Christmas All Ready??

Hello friends!It's time for a new challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique and Cec is hosting "Christmas in July"! 

"If you are like me, you are anxious for 2020 to be over and done with. To speed things up let's pretend Christmas is around the corner even though it is only July and get a start on creating shabby chic or vintage inspired cards. This challenge is all about cards so please save other Christmas creations for later."

As always, the winner will earn a chance to be a Guest Designer at a future date at The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge blog, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will go into the draw for the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. There are also Top 3 Badges for three additional outstanding entries, chosen by the Design Team. Please see the blog for details.

I embraced this challenge as I'm tired of the heat of the summer and just thinking about Christmas cools me by 20 degrees. Like Cec, I'm also ready for the calendar to turn to a new year, hopefully a better one than 2020 is shaping up to be. But not before celebrating Christmas, so I also welcomed the challenge to get an early start on my handmade cards. Here are the steps I took to create my first Christmas card of the year. This was so fun and easy to make, I may just have to mass produce them. Let's get started...

Create the wood grain back panel by embossing card stock with Lumber 3D embossing folder. This folder is no longer available in the shop, so I've linked to Distress Woodgrain cardstock in the link list below. It will save you a couple steps. (wink, wink) Ink edges with Ground Espresso Archival ink, smudge with a damp finger and Walnut Stain crayon and then blend with Walnut Stain ink to accentuate the grain. Adhere panel to brown card blank.

Stamp plaid image from the Lumberjack set in Ground Espresso ink on water color paper using stamp platform. Clean the stamp while it remains in the platform and apply Distress Embossing dabber and repeat impression over first. Remove the inked panel from platform and heat emboss with Walnut Stain Embossing Glaze. When cool, spray with water and then Evergreen Bough Distress Spray Stain. Blend with more water and allow to dry.

After it's completely dry, remove shine from the glaze by buffing with steel wool. I added a bit more pressure with the steel wool than I usually do to get more of a distressed look to the panel. Blend edges with Walnut Stain ink.

To make the panel behind the deer, I inked the Holiday Type stamp (Tim Holtz Stripes & Holiday Type) with Ranger Resist ink (unused in my stash forever), making the impression on plain card. I sprayed the card with Antique Linen Spray stain and misted with water to blend, drying with my heat tool. Curiously, the ink seems to be attracted to, rather than resisted by the ink. Hmmm...I see possibilities! I cut the panel with one of the Stacked Archway Thinlits dies and cut a second archway from chipboard.  I edged both archways with Ground Espresso ink and adhered the stamped one to the chipboard die cut, offsetting slightly.

I  colored card scraps with Mowed Lawn and Evergreen Bough inks and sprayed with Tarnished Brass Distress Mica Spray. I cut two wreaths from the scraps using the Wreath &Snowflake Thinlits set. I cut a few more sections of the holly leaf portion and tucked these in between the two layers to make a fuller wreath. The berries and bow from the same set were cut from an inky red scrap from my stash. I used the Distress Embossing pen and Fired Brick Embossing Glaze to add some dimension and shine to the berries and set the bow aside. I assembled the wreath/berries and adhered everything with Distress Collage Medium Matte and then adhered the wreath to the ink resist panel.

I stamped the deer from the Yuletide set on the stamp platform, inking his antlers in Vintage Photo and the rest of his head with Ground Espresso Archival inks. I blended his antlers with Frayed Burlap and his face with Vintage Photo, both regular inks and used a white gel pen to add some highlights. Lastly I fussy cut him and adhered him and the bow on the wreath.

Using the Merry Christmas stencil from mini set 32, I blended Candied Apple ink through the word 'Merry' and Ground Espresso through 'Christmas' onto water color paper I had previously blended with Frayed Burlap ink. 'Merry' was then heat embossed with Fired Brick Embossing Glaze and 'Christmas' with Walnut Stain Embossing Glaze. Both were cut, edged in Walnut Stain and adhered to the card.

Here's one more look at the completed card. 

I hope you will take some time to stop over to the blog to see what wonderful Christmas cards my talented teammates have made. Then why not take this opportunity to get a head start on your Christmas cards and link them up to the challenge. You will be happy to have a few already made before the real rush starts in December. I can't wait to see what you will make! Happy crafting! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Countryview Challenges - July 2020 - Do What Makes You Happy Just finding good quality time to craft this week made me happy, but combined with my favorite Tim Holtz products and Christmas card making is the icing on the cake!

Creative Artiste Challenge #62 Anything Goes Mixed Media

We Love 2 Create at Polkadoodles Challenge #7- Anything Goes Mixed Media

Christmas 24 #13 Holiday Foliage

Die Cut Divas Christmas in July!

Dies R Us Challenge #148 - Anything Goes

These products were used and are available for purchase at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits Die Set - Wreath & Snowflake
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Yuletide
Tim Holtz Cling Stamps - Lumberjack
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Mini Layering Stencils - Set 32
Tim Holtz Distress Woodgrain Cardstock, 4 1/4 x 5 1/2
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads - Ground Espresso, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Candied Apple, Evergreen Bough, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Archival Mini Ink Pad - Ground Espresso, Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayon- Walnut Stain
Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain - Evergreen Bough, Antique Linen
Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Dabber
Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Pen 2pk - Bullet
Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Glaze - Walnut Stain, Fired Brick