Tidings of Joy with Whimsy Stamps

Hello friends! It’s December and that means Whimsy Stamps has fun things coming out!

I have this really sweet card just perfect for this time of the year….

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Today I’m sharing this really sweet image called “Christmas Manger” by Crissy Armstrong. Isn’t this just as precious as can be! You may remember a card I did last year IN THIS POST with a penguin style manger. Really love Crissy’s sweet images and I’m thinking I may have to start collecting her mangers she comes out with each year now! LOL!

After coloring up this image, I’ve fussy cut it out while I worked on the background design. I started by ripping a piece of masking paper and covered the bottom portion of a square 4″ piece of cardstock. I took a “Light Ray” stencil and ink blended some Chipped Sapphire distress ink over it. While the stencil was still on it, I took some white watered down paint and splattered over the background. After removing the stencil, I let that dry while cleaning up my stencil and work area. After it was dry, I took some Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed distress inks and blended over top. I then took a glitter brush pen and went over each of the yellow strips in the background. (I also covered the tops portions of the images too. You can see this all better in the photos below.) Lastly, I’ve used the other side of the masking paper that I ripped to cover up the sponged rays and ink blended with Rusty Hinge, Walnut Stain and Ground Espresso. I used a marker to add some shading around the image and glued it down.

For the card, I’ve used a navy 5.25″ square card base and I’ve also used it as part of a layer behind the image panel along with a piece of gold mirror cardstock. It’s hard to completely see this, but I’ve printed out some digital papers from the Whimsy Stamps Christmas Red, Gold and Green collection as well as the Whimsy Stamps Rustic Wood and Brick Collection. The background was sponged with the same colors that I’ve used for the bottom of the image panel. I’ve used some twine for the center strip area and tied a bow along the side with it. The image panel layered with the Gold Mirror cardstock was popped up with some craft foam over that.

I’ve used a wooden star that I’ve heat embossed several times with some Gold Sparkle EP which is what I’ve used to heat emboss the sentiment at the bottom of the image panel from the Whimsy Stamps Holiday Mini Sentiments. To finish it off I’ve decided to add some Studio Katia Sparkling Crystals.

Here you can better see the sparkle and shimmer on the yellow “light rays” as well as the tops of the images where the light might be shining on them. I’ve got the image colored up with my go-to Copic markers.

You can also see the sparkle and shine on the wooden star and sentiment from the gold sparkle embossing powder. Plus of course the shine from the gold mirror cardstock.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today! I sure had fun putting it together and I know someone special that this needs to get sent to as soon as I can! Time is running out for it to make it on time! Oh yes…that dreaded time running out is near isn’t it?! LOL

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I appreciate you being here! I will be seeing you again soon my friends!

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

Creative Knockouts – Winter/Holidays
Daring Cardmakers – Anything Crafty with theme Shining Lights
Crafty Friends– Anything Goes
Merry Little Christmas – December Anything Christmas Goes
Country Views– Stars
Crafty Animals – #33 Anything Goes

Teddybear Tags for 2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Hello friends! Welcome to December! We have already arrived at the final month of the year! Can you believe how quickly this year went by?! The first of the month means it’s time for a new challenge to start over at 2 Crafty Critter Crazies! Remember that it is an always “ANYTHING GOES + A CRITTER“. I love adding critters to my crafty projects so it’s easy for me! 🙂

Since I’ve been on a tag making binge, I’ve got some more to share today:

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Isn’t this the cutest little bear?! We’re sponsored this month by Beccy’s Place and I have opted to try out this cute freebie that she has offered on her blog called Stanley’s Bauble.

I thought he was too cute and I wanted to try coloring him up in a couple of different ways and even a couple of different sizes too!

I just took my Sunny Studios scallop circle tag dies and die cut a couple of them in my selected color choices of course to match up with his bauble and then I’ve die cut some coordinating circles and pattern papers to match. He was fussy cut out and placed over top of the tag. I’ve added some silk ribbon for both and added a twine bow around them.

