Monday, December 6, 2010

"Stained Glass" Christmas Card


I was looking at the Christmas cards that I have posted lately and I realized that they are nearly all in "untraditional" colors.  Today I have a more conventional card to share with you (well, at least the colors are conventional). I designed this card with stained glass in mind.  I wanted to create the effect of light shining through a window.


Here is the card I designed just after I took it from the cutting mat.  As you can see the design is cut into the front of the card.  I have a fascination for designs that are cut out from a background for a pierced effect.  I have many dishes and silver pieces that also feature pierced designs - someday I'll post a few photos of my collections.


I used the DCWV shimmer cardstock in a nice shade of green for my card base.  Whenever you make this sort of cut, there are remainder pieces left on the mat.  I hate to let these go to waste, so, if the design will work by itself, I try to save these.


I use vinyl transfer tape to lift the designs from the mat and keep everything in place.  Just be sure to burnish it well to adhere to all of the cut pieces.  This design is pretty simple to lift because the pieces are relatively large.


Here you can see how nicely the design lifted.  Keep a watch out for this image to reappear on another project soon.


I was planning to use some printed tissue paper for the "glass" in the window.  In order for the light to shine through the paper, I needed to create a liner to hold the tissue paper with an opening that matched the cut out area.  Here is my cut tested against the card to be sure that there are no areas blocked by the liner.


The liner is just slightly shorter and thinner than the card base so it will not show when the card is closed.  The red tissue paper will go between these two layers on the card front only.


I used a thin tape runner to add adhesive close to the edges of the cut out area of the liner.  I cut a piece of the tissue paper to about 4 x 5 1/4 inches to use as the "glass" insert.


I adhered the tissue paper to the liner with the printed side facing to the top of the card.  The card and liner have rounded corners so I needed to trim these away.


I trimmed all four corners to allow room for the adhesive to hold the liner and card together tightly.


I added adhesive along each side of the image and then added more adhesive closer to the corners.  I placed the liner on the front of the card with the tissue paper sandwiched between the card and liner.


The tissue paper allows the light to shine through the cut out design.


The inside of the card has a neat finish and the light can shine through to the inside as well.  The liner is not attached to the back of the card - this makes the card open and close more easily and gives some space for an extra message or handwritten note.


I used my favorite "peel-offs" to add the "Merry Christmas" to the front of the card.  Now I just needed to add some sparkle.


Some of the new vintage jewels and some gradient gem stickers from Creative Charms to add just the right amount of elegance to the design.


Here is a closer view of the gems and the card front.  I used green and red gem stickers and coordinated the gradient gems with the color of the vintage jewel teardrops in the center sections.


This same basic concept can be used for many different cards.  I will do another post to show exactly how I designed the file in Design Studio.

I wonder if anyone can guess which cartridge I used to make this design.  I think you might be surprised to find out where my basic elements came from.  Just leave a comment if you think you know...or leave a comment to tell me what you think of this type of card.

I am sure you can think of many variations for this type of design - I may try a multicolored "window" next!

Happy St. Nikolaus Day!

Subscribe to Capadia Designs         Share/Bookmark

20 comments:

  1. Very pretty. I love the look of stained glass and you captured it. I will have to give this a try.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Diane, this is a very pretty card, and another great tutorial! I didn't go check, but I'm guessing the design may be from one of the Cricut Cake cartridges, or from the Creative Memories Reminisce, as they have these beautiful medallions. Could I be right? Great use of whatever it is :) Love the gems!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a pretty card! I wondered how I could save the cutouts and now I know. Thanks for the tips!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good morning, Diane -- I really like this design and cannot wait to see what you do with the "saved" cuts!

    I guess Creative Memories Reminisce Accents. I just got it yesterday, so I'm not certain as it isn't opened!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is really pretty! The jewels really finished it off nicely.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love your tutorials, you are so easy to follow and thorough. Thanks for the tip re: vinyl transfer tape...I will be using that one!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very pretty. You have such creative ideas. TFS.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very pretty, love the stained glass effect. I think it may be from George or Platin Schoolbook? maybe using shapes and commas etc

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is a lovely card, Diane! I particularly like how the front design shines through to the inside of the card, through the "stained glass"!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Such an elegant card Diane. Your recipient will cherish it.
    Mary Ann

    ReplyDelete
  11. How did you handle the liner so it would fit right and not bind when opening and closing the card?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi everyone - thanks for the lovely comments.

    Debbie - I only attached the liner to the front of the card. The right side (where you would put your message) floats free so the card will open and close easily. I usually do this with my liners - sometimes attaching them to the front and sometimes to the back depending on the particular card design.

    I thought I had mentioned this, but I see that I didn't, so I will go back and edit the post to clarify.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Very nice card! So glad to see something besides a snowflake, finally! I live in Sunny San Diego and snowflakes don't really apply!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank you so much for the idea...I had been racking my brains for an idea that will go quickly and be as beautiful as this one.
    I have the tissue paper and card bases so now to see if I can adapt it to the cut I want to use.
    I would guess you used AE but it is probably one of the CM carts you have been using recently.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Very pretty Diane. I am still a traditional lover. Try as I might, the pastel colors just don't feel like Christmas to me.
    Marcie

    ReplyDelete
  16. Love the stained glass look. Would really like to see you do a multicolored one.

    ReplyDelete
  17. What a great card. So easy and classy at the same time. Would also look good with a multi-colored mother of pearl type paper or maybe a blank CD behind the cut out. Love it.
    Shari . . .

    ReplyDelete
  18. This is a really pretty card, love how you used the liner with the opening to enable the light right through.
    Kim xXx

    ReplyDelete
  19. lovely, again, thank you diane. i have a question. i've downloaded both files. i've never dloaded a gypsy file, do i download it directly to my gypsy? i saved it to my desktop to access easily. it wouldn't open, i'm assuming because it's a gypsy file?

    any help would help...:}
    thank you,
    katschriber
    cen30611@centurytel.net

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi Kat,

    Once you download the file and save it to your desktop you will need to transfer it to the Gypsy to cut.

    You do this by plugging the Gypsy in to your computer with the USB cable, turning it on and running the CricutSync program. After the Sync checks for updates you will have the option to add files to the Gypsy - just browse to the location where you saved the file and choose it and the Sync will add it to the Gypsy.

    Then you can cut from the Gypsy but be sure to check the welds on page two as I mentioned in today's post.

    Let me know if you have any problems.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I love to hear from the people who read my blog. I moderate all comments to keep spam off the blog without making you decode the squiggly letters so your comment may not appear immediately.