Priscilla's Papercrafts: A Peaceful Christmas Card

I'm really lovin' the new Embellished Ornaments and Delicate Ornaments Thinlits Dies. They come in a bundle (gotta love that 15% savings) and are worth every penny! I was playing the other night, wanting something peaceful and pretty. How's this?

This card uses the "bokeh" technique - see those circles in the background? They are white (and in this case, silver) highlights. "Bokeh" is an effect that photographers use to create soft, out-of-focus backgrounds, and I think I nailed it!

My background was a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I began by sponging Cucumber Crush ink in gentle swirls, all over the paper, but leaving areas white. Next I layered on some Night of Navy ink using the same technique. I was sure to begin my sponging off my cardstock, on a piece of scrap paper so that my ink was not too dark.

I then took a stencil (homemade from a piece of Window Sheet, with a few different sizes of circles punched in it), and using Craft White ink and a Sponge Dauber, I inked on some white circles. Now this is where I went "out of the box" - I then took some silver ink (retired) and lightly sponged it over a few of my white circles. This just added a little extra shimmer.

Background complete, I took the Christmas Greetings Thinlits dies and cut "peace" out of the front of my card. I was sure to save all the little pieces that fill in the "p", "e"s and "a". Then I adhered my background to a piece of Cucumber Crush.

I also cut two more of the thinlit using Coaster Board. Then I adhered all three "peaces" (no pun intended; well maybe it was) stacked on top of each other, and nestled it down inside the cut out part on the card front. I carefully added in the cutout pieces so all you see is a slightly elevated, and very subtle, "peace".

The ornaments are cut using Silver Foil Sheets - gorgeous! I backed them with Night of Navy and Cucumber Crush and popped them up on Dimensionals. Little pieces of Silver Cording Trim were threaded through tops and wrapped over to the back of the card. The card was adhered to a Night of Navy card base.