Christmas Robin

This week, I decided to make a card that could be repeated quite easily if you were the type of crafter that like to make lots of the same kind of card for Christmas. There are lots of ready-made card templates on the market with pre-cut apertures and this would fit really well with one of those.  Typically, I didn’t have any so I cut the hole myself! 

I used the flourish stamp from the rather fabulous Sam Poole designed Stylish Christmas 1 set in both Fired Brick and Pine Needles Distress Ink. I like it when they cross over so it really becomes a 'background' so there's no need to be very tidy! Then I placed the robin stamp in the aperture where it would go when finished and then stamped the sentiment on the inside of the card (through the aperture) - this is the easiest way of ensuring the sentiment is where you want it to be. 

I also stamped two of the circles at the end of the stamp on the inside of the card as a guide to where I'd need to write below when signing that card, that way my handwriting doesn't become an unintentional part of the design! The robin was stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink on heat resistant acetate and dried with my heat gun - don't be tempted to use Distress Ink on acetate - you'll end up with a really blobby finish that doesn't dry - can you tell I've made that mistake before?! I edged the card with Fired Brick (outside edges) and Pine Needles (inside edges) and placed the acetate to the reverse of the front of the card.I like the idea of the sentiment being on the inside of the card, yet visible on the outside, so I'm off to experiment a little more! Gabrielle x