As a demonstrator I am apart of a great Stampin' Up! group called the Shamrock Stampers, headed by the fabulous Erin Barker. She had a meeting with us a little while ago and we did a shoebox swap. For those unfamiliar with this, its when you design a card, then bring enough materials for each person to make the card as well. This is the card that I designed for our swap! I have seen a few "fireplace" cards, but I wanted to do my own version. This is a pretty time consuming card, but not hard at all.
Here are the measurements of card stock you will need.
1 - 5 1/2" by 8 1/2" scored in half of Early Espresso
1 - 5 1/2" by 1" of Early Espresso - all edges rounded with corner rounder punch (top of fireplace)
1/2" strips of Cajun Craze and Cherry Cobbler - cut into sections for the bricks
Scrap of black - slightly more then 1 1/2" by 2" - so that it is even with the 3rd row of bricks
A couple scraps of Early Espresso - crumbled and rolled into logs
Fold the large portion of Early Espresso on the scored line - this is your card. I cut my strips of cherry cobbler and cajun craze to brick sizes then used some cajun craze ink and sponged the edges. This gives the bricks more dimension. Wear gloves if you don't want inky fingers! I can be a bit "obsessive" about my cards (my friends will probably roll their eyes at me now..) so I laid out my bricks before I glued them down. I used a glue stick or liquid glue so that it dries. Snail will stay perpetually sticky and if you don't cover it with a brick, your card will stick! I laid out my bricks and my black square so that everything was even. Don't forget that for a true brick look, you don't want your brick spaces to match up - as in where there is a space on the lower line of bricks, make sure a whole brick is above it. I then took the rounded corner piece of early espresso - crumbled it up, flattened it out, then took some early espresso ink and kind of roughed it up. Its hard to see in the picture, but it gives more dimension to the fireplace top. Glue that down, with a piece of Bakers twine tucked into the sides. This hides the end of the bakers twine and helps it stay put. Take your early espresso scraps and roll them up and squish a little to make logs. Use some more mustard and pumpkin pie scraps and cut out flames using the Build a blossom punch (different flowers) then sponge some pumpkin pie ink on the edges. Glue them down, then glue down your logs. Use various DSP and colors to make your stockings, and punch out with the Stocking Punch. Use dimensionals to adhere the stockings to the card, then use the mini clothespins to make it look like the stockings are hanging on the string. Put some TomBow glue along the top and sprinkle Mica Flakes on. I then used scrap pieces of Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon to make bows for the sides where the string is tucked back. I then used Dazzling Details to add some bling glitter to the flames and the stockings. I LOVE Dazzling Details. Its so easy to use, thick or then, it adds just the right bling!
I hope you enjoy this cozy card! And look forward to more posts as my computer is back up and working!
Craft on!
Jean