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Here’s closer view of the Stanley’s Bauble red and black tag.

For this tag, he’s a bit larger than the other an he was popped up over the tag with some foam tape. I’ve colored the bauble hanger with a gold gel pen and then went over the red bauble with a glitter brush pen.

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Here’s a closer view of the smaller tag. The light has caught this one just right to where you can really see the glitter brush over the blue bauble. I’ve also colored his bauble hanger with a silver gel pen.

The circle layer behind the snowflake paper was cut from some silver glitter paper. I’ve taken a Simon Says Stamp sentiment strip and cut it out, sponged it with blue ink and glued it above the bear. Since he was smaller than the other bear, I had room for a sentiment. He was just attached with glue this time.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these teddy bear tags today!

Challenges:

Fab ‘n’ Funky – Anything Christmas Goes
Penny’s Paper Crafty – Anything Goes
Polkadoodles – Anything Goes
QKR Stampede – #374 Anything Goes

Wintertime Penguin Tags

Hello friends! I’m on a roll with the tags and back again to share some more fun tags that I’ve been working on!

Vicki-DDSWintertimePenguins-tags Check out these adorable penguins having some fun doing winter activities! Penguins are probably one of the top animals that I love! I have SO many penguin stamps in my stash and seem to keep on collecting more of them…so of course I was super excited to be able to add this Wintertime Penguins Pairables set from Digi Doodle Studios to my collection as well! 🙂

There is seriously so much fun you can have playing with this digital set and if you like penguins as much as I do, then stay tuned in as I will be sharing even more creations using this same set in December! You will see what I mean by all the different things you can do!

For both of the tags, I’ve used several dies from my stash to create my own tags. I took a stitched scallop circle die (MFT) and cut two of them out in the blue and pink colors along with a small tag cut with the same colors for the very top.

On one of the scallop circles, I used a circle die (Hero Arts) to cut out the center to create the “frame” for the front. I then took some snowflake papers (MFT) and cut out another circle that was slightly larger than the opening to attach behind it. I also took some pretty shimmer white paper and cut a “snow slope” for both penguins with a stitched border die (Lawn Fawn) and then cut it out with the same circle die as the snowflake papers.

I silver heat embossed the sentiments along with some snowflakes and then added my colored penguins over top. Then when I flip it on the back side I can put my “To: and From:” on it.

Vicki-DDSWintertimePenguins-tag-pink Here’s a closer view of the pink tag. For the digital image, I used Word on my computer to add the penguin and place it over one of the “ski” images from the set and enlarged it to make it look like a snow board instead of a ski! Then printed it out.

I’ve used my Copics to color her up and fussy cut her out. I even added some shadow on the snow hill for her. I took a glue pen and covered her hat trim with glitter.

Lastly, I found some more pink ribbon and tied some silver bells over it with some white twine in a bow.

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And for this little guy…he cracks me up….I made him using Word again, but this time I actually took the “sled” image and sized it down so that it would fit on the penguin’s feet to make it appear as if he is ice skating! I did it for each foot. LOL!

I’ve colored him up with the Copics again only using more blue tones instead of the pinks and did the similar traits to it like the other one. I did use a clear metallic gel pen to color the “blades” of the ice skates.

Hope you’ve been enjoying my tags so far! Thanks so much for dropping by.

Challenges:

Digi Choosday Crafting – Anything Goes
The House That Stamps Built – Anything Goes N2719
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes
Aud Sentiments – Christmas or Winter Sentiment
Krafty Chicks aka 4 Crafty Chicks – #483 Monochrome

Believe Tag

Hello friends! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and maybe even took advantage of some great Black Friday deals today?! I was happy about shopping a little bit this morning and almost forgot to post about my tag here! LOL!

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The scene on this tag was always a fun vision in my head from a child! I would imagine Santa in his sleigh flying over the moon under a snowy night sky. I love the peace and magic of it all with even little critters stopping to watch and listen to the magical sleigh bells ringing in the night.

