them down on the stamped images to ensure you're using the correct side.  It can be difficult to line them up.  If there's an easy trick to doing this, I haven't discovered it yet.  I basically look for a single petal that stands out (like the long thin one) and try to match those.  

Once you've placed down your masks, ink up the same large Poinsettia stamp.  Stamp onto a scrap pieces of paper (also recovered from the garbage can, if you're like me), then stamp onto your cardstock.  Lift off one of the masks.  You'll see the lighter shading.  You'll also see that your mask prevented your stamped images from combining so that it looks like one is in front of the other. 

Moving your masks around the cardstock, stamp 2 more of the Poinsettias after first stamping off onto a scrap of paper.

Using the leaf stamp and Old Olive ink, stamp in any open spaces around the card.  Use the masks for the Poinsettias if necessary to continue the overlapping look.

Stamp your sentiment on the white piece that you die cut.  Glue this piece onto the Real Red piece.  Busy cut out to create a mask.  Glue this onto the Old Olive piece.  Busy cut this out to make a double mask.

To make the ribbon loops, I used the Seal tape and put down a straight line.  I pushed the ribbon onto the adhesive and made a second line over top of that ribbon, pushing down the ribbon into the adhesive again.  

Assembly:  glue the Real Red cardstock onto the base.  Glue the stamped Whisper White piece on top.  Adhere the label to the middle, using Dimensionals.  Add 3 small Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

I wanted a little bit of metallic shine and thought this card needed a smidge of yellow.  I wear disposal contact lenses.  Every morning, I open 2 of these little foil topped plastic trays.  I've been saving those babies for a year now in an emptied tissue box.  They don't tip, they're small and they're disposable.  They were going in the recycle bin anyway; I knew they'd be useful in my craft room.  I used a pipette and squeezed out a tiny bit of Shimmer Paint.  I added a drop of Crushed Curry and mixed.  The pipette was already dirty so why dirty up a paintbrush?  I used the tip of the pipette to dot the centres of the Poinsettias.

Done!  Don't forget to sign the back.

Supplies Used:

Also used: