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Thursday, November 3, 2011

It's a Beautiful Season {CCMC174}

Happy Thursday, friends!  First, I need to take a minute and thank so many new followers and readers for all the comment love on my blog hop card, here.  Your support and comments mean so much--they lift my spirits every time I read them--yes I do read them several times each, LOL!  

Today is Thursday and that means it's another week with a new challenge at Create with Connie & Mary!  This week it's a sketch challenge...check it out:
Cool, right?  I'm in full on Christmas card-making here under the Canopy so I turned to the Beautiful Season stamp set for a more traditional look:
The lovely chickadee was embossed in gold onto a 3" circle of Very Vanilla and colored with a blender pen and Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler and Early Espresso. 
The edges were sponged with Champagne Shimmer paint for an aged look.
I added a little dimension to the background with tone-on-tone stamping of the holly leaves behind the focal image.
My paper crimper added some texture to the Always Artichoke banner and a little button embellishment carried the sentiment from Tiny Tags.
Lastly, I inked the chickadee again in Early Espresso but stamped off once before adding it to the inside.  A little more champagne shimmer edging frames the Cherry Cobbler sentiment.  So...what do you think?  I would love to hear from you!  I hope I've inspired you to play along with Connie & Mary's great sketch!  Be sure to check out the rest of the design team for even more inspiration!  I hope you'll join us by Wednesday, November 9th at noon (EST).  I can't wait to see what you make of this sketch!  Thanks for your visit today!
Photobucket
supplies:
stamps: beautiful season; tiny tags
ink: early espresso, cherry cobbler, always artichoke, versamark
paper: early espresso, cherry cobbler, always artichoke, very vanilla CS; regals pattern stack
xtras: 3" circle die; jewelry punch; linen thread; champagne shimmer paint; designer butons (regals); gold stampin' emboss powder; blender pen

18 comments:

LeAnne said...

Just gorgeous--nature provides all the Christmas decorations we could ever need!

Diane - oliver.mdiane@comcast.net said...

Nance this is beautiful. I just love that set (used it in class last night) whether it's colored in or not. Love your 3 strips of DSP and of course the cherry cobbler is becoming "I want to use on every card" color for me! OMG.
The soft shimmer mist edges are perfect. Hugs.

Rita W said...

Beautiful, Nance! I love that you embossed the image before coloring it in. It gives a more elegant (and "expensive") look to the card. I would have never thought to sponge edges with shimmer paint! How cool is that?

Kim S said...

I love the gold...I love the layers of paper...I even love the holly on the brown - just a beautiful card!

Deb said...

Gorgeous, as always! I love this stamp and you have showcased it beautifully! The shimmer paint is perfect!

Linda Callahan said...

Gorgeous! Maybe it is time for me to crack open that bottle of shimmer paint! The embossing makes this look so rich and your attention to detail is always wonderful - like the tone on tone stamping!

Marisa said...

Gorgeous mix of colours and the focal image is fabulously coloured! Love the touch of the crimped panel (girl after my own heart) with the button and sentiment Fabulous as always :)

Anne Marie Hile said...

Wow Nance! Is this ever pretty! I love the rich coloring of the image and the shimmer paint details. Thanks for the inspiration to use that paint more often, too. Absolutely gorgeous, inside and out! (hugs) :)

Ann Schach said...

Gorgeous, Nance! A fabulous job with the sketch. This is one my favorite Christmas sets! A great mix of patterns. The button, thread and tag are the perfect touches!

Nancy said...

Told you so! It's a gorgeous card, the gold embossing, the coloring, the cs and the DSP to say nothing of the beautiful stamp set!
Luv,
Mom

Lisa Kmiec said...

Beautiful card! I love all the little details you put into your cards!

Debbie Henderson said...

I always forget about my Paper Crimper. Love how you used it and such pretty layers!

Jeanne H said...

Just got my crimper on Thursday! Am so glad to see it used by you. Thanks.

Margaret said...

Nance, this is beautiful! I love the champagne shimmer edges and I think I need to dig out my crimper again!!

Carrie Gaskin said...

Everything about this card is perfect. The imagery, the colours, your take on the sketch. So pretty!

Lisa Martz said...

Just beautiful! Love the embossing and the shimmer on the edges. The tiny tag is a fantastic addition!

Colleen Dietrich said...

This is gorgeous, Nance! Love the shimmer, the colors, the whole thing.

Connie Babbert said...

Wow, Nance...you put the "beautiful" in Beautiful Season! Love all the gorgeous GLIMMER on here! Great job coloring, too!