Jingle All the Way

Our Daily Bread Designs' challenge theme this past week has been a sketch challenge. They posted the following sketch, and participants are to make a card inspired by it:

I got the "Let It Snow" stamp set from ODBD some time ago, and had yet to get it inky--until now. The sled actually turned out to be harder to color than I had anticipated, since it is such a detailed image. But I persevered, and I like the way it came out.

I stamped the sled on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper with Ranger Archival Jet Black ink. I heat set it to make sure the ink was dry, then colored it with my Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to blend & shade the colors. After it dried, I die cut it with the smallest of Spellbinders' "Grand Ovals" dies. I also die cut a mat from burgundy cardstock with the smallest of the "Grand Scalloped Ovals" dies by Spellbinders.

For the greeting, I used one from the same stamp set. I stamped it on watercolor paper, so the white of the paper would match my image, then die cut it with a "Nesting Scallops" die by Lifestyle Crafts. I die cut a burgundy mat with the next larger die. I glued the image & greeting to their respective mats with liquid glue, then set those aside to dry.

I chose 2 patterned papers from Graphic 45's "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" 8x8" pad for my background and layer. I had decided, to make the (somewhat large) image work with the sketch, to make an A9 (5.5x8.5") card. I cut my background paper to 5x8", and the plaid to 2.75x4.5". I matted the plaid with dark green cardstock, and trimmed it to leave a 1/16" border.

For the circle element behind the focal panel, I decided to use a doily I had in my stash. Because I didn't want it white, I decided to color it. First, I ran it through my Xyron Creative Station, to apply adhesive to the back. After a couple of attempts to color it with spray ink (neither worked to my satisfaction), I finally colored it gold with the Brilliance Galaxy Gold dewdrop ink pad by Tsukineko. Because that is a pigment ink, I heat set it to dry it faster. Finally, I carefully peeled the doily off the release paper, and adhered it in place on the background. I next adhered my plaid panel, laying down the focal & greeting pieces to make sure it was properly placed. I glued my focal & greeting panels on top with liquid glue, and set that under a book for a few minutes to dry.

Once the glue had set up enough, I matted the main panel with more burgundy cardstock, then matted that with cream. I mounted it to a white card base, and it was done!

I'm also entering this in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Love this Technique" (watercoloring with Inktense pencils)
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Die Crazy"