Just Add Ink Challenge Entry - #486

Feels Like Frost Tri-fold Shaker Card

Welcome back to Valley Inspirations with Andrea. Thanks for dropping in. 

This week I have created a Christmas card for an entry in the current Just Add Ink Challenge. I also created this card with a special friend and fellow paper crafter in mind.

Photo Credit: https://pin.it/46yqdqea3drdpe

This  week's Just Add Ink Challenge is to create a project that has been inspired by this gorgeous Christmas table setting. As I studied the photo I thought of classic beauty, shimmer, light, decadence, crystal clear glasses, foliage and of course, Christmas. I thought of a generally neutral colour scheme with some colour from the table runner and the foliage. Pondering what I would create, my thought process went to Stampin' Up!'s luscious Feels Like Frost designer series paper (DSP) with a shaker card. As I collected the materials I would need, I also pondered the practicalities of trying to stand a shaker card without it falling forward, so I decided on a simple tri-fold card. 

Post Update - I was so delighted to receive an Honourable Mention for my card. Some comments from the Design Team were:

Such an effective card fold, using gorgeous papers and die cuts.

A great project with many elements.

A gorgeous work of art and the soft tulle and shaker elements are so celebratory.

Here is the card front:

After preparing a Thick Whisper White cardstock base, I cut a Whisper White frame using the largest and 3rd largest Stitched Rectangle dies and also cut a piece of the Feels Like Frost DSP with the second largest rectangle die. The Frosted Frames dies were all used to cut Whisper White cardstock, with extra leaves and snowflakes also prepared (although I still needed to cut more as the card design developed). The die cut pieces, including the rectangular frame were spritzed with Frosted White Shimmer paint mixed with Isopropyl Alcohol.

Showing some sequins over the card front, after a gentle shake.

The leafy frame was cut into pieces and adhered to the underside of the rectangular frame, with an extra leaf spray and snowflake - all facing inwards. This is opposite to the die cut frame where the leaf sprays and snowflakes are on the outside. A piece of Window Sheet was adhered to the underside of the re-created rectangular foliage frame. Before adhering the piece of DSP to the card base a greeting from Itty Bitty Christmas stamp set was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed using Shimmer White Emboss powder. The greeting was re-stamped in Rococo Rose ink moving the stamp a tad to the left to give a shadow effect - the Stamparatus is brilliant for this. Foam Adhesive Strips were stuck on the edge of the DSP ensuring there were no gaps so sequins can not escape when the final card is shaken. The delightful Snowflake Sequins were sprinkled within the rectangle formed by the foam strips and then the decorative frame placed on top. Voila! It's a shaker card. (Bye the way, in a number of the above steps, ensuring accurate alignment is important. It is certainly worth the effort of double checking before adhering.) A bow of 1.6cm Whisper White Polka Dot Tulle ribbon has been tied around the card to hold the card in a neatly closed position. 

The card front without the tulle bow, showing the sequins.

With this simple tri-fold card, apart from the card front, there are four other card surfaces that can be seen when opening the card (that is, not including the blank card back). In line with the decadence of the inspirational table setting, I decided to add design elements to each surface, with the greater focus on the RHS flap that is seen first when the card is opened. One of these pages is for the hand written greeting to the recipient and the other two pages have simpler designs, so as not to compete with the focal pages. 

The view when card is first opened, with a focus on the RHS.

The card is fully opened, showing the 3 inner pages.

As you can see, the inner pages continued to use the Feels Like Frost DSP, the Frosted Frames dies and the shimmer spritzing technique, and more of Rococo Rose and Blushing Bride cardstock and ink were used to tie in with these colours in the DSP. The matching Frosted Foliage stamp set was used as well. Layers have been kept to a minimum within  the card and no dimensionals were used so that the card did not become tooooo bulky. 

Now for a look at each individual page:

Inner page seen when card first opened.

The design elements on this page include some Feels Like Frost DSP, using the silver and white side. The white leaves and snowflakes were sponged with Rococo Rose ink ensuring it was darker at the bottom and lighter at the top. The Foliage Frame was cut out of Silver foil and the sentiment panel of Rococo Rose cardstock was inlaid in the Foliage Frame. The sentiment from the Light & Peace stamp set was heat embossed using the Shimmer White Emboss powder. Three snowflake sequins were scattered around the sentiment and two die cut and shimmer spritzed snowflakes were adhered on the frame's corners.

LHS page when card is fully opened.

This page is very simple so as not to compete with the page shown directly above. A sentiment from Itty Bitty Christmas stamp set was stamped in Blushing Bride ink. Die cut white and shimmer spritzed snowflakes and snowflake sequins were scatted around, giving a subtle white on white effect.

Central page of fully opened card for handwriting a message. 

This central page was stamped in Blushing Bride ink using the snowflakes stamp from the Frosted Foliage set. The stitched rectangle, which had been cut out to form the Whisper White frame on the card front, was adhered in the centre and two die cut Rococo Rose shimmer spritzed snowflakes were added at two corners.

The RHS page when card fully opened

The final decorative page has a sentiment from the Frosted Foliage stamp set that was heat embossed using the Shimmer White Emboss powder on Rococo Rose cardstock. The die cut and shimmer spritzed leaf sprays were cut from both Whisper White and Rococo Rose cardstock. A number of star shaped sequins were scattered around. The Snowflake Sequins are simply delightful with a number of different shaped and coloured sequins.

A view of the fully open card showing the inner RHS page, the card back and the card front.

I so enjoyed creating this card, with its different pages. Having been inspired by the gorgeous Christmas table setting, the card creation took on its own life as the design aspects developed. While it's a pity that the shimmer spritzing didn't show in the photos compared to the effect in real life, I hope you were able to get a sense of decadence, sparkle and beauty. I also hope my friend will like it and feel special.

Thanks for dropping by and taking time to check out my entry in the Just Add Ink Challenge. Have a blessed Christmas and wonderful New Year. I do hope you drop back to my blog in 2020. 💕🐾