Lovely as a Tree Shaker Card - Saturday Sketch Challenge #217 -Stamping 411

When I saw the Saturday sketch challenge with Stamping 411 here a shaker card immediately came to mind.  No, Stampin Up does not have rectangular Shaker frames, but I was able to improvise using 3/4" mounting tape.  I also turned the sketch on its side.

First I worked on the image. Using Island Indigo ink, the outsides of a 4 by 3" piece of Whisper White cardstock were sponged generously.  Then with Baja Breeze ink, I started sponging where the Island Indigo stopped - blending the 2 colours together.  The closer I got to the center, the lighter the sponging became.

The tree was stamped with Early Espresso ink.

Snowflakes were added to the sky using White Acrylic paint and the end of a paint brush.

The completed image piece was mounted on a 4 by 5" piece of Whisper White Cardstock.

Strips of 3/4" mounting tape were applied first on the long sides of the image (covering about 1/4" of the image piece) and then on the short sides - being careful to make sure there were no spaces at the seams.  To create more room for the Mica flakes, a second layer of mounting tape was applied - this time the short ends first.

Mica flakes were added , and a medium window sheet cut to cover the image & the mounting tape was attached.

A frame with matting was attached over the mounting tape and window sheet.

Materials Used:
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Petite Pairs
Inks: Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Baja Breeze
Papers: Whisper White, Lucky Limeade, Letters to Santa designer paper, Holly Berry Bouquet designer paper, Early Espresso
Accessories: Medium window sheet, Mica flakes, Curly label punch 3/8" ruffled Lucky Limeade rubbon, 3/4" circle punch, Crystal effects, rhinestones, Mounting tape (non SU)

This is a side view, showing the hand made buttons in the upper left.  They were made by first punching out images from the Holly Berry Bouquet designer paper using the 3/4" circle punch.  With the same punch, punch 2 in Early Espresso.  All layers were adhered together with Crystal Effects - the latter also applied to the button top.

The Mica Flakes can be seen better here.  A word of caution - don't use too much of these flakes - I think I used a bit too much.