Friday, January 30, 2015

shape up for the holidays!

i'm sure i've mentioned before how much i looooooove shaped cards, which makes it a bit of a puzzle that i rarely make them until there's a challenge calling for cards other than the traditional rectangle or square. luckily, stephanie and i actually get to set the prompts at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ so we make sure to tackle shaped cards once a year, and for 2015 this fortnight is *it*! here's what i made:

digital snowglobe image from "an icy christmas" by studio flergs and amber shaw, used as a template to paper-piece my card. patterned paper: basic grey, studio calico, crate paper, my mind's eye, shiny silver paper of unknown origin and lots of tiny scraps of white and off white for the layered tree; reindeer flight die: tim holtz/sizzix; xmas tree #2 die: sizzix; clear stickers: sentiment/winter by SRM press; sheer ribbon from my stash; ink: colorbox; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape

one of my favorite things to do with digital images and clip art is use them as templates for "real life" cards. when i saw the gorgeous snowglobe in the "icy christmas" kit from amber shaw and studio flergs, i immediately thought, "SHAPED CARD!" i could have used the image exactly as it came, but i wanted to make my card a little more personal, so i printed a copy on plain paper sized like a 5x7" photo and used it to paper piece the sections; then popped a diecut reindeer, layered-and-sewn tree, and festive greeting into the resulting snow globe.

An Icy Christmas by Amber Shaw & Studio Flergs

i have a teeny secret to reveal before i send you off to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ to see stephanie's gorgeous work: most of my shaped cards, including this one, are basically just very fancy postcards; i know it's easy enough to stick on a hinged back to make a "real" card, but usually i just write my festive greeting on the back, and since no recipients have ever complained about this to my face, i decided that meant i could skip the boring engineering part in favor of extra embellishing time... so i did. and now you know! :) :) :)

9 comments:

  1. Gorgeous! The postcard is a wonderful idea....sometimes making the shape into a card can be a real pita. Might try this route the next time I made a shaped card. Thanks for the tip!

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  2. You've inspired me...I recently adopted a snowglobe die set! This is awesome.

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  3. This is a truly stunning creation! Wow! What a great idea...

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  4. Oooo! This reindeer looks so elegant. I don't think I've ever made a shaped card... Hmmm Maybe I'll have to give it a go.

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  5. Great "postcard" Lauren! I love all the fun details (lovely mix of patterns) and the fabulous shape!!! I almost always make rectangular or square cards, so this one might be a bit of a challenge for me. I guess I just need a kick in the pants!
    Cheers,
    Shanna
    p.s. Hope you made out okay with all that snow! Feel free to send it our way - we have had little bits here and there, but no big snowfalls for some time. If its gonna be cold, bring it on, we wanna play in it! We have been cross country skiing lots as conditions are great. There is more snow out that way (being further from Lake Superior) and the windchill is diminished once you are on the trails amongst the trees, but conditions have not been great for downhill or snowboarding, so we could use a little bit of white stuff.

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  6. OMG LOVE! That deer! I'm soooo not a fan of shaped cards (engineering, boo, hiss) but they always look so incredible. Thinking cap going on for this one :)

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  7. Digi image into shaped card ... may have to *borrow* that idea ... I adore your snow globe.

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  8. Hi, Lauren! This is just adorable! Thank you for the inspiration! hugs, de

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  9. Love your snowglobe card and great idea to send them as 'postcards'!

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