I constructed my own tag the size I wanted and snipped off the top edges to make it look like a tag. It was made with Navy cardstock. I punched a hole at the top and made a reinforcer with white Glitterstock. I then took some white watered down paint and splattered it over the background for a snow fall effect.

I bought this set a few years back from Newton’s Nook called Whispering Pines and I’ve used the coordinating dies to create the scene at the bottom. I took some white Glitterstock for the snow the critters are sitting on.

For the “moon” I punched out a circle from vanilla cardstock and sponged around the edges of it. I took a glitter brush pen to go over it. The Santa’s sleigh was given to me from a fellow blog friend that I’ve attached over the tag. I die cut the sentiment from red cardstock.

Lastly, I’ve added some red striped ribbon from my stash and tied on a couple of silver bells with white twine around it. Those bells make a fun jingle sound like I imagine from my scene! 🙂

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Here’s a tad bit closer view of the tag. Here you can some what see the shimmer on the moon and the sparkle on the snow ground where the critters are.

Have a great evening my friends! I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

Crafty Creations – Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon – Snow
The Sisterhood of Crafters – Trees
My Time to Craft– Christmas Scene

I’m Going to be Tagging You!

Hello friends! This year I’ve been really inspired with all of the cool tags I’ve been seeing lately during this festive season and I wanted to join in on the fun too! So you’re going to be seeing lots of tags from me scattered within my postings for the next several days!

The inspiration that I’ve been seeing comes from Tracey’s 25 Tags of Christmas Event and this is her 9th year of doing it! Every day there has been some really cool and inspiring tags, so I had to join before the time runs out! I did make a tag earlier…but a few more are to follow starting now:

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I’ve been wanting to pull out a few of my stash that I and haven’t had a chance to take the time to play with! So I decided making tags would be a quick and fun way to play around a bit! These were really fun to make!

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The “Joy Coffee” tag was something that I had actually started during the “Coffee Lovers Blog Hop” this last time and never got around to posting it! I was trying to combine the two events together as the inspiration for that tag came on Day 1 from Jen Schow’s tag for Altenew inspirational tags post. I like how she cut out the wording on her globe and I thought I’d do the same idea with the word “joy” over my coffee cup.

I’ve used the Cozy Coffee stamp set and colored in the coffee and fussy cut it out. I stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set, but only cut out the word “joy” from it and popped it up over the cup. I also took the hearts from the stamp set and stamped them over the kraft background with kraft colored ink.

I’ve taken the Holiday Essentials stamp set and heat set the snowflakes in the background of the tag with white EP. Also for the background, I took some metallic gold watercolor and splattered some over it as Jen did on her tag and I liked that subtle look to it.

I’ve taken some gold thread and made a nest under the cut out coffee cup that was popped up with some foam tape over the tag. (The tag itself was an old die cut from my stash BTW!) Added seam binding and twine at the top.

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For this tag, I was really inspired with Kim’s tag on Day 4 of the Uniko post. LOVED the monochromatic red with all the sparkle!

I really love the glitter paper and I didn’t have a large enough tag die that I wanted to use, so I took a tag from my stash and traced around the backside of the Red Glitter paper and cut out my shape. I had some rounded rectangle dies (Hero Arts) which I made a frame with the white glitter paper.

Within that frame I took the Holiday Essentials stamp set again and used several of the images to stamp over a piece of white cardstock with red ink. (It was fun to create a stamped background panel for this!) I heat embossed one of the sentiments from the stamp set over a red piece of cardstock with the White Sparkle EP…it sparkles really pretty IRL! I die cut the sentiment out with a banner die and tucked it behind the white frame I made with the stamped images.

I finished the tag with some sparkling clear sequins with some White Blizzard Nuvo Glitter Drops in the center of each one and then I added some white organdy ribbon with a bow at the top.

Hope you’ve been inspired in some way as I’ve been inspired to create these! Thanks for stopping in and I will have a new post to share again with you tomorrow so stay tuned!

