How To Sparkle With Shine Bright
November 5, 2024
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The BetterPress Season’s Greetings Evergreens Press plate is used to make 4 cards that are easy to mass produce. Learn how right here.
Well, it’s another fun day because I get to share another new BetterPress plate with you! Just when you think it can’t get any better, it does! The design of this plate is clean and simple. But, you can dress it up or dress it down in many, many ways.
I am sharing four different cards that you can make relatively quickly to create very special Christmas cards in mass (if you choose). I’ll begin with the one that is the most basic first. And then, we’ll progress in complexity. Don’t worry, all of them are fun and easy.
BetterPress Season’s Greetings Evergreens Clean & Simple Card
For our first card, we’ll press both the sentiment and the focal image directly into an A2 size (4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″) piece of porcelain cotton cardstock. But, we’ll use a pretty Cosmic Sky blue ink for the sentiment, instead of the black that we’re using for the trees.
Next, we’ll use colored pencils to color the shading only for the trees. To demonstrate, the key is to keep the tips of the branches white and just add color up underneath where they are shaded. And, we’ll vary the colors to create some interest.
Finally, we’ll assemble the card by trimming a piece of matching blue cardstock to A2 size. And then, we’ll attach it to an A2 card base with a tape runner. Lastly, we’ll trim the pressed panel to 4″ x 5 1/4″ and attach it centered on the card front, also with a tape runner. And that’s it, you can make this card in minutes.
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BetterPress Season’s Greetings Evergreens Forest Card
This card turned out so much better than my concept for it. To create it, you’ll want to press the image onto an A2 piece of pebble cotton cardstock three times. But, you’ll change the ink color and the position of the press each time.
For my card, I use Tawny Brown ink for the image that I offset on the upper left-hand side. Next, I use a brown ink that’s just a little darker, Bark. For this image, we’ll offset it on the right side and a little bit lower than the first image we pressed. Finally, we’ll use Mahogany ink and press the image right in the center about a half inch from the bottom edge.
Now, we’re going to use colored pencils to color this card. However, we’re using four non-traditional colors that create kind of a rainbow effect. And, we’re not worrying about leaving any white space on this card.
The last thing to do before we assemble the card is to press the sentiment. And we’ll do so with Mahogany ink on a scrap of porcelain cotton cardstock. And then, we’ll use the coordinating die to die-cut it.
To finish off the card, we’ll attach an A2 size piece of medium gray cardstock to a white A2 card base. Next, we’ll trim our colored panel to 4″ x 5 1/4″ and center it directly on the gray. To finish it off, we’ll attach the greeting with liquid glue. NOTE: I recommend die-cutting a couple of extra greetings from white cardstock and layering them behind the sentiment to give it a little dimension. I wish I had done so with my card.
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BetterPress Season’s Greetings Evergreens Serene Card
OK, we’re going to step it up a notch for this card. We’re going to press the focal image in the same position as we used for the first card. But for this one, we’ll ink just the tops of the trees with “Leaf” green ink. And, we’ll use black ink for the bottoms. While we’re at it, we’ll go ahead and press the greeting with black ink as well.
Next, we’re going to use snowlike grit paste to add some dimension. You just want to dip up small bits of the paste with your palette knife and then dab them onto the pine boughs. At this point, we have to set the panel aside to dry before we do anything else.
While we’re waiting, we’ll add a dark gray accent panel to an A2 card panel with a tape runner. And, when the paste is dry we’ll trim the pressed panel to 4″ x 5 1/4″ and attach it centered on the card front with double-sided adhesive.
The card needs some bling, so color some of the shadings with a teal colored pencil. And then we’ll use some glitter glue to finish off the trees.
The last thing to do is to die-cut a couple of extra greetings and layer them up behind the sentiment with liquid glue. And, when the glitter glue is dry we’ll attach the sentiment on top with glue.
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BetterPress Season’s Greetings Evergreens Northern Lights Card
I love everything there is about the northern lights! And, they are so fun to add to greeting cards! I took a risk with my last card and added paste to the cardstock before I pressed it. I don’t advise this actually. The results aren’t as good as the ones we have with the third card. And, it’s not worth damaging your BetterPress system. By the way, it didn’t hurt mine.
If you look closely at the photo you’ll see that some of the lines in the images are blurred. I’m sure this had to do with the press plate slipping somehow on the dried paste. Or, maybe the ink smeared. However, I took advantage of the results and enhanced the dark shadows by making it a night scene.
To create the northern lights you need to add color streaks. You can blend this onto the cardstock using small blending brushes. Please note: the BetterPress cardstock absorbs blended ink differently than what you may be familiar with. Therefore, it may be advantageous to do some testing on a scrap piece before you begin to work on your project.
I blend the colors lightly down through the trees to create a Moonshadow effect. And then I blend a little black across the top edge, coming down from the top corners, and with a heavy hand across the bottom.
Because paste warps the cardstock, you can use double-sided adhesive to fasten the panel to the card base. To finish the trees you can add a couple of different colors of glitter paste.
Finally, we’ll just stack up the sentiment and attach it just like we did for the third card.
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Want Another Idea For Dark Skies?
Check out How To Rock An Out Of This World Card.
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ABOUT AUTHOR
Teri Duncan
Teri has over 30 years of experience as a cardmaker. Her work has appeared in Spellbinders Paper Arts’ blog as well as with some of their products and on Altenew’s blog. Outside of work, she enjoys gardening, stained glass, and teaching. She and her husband live in Crystal River, Florida with their three dogs and a cat.
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