Pinecone Christmas Ornament

This past week when my mojo was severely lacking, I visited, revisited, and revisited some more an idea for a card I wanted to enter in Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday Challenge #139: to make a Christmas card that features an ornament. It took forever for this to come together--I couldn't decide which approach I liked better for several aspects of the design, so I tried them all! By the time I finalized everything, I had completed four versions of this card. My stack of Christmas cards that I can mail to friends and family in December is growing!!
Flourishes also sponsors a Christmas Spirit Challenge over at SplitcoastStampers. The October challenge is to make something on your card shine like fresh candy! I decided to make this vintage-style pinecone ornament from Flourishes' All That Glitters set look shiny just like a an old-fashioned mercury glass ornament. I figured some shiny pearlescent paper would be perfect, but didn't have any the color I wanted. Hmmm. I thought this over for a while and did some experimenting. I think I've come up with a way to make my own pearlescent paper!

All it takes is a piece of cardstock in the desired color and some white nail polish. To make my pearlescent paper, I simply painted on a somewhat uniform layer of polish on the cardstock and let it dry completely.
Then I was able to stamp directly on my pearly surface just as I would any other glossy surface, allowing plenty of time to dry. (**Because of the flammable nature of acetone, the active ingredient in nail polishes, do not attempt to use a heat tool with nail-polish-treated paper, neither for drying nor heat embossing.**)
Finally, I experimented with ways to add "snow" to my pinecone ornaments: coloring with a white gel pen or adhering glitter to carefully selected areas primed with glue.
Although it was a long process to finally complete these cards, I just love how they turned out! Kind of a clean and simple design meets shabbily vintage details. Yup, that's my little slice of happy for today!

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Card Recipe: 
Stamps: Flourishes All That Glitters, Flourishes O Christmas Tree 
Paper: K&Co Tim Coffey Fall Pad patterned paper, kraft CS, hazelnut tan CS
Ink: Versafine vintage sepia, Ranger tea dye distress
Accessories: white gel pen, Pink Paislee glitter, glue pen, sewing machine, foam tape, hemp twineTechniques: machine stitching, ink distressing