Christmas Medallion Card

I finally had a chance to visit my craftroom so I could do a test cut of the design I shared yesterday.  The original design was quite large - filling a 12 x 12 mat - and I needed to size it down to fit a card.

I drew some squares in the Silhouette design software to represent a five inch card base with two layers (4 3/4 and 4 1/2 inches).  Then I grouped the layers of the medallion design and sized it so the bottom shadow layer was four inches.

One thing that I have learned about cutting intricate designs is that you will get a better result with a shallower blade depth/lighter pressure and a double cut.  I made two trial cuts of this design.  The cut on the left was a single cut at blade depth 5, speed 3 and thickness 33 on the Cameo.  Everything cut properly but I had to do lots of "poking out" to finish the medallion.  On the right you can see that when I used a double cut, the result was perfect - I simply lifted the finished cut off the mat and every bit of the cut out design stayed on the mat (yes that is a Cricut mat - I use them interchangeably).

Both cuts were lovely when they were finished - the double cut on the right is a little cleaner at the points.  I used the first cut to make this card.

I cut three layers for the medallion.  The top lace is cut from Core'dinations Gemstone cardstock.  The red layer is American Crafts foil cardstock and the green plaid bottom layer is from the DCWV Christmas Combo stack.

The card base is Core'dinations Core Couture glitter cardstock cut at 5 x 10 inches and folded to 5 x 5 inches.  The red layer (4 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches) is the same American Crafts foil cardstock that I used in the medallion.  The top white layer (4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches) is white embossed cardstock with little swirls and dots.

I assembled the layers of the medallion and then pierced a hole in the center so I could insert a gem brad.  The colors of the brad gems influenced my choice of cardstock for the card with the dark red and sharp green.

I inked the edges of the green and red medallion pieces with distress ink to cover the cut white edge.  Since the layers are formed with the offset function in the software, I needed to line up the layers properly so I put a pencil mark on the back to show how they fit together.

This is the fully assembled medallion.  I thought it needed some extra gems to line the center of the design so I alternated clear and bright green gems at the points of the inner circle.

Here is a closer view of the center with the added gems.  The gem brad is from the Christmas Cheer collection by K & Company.

I added large foam circles to adhere the medallion to the card front.

The medallion stands out from the base and creates a shadow line.  If you wanted to make this cut as a tree ornament you could attach it to the card front but include a hanger (and finish the back of the ornament).

 

The red foil cardstock is so shiny that it is tricky to get a clear photo that shows the true colors.

I'll have to try some other color variations.  I think this would be pretty in shades of blue too.

Year End Clearance Sale

Last night I got a notice about the year end clearance sale at Creative Memories.  There are quite a few items at greatly discounted prices of up to 60% off.  You can find the complete list and more information on my Creative Memories website HERE.  The sale ends December 27th at 10 p.m. Central Time. 

You can sign up now for $39 and get an immediate credit for $39 (making the club essentially free).  Every order you place will earn you a credit of 15% for a future order.  This offer is available until January 1, 2013.  You can get all of the details and sign up HERE.

We had snow and ice yesterday - I took a few photos of the ice coated shrubs.  The ice is so pretty but also dangerous.  I am still working on Christmas trees and need to get out to do some shopping before it is too late.  I hope you are getting everything done that you need to do!

I saw a lovely tribute to the Sandy Hook school victims done by the judges and contestants from the TV show "The Voice" - here is a LINK if you'd like to see it.


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