Challenge Cards

With the exception of the first day, I've kept up with Paper Craft Planet's 12 Days of Christmas challenges. Here are my cards for Days 3 & 4. The challenge for Day 3, as "three French hens," was to use a hen, rooster, or any kind of bird. It was a great excuse to get out my fun Standing Chicken stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs. I colored her with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol mineral spirits. As for the card design, it's nothing fancy.

Materials & Tools: Colonial White, Cocoa, and Indian Corn Blue cardstock; Magic Moments paper packet; Black ink pad; Whipper Snapper Designs Standing Chicken stamp and My Favorite Things Eggs-tra Special Easter stamp set; Chocolate Mini-Medley Accents; Prismacolor colored pencils; Gamsol mineral spirits; Blending stumps; Black My Legacy Writer.

For Day 4, "four calling birds," bird cards were again acceptable. I put quite a bit of effort into this card before ever picking up a stamp. My goal was to create a background piece that has a distressed, Basic Grey look. While I don't think I necessarily succeeded on this one, I believe that it's something that could be achieved with a little practice. For this one, I first sanded my Garden Green piece both vertically and then horizontally with a course sanding block. Then, I used a sponge to add some Olive ink here and there before taking my Bamboo pad and doing the direct-to-paper thing. In the end, I didn't end up with quite enough color variation, and I should have added some Chocolate or Cocoa ink around the edges. It's something to work on.

The rest of the card is probably pretty self-explanatory. I stamped the vine with New England Ivy and colored in the leaves with Garden Green and Olive. The flowers were created using Liquid Applique. The bird and sentiment were adhere with foam mounting tape.

Materials & Tools: Colonial White, Garden Green, and New England Ivy cardstock; New England Ivy, Olive, and Bamboo stamp pads; Olive and Garden Green markers; Flourishes Birds and Vines and Verve Stamps So Happy stamp sets; Ribbon and gold cord from my stash; Gold mini brads; Liquid Applique; 3M foam mounting tape.

While the challenge for Day 5 is yet to be announced, I have a wedding ring stamp for "five golden rings." After that, I'll see . . .

It's Monday and the first of December. Holy cow! I need a plan and a list - several lists, in fact. Traditionally, I am a last-minute shopper, because I strongly dislike the activity. Last-minute, however, usually puts me into some kind of bind that I don't like either, so this year, I'm going to do everything I can on the Internet - early, letting the UPS man do the walking.

As for work, media slows down for the holiday season, which means I'll have lots of time to get caught up on the stuff that gets pushed aside when I'm busy. Tomorrow, I'm getting a haircut after work and can't wait, as I'm looking like a shaggy mutt these days. As for the rest of the week, I'm just going to go with the flow and appreciate ordinary.

Thanks for stopping by. With more challenges and a couple other cards under my belt, I'll most likely be back throughout the week. 'Til next time, take care.