Traditional Christmas Book Card & Charms

Today I can finally share my secret with you, that this month I have been chosen as Guest Designer for Stampalot. Also, they have changed the name of their blog to Stamping Sensations! This month's challenge is "Traditional Christmas" so why not pop along and have a go or even just have a nosey at the design team's wonderful creations? There's a great prize too! Well here we go with today's card. It's one of my book cards, and we'll jump straight to the inside.

"Traditional Christmas Book Card inside"

I've worked in the traditional Christmas colours of red, green and gold, and with a vintage thing going on. The basic construction is the same as for the tutorial with the cover made from 300gsm red card and the closures using red/gold woven ribbon. More of the ribbon was used to decorate the border of the book on the right hand panel, along with a fussy-cut border from a free vintage image. I used up scraps from last year's Christmas papers making a collage background for the left hand panel with a layered sentiment.

"Right hand panel"

On the right hand panel, the book aperture, there is more depth to play with and a number of items are glued in place, including decorated buttons and diecut flowers. Snowflakes are diecut from vintage paper scraps and added around the edges, sticking them into the book leaves. I love the big, jovial Father Christmas that is used as the background image, together with the "Jolly Old St Nicholas" sentiment.

"Snowman Pendant"

The snowman is cut from a scrap of patterned paper, glued into a blank cameo with glossy accents, then the cameo is filled with glossy accents and left to dry before gluing into the project with Pinflair.

"Father Christmas"

The "Father Christmas" charm is made in a similar manner.

"Robin"

Did you spot the robin in the top right-hand corner? He is a Kars wooden embellishment coloured with distress markers.

"Front Cover"

I like to make the book covers look realistic, so often use gold heat-embossing to make them resemble old leather-bound volumes. Also, a plain outside leaves more room for a wow factor when you open the card!. The background is stamped in one go using a fab Kanban stamp, and a diecut reindeer is layered red on gold for a shadow effect before sticking to the front.

"Traditional Christmas Book Card"

Ingredients:

Graphic45 8" x 8" paper pad scraps: Christmas Emporium

other patterned paper scraps

Spellbinders: Layered Poinsettia, Frosty Forms

Kanban stamp: Winter trees with stag and deer

versamark clear ink pad

Stampendous embossing powder: Pirate Gold

Kars wooden embellishment

charms

decorated buttons

tiny yellow gems for flower centres

red & gold ribbon lace

cardstock: red 300gsm, antique gold 200gsm, white 200gsm

adhesives: PVA, Pinflair, glossy accents