Christmas Card Challenge: Day One

Happy 1st of November! Where has the year gone?! If you're a regular (or irregular) reader of my blog, you'll notice that I've only been posting about once a month for the Creation Station blog hops. My blogging has severely fallen off. I have been creating--both stamping and knitting--but the blogging bit has slipped. I'm sorry (not sorry) about that, but I'm going to try to make up for it this month by playing along with Martin Stone's #30DayChristmasCardMakingChallenge. Martin has posted 30 challenges for the month of December--you can play along with him, too. You can join his group in Facebook and/or play along on Instagram (@martinmayhem).

The challenge for Day One is something red. Well, that's easy enough for a Christmas card right? Yeah, so I thought. Honestly, I spent more time on this card, fiddling around to make it right, than I normally do. I wanted to try the floating elements technique and I had loads of Designer Series Paper strips lying around after preparing for my own Christmas card making classes, so that part was easy. In the end, I think all the fiddling paid off. Let me know what you think!

First, I embossed a 4" by 5-1/4" Basic White Card Stock mat with the Whimsical Woodland 3D embossing folder and adhered it directly to a Real Red Card Stock card base.

Next, I used Stampin' Seal+ to adhere strips of Sweetest Christmas DSP to a Window Sheet. I cut this out with one of the Layering Circles Dies. I adhered this element to the card by placing Foam Adhesive Strips on the back of the DSP to make this element "float."

I stamped the deer and a sentiment from the "Peaceful Deer" stamp set in Real Red Ink onto Basic White cardstock. I punched the deer out with the matching Deer Builder Punch and cut out the sentiment with a small circle from the Stylish Shapes Dies. I adhered these elements to the cards with Stampin' Dimensionals.

I stamped the deer's collar in Garden Green Ink onto Basic White Card Stock and fussy cut it with my Paper Snips. I stamped the collar again in Real Red Ink and fussy cut just the bow. I adhered the bow to the collar and the collar to the deer with Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue. I added some Clear Wink of Stella to the collar for a little shine.

Finally, I added four red Festival Pearls to the card--one to the deer's nose so he could be Rudolph the RED nosed reindeer!!

I hope you'll play along with Martin and all of us who are participating in the #30DayChristmasCardMakingChallenge. I can't promise I'll make all 30 days, but I'm going to try my best! 

As always, if you need the supplies to make this card, just click on any of the thumbnails below and you'll be taken to my online store where you can make your purchase.

tams# 76126

Product List

Peaceful Deer Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [156891] $22.00	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [147084] $8.00	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad [147089] $8.00	Real Red 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [102482] $9.25
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [159276] $10.25	Sweetest Christmas 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [159559] $12.00	Window Sheets [142314] $5.00	Whimsical Woodland 3 D Embossing Folder [159831] $10.00
Deer Builder Punch [156390] $19.00	Layering Circles Dies [151770] $35.00	Stylish Shapes Dies [159183] $30.00	Festive Pearls [159963] $7.00
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897] $8.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $4.25	Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [144108] $4.25	Foam Adhesive Strips [141825] $8.00
Multipurpose Liquid Glue [110755] $4.00	Paper Snips [103579] $11.00