Vertical Greetings for Christmas

I love to make stuff out of stuff that isn’t designed for the stuff I want to make.  To get there, I have to squint at things and turn things on their sides and look at them from all angles.  Sometimes I find cool things hidden in stamps – and other times cool stuff isn’t hidden at all.  From the moment I saw this triangle-shaped topiary in Vertical Greetings, I knew I’d be making it into Christmas card.  Here’s my card:Vertical Greetings, Wonderful Year, Stampin' Up!, Brian King, Christmas Card

Tips, Tricks and Reminders

  • Vertical Greetings. It’s the shortest and most understated of the three topiary images in the set – I guess I love a great underdog story because this is the one that stood out to me from the start.  Sure, the heart is great, and the three-tiered plant is quite magnificent, but this triangle tree stole my heart.  It’s quite adorable, don’t you think?

    Vertical Greetings, Stampin' Up!

    Vertical Greetings, Stampin’ Up!

  • Coloring my Christmas Tree.  There are three colors on my Christmas tree topiary – Garden Green, Chocolate Chip and Crumb Cake.  I used Stampin’ Write Markers to color each element before giving them a big huff and stamping onto the Whisper White cardstock.  With the green, I painted all over the leaves, but I painted the base of the tree and the pot with solid swipes to avoid pooling of ink on the image – painting over and over the image can cause streaks in your final image.
  • The Most Classic Color Combination for Christmas.  Because I love this plaid pattern from Warmth & Cheer Designer Series Paper Stack (it contains Garden Green), I painted my Christmas tree leaves in Garden Green.  I added a Cherry Cobbler sentiment from Wonderful Year and a thin, Cherry Cobbler border around the panel.  All of that was placed on a Crumb Cake base for a perfect combination of classic colors:  Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler and Crumb Cake.Stampin' Up! Color Inspiration: Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake

Stamp Sets:  Vertical Greetings, Wonderful Year  Papers:  Warmth & Cheer Designer Series Paper Stack, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, So Saffron  Inks:  Cherry Cobbler, Stampin’ Write Markers (Garden Green, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake)  Accessories:  Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies (for the small star), Stampin’ Dimensionals

Vertical Greetings, Wonderful Year, Stampin' Up!, Brian King, Christmas card 3

So, what do you think?  Do you like this modern twist on a Christmas tree?  I hope you like it as much as I do.  🙂

Thanks for stopping by today!

Brian

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15 Comments

  1. Hmmmmmmm. didn’t think I needed that set, Brian! Great card! Topiary is perfect!

  2. Absolutely gorgeous, Brian!

  3. Brian. I love your…STUFF!! Great looking card indeed. Thanks for sharing!

  4. I adore how you used the markers to isolate the colors. So clever to transition the topiary into Christmas!

  5. Thanks for opening my eyes to the underdog! Great card!

  6. O.K. Brian – I think we are going to have to officially change your blog name to BrianSqints.com . LOL Thank goodness we only have to send you a nickle every time we use your squint method and not the other way around or you would be broke! 🙂

    All kidding aside, I honestly don’t know how you do it. I’ve been trying for quite a while to find way to take stamps from various sets and put them together to end up with a remarkable card such as yours but I don’t seem to have much luck doing that even when I squint. So, a huge thank you to you for sharing your techniques with us so generously.

  7. What a great Christmas card, Brian. I love the topiary with the plaid DSP. So striking!

  8. Great card again today! Love the clean simplicity.

  9. Hi Brian…great card…Question: I used to be able to click on your card post and enlarge the images to get a closer look at the details of your cards…haven’t been able to do that… Is it my computer?

  10. Adorable card Brian. I love the idea of a Christmas topiary or two on a porch. I wish I could see things thru your eyes for a day.

  11. Thanks Brian for your keen eye. The transformation of the little tree to Christmas is fantastic. This gives me inspiration to work on my Christmas cards! BTW I just bought this set!!

  12. So very pretty!!! I just adore your design take on cards….love it!!!!

  13. Love the way you see other stuff in the stuff that was meant for other stuff!

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