Stampin! with Jaydee

Hi Everyone  Happy Tuesday.

It's been a couple of weeks since I finished my stint as the Featured Designer at Merry Mondays and this is the first time I have been able to play along with one of their challenges since then.  When I saw the challenge I knew that this is one that I couldn't ignore :-)

I am TOTALLY  a traditional colors Christmas card maker.  I find it VERY difficult to use anything other than green and red or white and blue, so this challenge was going to take me waaaaay outside of my comfort zone.  I looked at the inspiration photo and decided Elegant Eggplant and pink were going to be THE colors.  Real Christmas colors, right? :-)  

I decided to use a Papertrey Ink set that I had purchased a year or so ago, along with the accompanying die, to create a stained glass window card using heavy-weight vellum.  Here's my card:

I began by stamping the window image onto the vellum and then used my Copic markers to color the back of the stamped image.  I then cut out the window in my card base and mounted the vellum piece behind the cut out.  I backed it with a piece of Whisper White card stock the covers 3/4 of the back of the frontspiece.... still with me? :-) That helps to highlight the subtle colors on the window - and cover up all of the sticky tape I used to secure the vellum to the front of the card base.

I used a Simon Says Stamp Titled Banner die to die cut the sentiment onto Very Vanilla card stock and inked up the sentiment with Elegant Eggplant and adhered the banner to the base.  All that was left was to cut a piece of Whisper White card stock for the inside of the card so that I could stamp the inside sentiment.

It might not be traditional colors, but I do think it will stand out amongst all of the red/green and blue/white cards on a mantlepiece.  :-)  I was really pleased with the way it turned out and am always grateful when a challenge pushes me outside of "my" zone.

Don't forget to pop along to Merry Mondays and check out the fabulous design team cards - and play along with the challenge, I know the team will appreciate that!

 On a personal note:

I couldn't help but share a photo with you tonight.   The trees that we planted earlier this year are showing their wonderful colors.   You can see the bright pop of red of the Autumn Blaze maples and the gorgeous yellows of the river birches.   They really made a huge difference for us during summer by giving us privacy, but it is in fall that you see how gorgeous they are.

We mulched them this weekend to help keep their roots a little warmer during winter.  Talking of warmer.   Our groundhog, Georgina, has put herself to bed for winter.  We noticed that her burrow holes have been closed up and covered with leaves.  It's wonderful to think of her cuddled up nice and warm in her burrow and can't wait to see her again in spring.

I'll be back on Thursday with another card and some more photos to share with you.  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

card recipe:

• stamps:  stained glass - papertrey ink
• cardstock:  heavy vellum - papertrey ink.   Elegant Eggplant and Verry Vanilla - Stampin' Up
• Inks:  Elegant Eggplant - sentiment.  Copic markers - image