Challenges:

25 Days of Christmas Tags – Day 1 and Day 4
Always Fun – #138 Anything Goes
The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge – Anything Christmas Goes
Try it On Tuesday – Inspired by a Song or Christmas Carol (I was inspired by “Joy to the World” on the first tag and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” on the second with music notes!)
Through the Craft Room Door – Anything Goes

A Special Present from Santa for Digi Doodle Studios

Hello friends! Happy weekend! It has warmed up slightly for us this weekend and the sun is out…for now! It’s supposed to get below freezing again soon though and I’ll have my warm slippers ready for it!

Today I have another fun card to share with you using a Pairables set from Digi Doodle Studios:

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Surprise! This cute little girl is popping out of the gift marked: “From Santa” and she threw open the box lid and is tossing blue ribbon around everywhere! She seems to be so happy about celebrating in the cold! LOL!

All of the images I’ve used for this card came from the Christmas Elves Pairables set from Digi Doodle Studios. (There are so many elements to play with in this set!) I have actually enlarged a couple of the images from the set and sized them the way I needed them to fit with my scene and make it appear as if she was popping out of a large box. I printed out the girl a couple of times so that I could place her behind the box with the lid and then another image to cut her out without the lid of the box and make it more dimensional.

I’ve used several layers of cardstock and more decorative papers behind her with both stitched and scallop rectangle dies. I used my Martha Stewart “goo” border punch to add the “snow” look at the top of the layers with white Glitterstock.

I’ve added some silver metallic ribbon behind the smaller layers and placed a snowflake rhinestone in the middle of the bow. I die cut the sentiment with a stitched tag die and added some silver twine to tuck alongside the present. I stamped some pink snowflakes over the tag and crinkled it up a bit for dimension and movement.

Here’s a closer look of the coloring I did on her with Copic markers. I’ve used a white gel pen for her cheeks as well as to help create the texture on her coat.

I’ve used some Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Drops for the sparkle on her hat trimmings and she was popped out from the background paper with foam tape.

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I hope my card gave you a smile today and were inspired in some way!

Thanks so much for popping in here today my friends! So happy you’re here! I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges:

Addicted to Stamps – Anything Goes
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP1945 Anything Goes
Through the Craft Room Door – Anything Goes
Fab ‘N’ Funky – Add Some Sparkle
Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes
Jingle Belles – Baby, It’s Cold Outside!
Send a Smile 4 Kids – Happy Holidays or Anything Goes for kids

It’s Festive at Cute Card Thursday!

Hello friends! Hoping you’re having a great week so far and a happy Thursday too!

We’re starting a brand new challenge over at Cute Card Thursday today! Woo hoo! The challenge for this week is “FESTIVE“! With the Holiday Season upon us, I think this is a great idea to get more creations done!

We’re sponsored by All Dressed Up Stamps this week and I have been feeling festive myself and decided to make a fun tag with one of their images today:

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Now isn’t she just the cutest?! The image is called “Christmas Hair Do” from All Dressed up Stamps. When I’m feeling particularly festive, I like to wear fun holiday sweaters and such, but I don’t believe I’ve ever had a hair do like this one before. LOL!

I’ve used my favorite Stitched Traditional Tag dies from My Favorite Things and cut the largest out from Jurassic cardstock from Brutus Monroe. The two decorative paper strips on each end of the image are from the Sweater Weather paper pad by Brutus Monroe as well.

I took the die cut tag and ran the “cable knit” embossing folder (from Stampin’ Up!) over it and then added my image panel over top that was also cut with the stitched tag die on the sides. Then I glued the strips on each end and stamped the “be jolly” sentiment in the corner. I punched a hole at the top of the tag and added the red seam binding ribbon that was tied up with twine along with a snowflake button threaded with linen thread over top.

Here’s a closer look at the image on the tag and my coloring with Copic markers. I was trying to match up the colors on her outfit with the papers that I was using as I liked the sweater knit print and thought it would be fun to use with this image.

