Joy and Peace

This has been the second week of the September challenges at Christmas Card Throwdown. This challenge is a color challenge to use green, brown, & blue. I admittedly struggled a bit, not so much because it's a difficult color combo (I don't think it is), but just trying to decide how I wanted to incorporate those colors into a card. Plus, trying to get into the holiday card making mentality. But, it's the second week of September, & the holidays will be here before we know it. So I decided to take the plunge & get making! :)

My design inspiration came from a home decor piece we have that is a bird sitting in a basket, surrounded by an autumnal arrangement of greenery & fruit. I decided to create something similar with a more wintry feel. For the basket, I chose Concord & 9th's "Freshly Picked" die set. The bird came from Honey Bee Stamps' "Lovely Layers: Winter Birds" die set, & the foliage from Sizzix/Tim Holtz's "Holiday Greens" die set. I pulled the greeting from the October 2020 My Monthly Hero Kit from Hero Arts (discontinued). 

I chose a few different shades of brown cardstock from my scrap stash for the bird. I die cut the pieces,  & then used liquid glue to assemble the bird. Instead of die cutting the beak & eye, since they are so tiny, I used a black pen to color in the beak & added the eye with Ebony Black Nuvo Crystal Drops.

I die cut the greenery from an assortment of green cardstocks - also from my scrap stash. I used kraft cardstock to die cut the base pieces for the basket, & a pale green for the bands. For the berry branches, I used dark brown cardstock. I'm happy to say, except for the card front panel, I actually used only scraps for all the elements!

For the basket, I used Gathered Twigs Distress ink to shade both of the kraft pieces. I added additional shading to the edges of the back piece with Walnut Stain Distress ink, & used Bundled Sage to shade the green bands. Finally, I glued all the pieces together. I arranged my greenery & berry branches in the basket, gluing them to the back of the basket as I went. After I had a few greenery pieces glued in place, I went ahead & added my bird so I could better integrate him into the arrangement. Finally, I glued one branch & a green sprig to the front of the basket.

I had initially intended to make this an A2-size card, but when I laid my completed basket arrangement on a panel, I quickly realized I had to upsize! I cut a 5x7" panel from light blue cardstock, but decided that was a bit too tall, so I cut it 1" shorter, to a final size of 5x6". I ink blended around the outside of the blue panel with Faded Jeans Distress ink, then added Chipped Sapphire around the very edges to darken that area up. I left the middle with no ink, to create a glowing effect around my focal point.

After I finished ink blending & adhered my card front to a white card base, I glued down my arrangement. I struggled with the placement a bit, since if I centered the whole piece - measuring from the end of the bird's tail on the right to the edge of the greenery on the other side, the basket itself was off-center. I finally just kind of "fudged" it a bit, so that while nothing is perfectly centered, it still looks balanced. Then I added the berries with Ivory Seashell Nuvo Crystal Drops. I let all that dry overnight, and finished by heat embossing my greeting with Ranger Silver Super Fine Detail embossing powder.

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

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge: "Take Flight"

Creative Knockouts Challenge #502: "Anything Goes"

The Paper Funday Challenges #57: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Die Cut Divas September challenge: "Anything Goes"