Hello, crafty friends! It’s time for another 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge, and this week we’re getting out the heat tool and adding a little sparkle with our Technique Challenge – Foil or Hot Embossing.
I recently treated myself to some beautiful products from Chloe’s Creative Cards, and I couldn’t wait to have a play with them. This challenge seemed like the perfect excuse to get them out of their packaging and onto a Christmas card!
For my Design Team card, I decided to combine some beautiful hot embossing with plenty of sparkle. The finished card is actually quite simple, but the combination of metallic embossing and glitter gives it lots of shine and texture.
Here’s how I made it.
Materials Used
- Cardstock: White, white linen, sahara sand
- Stamps: Winter Wonderland Tree Border stamp set by Chloe’s Creative Cards
- Embossing powder: Metallic Platinum Sparkle by Wow
- Inks: Versamark embossing ink
- Tools: Heat tool, guillotine
- Adhesive: chisel-tipped glue pen, liquid glue, foam adhesive
- Additional: Ice princess sparkleicious glitter by Chloe’s Creative Cards
Step 1 – Create the Card Base
I started with a piece of white cardstock measuring 8¼” square. I scored and folded it in half to create the card base.
I then cut a piece of Sahara Sand cardstock to mat and layer, making it slightly smaller than the white card base. I tried several different colours of cardstock before finally settling on Sahara Sand. It turned out to be the perfect choice. The soft neutral shade tones beautifully with the embossing powder I chose.
Step 2 – Add the Sparkly Border
Before adding the Sahara Sand layer to the card base, I wanted to give it a little extra sparkle. Using a chisel-tipped glue pen, I ran a line of glue all around all four sides of the Sahara Sand piece. I then sprinkled over some of Chloe’s Ice Princess Sparkleicious glitter and tapped away the excess.
I absolutely love this glitter! It contains lots of different sizes of glitter all mixed together in one pot, which gives a lovely varied sparkle rather than a completely uniform finish. Once the glitter was dry, I adhered the Sahara Sand layer to the white card base using liquid adhesive.
Step 3 – Prepare the White Linen Panel
For the central panel, I used a piece of white linen cardstock, cut ½” narrower than the card base top and bottom.
The linen texture adds a lovely subtle detail to the card and gives the embossed design something a little more interesting to sit on.
Step 4 – Heat Emboss the Winter Wonderland Trees
Now for the star of the show!
I used Chloe’s Winter Wonderland Tree Border stamp and stamped it onto the white linen card using Versamark embossing ink.
I covered the stamped image with WOW! Metallic Platinum Sparkle embossing powder, tapped away the excess and then heated it with my heat tool until the powder melted to reveal the gorgeous shiny, sparkly image.
This is actually the first time I’ve used WOW! embossing powder, and I must say, I’m impressed! The shine and sparkle are amazing in real life, although it was a little difficult to capture just how beautiful it is in a photograph.
I stamped and embossed the sentiment from the same stamp set in exactly the same way, positioning it towards the top right of the panel.
Step 5 – Add the Finishing Sparkle
With the embossed panel finished, I popped it up onto the card using foam adhesive, giving it a little extra dimension.
The final touch was to ground the trees. I used my glue pen to make a few loose scribbles underneath the tree line and sprinkled over some more Ice Princess Sparkleicious glitter.
I love the way the glitter picks up the surrounding colour, so it looks slightly different against the white linen panel compared with the glitter around the Sahara Sand layer. It’s a subtle detail, but one that I really love.
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed making this card, especially as it gave me the perfect excuse to have a play with my new Chloe’s Creative Cards goodies.
The combination of hot embossing, metallic shine and glitter gives the card lots of texture and sparkle, while the simple design lets the beautiful embossed trees take centre stage.
And I have to say, I think the WOW! Metallic Platinum Sparkle embossing powder may have just earned itself a permanent place on my craft desk!
So, if you have some embossing powders lurking in your stash, or perhaps some foil waiting for the right project, why not get them out and join us for this week’s 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Technique Challenge? We’d love to see what you create!
Happy crafting and, as always, happy Christmas card making!
