{12 Weeks of Christmas 2013: Week Two}: Same Card, Five Ways

This post starts with a simple Christmas card.  Real Red Classic Ink is used with Brushed Silver, Whisper White, and Real Red card stocks.  The Chalk Talk Framelits make a quick and easy project of cutting out the Christmas stamp and my Scallop Circle punch takes care of the Brushed Silver piece.  A snip of Whisper White Stitched Grosgrain finishes the simple look.  Overall, I am happy with this quick and sweet Christmas greeting.

But what if I wanted to step it up a notch (or five)?  Here are some variations on the same card.

First, I used Pool Party Classic Ink to add an unexpected contrast of color to the card.  Not your "typical" Christmas color, but that's part of why I think it is so effective.

In addition, I inked the Santa image in Real Red and snipped him out using my Paper Snips and mounted this piece with Stampin' Dimensionals.  Quick and easy way to add contrast to the stamped image (Stampin' Write Markers would work here, too).

How about a little piercing?  Here's a quick and inexpensive way to add texture and interest to your project.  I used the Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack (126199) (as an added bonus, until October 14 at 11:59 PM, this pack is available as one of the Weekly Deals and is 25% off!).

This next project uses the negative space created by the Chalk Talk Framelit.  I used the Framelit on the Real Red piece and snipped closely around the stamped Whisper White piece.  The Real Red piece is bumped up with Stampin' Dimensionals and the piece of grosgrain is fed through the negative opening.

This tweak didn't cost a thing, but added another twist to this project...

Here's another way in which to utilize your Big Shot.  I love the Textured Impressions Embossing Folders.  Here I used the Perfect Polka Dots to pick up on the dots in the Pool Party portion of the image.  Quick and highly effective for a bit of texture...