A Little Holiday Sparkle

There's nothing like a bit of sparkle--or a lot of glitter--to say happy holidays.  This card goes out to all my friends who love a little bling, whether that's for the holidays or in general.  You know who you are.  ;)

I got the idea for this modern rendition of a Christmas tree from Judy May's fantastic holiday card, which caught my eye a few weeks ago when it was featured in Nancy Riley's iPicks #157--a weekly roundup of fantastic inspiration from around the web.  Why oh why didn't I buy any of the silver glimmer paper?  Then I realized that I can make glimmer paper in any color using heat & stick powder and dazzling diamonds (one of the best techniques I learned last year)

So I got to work, using punches to cut out different size circles from Red Glimmer Paper, Pear Pizzazz, and Baja Breeze.  I then inked my larger Pear Pizzazz and Baja Breeze circles in VersaMark--I just pressed the whole circle into the pad--and put them in my Powder Pals tray to catch the stray powder.  I dumped Heat & Stick powder over all of them, then moved the circles to a different spot on the table to apply some heat.  As soon as the powder started to flow, I moved the circles into a different Paper Pals tray where I dumped Dazzling Diamonds glitter all over them (and glitter went everywhere, like snow inside!  Pretty...and I vacuumed after card making.)  I applied some more heat, to make sure the Dazzling Diamonds were set in the Heat & Stick powder, and then I had glimmer paper in two new colors.  Success!

I laid out the circles to create my tree first, moving them back and forth before deciding I was ready to glue them down.  I used a combination of dimensionals, to hold the larger circles off the page, and mini glue dots for the littlest ones.  My finishing touch was the sentiment, inked in Baja Breeze from Four the Holidays.

BINGO ALERT!  We've had another winner, so it's time for round three.  Audrey, send us an email to collect your prize (and Jenny, we still haven't heard from you for your round 1 winnings--email us!).  Everyone else, reset your cards...but since the winner was on Sunday's post, you can keep yesterday's poinsettia for this round, and add the snowman as today's pick.  Good luck!

Happy Holidays!
~Melanie

Stamps: Four the Holidays
Ink: Baja Breeze, VersaMark
Paper: Whisper White, Red Glimmer, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz
Extras: Heat & Stick powder, Dazzling Diamonds, 1" Circle punch, 3/4" Circle punch, Itty Bitty Punch Pack