Mistletoe Monday #27-2016

The Christmas Season is creeping toward us even if it is the heat of Summer.  Christmas items are out in the craft stores, so here is some inspiration for starting those cards to be ready in December.

Since the challenge is "Anything Goes", the designers are free to do whatever they want.

We want to welcome Colleen to the team and she did a great job with this beautiful card - 

Here is a closeup of the detail.

 I ventured off the beaten path with my holiday card, using pink and blue colors rather than the traditional green and red.  There was a lot of detail work to this card!  First I die cut a circle out of 4.25 x 5.5 pink cardstock using MFT's stitched circle dies.  I created the blue flowers over the pink cardstock using Cosmic Shimmer Sparkle Texture Paste (by Creative Expressions) and a gorgeous new stencil from Papertrey Inks.  It looks absolutely stunning against the bright pink!  Once it was dry, I placed it on top of a second piece of pink cardstock, and traced that circle lightly with a pencil onto the second piece. This helped me find the exact placement to stamp the "Joy" sentiment (from Our Daily Bread).  Remember to erase the pencil mark after you're done stamping!  Once that was done, I created a shaker card using The Fuse and various sequins.  I poked two holes in the lower right section of the card and ran some ribbon through it and tied a bow.  I adhered the two pieces of cardstock together using foam tape to give it dimension.  Lastly, I attached the finished product to the cardbase.  I love the bright, cheerful glittery colors that look like snow!   - Colleen

Now here is my card - 

I was playing with the alcohol inks again and this time used Red Pepper and Silver Mixatives.  I just added them to the felt pad with some blending solution then smooshed and twisted slightly all over a 4.25 x 5.5 coated piece of paper.  I did this a couple of times until I was happy with the patter.  I used my Explore to cut out the ornaments using the Anna’s Winter Wonderland cartridge.  For the sentiment and ornament tops, I used some great foil paper I had just picked up from a local paper store outlet and cut it on the Explore. The sentiment is from Wild Card.  Before I cut it, I backed it with a product called Stick It.  It makes your die cuts work just like a sticker so that you don’t have to try and put adhesive on after the cut.  I find it is a lot cleaner to work with than my Xyron.  I then added black embroidery floss through the holes and mounted everything on black cardstock popping the ornaments up on foam.  Since I cut the ornaments from the middle of the patterned paper I had made, I was able to use the sheet as the matting to the black.  I am just so in love with the alcohol inks right now and love playing with them. – Denise Sayers

Great card Colleen and welcome to the team.