Creative Cucina

I wondered how it would look to letterpress lighter ink on darker paper. Using the brayer and Chocolate Chip Craft ink, I rolled the dark brown ink onto the white cotton letterpress paper.

Then, I rolled silver letterpress ink onto the printing plate shown here and ran it through the Big Shot. As you can see, the lighter ink shows up nicely. I could have taken more care to brayer the chocolate chip ink better, but I was just doing it for the sake of experimentation.

Hopefully other paper colors will be available soon!

I made a few Christmas cards featuring trees as the main image. One is stamped, one is made from punches, and one is a hybrid version.

Version 1 is stamped. I broke out of my usual color choice here and opted for Always Artichoke instead of old olive or kiwi kiss. I don’t know that I’ve ever made a card with Always Artichoke before–but I like it! I stamped the base repeatedly with the Season of Joy block stamp in Always Artichoke ink.

The main image is the tree from Season of Joy, colored in with SU Markers (always artichoke, chocolate chip, and so saffron) stamped on whisper white card stock. I layered the whisper white on real red textured card stock and then kraft card stock. Using my Paper Piercer, I made holes on the tree for “ornaments”.

The ornaments were made using a small silver brad, tiny glue dots, and red glitter. Apply a tiny glue dot to the head of the brad, pressing it down and flattening it around the sides too. Dip the sticky brad into Romantic Red Glitter, pressing with your finger to really get the glitter stuck on there. Brush off any excess and then push the brad ends through the paper pierced holes. You may need to work the piercer around in a circular motion to widen the holes enough.

To finish off the card, I stamped “Merry Christmas” from Christmas Greetings in real red ink under the tree image.

The second version I made uses stamps and punches to make a Christmas themed tree. I stamped the tree from Season of Friendship in chocolate chip ink on whisper white card stock.

The circles were made using the Delightful Decorations stamp set. I stamped the circles in real red and glorious green ink on whisper white. Using the 1/4″ Circle Punch, I punched out the center of the stamped circles. Then, I layered the 1/4″ circles with 3/4″ Circles of alternating real red and glorious green card stock. In the center of each, I added a sticky rhinestone and adhered them to the tree with dimensionals.

Next, I layered the whisper white onto Glorious Green card stock and attached it to the Kraft card base. Across the bottom, I added a strip of real red card stock that I put through the Crimper. The sentiment is from Berry Christmas, stamped in real red on whisper white. I punched it out using the Modern Label Punch and sponged the edges with Glorious Green and a Sponge Dauber. The label was then adhered using dimensionals.

For version 3, I made a Christmas tree card using punches. I once made this using the 3 Flower Punch, but since I no longer have that punch, I used the 1/4″ Circle Punch. Take Old Olive card stock and punch out 20 circles. I adhered them to a piece of very vanilla in an overlapping pyramid formation, using Mono Multi Glue.

The tree stem is made with chocolate chip card stock and the Word Window Punch.

I stamped the star from Season of Joy in So Saffron ink on barely banana card stock and trimmed it out, but you could easily use a small star punch.

Around the very vanilla layer, I used the Paper Piercer, then adhered it to barely banana and real red card stock. I took a piece of Chocolate Chip 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon and tied it around the bottom before adhering it all to the Old Olive base.

I did some more playing with my L Letterpress kit last night. I can’t stress enough how little ink you really need to get a good impression. The slightest bit more and you’ll have problems with smudging.

The above card was made using the A2 size cotton letterpress paper (it comes pre-scored). After arranging the printing plates on the platform where I wanted them, I inked up the Holiday Printing Plate in red ink, the reindeer in brown, and the greeting in red also.

I use the Big Shot with the Letterpress kit. I don’t need to use any card stock or shims with mine. The impression is always nice and deep.

To finish off the card, I wrapped a piece of Chocolate Chip 1/4″ Twill Ribbon around the card and tied it into a knot. This is really beautiful and I think it would make a striking Christmas card.

The Holiday Printing plate collection includes this gorgeous tree image. I inked up the tree in red ink and the Christmas greeting in Silver ink, running it through the Big Shot with A7 size cotton paper. I trimmed the paper down and layered it onto textured chocolate chip card stock, cut to 7″ x 10″ so I could use a 5″x7″ envelope.

To give the tree some more sparkle, I added Dazzling Diamonds Glitter over the image while the ink was still wet. It picks up a little of the shimmer in the metallic silver ink and just makes it more festive. At the top of the tree, I added a small sticky rhinestone for the star.