I’ve added some dots with a white gel pen on her cheeks, eyes and around the snowflake in her hair. I covered the berries in her hair with glossy accents and took a shimmer glitter pen over the round ornaments hanging from her antler head band.

Thanks so much for stopping in today friends!

Challenges:

All Dressed Up Stamps – #98 Anything Goes + ADU image
In My Creative Opinion – 25 Days of Christmas Tags (my tag inspired by Kim’s tag on day 2)
Just Us Girls – Anything but a Card
The Holly & Ivy Christmas – Anything Christmas Goes
Not Just Cards – November Anything Goes
Crafty Creations – Anything Goes

Anything Goes at Cute Card Thursday with Holiday Wishes

Hello friends! I hope you’re having a great week so far! I’m trying to enjoy the warmer temps while I still am able to before it starts getting too cold out! I wish I wasn’t feeling achy either, so hopefully that will improve too!

Today starts a new challenge for Cute Card Thursday and this week is our monthly “Anything Goes” challenge! We’re sponsored by Whimsy Stamps and of course you know I’m using one of those images for my card today:

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How sweet is this one! This digital stamp is by Sylvia Zet called Wintry Fairy from Whimsy Stamps. Really love coloring up her sweet images!

For the background white layer, it’s hard to see, but I have used a snowfall embossing folder over it. I also took a couple of the Whimsy Stamps Christmas Fun digital papers, printed them out and cut some sections for my card layout. I layered them with some brushed gold cardstock and put them over the white embossed layer. The piece at the bottom also has some gold ribbon wrapped around it that I added before attaching to the white layer. These layers were mounted over a piece of red 5″ square top folding card base.

I also white heat embossed the sentiment from the Whimsy Stamps Holiday Mini Sentiments clear stamp set and then cut it out with the Whimsy Stamps Quick Strips die set. I cut it twice so that I could get the length that I wanted and then glued it over the bottom of the layered image panel.

I then added a gold ribbon bow with some gold thread nested underneath a snowflake button that I covered with a rhinestone. I also attached some white poinsettia flowers from my stash.

Here’s a closer view of the image and how I’ve got her colored up with Copics.

I used a white gel pen for the bird’s cheeks and the berries as well as places on her coat. You can see that I also took a gold gel pen and added details to her coat as well as her wings. I then covered her wings and the flowers in her hair with a glitter brush pen.

For the snow t the bottom, I took a glue pen and loose clear glitter over top.

I used a square die cut to cut her out with and layered onto a piece of brushed gold cardstock and then another layer of red cardstock that was cut with a scallop square die.

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I hope that you have enjoyed my card today! It’s always great to get another Christmas card done before the rush gets going!

Please excuse me for a few days as I’m not feeling well, but hopefully will be around to visit with you soon! Thanks so much for stopping in as I enjoy reading and smiling and sometimes giggling over your comments! 🙂 I will see you soon!

Challenges:

Love to Craft – Nov Anything Goes LTCCB40
Sheepski Designs – Christmas is Coming!
The Fairy and The Unicorn – Nov Anything Goes + Magical/Fairy
Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP1944 Anything Goes
Unicorn – Christmas/Winter
Daisy Chain – Christmas/Winter

Naughty or Nice for Digi Doodle Studios

Hello friends! Hoping you all had a wonderful weekend!

Today I’m sharing a fun circle shaped design using a cute new Pairables set from Digi Doodle Studios:

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This cute little elf is sitting atop of an ornament, getting out the list for Santa and marking down who’s naughty or nice! LOL! This image and sentiment are apart of the Christmas Elves Pairables Digi stamp set. On my computer I actually expanded the ornament image to make it larger and then added the cute little elf from the set right on top of the ornament. I printed it out as one image and colored it up with Copics. I’ve also stamped some snowflakes around the image and cut him out with a circle die. I used some Broken China distress ink to sponge around the edges.

