Pretty Pines for Freshly Made Sketches

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Well, this is the happiest I've been with a card design for a long time. Does anyone else ever get into those stretches where they have all sorts of good ideas but nothing comes out the way they imagine it will? Or they just have no inspiration at all? I've been having a spell like that. But today was a breakthrough, and I attribute it to one of my very favourite suites from the the new Holiday Catalogue - Presents and Pinecones! Actually, to be more precise it's the Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies that I'm so in love with and have been since I first laid eyes on them back in July! And believe it or not, this is the first time I've had the opportunity to play with them!! But they didn't disappoint and I would have to put them at the top of my Top Ten list from the new catalogue. (More on that next week!)

I used the layout from the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches this week:

The background Designer Series Paper is from Candy Cane Lane - one of the more generic patterns which felt to me like a gentle snow fall.

You need to see it closer to get a look at all the textures and details:

• When you die cut the fir twigs in different colours of green you get more depth and definition than just using a single colour. Here I used Emerald Envy, Garden Green and Cucumber Crush. I love how easy the Pretty Pine Thinlits are to use as well. I didn't have to use my Precision Base Plate with these. They cut easily and easily removed from the dies as well. This is great for me as a demonstrator, because when I use this design in my next Technique class, I won't have to have my customers using the Precision Plate over and over and wreaking havoc on yet another cutting pad! I keep all my old cutting pads for just that purpose, but it's nice not to worry about it.
• Love, love, love the Copper Foil Sheets and the three different designs for pinecones that are in the set. I'm thinking that they can be layered for a different look, but here I used them separately. The Copper foil makes them just stunning!
• I added some woodgrain texture with the bottom panel of Early Espresso  to be a dark background to show off the fir branches and cones to the best advantage.
• The sentiment is from the coordinating stamp set, Christmas Pines, and it's stamped in Early Espresso ink, and die cut and backed with shapes from the Layering Circles Framelits! I have to say, I use these framelits far more than I ever did the old Circles Collection Framelits. They are much more useful.

I left you out on a limb yesterday, with only two of the three Gnome videos showing the Holiday Catalogue Reveal. I won't leave you hanging - here is the third:

         


Hope you enjoyed them! You can access the PDF file of the Holiday Catalogue through the link in my side menu! And one more time, I'll add it here. Just click on the cover picture to get there:

This catalogue is live now and you can order from it until January 3, 2017!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.


Product List

Christmas Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set [142049]	Christmas Pines Photopolymer Bundle [143496]	Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper [141981]	Copper Foil Sheets [142020]	Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [119686]
Emerald Envy 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [141415]	Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [120953]	Cucumber Crush 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [138335]	Garden Green 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [102584]	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [126974]
Stampin' Pierce Mat [126199]	Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [127821]	Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies [141851]	Layering Circle Framelits Dies [141705]	Big Shot Die Brush [140603]
Precision Base Plate [139684]	Big Shot [143263]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026]	Glue Dots [103683]
Fine-Tip Glue Pen [138309]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]