Merry Christmas Pink Poinsettia and Pine Branch Tutorial

This pink poinsettia made such a pretty Christmas card.  I used Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies for the flower. I took this picture at an angle so you can see the great dimension of the poinsettia.  All the pieces for the flower were die cut using white card stock.  The petals were shaped using the Susan's Garden Tool Kit.  To get the beautiful shade of pink, I used the light pink in the Susan's Garden Pan Pastels to cover the petals using the Pan Pastel Soft Tools. Using these tools helps you get a quick, very even color coat to your project.   The bright pink Pan Pastel was used down the center of the large petals and over the majority of the smaller petals, in the center, to give it good shading. I used a Pan Pastel Sofft Mini Applicator to apply the bright pink along the vein. The stamens were colored pink then the Moss Green Via Decor Paper Pen, from the Susan's Garden 3-Pack was added to the tips of each stamen.  Soft Lemon Flower Soft was sprinkled on the wet Paper Pen.

 This is a 6"x6" card.  I used the Memory Box "Grand Merry Christmas" for the sentiment.  I love how this die cuts out the card stock around the "merry" and die cuts out the "Christmas" letters; it is such a cool effect!  You can save the "Christmas" letters to use at another time.  The piece of white card stock is 5" x 6" (to leave a border.  After die cutting the  "Merry Christmas", I placed the Sizzix, Brenda Walton Textured Trellis embossing folder on the portion under the die cut and ran it through my Big Shot.  I attached a piece of 6"x6" pink glitter paper to the 6"x6" card base, and then attached the sentiment piece over it.  To cover up the edge of the embossing, right under the die cut sentiment, I added a piece of the glitter paper.  Because the white piece was smaller than the card, it left a pretty glitter border along the bottom.

I love to work with the Impression Obsession, die cut Pine Branch because it is so realistic.  Below I have instructions on how I made it look even more realistic.

 Pine Branch Tutorial

 In this picture you can see the pine branch when just die cut.  I decided to use Tim Holtz, Distress "Pine Needle, embossing powder to give it texture.  The branch on the right has been embossed.

Hopefully you can see the difference in the plain branch on top and the embossed branch on the bottom.  The Pine Needles embossing powder is pretty dark and looks great with red or dark colored poinsettias.  I wanted to tone it down a little to be softer with the pink poinsettias.

In this picture, the first branch was just die cut.  On the second branch I used "Peeled Paint" Distress embossing powder. The bottle of embossing powder matching the embossed branch is above the branch so you can see the difference in color.  You need to cover the branch well with VersaMark Ink then cover with the embossing powder.  This Peel Paint branch is not exactly the color is wanted, so I decided to see what a combination of the two embossing powders would look like. On the third, from the left,  is a branch embossed with the "Pine Needles" embossing powder. On the branch on the far right, I pressed the branch down in the VersaMark Ink pad making sure ink was covering all the "needles" then sprinkled on a little of the "Pine Needles" embossing powder, shaking off the excess and putting it back in the bottle.  Next I poured over a good coat of the "Peeled Paint" embossing powder, pressing it in, then heat set it with the heat gun.  The shade of green came out in between the other two colors.  It looks perfect with the pink poinsettia.   I love the texture the embossing powder gave the pine branches  -- because of the texture, the branch looks almost real!  I hope you will give this a try because I am sure you will love how it helps to make the pine branch more realistic.

How are you coming along with your Christmas cards?  I still have a few more to get done and will be posting some other beautiful poinsettia cards. I have been playing with different colors and love them all!

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great weekend.

Below are links to all the products from Ellen Hutson, LLC:

Susan's Garden Poinsettia Flower Dies
Susan's Garden Tool Kit
Susan's Garden Pan Pastels
 Pan Pastels Soft Tools
Pan Pastel Sofft Mini Applicators
Viva Decor paper Pen, Susan's Garden 3-Pk
Soft Lemon, Flower Soft
Memory Box, Grand Merry Christmas die
Sizzix, Brenda Walton, Textured Impression, Trellis, embossing folder
American Crafts, Pow! Pink Glitter Paper
Impression Obsession, Pine Branch die
Distress Embossing Powder, Pine Needles
Distress Embossing Powder, Peeled Paint
Heat It Craft Tool
The Ultimate Glue
Sizzix, Big Shot Machine

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