Happy Holidays

This is the final holiday card I made for Operation Write Home this year. I based my design on this sketch from OWH:

I've had the stamp I used for the focal panel for eons (so long, in fact, I have no clue where it came from), and have never used it for some reason. But I finally decided to get it inky. I stamped it on a piece of watercolor paper with Ranger Archival Jet Black ink. To get the circle shape, since I didn't have a die exactly the right size, I used the smallest of Spellbinders' "Grand Circles" dies as a template. I positioned it over my image, and traced around the inside. I cut just outside that circle, basically butting the cut line up against the bottoms of the snowmen & trees. Then I erased my pencil line, and colored the images with my Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to blend the colors out. To highlight the greeting in the center of the image, I used Mustard Seed & Festive Berries Distress inks. I picked the colors up with a wet paintbrush and applied them much like watercolors.

Once I finished that, the card came together very quickly. I decided to alter the sketch somewhat, and make this a full A2-size card, rather than have the circle element stick out above the square card base. I cut a piece of patterned paper from my scrap stash to 4.25x5.5", and adhered it to my card base. I popped the focal panel on top of that with foam adhesive tape. I cut a piece of American Crafts' "North Pole" ribbon, backed it with a strip of white cardstock so the patterned paper wouldn't show through from behind, and glued that to the card front. And that finished this festive holiday card for OWH!