Hero Arts Happy Holidays - a Christmas card

Hi blogging friends

Not sure if you caught up with my last post but the weather was against me in the days leading up to Christmas (I photograph my cards outside and it was very hot and very windy) and I couldn't photograph my cards to share.  Anyway, we have had a cool change now and there is not a breath of wind which makes for much easier photography.

Whilst I am typing this, it is now the 26th of December - Boxing Day - and in Australia our stores have this weird tradition of Boxing Day sales.  Boxing Day is a public holiday but people have to work to open stores for a sale!  There are lots of people rushing around nabbing bargains according to the news and people lined up at the doors for hours (some even camped out!) before the shops opened so that they had first dibs on the sale items.  Sometimes people get injured in the mad scramble when the doors open as they are trying to get to the biggest bargain first. 

But you won't find me out shopping:  I couldn't think of anything I would like to do less than shopping the day after Christmas Day, fighting for a car parking spot and dealing with crowds of people hungry for a bargain.  Personally, I just don't understand it but each to their own and I am sure there are plenty of you out there who love the sales; I don't enjoy shopping all that much anyway.  I did go once with a girlfriend many, many years ago who ALWAYS went to the Boxing Day Sales but other than spending time with my friend, I didn't enjoy it at all and came home exhausted and grumpy.   Perhaps because I am a little older now and are downsizing 'stuff' rather than adding to it makes me see these sorts of things differently?  Traditionally, we just spend Boxing Day together with family and have a quiet and relaxing day at home.  And of course, this year after dealing with my family member's life-threatening illness makes that time together as a family even more precious - you don't get that time again - and life is so fragile.

Anyway, I am disgressing as usual.......onto the card:

I made this Christmas card to give my daughter who is as crazy about snowmen as I am!  I am not sure why I love snowmen so much - there is just something so sweet about them that makes me feel happy inside. 

I stamped the image with Versafine Onyx Black ink onto watercolour paper and coloured it with Lyra watercolour pencils.  I added some Fun Flock mixed with fine crystalina glitter to the snowman's hat then dotted around some White Opal Liquid Pearls for snow  I added two layers of hand-cut white glitter cardstock at the bottom of the snowman - which was really to cover up a black mark I had accidentally put there - but I love how it added some depth to the image.  Isn't it great when a boo-boo turns into something better?!  Here is a close-up so you can see the dimension:

I diecut some Snowflakes using my Big Shot and 3 different-sized My Favorite Things snowflakes dies.  I find my Big Shot diecuts the thick glitter cardstock much more easily and cleanly than my Cuttlebug which usually misses bits.  I added some Bo Bunny blue pearls to the snowflake centres.

The silver-edged blue organza ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.  I added some fray-stop to the cut edges of the ribbon as organza ribbon frays terribly.  I added the glitter cardstock star that popped out of the centre when diecutting the largest snowflake to the ribbon centre which tied things all together nicely.

After all my work, I then glued the card-front (which I always make separately) to the white cardstock base the WRONG way so it became a left-hand opening card!  Duh!!  You wouldn't believe how many times I do that!!  But, I just cut off the blank cardstock side and re-glued it to a new cardstock base - the RIGHT way.  The only downside is that it makes the card quite heavy but that didn't matter in this case because I wasn't mailing it. 

We have been having a fun thread over at Splitcoaststampers where we are sharing our cardmaking mishaps.  Check it out HERE and add your favourite story (you have to be a member of Splitcoaststampers to be able to post).  It's quite comforting to know (in a weird sort of way) that I am not the ONLY one who has mishaps LOL!

Challenges:

I am entering my card in the following challenges -

The Squirrel and the Fox - Challenge #33 - Christmas
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Anything Christmassy
Splitcoaststampers - Ways to Use It WT406 - Glitz and Glitter

Thanks for stopping by!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Hero Arts Happy Holidays Snowman K5522 wood-mounted

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Designer paper:  Echo Park Winter Park -WK23007 Mittens and WK23005 Snow Storm (used for the base and the scalloped circle instead of cardstock as I had no matching cardstock in the right colour blue!)

Accessories:  Spellbinder Circle + Scalloped Circle Nestabilities, Big Shot, My Favorite Things Die-namics snowflakes dies, Stampendous Cotton White Fun Flock mixed with fine Crystalina glitter, Ranger Liquid Pearls - White Opal, silver-edged blue organza ribbon, Fray-Stop, fabric glue, Bow Easy, pearls - Bo Bunny Jewels - Snowfall collection, dimensionals, 140lb watercolour paper, Lyra watercolour pencils, small round paintbrush, Cardstock - white + blue glitter, burgundy, white (for card base)