Tidings of Comfort grungy/vintage card and gold gem technique

Hello Crafters!

Sunday night in bed I thumbed through a new magazine and fell asleep.  I must have dreamed about making cards because I woke up Monday at 5:30am- bright eyed with a card idea in my head.  Into the craft room I went and made this card.  All of it was made before I went to work except the poinsettia.  The poinsettia was made about two months ago and was waiting patiently for its project.  I hope it was well worth the wait!  :)

The card used a Quietfire Christmas stamp Tidings of Comfort and Joy:

The corrugated card base (Recollections) had Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain applied along the edges.  Green distress paper (Tim Holtz 8x8 pad) was dry embossed with Couture Creations "Trellis" embossing folder, cut to size and edges were distress inked.  It was mounted on gold paper.

The poinsettia was fun to make: a piece of card board from an old paper pad was die cut using Sizzix' poinsettia die.  Distress inks in Fired Brick, Scattered Straw, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain was applied to the die cuts.  Clear Crackle was applied and dried.  After drying, more Fired Brick, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain was applied.  The flower center was finished using Stickles in Golden Rod.  The cool crackle poinsettia was adhered to the card as shown.  Here is a closeup of the front...

...and a side view...  

The Tidings stamp was applied to more distress paper with black dye ink. Distress ink was applied along the edges.  Gold bling was added.  

A front view of the card:

Now, it wasn't until the weekend when I was scrounging in my room trying to find a metallic embellishment that I had a crafting Eureka! moment.  I took some gems I hardly ever use (in this case yellow) and used Sakura's Pen Touch in gold on the gems.  After the gems dried I used my tweezers to add the gems to the card.  The surface is durable and my sharp tweezers did not scratch the finish.  Here is another tip: for a smoother look use the pen on the entire gem and then press the pen nib on top of the gem- the gold flows out on top of the gem and gives it a smoother finish.  Cool, huh?

I hope you enjoyed the card and the metallic gem tip!  Thanks for stopping by and have a terrific Tuesday!
Hugs,
Kathy Jo

This card is entered into the following challenges:
A Crafty Mess, AG
Crafting by Design, AG
Crafty Sentiments Designs, 2 or more papers (4 on the card)
Brown Sugar, AG
Scrapping for fun, AG with bling
Sweet Stampin', To die for
Word Art Wednesday, AG
Crafty Calendar, Christmas
Love to Create, Christmas
Christmas Stampin all year long, AG
Suzy Bee's, AG vintage
Crafty Hazelnut Christmas Extra, AG
Dies R Us, Christmas