Christmas Angel Cards

I still make many of my own Christmas cards and always will.  The two cards shown below are nearly identical, but not quite.

I wouldn't have thought of a design created this way -- from prints made with my 6" x 6" stencil Sprigs -- if it hadn't been for a StencilGirl StencilClub member.  When this stencil first came out, she saw the angel right away.  It took me a while longer to see it!

Once I'd found it, however, I knew what I wanted to do:  Make prints using traditional Christmas colors, one of which would be the background for my 5.75" x 5.75 " greeting card blanks (from JAMPaper.com); and from the second print, cut out the angel shape.

Above:  Altho a Gelli Plate could be used in making these prints, I opted instead to use a sponge brayer (not pictured) and Hooker Green mixed with heavy gel medium.  For me, the best brayered results come from using heavy-bodied paint.  And if I decide to add gel, as I did here, I use heavy-bodied gel as well.

Above:  On the left is the Sprigs stencil.  On the right, the sponge brayer has been run across the paint mixture.  Because Hookers Green is so dark, it appears almost black here.  My substrate is a white glossy paper that's been faintly marbled with gold.

Above:  On the upper right, you can see the first print, now that the brayer has been run across the stencil, followed by the stencil being lifted (it's on the lower right.)  After making several green prints, I used the same technique to make red prints.

Above:  Having faintly outlined the angel-shape on the print, the next step is to cut it out.  I used fine-detail scissors by Fiskar.

Above:  Two angels have been cut out.

Above:  With the same scissors, I rounded the outer edges of the wings.

Above; lower left:  I was careful to align the green angel with its matching lines on the red-printed background.  Lower right:  Fiskars Paper Edger scissors that I used to cut out the red-printed backgrounds.

Above:  You may want to click on this image, enlarging it to better see details.  In the lower left, an angel has been turned upside down and dimensional self-adhesives are being added.  I have several kinds of dimensional self-adhesives; they are shown in the upper left and mid-top.  On the far right is the Pioneer-brand Embellishment Glue Stick that I used to adhere the red background prints to the faces of the greeting cards. 

Using the dimensional self-adhesives to attach the angels to the card fronts created a 3-D effect, as shown in the card samples at the top of this post.

After adding the angels, I used gold glitter glue to give them halos.

I went thru somewhat similar steps in making other angel Christmas cards --

Above:  Instead of adding another angel of a different color, I used the red-and-white print itself.  With glitter, I added a halo and lined the angel's body, following the lines the stencil had created.  I painted the wings with iridescent translucent acrylic paint.

Above:  Again I used a single print made with red acrylic paint.  I outlined the angel with silver metallic paint that allowed some of the original print to remain visible as a textured background.  Using glitter glue, I outlined the angel's body, body patterns and wings; also I used it to add a halo. 

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