Love You Deerly

Hello friends and TGIF!  My weekend started a bit early last night as we traveled to Rutland, Vermont, for an annual craft retreat.  Be sure to follow along on my Instastories as I share some behind-the-scenes photos.  I promise nothing salacious or scandalous, we aren't big drinkers and most of us are in bed by midnight!!  : ) 

Today I am sharing the first of my winter/holiday cards!  I know, I know, some of you are like, girl hold off on the PSL bullcaca already. . . So, if snowy scenes and white tailed deer in September aren't your jam, sorry! 

Card details:

The base of this A2 sized card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock.  I cut a frame around the scene from Crumb Cake Cardstock.  *Please continue reading below for more information about my alcohol ink background.  I did add "snow" by simply drawing in dots using a white gel pen.  Using the Heffy Doodle Stitched Slopey Joe border dies, I die cut the snowbank from white glimmer paper.  I die cut the birch trees from the Lawn Fawn Birch Tree Lawn Cuts and white cardstock.  The brown tree in the foreground I fussy cut by hand.  I stamped each of the images in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock and colored them with Spectrum Noir Alcohol Ink markers.  I added highlights to each colored image with a Uniball White Gel pen.  I adhered all of the images to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.  Lastly, I stamped the sentiment Blushing Bride ink on a thin strip of white cardstock.  I notched the right end and adhered it to the upper left corner of the card.

Because I am not currently creating video content and tutorials on my website, I highly recommend checking out this Easy Alcohol Ink Background Tutorial by Jennifer McGuire.  She has created a very simple introduction to working with alcohol inks to create some basic backgrounds.  This was the first video I watched after purchasing my alcohol inks and then I just spent time playing around with them!  The great thing is there is no right or wrong when it comes to art.  You just have fun (and usually make a mess) with it!  *My only tip would be that you don't need to spend your money purchasing polysynthetic Yupo Paper at nearly $1.00 per sheet.  You can use the reverse side of any high quality photo paper (like this one by Kirkland) and achieve the same results!
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These adorable deer are from the Newton's Nook Deer Friend stamp set:

Have a great weekend, friends!  I hope it is equal parts relaxing and enjoyable. 

XO, Crystal

More alcohol ink backgrounds: