Saturday, December 6, 2014

Nativity Border in Red and Blue

I love the Nativity Border Die from Taylored Expressions.  It's absolutely lovely and so perfect for cards that I make for church.  Then I recently stumbled on the Tiny Star background by Hero Arts (see comments in supply list) and thought the two would coordinate perfectly.

My first mental image was rustic yet elegant, so I went for a kraft and rich red color scheme.

O Come in Red

I added a white die-cut behind the kraft to set it off with the appearance of moon glow.  (It's not just a blurry photo!)

I love the red and it's absolutely my favorite of the two, but I also had the fairly obvious thought that I should try a true night sky.  So I pulled out navy and white for a more contemporary look to the scene.

Oh Come in Blue

Amazingly different looks, aren't they?

I did the stars on the blue card using Silver Pearl Ex powder which I haven't used in years.  I stamped the background with Versamark and then used a soft brush to cover it with the powder.  Finally, I used a stiff brush to remove the extra powder.  I like it for this card because it stays flat to the paper which then doesn't distract from the die cut.

You know how they say that troubles come in threes.  It's been a tough crafting week for me, full of expensive disasters.
  1. Our wi-fi router failed - this seems to happen at least once a year, maybe even more.  For most, this wouldn't be a crafting failure - but my computer is too far from my craft desk to be useful.  I download all challenges into a Google Doc, then while I'm crafting I use my iPad to look them up.  I also have images of many of my stamp sets and dies downloaded in Flickr, so I can easily browse my stamps and dies to see what I want.  My iPad does have 3G but it's an old and tired iPad and just doesn't want to work hard enough in my country home to find 3G.  I got a lot of exercise this week up and down, back and forth to the computer.
  2. On a slightly more disastrous note - my Big Shot died.  I started crafting one morning and it was making a grinding noise.  By that afternoon, it just quite turning.  I gave it to my men/boys hoping they could tinker with it but they are a singularly inept group so I'm not holding out hope.  I do have an older Cuttlebug, but Cuttlebugs tend to loosen up over time and getting detailed die cuts like above involves multiple passes on different sides of the cutting pad, multiple shims, and ultimately some careful work with a craft knife.
  3. The total disaster was that I dropped my Nikon D5000 camera.  I managed to drop it on the six square feet of tile we have by the door in the family room.  I thought I'd broken the "motor" focus mechanism in the lens.  Lenses are replaceable (although the "motorized" types are quite expensive.) But I popped on my telephoto and it doesn't work well either.  And I tried to manually focus, but then it didn't manage color well.  So something is disastrously, and probably expensively, wrong.
What a week!  And go figure, it's all in December, when my money is budgeted for others.

The pictures above are with a 15-year old compact camera and I am surprisingly OK with them.  In fact, I didn't think they look bad at all until I compared them with earlier shots from my good camera (I had originally made the blue one with a different star and had photos of it.)  The pictures are above are decently clear, but they lack depth.  Nor can I manage a decent close-up shot.  I wanted to show you that the star on the red card is covered with glitter, but I can't get the shot with this camera.  The good camera goes to the shop on Monday - fingers crossed!!

SUPPLY LIST
FYI: The silver cord and the metallic papers are retired from Stampin' Up.  The star background is Hero Arts Tiny Star Background which I do not believe is in their current catalog, but I have linked where I found it.

22 comments:

  1. I am in love with your cards, Kim!! The first one with kraft, red and white is stunning. Love the subtle white layer behind the die cut. Amazing!!

    So sorry to hear about your week. Not a fun time for things to go wrong. Hang in there.

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  2. Kim, I love visiting your blog. You never cease to amaze me with your creations. They are joyful and gorgeous!
    I love the first card best. The white star pops against the neutral background.
    Sorry about the rough week. Hope the issues get resolved easily.

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  3. Two absolutely stunning cards to convey the essence of Christmas. Poor you with the 'three' issues that occurred. Ouch. On the plus side, I think a "Christmas gift wish list for Mom" magically appeared for your husband and sons. *grin*
    ~c

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  4. Beautiful cards Kim, love the red & kraft!! Sure hope there are no more incidents...my goodness! Fingers crossed on your camera. My hubby would probably go into cardiac arrest if I dropped his camera LOL!!!

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  5. ADORE these, Kim. Christmas in all its humble glory - may have to get it!!

    SO sorry to hear about your tough week. Fingers crossed they can fix the camera... upside, things are on sale right now so IF you have to go that route you should be able to find a deal. Hugs!!

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  6. Beautiful cards, Kim. At least the three are over and you can concentrate on fixing and/or replacing. Wishing you well whichever way you need to go.

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  7. Beautiful cards Kim, I hope your camera is easily fixed, Cathy x

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  8. Wow, these cards are beautiful!
    Hugs,
    Antonella :-)

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  9. Gorgeous cards, Kim ... I especially love the navy and white ... it's so dramatic! Hope the news is good on your camera. Anita :)

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  10. It is amazing how different they look, Kims, but they both look stunning, even with the older camera! Sorry for all your disasters - at the wrong time of year! I hope it all gets sorted out soon and without too much of a hit in the wallet!! Hugs, Darnell

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  11. Beautiful, beautiful cards. Your design work is wonderful. A difficult week for you for sure! I like the kraft one a lot, wonder how the kraft with navy would look? Hmmmm.....
    Let us adore Him!

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  12. Gorgeous cards!!! So sorry about the camera...pooh!!!

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  13. Oh my Kim! May this be the end of all disasters!
    This gorgeous cards makes up for all the bad luck you had. It just captures the essence of Christmas so beautifully!

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  14. These cards are both beautiful, although I like the tan one better because of the white shadowing. None of your mishaps seem to have affected your creativity! Sorry you had all three "challenges" happen at once, but at least no people (or animals) were harmed ;)

    Funny, my Cuttlebug has developed a huge crack on the side. I was considering replacing it with a Big Shot, but I'll have to give that some thought. My demonstrator had a similar problem with hers too.

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  15. Beautiful cards Kim. Especially love the first one with the off set white layer behind the Kraft.

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  16. The die is really beautiful. I Love both cards.
    Greetings from Germany
    Petra

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  17. Oh my gosh I am so sorry this all happened at once. I dropped my camera about 4 mo ago, with the lens open and it bent and then nothing worked.
    I do have to say I love your cards with the gorgeous nativity scene , I have a stamp like that but not a die. I think the pictures are beautiful as well.
    Hope you have a break free week..... :) Its never the right time...

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  18. What a wonderful die and I love all those tiny stars! Both of these cards are a wonderful way to say Merry Christmas! Hope your bad luck is behind you and this week is going better!

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  19. these are absolutely beautiful. Have the nativity die and think I may have to look into getting that star die. great job and and I think my favorite is the navy.

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