Bright & Beautiful in Browns for Merry Monday

As you know, I’ve been the Featured Designer at Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge.  What a fun gig!  While this was SUPPOSED to be my last week on the team, I’ve been asked to stay on through the end of the year.  Yippee!  I’m excited to stay on for a bit longer.

Here’s my card for this week’s Merry Monday Challenge:

Bright & Beautiful, Stampin' Up!, Brian King, MM132 And here’s the banner for this week’s challenge:

MM132Tips, Tricks and Reminders

  • Pull it Together!  You read the challenge banner right.  This challenge calls for three elements – Snowflakes, Dry Embossing and Neutral Colors.  What fun!  The challenge here was to balance all three of the elements so that they worked well together.  I decided to split the front panel between an Early Espresso piece of Under the Tree Specialty Designer Series Paper (with kraft colored snowflakes) and a piece of Early Espresso cardstock that’s embossed with Stylish Stripes.
  • Kraft Cardstock.  After I posted my Thanksgiving Journal (see it here) covered with Kraft Cardstock, I received several messages to ask where I got my Kraft Cardstock.  I want to share it with you today – it’s right there in Stampin’ Up!’s 2014-2015 Annual Catalog on page 192.  I’ve added a link below, as well.  I just didn’t want you to miss out on this great “new” product – coordinates well with Under the Tree Specialty Designer Series Paper, Gift Card Enclosures and lots of the base materials found on page 200 of the book.  Oh!  The cardstock also pairs well with the Many Merry Stars Simply Created Card Kit.  🙂
  • Cropping the Oval.  Instead of layering oval upon oval upon oval in the center of this card, I thought it would be fun to crop out the largest oval from the background papers and add the two smaller ovals.  To achieve this look, I used a piece of washi tape to connect the backs of the two pieces.  I cropped the large oval (front of the cardstock facing down).  Then, I dry embossed the Early Espresso panel and put them back together.  It was work, but it was fun to make it all come together.
  • The Snowflake.  I know, I know.  This is a fourth bullet point – but I thought it would be important to share.  Forgive me.  🙂  The wooden snowflake is from the Many Merry Stars Simply Created Card Kit – same shape as the ones found on the Specialty Designer Series Paper, and a wonderful complement to the colors in this card.Bright & Beautiful, Stampin' Up!, Brian King, MM132

Stamp Sets:  Bright & Beautiful  Papers:  Under the Tree Specialty Designer Series Paper, Kraft Cardstock, Early Espresso  Accessories:  Ovals Collection Framelits, Early Espresso Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Stylish Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Many Merry Stars Simply Created Kit, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I hope you’ll pop over to the Merry Monday Challenge to check out the amazing project by the talented Design Team Members.  It’d be great, too, for you to participate in this week’s challenge.  🙂

Thanks for stopping by today!

Brian

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32 Comments

  1. Gorgeous card, Brian! I love how the sentiment is the focus of your card. So excited to have you joining us for the rest of the year. Have a great week!

  2. Simple elegance – beautiful!

  3. Love the card! And congratulations on the design team!

  4. You write so effortlessly that I didn’t even realize you had four points today. I also didn’t notice the snowflake matched the DSP. Great, great job. Love the cut outs too. Congrats on your SU promotion as well as staying on the Merry Mondays until the end of the year.
    🙂

  5. Love this card, love your blog, and love your humor. Your blog is a daily stop for me. Keep up the great work!

  6. Sorry, had to correct my email address.

  7. This is such a great card for all the detail work you put into it ,but this would be the perfect one to have a few on hand for those “Business Type ” men in your life .
    So glad you will be on the Merry Monday DT as a fixture through the end of the year !
    It will make my Mondays Merry !!!

  8. Brian I love to see all your beautiful cards. You do an amazing job, thanks, HG

  9. I don’t mind “browns” at all, but not for Christmas. But you diffidently just changed my thinking Brian. Love, love, love this card. Maybe it’s the “gold” star, since I like gold at Christmas. Not, it’s a very beautiful card and another job well done Brian!!!

  10. Your cards are always beautiful and inspiring! Can you please explain dry embossing ~ I’m new to card making.

    • I appreciate your kind words. When we emboss, it leaves a raised image on the page. The two common types of embossing are (1) dry embossing/textured embossing – when you run a piece of cardstock through the Big Shot (or Textured Impressions Boutique) inside a textured impressions folder, the cardstock comes out with raised, 3-D shapes – I used Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder to create the raised stripes on the lower panel or (2) heat embossing/wet embossing – when you ink an image with VersaMark (a slow-drying ink) and sprinkle it with embossing powder. The powder sticks to the ink. When you heat the paper with a Heat Tool, the powder solidifies to become a

  11. Interesting. Not sure I like browns in Christmas card but I like your card, ergo I must like browns in Christmas cards.

  12. Such beautiful work, Brian. Love the snowflakes and the die cutting you used!

  13. Awesome card Brian, it makes me feel all cozy and warm. I love neutrals and this card is gorgeous.

  14. This is a gorgeous and rich card, Brian – so glad to have you with us until the end of the year!

  15. To me this is a stunning card. I love the simplicity and the huge statement it makes. Very well done.

  16. Your card is so beautifully done, Brian! Love the warmth of your browns and the elegance of the sentiment & snowflakes! Great job! So happy that your staying on with us at Merry Monday! Can’t wait to see all your wonderful holiday creations! Have a fabulous week! 🙂

  17. I like to see Christmas cards in non traditional colors, not that I don’t like this colors but it’s nice to change them up a bit. Somehow the browns make for a warm and pretty card, with a touch of rustic Country, cozy feel, the wooden snow flake is the prettiest detail that compliments your layout so well.
    Thank you for sharing.

  18. What a classy card! 🙂

  19. Who would’ve thought that the elements you had to work with would turn out a card so elegant, impactful and unexpected! But then, you always seem to achieve those qualities. It just goes to show that you put a lot of thought and pride into your cards, and your love for card making is still fresh and unjaded!

  20. Very nice, clean & simple card Brian and again, so glad you are staying on with our team!

  21. Oh My Goodness, knocked it out the park! WOW

  22. Yay, Brian, so glad you can stay with us for a while longer! Love your neutrals and ovals! Great idea to feature the sentiment! Hope you have a wonderful week!

  23. This is so beautiful and worth waiting a few extra hours for.

  24. Beautiful card Brian, the kraft with this DP is fabulous and I love the sentiment and wooden snowflake. It is wonderful that your are designing with us till the end of the year.

  25. What a lovely card! I would’ve never thought of brown for Christmas cards. You put it all together beautifully.

  26. Deanne @ Three Trees

    Beautiful Brian!! Love all those clean lines!!

    Deanne 🙂

  27. I love this Brian … the browns and wooden snowflake …gorjuss 🙂

  28. LOVE this simple design and the colors are so warm! The wood snowflake is the perfect touch!!

  29. Pingback: A Rustic Christmas in Creams and Tans | STAMP WITH BRIAN

  30. Thanks for your personal marvelous posting! I truly enjoyed reading it, you can be a great author.
    I will always bookmark your blog and will often come back very soon. I want to encourage you continue your great posts,
    have a nice morning!

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