A Watercolor Winter Swap

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*Don't forget to check out this post for my Blog-Versary - Give-Away. It will be open until Midnight August 23, 2012.* 

Hey y'all. Happy Tuesday! I hope you're having a great week so far. :) Believe it or not we had a little cold-front push some rain through the DMV last night and it was actually a little chilly as I stood in the slug line this morning waiting for a ride into work. It makes me feel a little less bad about subjecting you to Winter Cards already. But only a little bit.

Wanna know what it really makes me think about? Football!!!! I'm so excited it's that time of the year again. Although my Patriots lost last night and the Cowboys lost this weekend, I'm happy to say the Deadskins did too! Anyways it's just the pre-season so, I don't worry too much about the scores, I just enjoy that it's back. Wanna know who's not excited that it's football season? Bitty Kitty. She was not happy about all the screaming and cheering that went on with the Olympics but she really hates football season. It's pretty funny, impressive really, how sweet, little, 12lb Bitty Kitty doesn't think twice about cursing me out and then leaving me to watch the game without her. Lol! Ummm, I mean so sad. :)

Today's card is one I did for a recent team swap. The layout was inspired by a card I made at one of my upline's, Robin Merriman's, Stampin at the Firehouse classes. I think it worked out perfectly for this set. Here's today's card-

Christmas Card featuring
Watercolor Winter Stamp Set, Lacey Brocade Embossing Folder
and Crumb Cake Tulle 

Ok, so this is a 2-step stamp set. For those of you that haven't been around here for a while, I don't like 2-step stamping. So tell me why I ordered not 1 but 2 of them from the Holiday Catalog!?! Don't get me wrong, I love how it looks when others do it, it always looks so pretty. However when I try it the OCD in me gets all hyper and I want to get my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig out and make sure everything is perfectly lined up even though I know that's not the look I should be going for. I realize in theory it's not supposed to be perfect, but there's only so much "not perfectly lined up" I can take before I can't handle the process. If the line image is too far off the solid image I just can't stand it. Oh, why do I do this to myself?!? Luckily most of these came out ok the first time.

Here's a little closer look-

I started with a base of Crumb Cake c/s. Next came a piece of Naturals Ivory c/s with the edges sponged in Crumb Cake. I layered a piece of Cherry Cobbler, that I ran through my Big Shot with my new Lacey Brocade E.F. (love that folder), on top of that with Tombow. For my 2-step stamped images I stamped off once with the solid images and stamped full-strength for the line images. I used Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke and Soft Suede S.U. Markers to ink my images that took 2 colors and S.U. Classic ink pads for those that only required one. I stamped all of my images first and then taking my Decorative Label Punch, went back and punched them all out. I then sponged the edges in C.C. and mounted them using Dimensionals. I wrapped a length of Crumb Cake Tulle, approximately 15", around this layer, tied it in a knot and fluffed the ends. This entire panel was then secured to the card base using Dimensionals. Can you believe I didn't use any Dazzling Diamonds or Dazzling Details? What was I thinking? Lol! Although I think it would be pretty with either of those, I felt there was enough going on as it was so I left it off. Coco would be so proud of me.

Here's the inside-

Inside of Christmas Card featuring
Greetings of the Season and Watercolor Winter Stamp Sets

I couldn't leave the inside plain too though. After all, it's not a "masculine" card, so I dressed it up just a wee-bit. :) For the inside, I used another piece of Naturals Ivory c/s. The sentiment is from Greetings of the Season and is stamped in Cherry Cobbler. I used the same color scheme and technique that I did for the front. I actually did stamp it with the intent of leaving the holly plain...

...but I just couldn't do it! (See how far off those berries are on the left? You have no idea how close this came to getting flipped over to start again on the other side.)

However, I stuck with it...

...added a little sparkle and it didn't seem quite so bad. My friend April swears she's going to break me of my SAMJ habit. If you're a gambling person, I'd stick with me on this one. Hahaha. No, seriously, only bet on April if you have money to throw away, and if that's the case, throw it my way!!!

That's all I have for you today. I hope you liked it and if nothing else at least got a smile or a little laugh at me over the whole 2 step stamping drama. I love hearing from you so if you have thoughts or comments about today's card, I hope you'll take just a moment and leave me a message. I read all of them and they really do make my day! I'll be offering this card at an upcoming card class. If you liked it and are local, I'd love to have you join us. :) If you would like to +1 or Pin today's card, I've put the buttons here on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too. Don't forget to check out my blog-versary give-away. You still have time.

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! I hope you'll come back soon to see what I'm working on for you. Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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