Happy in the Snow

My son, Colin on Feb. 2, 2011

The background paper I used for this one is from an old My Mind's Eye collection, Holly Jolly.  The die cuts were made from various Basic Grey plain papers and  Holiday Sentiments paper from the Tradition collection by Fancy Pants Designs.

MME - Holly Jolly - Candy Canes

Fancy Pants Designs - Tradition - Holiday Sentiments

These are the dies I used:

Spellbinders - Locking Loops

Spellbinders - Romantic Rectangles 2

Spellbinders - Marvelous Squares

Spellbinders - Captivating Squares

Spellbinders - Postage Stamps

Spellbinders - Large Deckled Mega Rectangles

Spellbinders - Small Deckled  Mega Rectangles

These are the chipboard pieces I used:

2Crafty - Cartia's Swirl

Dusty Attic - Snowflakes

The large snowflake doily was cut from very thin chipboard using a Cricut and the Close to My Heart Art Philosophy cartridge.  I heat-embossed all of the chipboard pieces with Stampendous Fran-tage embossing enamel in Shabby White.  Sometimes I paint the chipboard first but this time I just used clear ink on the bare chipboard before sprinkling with the embossing powder and melting it with a heat gun.

I'm not sure why the snowflake doily doesn't look as sparkly as the other pieces.  I cut and embossed that piece quite a while ago but hadn't used it yet so it's possible I might have done something different that I don't remember (perhaps I added some Chunky White embossing enamel too). It could also be that the different sized granules had settled in the container and more of the gold sparkles had concentrated near the top now.

The little green mittens and the circles border were made with Sculpey clay using a mold and then painted.

Best Flexible Molds - Let it Snow

Lisa Pavelka mold - Daisy Chain Border

Around the outer edge of the background paper, the snowflakes and some of the crystal pieces, I did some subtle watercolour shading.

I don't often mention this because it seems a minor detail to me but you can take it as a given that I ink around the edges of the paper and die-cuts in almost every layout I do.  I often do that with the flowers as well, or dry brush them with paint to highlight the texture.

Thank you for taking a look today!