Berry Christmas – Sneak Peak and a Bonus Card

Hi Everyone!  I hope you have had a fabulous weekend.  It's hard to believe the weekend is almost over and it's Sunday night again.  I have two cards for you today.  Sneak peek number 1 is the fabulous new Berry Christmas set from the new SU Holiday Mini Catalog.  It's just over a week before you can download and drool over the new mini.

This card is my submission for the Taylored Expressions Challenge #79.  I've never done a TESC challenge before.  I loved this layout and decided it was just right for the new Berry Christmas set.  I wanted to use traditional Christmas colors – very different to my last post yesterday.  I love being able to do different and traditional things around Christmas – as it suits my varied and eclectic friends 🙂

I used Real Red cardstock and my favorite tool – my new texturz plate with my Big Shot.  This lets me get some background and texture, without overpowering the card or distracting from the focal image. 

Card recipe: (A2 Vertical)

• I started by stamping the wreath image in Old Olive on a piece of Shimmery White card stock (3 1/4x 2 3/8)  I then stamped the bird image in Real Red onto the wreath, and then again and cut and pieced it on top of the original stamped image using a Stampin' Dimensional.  I then stamped the wreath hanger in Real Red.
• I then ran the front of my card through my big shot on the texturz plate.  Tip:  The amount of embossing you get really depends on how many spare pieces of card stock you have under the piece you are embossing.  I usually use 2-3 spare sheets of card stock underneath to get a deeper impression. 
• I then cut the matts 1/16th bigger the the one on top of it.  So the Real Red was 1/16th bigger all round than the Shimmery White and then the Old Olive was 1/16th bigger than the Real Red. 
• The designer series paper was cut at 4 x 1 1/8th.  I loved the holly and the berries with the wreath and the bird.
• For the sentiment, I took the circular image from another new set (Delightful Decorations).  I used the circle, because the challenge asked for it – and I was pleased because it was different to the normal horizontal image and echoed the circle of the wreath.

Overall, I was really pleased as it stays true to my clean and simple design style and yet has quite a lot going on, without taking me out of my comfort zone.  I think this is another card that will end up in the mail boxes of some of my friends.

On a personal note… my DH left town again today.  He's been home for a whole month (1 week longer than expected because of my health issues).  It's been phenomenal having him home and the first couple of days after he leaves is always tough.  I decided to create a card for him last night – and took the suggestion of my friend and fellow SU demonstrator, Jean Fitch.  In this post, Jean had left a comment and a suggestion of taking using the markers and replacing the leaves with something else.  I thought it was a phenomenal suggestion – you can visit Jean here (I love reading her musings everyday, and am still laughing about the bear scat… anyway… back to Jean's suggestion :-)..)  So… I decided to create my card to show my hubby how much I had appreciated everything he had done whilst he was home, show him that I was grateful that he had postponed his trip (which meant postponing client engagements) and that I loved him .. all in one card.  Not inking in the leaves and replacing them with hearts that I had cut from my heart punched, allowed me to do that.  So thanks, Jean….. and thank you Pierluigi.  I couldnt get a great pic because I didnt have time to take out my photo tent.

I used the Christmas Cocoa DSP as the background and the matt – proof that you can get far more use of out of your purchase of DSP's than you think.  I loved the Soft Suede and Real Red mixture – and stamped the image on Shimmery White.  The stamp set – again from the new catalog – Wandering Words.

Have a fabulous week.  I wish you plenty of time to do the things you love – with those you love.  As always, thank you for visiting my little area of the stamping blogosphere.  Your visit is always appreciated.   Remember… just over a week before the new Holiday Mini – if you want to place your order or would like a hardcopy of the catalog, as opposed to the download.  Send me an email and I can let you know what great specials you can take advantage of.

Jaydee