Stained Glass Christmas Card ft. My Favorite Things

When I read about My Favorite Thing's Superstar Card Contest, I knew I had to give it a shot. BUT the problem is I'm still on vacation in Taiwan and I won't be back until the 19th. As you can see in the graphic below, the contest ends on the 22nd, which is also the first day of class at UCSD. This means I only have a couple of days to unpack, get ready for school, and pull together a card that will hopefully catch the judges' attention. Quite a timed challenge! :)

  

I don't own a lot of products from MFT, and I thought this is a great opportunity to add some to my stash. As I scrolled through their online shop, the Abstract Background stamp caught my eye and immediately I thought about the majestic stained glass windows I once saw in France. I was inspired to create a stained glass piece with the cross, which will make a perfect Christmas card for a Christian family I know. (I also did some Google search afterwards to see if there's really a window that looks like the one I created, and there is!)

I started off by inking the stamp with black Versafine ink and clear heat embossed the image on Tim Holtz's watercolor cardstock. Then I marked 4 pencil lines to create my cross. I used several shades of yellow, orange, brown Distress Inks to color each triangle individually. 

For the outside four rectangular areas, I used blues and greens and repeated the coloring process. For each triangle I mixed different shades of colors to create more depth and interest. So it's quite time consuming but super therapeutic!

After the watercolored background was dry I sprayed a layer of Perfect Pearls mist over the entire panel to give it a subtle shimmer. You can barely see it in the photos but it's there!

I heat set the entire panel again until the mist has completely dried. Then I pressed my Versa Mark ink pad onto the bottom half of the panel and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. You can see that the embossing powder adds a glossy finish to the card and really mimics the stained glass look. I repeated the same steps with the upper half of the panel.

 

I felt that one coat of embossing powder isn't enough since there are still spots that are splotchy (left photo). So I went ahead and embossed two more times. Three coats of embossing powder really made the panel very shiny and dimensional. 

My original plan was to frame the cross with thin strips of black cardstock, but I didn't like how bold it looked. So instead I used my Copic Multiliner to trace the pencil lines I made earlier. 

I wanted to keep the focus of the card on the faux stained glass window so I kept the rest of it very simple. I heat embossed the "Merry Christmas" sentiment on a strip of vellum with silver embossing powder. The sentiment is from MFT's Hand Lettered Holiday set. 

 

The Words of Inspiration (left) and Cheerful Blessings (right) sets also work well with this design. There are plenty of great sentiments for prayer or appreciation cards. 

 

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my creation and are inspired to use your background stamps in different ways. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Challenges Entered:

MFT Superstar Card Contest / SSS Work It Wednesday: STAMPtember
  
Penny Black & More: Add a Sentiment / ATSM: Make Your Mark / STAMPlorations Spotlight: I was inspired by the way Becca adds shading in her watercoloring
 
HLS Christmas: Song (Joy to the World) / HLS Mixed Media: Distress