I managed to get that posted with 19 seconds to spare. Whew.
Now I'll tell you what I did. First I forgot to include green embossing powder in my initial pull and I ended up grabbing it for the pinecone.
Stripes:
I used my ATG gun to create the diagonal stripes. I started in the top corner - that was a mistake. I should have started across the middle. And you will notice some of my stripes aren't very straight. I used the aged scarlet, aged hunter, and aged gold embossing enamel. They are by Stampendous and were part of a couple of the Frantage embossing kits. I don't love how the embossing enamel melts and I think I over heated a couple of the stripes in the middle. But other than that, I think this work well as a background for a Christmas card.
Pinecone:
I used a Martha Stewart stencil and glue pen. My first attempt was a mess. I was worried the glue would dry too fast, so I filled in a couple of the pine cone bits and added the embossing powder without lifting the stencil. That made a mess. The picture is the second attempt. I still had an issue with the glue going under the stencil so it isn't as clean as I would like. Because of that, I didn't use the pine branch part of the stencil. Instead I just free handed it. I never would have thought to use the glue pen with embossing powders but I really like it. I think I may use it to add some embossing powder to some already stamped images I have. I did have a spot that bubbled a little. I think it was a spot were the glue was a little thicker. The pinecone is the mahogany tinsel embossing powder and green.
Polka Dots:
I used glue dots in small and medium. I kinda wish I used green paper instead of the white and I think I may go back and color it green. Again, I had a little bit of bubbling on one of the dots. Also, you need to look at the dots before applying since some of them are less round than others. But I was in a rush to get it done in the 30 minutes and post by noon. I used red and silver tinsel embossing powder. I really like how those emboss.
Thanks for a cool challenge Jan. It definitely got me thinking about my embossing powders in new ways.
Connie - I've had that same problem with my Zig embossing pen, which is why I hardly ever use it. And then only with colored powder that will cover the blue/green tint of the ink.