Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge

Hi there stamping friends! It's one of my favorite times of the week - the weekly sketch challenge from Stamping 411! You know the drill, we operators at the 411 get a sketch to work with each week and the challenge is to see just what in the world we are going to make out of it!~

Here is the sketch we received for this week:

And here is my card project:

Sometimes my most favorite projects start out as either an experiment or a mistake - in this case it was an experiment.
I wanted to try the Inked Embossing Folder technique with the new Snowflake Embossing Folder from the Holiday Mini Catalog. So, I pulled out a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock, just intending to play with it. Well, I inked the embossing folder with Whisper White Craft Ink using my Brayer and after placing the cardstock in the folder, ran it through my Big Shot.
It looked so cool!
But, I thought, well, that's gonna take a while to dry, maybe I should heat emboss it.
So, I pulled out my Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder and my Heat Tool and well, just look! Isn't it a cool effect? I love the raised Crumb Cake snowflakes on the sparkly background! The Crumb Cake cardstock combined with the Iridescent Ice embossing powder gives the Whisper White Craft ink a look more like Very Vanilla - very creamy, yet sparkly!

So after that, the rest was easy! I cut a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock at 4 1/4" x 11" and folded it lengthwise and then random stamped a snowflake from the Snow Swirled stamp set on the front using Crumb Cake ink.

I mounted the embossed cardstock piece on a piece of Early Espresso cardstock cut at 4" x 5 1/4". (the embossed piece is cut at 3 7/8" x 5 1/8")

For the embellishments, I wrapped a piece of Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon around the layered cardstock pieces and secured it on the back. Then I added a piece of Early Espresso 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon over that.

For my focal point, I punched two snowflakes with my Jumbo Snowflake punch, one from Early Espresso cardstock and one from a piece of sparkly Crumb Cake cardstock that I'd heat embossed the same way I did the background.
Using my Paper Piercer and Mat Pack, I added a hole in the center of each and attached them together through the background layers with one of those amazing Antique Brads! Seriously, I LOVE them!
The greeting was made with the Tiny Tags stamp set and the new 3/4" x 15/16" Oval Punch (yes, that punch needs a simpler name! LOL!). I just stamped the images I wanted using Early Espresso ink on Crumb Cake cardstock then punched them out. They were strung on a piece of Linen Thread which was wrapped around the brad to hang loosely from the card front. So easy!

Not to leave the inside empty, I simply added some Crumb Cake snowflakes there and a greeting in Early Espresso from the God's Blessings stamp set.

This might end up being one of my favorite cards this season and is definitely in the running for my WOW Christmas Cards classes next month!

I hope you like it too and if you do, be sure to leave me a comment! I love hearing from you all!
Be sure to visit the Stamping 411 blog as well and see what the other operators created from this sketch - I know you will be inspired to play along with us!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Blessings,
~~Robin