Merry Christmas Mouse

The other night, I opened an e-mail from Sandy Allnock at Operation Write Home. Apparently, they haven't gotten as many holiday cards as they need. The deadline for getting them there has been extended to October 18 (yes, just a few days away), and she asked if everyone on the list could make & send 5 more cards. Well, I didn't quite get 5 done; I was only able to create 4. But I'm sure there are other card makers who will more than make up the difference. This card is one of the four I made.

Since I didn't have much time to create my cards before mailing them off tomorrow, I went on Pinterest to find examples to CASE. One that stood out to me was this card, pinned from Scrapbook.com's gallery. I was especially drawn to the focal image and the banners hanging from the upper left. I went through my (rather small) collection of digital images, and came upon "Cocoa's Christmas Tree" by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I felt it would be perfect as my focal image. I paired it with the "Merry Christmas" greeting from this Hero Arts digital kit.

After sizing my image & greeting in Photoshop, I printed them on a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper. I colored Cocoa & the tree with Inktense pencils, blending them with a small paintbrush & water. I also used a red gel pen to color the garland on the tree.

I created the banners using instructions by Tasnim Ahmed, as presented in Online Card Classes' "Stretch Your Stamps 2" class. I used the Hero Arts "Highline Ironwork" background stamp with Delicata Golden Glitz ink on white cardstock. I colored the elements with red and pink water-based markers, cut them out, and glued them to the panel.

I die cut a piece of green cardstock with the largest die in My Favorite Things' "Blueprints 15" set. It cuts a rectangle slightly smaller than an A2 size card, with a nice stitched detail around the perimeter. I also cut a piece of pink cardstock with one of Avery Elle's "Custom Panels" dies. I layered the pieces, and mounted the completed front onto a white A2 card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Use Watercolors"
Hero Arts Holiday Challenge "Anything Goes"