Cozy and Warm Christmas

IDK... I said I'm not done with Autumn yet, but I am enjoying making some Christmas cards!  I'm playing along with a few challenges with this one.  Over at The Cat's Pajamas, the challenge is Winter Holiday.  At Simon Says Stamp, the challenge is All That Glitters is Gold.  Double Trouble is having a Christmas/Holiday Challenge and they are collaborating with Try Stampin' on Tuesday's Tic Tac Toe Challenge!  AND this month I'm playing along as often as I can with the 30 Day Coloring Challenge over at The Daily Marker.  Don't get me wrong... I color almost every day... but sometimes I forget to share...lol!  And this one actually took me 3 days...lol! And I made this card for all five challenges!

I started with that beautiful plaid from last year's PhotoPlay Mad4Plaid Christmas paper.  One of my fave holiday packs!  I made my base 4 1/2 x 4 1/2.  The next layer is the plaid at 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 (It really is slightly smaller because the paper I used had already had a cut out of it...lol) and then I used a CDD Inside Scalloped Square as a frame.  Originally I was going to fill in the center with white, but I decided to display my plaid proudly!  I used an old CTMH bow die for my presents and some standard rectangular dies for the presents.

I started my coloring with this too sweet little pup!!  I LOVE this image from The Cats Pajamas!!  It's from the Whee stamp set... Such an adorable set!  I actually colored him up when I met Kathy at the Road Trip event at Our Creative Escape in Goodyear, AZ.  He's been sitting and waiting patiently for his turn on a card and I knew I wanted to use him on a Christmas Card but wasn't sure how I'd do that!

And then I had a Shopping Day with my mom at the last stamp show in Mesa and we were wandering around the Our Daily Bread Designs booth and I saw this beautiful Jingle Bells stamp set and just knew it would be perfect for all kinds of Christmas cards!  And when I decided it was time to get my little sleepy pupper on a card, my eyes landed on these beautiful bells and knew exactly what I would do!  I stamped and started coloring the branches and bow one morning and then it sat until I went to a crop today where I finished it up by coloring the bells.  I wanted to add some glitter to them initially, but it covered all of the gorgeous detail up so I wiped it off quickly and settled on just some liquid glass.  Love how they turned out!

And I maybe didn't know exactly what i wanted to do because I got it all done and realized I needed a sentiment... and then my eyes fell upon the Sunny Studios Alpaca Holiday Stamps that I ordered recently over at Simon Says Stamp and that sentiment looked me square in the face and said... Me!   I heat embossed it in white on black cardstock and cut them down into banners (thank you Mom for the Pigment Ink... since I forgot mine... and thank you Jean for the heat gun... since I forgot mine...lol!  A whole box of embossing powders... and no Versamark or Heat Gun.. yup... I'm a genius!) Lastly, added a few gold sparkly embellishments and I was done!

So there it is!  Winter Holiday for TCP and Double Trouble (and did you see Tracy??  I used the twist with my hanging bells!); Gold Glittery goodness for Simon Says Stamp; plaid, red and stamping for Try Stampin' on Tuesday; and three days of coloring for Kathy Racoosin!

Thanks so much for coming by... I'd be lying if I said this one wouldn't be hard to send away... I just LOVE that pup so much!!!  But it will be sent off (probably late) to someone I think might enjoy and love it as much as I do.

See you soon!!