Sweater Weather Cards

April Swingler
April Swingler

Even in Texas where the leaves have just begun to change, it has finally turned cold and I am ready to embrace all the cozy trappings of winter. It seldom snows here and when it does, it doesn’t stick but I am still fond of snowflakes and snowmen. I decided to create a card with all the winter goodness.

I began by creating a wintery backdrop with a Twirling Flurries texture die and ink blending, layered behind birch trees. 

Generally birch trees look great inked in grey but I in the end I decided I preferred the contrast of the white un-inked trees at right.

Next I stamped the animals in Catherine Pooler Midnight ink which unlike all her other inks is an archival dye ink and bleed-proof for watercoloring. I colored the images by picking up color from the lids of Catherine Pooler Ink pads with a Tombow Blender pen.

I wanted the deer to be very light brown so I diluted ink with water on a watercolor media mat and picked up that color with the blender pen.

I die-cut the images and then assembled my cards.

I decided to decorate the envelopes to match the cards. One envelope I textured the envelope flap by running it trhough my die cutting machine with the flurries texture plate. I used post it notes to mask off the area where I will write the address. I ink blended and stamped on one envelope and I ink blended and stenciled the other envelope.

A favorite thing. I have owned a lot of paper trimmers through the years and have had a lot of frustration. In particular I have struggled because the markings are always missing in just the spot I need to cut due to the fold in the fold away ruler. I’ve included photos the Stampin Up trimmer is grey, my old Fiskars trimmer is the purple one I call your attention to the way the 5 inch mark is completely missing from the ruler on the Fiskars trimmer.
I am SOOOOOOO in love with the new Stampin Up! trimmer it has a 6″ wide base. I have not had any trouble with the markings not being clear and labeled AND with the ruler folded away the platform is 6″ wide and provides a guide you can use to cut 12×12 paper in half. I LOVE this trimmer!!! Full disclosure I am technically a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator however I have never actually sold anything to anyone but myself. If you are interested here is a link https://www.stampinup.com/products/paper-trimmer?demoid=2240789. If you already have a Stampin Up demonstrator please purchase from her/him! 

I also love the way the blades are in this trimmer. There is enough extra room for me to store BOTH the cutting and the scoring blades on the track WHILE using them. I keep one at the top and the other at the bottom of the track. Because I do not have to remove the scoring blade I will not LOSE the scoring blade!

Every other trimmer I’ve used that has had a scoring blade, it’s been just like the cutting blade only it was positioned more shallow. Sometimes they have still cut a few of the fibers of the paper when scoring. On the new Stampin Up trimmer it’s a rounded blade and it does not cut any of the paper fibers, it creates a true score in the paper. In the photo the scoring blade is the one on the right.

Items Used

Share this post