Pretty Poinsettia, Christmas Card, Stampin' Up!

Hello and welcome to my blog. Today I have a Christmas card to share with you. Please read on to see how it was made.

The base of my card is a folded half-sheet of Basic White card stock. It opens on the bottom and the fold is on the top. 

I cut a 4" x 5-1/4" piece of Basic White card stock and textured it using the "Swirls of Magic" embossing folder. I glued it to the front of the card base.

Using the dies from the "Pretty Poinsettia" bundle, I cut the petals from Basic White card stock. I struggle every time I try to put the flower together. I'm a symmetrical person when it comes to poinsettia petals. I like the flower to look more rounded. I got it the best I could this time. At least it doesn't look boxy.  After I glued the petals together, I cut a strip of Basic White card stock and glued it to the back for more stability. I should have cut a circle and worked on top of that but I didn't think of it because I was struggling to get it to look round.  Once I got the flower together I thought it didn't look good against the textured background so I thought if I toned it down a bit with a light color that it would look better. I used Petal Pink and a Blending Brush (I recommend doing this before you put it together) and a few spots got too dark. Well, how do you tone that down?  I was almost ready to start over when I thought I would give the leaves a coat of Wink of Stella. It toned it down enough that some of those spots that had too much ink on it and it did the trick.  I added Dimensionals to the back and set the piece aside.

I cut a strip of Designer Series Paper (DSP) from the "A Stitched Season" 12" x 12" package that measures 5-1/4" x 1-1/2" and I glued it to the DSP.  I centered it as best I could with out measuring but I did get it perfectly centered. It's 1-1/4" from the edge of the embossed piece on the top and the bottom. 

The words are from the same bundle and were stamped using Basic Black ink. I cut them out on my paper cutter so it measured 3/8" x 2-3/4".  Dimensionals were added to the back and I set the piece aside. 

I was now ready to add the poinsettia and the word piece but I noticed I got Petal Pink ink on the swirled piece on the right. I was going to add the flower to the left side but once I saw that smudge I actually thought I'd have to redo the front but then it dawned on me to just move the flower over and turn it enough to cover the smudge. I added the word piece and the card looked too plain. I had some retired snowflakes (I'd like to see Stampin' Up! bring them back) and it was just what the card needed. It was finished.

This was a fun and quick card to make and I'm glad it turned out.

Thank you SO very much for taking your time to stop in and see today's Christmas card,
Wanda