I layered him onto a brushed gold die cut circle and added some gold stickles around the edges. I then layered these onto a red die cut circle that was embossed with an embossing folder, which is also the same one that I used for the green piece on the inside of the card.

I made a circle easel card and then cut out the sentiment from the digi set in a strip (also sponged with Broken China ink) and mounted it over another piece of red cardstock and attached it on the inside right above the green embossed layer. (This strip is what helps keep the front layer propped up.)

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Here you can see the side view of the card design. These are very simple to make with die cut shapes and I love how they nicely display for the recipient.

I’ve add some green saddle stitch ribbon to the center of the red circle before attaching it to the easel card backing and then added a bow that I’ve tied 2 gold bells on with a piece of twine. I then used the twine to make a double bow to go behind the green one and glued them on my card.

I added some snowflake accents and placed a blue rhinestone in the center of each.

Here’s a closer view of the details on this cutie. I actually have lots of thing going on with this image. First, I covered the bottom of his ornament with glossy accents. It’s a fairly thick layer and you can see the details of it in the photo below, but I had to let it dry over night!

I have taken a gold gel pen and colored the “bells” on the elf’s outfit. I then took a white gel pen for his cheeks. On top of the ornament, I used a glue pen and covered it with some clear loose glitter.

For the trim on his hat, I took some Brutus Monroe Snow Paste and a small brush to apply it. It’s REALLY thick stuff, so for a small area like that, I had to be a bit careful. Love the sparkle in it and you can see, in the photo above this one, the side view of how thick it actually is! I heat set it with my heat gun because it “puffs” up a bit when you heat it.

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Here’s what the card looks like when it is closed up. I think this would also make for a really cute ornament too! You can really see the shine on the glossy accents from this photo and why it took all night to dry! LOL!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my easel card today and gotten some inspiration and/or a smile! Thanks so much for stopping in today! I’ll be seeing you again soon!

Challenges:

Merry Little Christmas – November Anything Christmas Goes
Pearly Sparkles – Christmas
My Time to Craft – No Rectangle or Square Cards Allowed
Stamping Sensations – Traditional Christmas Colors (Red, Green, Gold)
A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
Crafts Galore Encore – Anything Goes

It’s Christmas at Cute Card Thursday!

Well here we are friends! Happy Halloween!!! I hope whatever your plans are that you have a safe and wonderful evening! I also hope the little trick-or-treaters don’t get too cold this year with the snow over my way!

Well, although it’s Halloween today, we are having a “Christmas” theme going on this week at the Cute Card Thursday Challenges! So if you’re all packed up from making Halloween, then this would be a great time to start working on your Christmas makes for the year! We look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Here’s the card I made for the challenge:

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Isn’t this image just beautiful?! I was so happy to pull out this stamp… finally and color it up for a Christmas card! This was my purchase during STAMPtember from Paper Rose. I had never heard of this company before that time, so this was the stamp set/die combo I picked to get as I fell in love with it.

I stamped the large image over a piece of Copic Blending Card and then stamped the sentiment from the set right underneath it. Colored with Copics and then trimmed it down to fit over my card front. I layered this panel onto a piece of brushed gold cardstock and then a piece of red.

For the card base, I took the two pine sprigs from the stamp set and randomly stamped them over a kraft colored A2 sized top folding card base. I used the same ink color to stamp them with and then used that color to sponge around my image panel before attaching all the layers together.

Here’s a closer view of the coloring I’ve done over the image. Although the brushed gold cardstock is a bit muted, you can see the slight shimmer in it.

I’ve taken a Copic marker and done some random “dots” all around the flowers. I’ve also used a gold gel pen to color the center of the flowers as well as add some more “dots” around the poinsettias.

For the “berries” within the branches, I’ve added some Nuvo Morning Dew Drops which dries clear over them. This would be the only dimension on my card which makes it nice and flat for mailing.

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I’m actually really happy to add another Christmas card onto my pile for this year and I have many places to send cards to, so I know I will be making more!

Thanks so much for joining me here today and I’ll be seeing you again soon!

Challenges: