To start I ink blended the background using the Double Chevron slimline stencil set (I only used one of the layers) in Bubble Gum and Ocean Breeze inks. I used Hammermill smooth white 100 LB cardstock for all of my ink blending, because it is THE smoothest, bright white cardstock I have found. It was out of stock for awhile, but I just noticed that it is back in stock on Amazon, and looks like it also has a $4 coupon. It's a great time to grab a ream, and I guarantee you will love ink blending on it. I ink blend our slimline panels on a slightly larger cardstock block, so when I was finished I trimmed the white excess off the edges.

Quick tip about heat embossing on blended backgrounds - even when you use dye ink, you need to let it set for a little bit. Even though dye ink is quick drying, it still sits on the surface as it's "dyeing" your paper. If you try to heat emboss on it right away, your embossing powder will stick where you don't want it to...even when using a powder tool. I let this background sit for a little bit while I did the diecutting.

I started by diecutting the largest Slim Stitched Scallop rectangle, once from silver glitter paper and twice from white cardstock. Next I cut the word hugs from the Phrase Builder: Sending die set. I cut the word once from blue glitter paper and twice from white cardstock, then the shadow from vellum. Finally, I diecut the snowflakes from white cardstock. I stacked and adhered the scallop rectangle and the hugs word together.

I figured the ink blended panel had enough time to sit by then, so I popped it into my Memory MISTI, then stamped & heat embossed the outline mandala from the Folk Mandala stamp set along the edges in white. I always thought the mandala in this set looked like a snowflake when you did add the birds, but never got around to using it this way. I really love when we do sales on products that are a little bit older, as it allows me to look at it with fresh eyes and pair it with newer products.

Next I stamped the first part of the sentiment from Happy Hugs directly to the panel in Detail Black ink. This stamp set has some of THE best sentiments in it. You don't have to use the adorable bears that are included in the set all the time (although they are SO cute!), but the sentiments alone are worth having this set.

With the background panel completed, I mounted it to a 4x9 light blue card base with foam tape. Then I adhered the scalloped frame & diecut sentiment with thin foam strips. I glued the snowflakes to the middle of each heat embossed mandala, then accented with the Essentials: Crystals Mix to finish.

That is everything that I have for you today! Before you move along with your day, I wanted to invite you to follow me on social media. I would love to be crafty friends online!

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Have a great weekend!

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