Deck the Halls

Happy Thursday!

No time for one of my epic posts tonight ... I SHOULD be packing for our day trip to Sylvan Lake Water Slides tomorrow morning.  Alas ... my craft room was calling ... and who am I to deny the calls of my *happy place*???

I think what I love the most about creating a card is how I start off with one thing in mind and then as I start to play it takes on a life of its own an morphs into something completely different.  This card did exactly that!  My plan was to go down and play with my Chevron Punch.  I was thinking I could make it into a Christmas tree .. and I still may ... one day ... but I left the punch upstairs after photographing it yesterday ... and I was too lazy to go upstairs to get it *lol*.  No worries ... I had a room FULL of toys I wanted to play with.  I headed to my new Designer Paper Packs that are in the Holiday Mini.  I decided I was going to actually CUT one of the sheets and use it BEFORE it retired!!  So that's what I did.  I was then playing around with circle punches to make a quick, clean, simple card that I could use as part of a kit to offer my customers.  Ya.  No.  The more I played the more I grabbed different things and after an hour this little beauty is what emerged:

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!  Since I'm short on time I won't even begin to tell you all the different color combinations I tried out .. suffice it to say my desk is a DISASTER *lol*.  Here's what I DID use:  The base is Whisper White.  I have a 1/2" x 4 1/2" strip of Always Artichoke card stock, a 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" layer of Early Espresso and a 2 1/2" x 3 1/4" piece of the DSP from the Season of Style Paper Stack (page 22 of the mini - $8.50).  What is GREAT about this particular layer size is that it exactly 1/4" of a sheet of the DSP ... VERY economical and I can use this card for my upcoming Stamp-a-Stacks!!  The sentiment is stamped in the Gold Metallic Encore Pad (mini - page 28; $12.95) and the sentiment itself is from the Christmas Messages set - mini page 34; $25.95 clear; $35.95 wood.  As you well know, I'm all about font ... and I LOVE the size and font of this Deck the Halls!!  The mosaics are from Mosaic Madness (main catty page123; $22.95 clear; $32.95 wood) and punched out with the new Mosaci Punch (page 180 $21.95).   I stamped the top mosaic with the Gold Metallic ink and the lowest mosaic with ALways Artichoke.  The middle mosaic is punched out from the Brushed Gold card stock.  I was absolutely GIDDY when I stumled across this card stock in my stash AND that it was still available!!  Check it out on page 156 of the catty - $9.95.  I added small rhinestones to each of the mosaics.  The little holly image is from Cheers to You ... NOOOOOOOOO !!!  It's retired??!!  Boo!  I was once again giddy that I found the *perfect* image to finish the card off.  Oh.  Now I am sad :(  Well ... hopefully you have this set ... and hopefully I'll get over this crushing blow.  Sigh.  Stamping certainly has it's highs and lows ... ok Tam ... dig deep ... focus and finish the *recipe* .... right ... I stamped the image in Always Artichoke and added a little Cherry Cobbler Candy Dot for the berry.  That little details perks me up a little :)

OK!  Looking at the card again has cheered me up so I can carry on.  Now I must go pack :)  Until next time ... have a stampy night!


Tam