Hello everyone! Liliuska here and I am very excited to share the cards I made for today’s post. Few weekends ago I was playing with some of the new Studio Katia products and my plan was to make something non-traditional for Christmas cards. Then, as I was browsing through the stencils, Autumn Leaves Stencil caught my eye… I started with a purple and gold palette – which is a bonus card at the end of this post. Next, I decided to make black and white Christmas cards, and I love the result more than I could’ve expected.

I started working with two black panels. I covered both in white texture paste through Autumn Leaves Stencil, removed the stencil and while the paste was still wet I generously poured Sparkle Glitter over one panel first, then the other. I know how messy glitter can be, but I have in my stash an old cloth called ‘glitter magnet’ and always use it when working with glitter. There are many ways these days to keep the glitter from spreading everywhere, so make sure to be prepared. I set both panels aside to dry and started working on other details for the cards.

I knew I will make one vertical and one horizontal card (or portrait and landscape orientation). For the horizontal, I wanted to add poinsettias from Merry Poinsettia Stamp Set embossed on vellum with white embossing powder. I didn’t want to cover too much of that gorgeous background, so my “add-ons” had to be light and airy. Well, at least some of them.

After heat embossing poinsettia flowers and some leaves on a 32 lbs vellum, I die cut them out with Coordinating Dies. Next, using a smaller frame dies from Dotted Patterns Set 2 I die cut out a frame for the sentiment out of black cardstock. I picked one of the sentiments from Poinsettia Trimmings stamp set and heat embossed it with white embossing powder.

Once my textured panel was dry, I decided to make it a bit smaller by die cutting it out with a large frame die from Dotted Patterns Set 3. I foam mounted it onto a white card base, gluing underneath the panel a piece of beautiful silver lace fabric, which a friend of mine brought for me from her trip to France. Next, I foam mounted the sentiment panel at the bottom of the card, gluing underneath the poinsettias and two leaves. As a final touch I added some Arctic Breeze Pearls into the flower centres, in the spot where I attached the leaves and on the sentiment banner with the help of some Studio Katia GLUE and Jewel Picker Tool.

Once my panel for the second card was dry I used a large frame die from Darling Ribbon & Frames to die cut it out and give a nice finished border, since it would be covering the card base completely. I heat embossed Snowflakes images onto the same 32 lbs vellum using white embossing powder and die cut them out with Coordinating Dies.

For the sentiment I die cut out a banner using small die from Half Striped Cover Die set out of black cardstock. I stamped the sentiment from Poinsettia Border stamp set using clear embossing ink and white embossing powder. I foam mounted the banner onto a card, gluing snowflakes underneath. I coloured the banner with clear Wink of Stella and covered it with Nuvo Crystal Glaze.

For the third card I grabbed a piece of purple shimmer cardstock. I ink blended the background through Autumn Leaves Stencil using Milled Lavender Oxide Ink and Studio Katia Ink Blender Brush. I used a large frame die from Darling Ribbon & Frames to die cut out a panel once the ink was dry.

Next, I heat embossed poinsettias from Merry Poinsettia stamp set with gold embossing powder. To colour the images I used different shades of purple Oxide Inks and Studio Katia Ink Blender Brush. I blended darker shades from centre out and lighter shades from the tips of the petals towards the centres of the flowers. I die cut out the flowers with Coordinating Dies.

I used largest die from Dotted Patterns Set 2 to die cut out three thin frames out of purple cardstock and one thin frame out of golden glitter cardstock. I glued all the frames together using Studio Katia GLUE. This gave me a nice sturdy frame, which I adhered onto the ink blended panel.

Using the same Dotted Patterns Set 2 I cut out a panel out of 32 lbs vellum, so it would perfectly fit inside the golden frame. I stamped the sentiment from Poinsettia Border stamp set onto the vellum panel and adhered it inside golden frame adding glue under the sentiment and the spot where I was planning to adhere flowers, so that the glue wouldn’t show anywhere and not ruin the card. I foam mounted the flowers to the left from the sentiment. As a final touch I added some Gold Foil Pearls into the flower centres and above the sentiment with the help of Studio Katia GLUE and Jewel Picker Tool.

Hope you enjoyed all the inspiration I prepared for you today. Thank you so much for stopping by and have a wonderful and inspiring day!

Liliuska