"MAKE-IT-SNAPPY-MONDAY"

Today's MISM project is a card that wasn't exactly a snap to make; however, it will be the next time--now that I know the easiest way to achieve the stained glass look that I wanted.  It actually took about six tries before it occurred to me to just stamp and emboss the image onto glossy white card stock and, believe me, I did call out a few times to Mary, Jesus, and Joseph.  Lovingly, of course.  When I first got Stampin' Up!'s Gentle Peace stamp set, I will not lie . . . I looked at it and wondered how in the world would I use it.  I gave it a try, though, and still wondered what possessed me to order it.  Tossed it to the side, thinking I'd never use it, but it kept calling to me--I was so bugged that I would have a stamp set for which I truly had no use.  The image is beautiful!  Finally, I convinced myself that I could color all of those little sections, and it wouldn't kill me.  And I did that, but I'm not ready to share those cards yet.  ;-)  So how did I create this card?  I inked the image with VersaMark, stamped it onto glossy card stock, sprinkled black embossing powder all over (and all over the table, the floor, the room!), and heat set it.  Stamping Sponges were used to swipe ink (Elegant Eggplant, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, and Tempting Turquoise) all over the embossed image, and then I used scissors to cut out the stamped and colored image.  It needed a mat, though, so I scanned the cut image into the Brother Scan 'n Cut and let that machine cut the perfect mat, which was then adhered to the Wisteria Wonder card stock that was embossed with Stampin' Up!'s Tiny Triangles embossing folder.  I guess you're understanding how this card wasn't a snap to make, but all of the trial, error, and set-up is now complete so that I can make many more cards like this one in much less time.  Finishing touches were a pretty white satin bow tied around the Wisteria Wonder layer, but I forgot to add a rhinestone jewel to the star before taking the photo.  I'm glad that I found an easy way to enjoy creating with this gorgeous stamp set, and I will admit that the time it has taken for me to color the image with Stampin' Blendabilities markers also feels like a worthwhile investment of time because it absolutely looks stunning when colored.  Okay . . . just because it doesn't seem fair to talk about it and not show it, below is a sneak peek of two cards that I've made where the images were colored with the Blendabilities markers.