Snowman Christmas

Good morning Blogger Friends and thanks for dropping by the Charmed Life Blog. It's been hazy, hot and humid in the Pittsburgh area for several weeks now. Just our typical summer weather that is so perfect for farms and for backyard vegetable gardens.

 

I have been enjoying my next door neighbors pool quite a lot this summer. She is so generous about us coming over whenever we want. I have said it before, but I have the best neighbors.

Last night the neighbor on the other side of me sent over a plate of Lasagna for dinner. She does that frequently when my hubby is working nights. It's such a blessing to me.

 

I just thought I would start off my blog post today with an encouraging message. There is always so much bad news around us. So it's good to stop and just be thankful for the little things in life. 

 

Now onto my post for today. This is the card I posted on the CottageCutz Blog today for my weekly DT spot. I am featuring a card using some of the new dies from the brand new CottageCutz Christmas 2016 release. I used the Snowman w/Lamp Post & Merry Christmas Ribbon dies.

All the new dies are available in the Scrapping Cottage Store right now and they are 25% off for a limited time. The design team will be featuring the new dies in our blog posts for inspiration. It's not too early to start thinking about your 2016 Christmas cards and design.

So without further ado let's get started with some details on what I have created here today.  

 White Card Base: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Dapper Denim Striped Designer Paper: 4 1/8" x 4 7/8"
Dapper Denim layer underneath: 4 1/4" x 5"
Dapper Denim Snowflake Layer: 3 1/4" x 4 3/8"
Smokey Slate Image Panel: 2 3/4" x 3 1/2"

 The colors for my card are from the color challenge #593 on Splitcoaststampers. I like making Christmas cards with non-traditional colors. It helps to take me out of my comfort zone and stretch my creativity. I also like the look of using diagonal stripes on a Christmas card.

sweet sugarplum, cucumber crush, dapper denim

I started off with my layout this week. It's an older MojoMonday sketch. I have said before that I like working with sketches because it also helps to jump start my creativity. Especially when I have the dies in mind that I want to use. I like the challenge of getting my idea to fit into the confines of the sketch. I did take some liberties with this sketch and eliminated the small diagonal panel on the bottom right.

 

Once I had the all the card panel sizes figured out, I decided to use a stencil to create a snowflake background for my snowman. I did this with some 3-D molding paste to give the snowflakes a little dimension.

 

I use painters tape to secure the stencil. It holds the stencil in place well. When I am finished I just lift the tape on the right side only and remove the stencil.

 

I cut the snowman in white mixed media paper because my original idea was to watercolor and then I switched and decided to do some paper piecing and die in-laying. I liked how this little fellow turned out. I inlaid his buttons. eyes, nose and mouth.

 

The lamp post is part of this new die set. I cut it to match his hat, scarf and little ornament. The snowbank is included as part of this set. It's just too cute. Don't you think?

 

In place of the 2 banners in this sketch I used the Merry Christmas Ribbon die.  I like the look of it in the corner. This is thick enough so you only need to cut one layer. I used ranger multi-matte medium to adhere it. I like this adhesive because it dries clear.

 

And that my friends is my card for this post. Hope it gave you some inspiration to get started with your own Christmas cards.

 

Just a reminder about our latest challenge -it's #5 and all about birthdays this month. Get the details here.

 

Until next time........God bless.

I am also entering:

1.  Christmas Cards All Year 'Round has a bright summer colors challenge.

2.  Classic Design Team Open Challenge has an anything goes.

3.  12 Months of Christmas link up is anything goes