Merry Monday #24 Challenge Card

This is an exciting day for me! My first time at being a Guest Designer for Lesley's Merry Monday challenge! Each week she offers a sketch, and the challenge is to make a Christmas card using the sketch.

What a great way to get your Christmas cards done without that last minute rush. Especially with all the inspiration from her talented Design Team! Be sure to check them out HERE.

The sketch this week is another really good one.  I love it when I can see multiple uses for a sketch, and had a hard time narrowing down which idea I was going to use for today's challenge post.

Finally, I settled on a stamp I've had for years -  the Azadi Earles snowman face - and I decided to stay very close to the sketch.

The card is 5 x 6.5", and the sparkly patterned paper is from a My Minds Eye paper stack. I'd been hoarding it, but because I LOVE snowflakes for holiday cards I cut into the sheet.

The white strip was embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder, and after colouring the snowman (coloured pencils & odorless mineral spirits) I added Crystal Effects to his eyes, nose and mouth. I like the dimension the Crystal Effects give an image - and how it catches the light. The photo above gives a hint of the sparkle in the snowflake paper as well!

I actually made two cards - nearly identical. I couldn't decide whether or not to add a punched snowflake or not, so made one of each. And in the end? I prefer the one without.

The lacy layer behind the snowman circle was cut with a My Favorite Things doily die, and I used paper tape for the little red strip. I also added 3 gems to the holly on the snowman hat for a little more holiday sparkle.

I really liked all the little paper banners in the new Stampin' Up catalogue samples and thought I'd try my hand at one. I cut a 1/2" strip of white card stock then  inked just the HAPPY from the Papertrey Ink stamp and stamped that on one end of my strip. After carefully folding it on an angle, I repeated the inking/stamping process with the HOLIDAY word. I had to make three of these little banners because I actually screwed one up.

The corner of a square punch helped with the notches - whoever came up with that one was brilliant! Then I attached it to the card, between the snowman and doily layer.

FOR PETE'S SAKE,  I could have just stamped the words each on their own banner because you can't tell that it's folded. It took me waaaaaay longer to make the banners than it should have, ha ha - all because of that folding. Too funny.

I have a large, pretty Christmas ornament stamp that would also work with this sketch - using a velvet ribbon to 'hang' it from the strip. I also wanted to try a reindeer instead of the circle shape - so these are ideas I'm tucking away for when I have some more time.

Thanks to Lesley for the privilege of being your Guest Designer this week! Remember to check out the Design Team inspiration HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today!