Christmas Blessings

Merry Monday Christmas Challenge Blog theme this week is "Birds." I decided to use one of the birds from Hero Arts' "Feathered Friends" digi set for my card.

I used Sketch #SC552 from Splitcoaststampers.com for my card design. I die cut a piece of scrap cardstock with a We R Memory Keepers "Nesting Scallops" circle die, to use as a pattern, and scanned that into my computer. I opened it in Photoshop, and sized my bird to fit. I printed the bird out 3 times: once on blue cardstock for the background, and once each onto pink & blue patterned papers from BoBunny's "Candy Cane Lane" 6x6" pad. I die cut the background piece with my circle die, and fussy cut the patterned paper pieces. After I'd "painted" the edges of the patterned paper pieces with a black brush-tip marker, I glued them in place on the die cut circle.

For the background, I embossed a piece of blue cardstock with the "A2 Tiny Polka Dot" embossing folder from The Paper Studio. I went over the raised portion with a foam ink blending pad and Ranger Adirondack Snow Cap pigment ink, just to provide a bit of highlighting. I cut my background papers, from The Paper Studio's "Christmas Candyland" & Echo Park's "Home for the Holidays" 6x6" pad. I then inked around the edges of each piece, and my focal panel, with Stormy Sky Distress ink, and glued everything to the background.

I stamped one of the greetings from Hero Arts' "Joy to the World" set onto a scrap of the pink patterned paper I'd used for the bird's wings, in Versafine Onyx Black ink. Then I heat embossed it with Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder, and cut it into a banner. I glued that down, and set my card front under an acrylic block until the glue dried, just so everything would stick well. Finally, I mounted it to a white A2 card base.

I'm also entering my card in the following challenges:

Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"
Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday: "Holiday Cards"
Pile It On: "Cards Using Red & Green"