Its been a while since I entered into a Global Design challenge, so I decided to try this colour challenge and get going once more with entries. Pink is a somewhat unusual colour for a Christmas card but I went with it anyway as these are the cards I need currently. I dry embossed the pink piece using a folder called Champagne and Holly by Couture Creations. Lately I’m having trouble with my machines and embossing is a challenge but I managed to get most of it with an impression. Then I die cut the word using both the blue and the green and offset them on top of the pink. Did the same with the trees and adhered the lot to a white card front. I added a tiny bit of sparkle to the holly berries, but in retrospect probably shouldn’t have. Using some of the leftover blue I cut several strips to add top and bottom of panel and along the bottom of the main card. Then I die cut the word Christmas from the pink CS and added it to the strip. Dies used are from MFT (small trees) Creative Expressions (larger trees), MFT and Sissix for the words. Had fun and quite like the end result.

For this challenge I decided to use my last inked background piece and some curvy mixed border dies. I think these are Spellbinders but can’t remember for sure. I had the gold frame left over from a previous project and added it to the card front. Then I looked through my PP until I found one I liked as a background. Added this layer and then cut the inked piece to go on top. Using some dies from Concord & 9th that came with a turnabout stamp set I die cut the word letters out of gold CS then glued them in the space between the curved pieces. From the same set I die cut a few leaves from some copper metallic CS as well as a scrap of brown CS and also some circles using 2 sizes of hole punch. I glued the brown and copper leaves together and added them and used the small circles to add a bit of interest and embellishment. Hubby liked this one a lot.

It is always great when I can get one card to work for two challenges. Double D wanted a walk in the woods and my trees and deer fit well for this. And the As You See It, want us to fill in the blanks about what Christmas means to me. Where to start with the explanation is more challenging than making a card. So many things sum up Christmas for me. Family and friends rank way high on my list as do memories. We have no children and no family living close enough to visit for holiday celebrations and I honestly cannot remember our last family Christmas. In a way it has become the same with friends as the people closest to us in spirit live too far away for short visits. Memories become important in this situation. As well, we have a small tradition where, when we traveled a lot, we always made sure to buy one Christmas ornament that represented that holiday so I call our tree a memory tree. Many ornaments have a big memory attached to them and putting up the tree is a trip down memory lane for both of us. Celebrating Christmas in our new home this year is exciting and I’m happy to say that we shall have guests for the holiday.

My card used a leftover border circle that was from a long ago project, some dies from creative Expressions and a LawnFawn stamp set. Sentiment is from a very old Hot of the Press stamp set. I added a few sequin stars and a little sparkle to some of the trees and used a Sakura glaze pen on the deer eyes, nose and tail. He was coloured using Inktense pencils. I love this little deer as he is so cute.

I had various scraps on my desk and I used one piece and some gold CS to begin this card. PP is from a Reminisce paper pack, Gold CS is Recollections, ribbon and sequins from my stash and the stamp used for the tree is from Noel Mouse by GKD. Sentiment is 2 stamps from Divinity Designs. After putting the panel together I added it to the card front and then added the tree with the sentiment behind it. Heat embossed tree and sentiment and used glitter pens to add some colour. Added the ribbon at the bottom and edged it with a bit more gold. I tried to keep this card quite simple. Made a second card with the other scraps. Similar but different.

Santa on this one is from a store bought card from last years collection. Too cute to throw away and he works on this card quite well.

With one challenge calling for Orange and Brown and another for leaves I was able to make one card to fit both challenges. Always enjoy being able to do that. Using Distress Oxides in Carved Pumpkin, Gathered Twigs and Brushed Corduroy, I first brushed and sponged the inks onto some scrap CS. After spritzing it and drying it I then ran it through with a leaf pattern folder which I cut down to the size I needed. Mounted this piece onto a white CS to get a thin border and added all of this to a Warm cocoa card front by GKD. I found one of my leaf dies (again unable to attribute to a particular company) and cut the leaf branch from the left over inked piece. Then I highlighted this with a bit of Inka Gold so it had more depth. On another scrap piece I used a sentiment from ‘Bird Friends, The Cat’s Pajamas’, and cut this to size before using a glitter pen around the edges. I added one extra leaf on the sentiment piece to finish the card.