Ornate Nutcracker Slimline Cards

I spent four or five days on these two cards, as the nutcrackers took a TON of work.  I am also playing along with Simon Says Stamps' Wednesday Challenge: Sparkle and Shine and Monday Challenge: Celebrate. (A super-sparkly, Swarovski-blinged nutcracker is pretty darned celebratory!) I just finished these cards, so they will go to special people on my mailing list next year (2021).

The cards are slimline, measuring 3.5" x 8.5". I spent four or five days on the nutcrackers alone. He's Colonel Cashew (Stamplistic), a 7.25" x 2.75" cling stamp. I carefully thought about all of the colors and textures I wanted on him, then selected about a dozen papers and stamped him 30+ times. 

Next, the hard work began. I used scissors to fussy cut him over and over, carefully gluing each layer on top of the last one. For example, I had one full nutcracker for the base (so I could start gluing). Next, I fussy cut a full nutcracker in steel gray (for the back layer of his hair). Then, I cut a full nutcracker, EXCEPT for the back layer of hard, and glued that over the gray one. As I continued, layers started getting smaller, and he continued to feel sturdier. By the time I was done, he was about 1/8" thick and felt like wood. (His mustache and the metal accents were the final layers.) Just a note: I used Ranger Multi-Medium Matte to glue the layers together, as it dries quickly but provides enough time to slide the layers around to the right spots.

Even though many of his accessories were on a metallic silver or gold paper, he still needed more bling. I added 20 Swarovski crystals to each nutcracker (Crystal on the silver and Silver Night on the gold). I found a sparkly-red-striped paper in my stash and layered it on top of a black cardstock base. The card is very 3D and has tons of sparkle!

List of all stamps/dies/stencils used on this card:

• Colonel Cashew rubber cling stamp (Stamplistic)

Other supplies:

• Black and red-striped cardstock
  
• Various cardstock colors for each layer
• Double-sided tape (Scor-tape)
• Ranger Multi-Medium Matte 
• Clear Swarovski crystals
  
• Silver Night Swarovski crystals
• Paper Rose Silver and Gold Cardstock
  

Have a wonderful holiday season!