Welcome to the start of the final Pals Blog Hop of 2013. This month we are showcasing projects featuring tools and supplies that should be on every crafters wish list. You may just be starting the blog hop or may have come from Peggy Noe at Prettypapercards.com, stop number two on the Pals Hop. If you get off track at any time, the full  lineup below will help you move along from blog to blog so you see all of the amazing creations.

The tool I use most often is my Big Shot. I seem to use it at almost every party. At first I was intimidated by the cost and thought about getting one of those cheaper alternatives at the craft store. Boy am I glad I opted to splurge for the Big Shot.  It’s so much more sturdy and very solid! (Unlike those other light weight plastic versions.) It is definitely a “quality” tool!!

I use my big shot for dry embossing and thinlit and framelit die cutting.  I just love that I can stamp and image and find the matching framelit to cut out the shape exactly without any fussy cutting!  That saves me so much time and frustration!  I don’t have the magnetic platform yet – but you can bet it’s on my Christmas list!  Are you reading this Santa???

But, I digress.  Let’s move on to my card!  I have seen this idea on pinterest a few times and decided that Christmas was a perfect time to try this out.  Believe it or not this card is done with aluminum foil. (Yep, that stuff from your kitchen drawer…)

I cut a card base (8.5″ by 4.25″ scored at 5.5″).  The next layer is where the magic happens.  It’s a piece of cardstock 3.75″ by 5″, with a layer of adhesive (I used my xyron, but you could use glue stick or tombow glue – just spead it evenly over the cardstock) and then a layer of aluminum foil over the top.  I smoothed it all out, trimmed it to about 1/2 inch over the edge of the cardstock and folded it over the back side and taped it down.  Doing this made it metallic colored.  I then took this piece and put it through the big shot with the Northern Flurry Textured Dry Embossing Folder.  I adhered this to the base of the card with snail adhesive.

For my greeting, I used the “Let it Snow” stamp from the “Best of Snow” stamp set.  I used the embossing buddy to prep the night of navy cardstock, then I inked up the stamp in versamark ink, stamped it and sprinkled silver embossing powder over the image and then heated with the embossing gun.  I loved how the silver was almost exactly the same color silver. I then punched out the image with the curly label punch.

I also used the curly label punch to punch out a label in the silver shimmer paper and another one in night of navy cardstock.  I cut each of these in half to layer under my stamped and punched image.  They are attached with dimensionals to give it a 3D effect.

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.  I hope you like it.

The next stop is Colleen Mollema at Uncanny Crafting, stop number four on the Pals Blog Hop! Thanks for visiting – and I hope to see you next year!

Merry Christmas and Happy Stamping, 

Lisa