Holly Jolly for Case this Sketch
02 December 2014
Hi Everyone. Happy Tuesday.
I hope you are all recovered from Thanksgiving - and Colleen B... I hope you are all recovered from your earthquake! So, glad to hear that you are OK. :-)
I wanted to let Gill, Colleen T and Marsha know that their SU goodies arrived today. I will be re-packaging and sending them out to you over the weekend. Gill, you will be getting yours much later:-) Thank you all - everyone of you - for participating in our Cards for a Cause 2014 card drive.
I do have a card for you tonight. I saw this fabulous sketch across at Case this Sketch
I decided that I wanted to make use of some of my much neglected dies and remembered that I had these holly dies that I rarely use. I turned the sketch on its side so that I could get the dies to fit. I die cut the top layer and placed the sentiment in the middle of the die cut using gold embossing powder. I then stamped the leaves on the card base and placed the die cut layer over the top. Of course, I needed to add some bling, and found the last of my gold dots and used them as the berries for the holly. I tend to be very literal... so using gold berries instead of the traditional red berries, was a real stretch for me :-)
With the holly, you will notice that two of the holly leaves are below the top layer - and the middle one was placed on two layers of foam dots to raise it above the top layer. I thought it added a little more interest that way :-)
Here's my card:
I tried putting the sentiment right under the holly, but it just looked odd, so I had to put it to the side. It seemed to balance with the berries better that way. I mounted the top layer with some foam tape and was ready to go.
You might notice the flecking on the card stock? That's because I used Naturals Ivory card stock instead of Very Vanilla. I love the slightly more natural feel of the Ivory and it's a nice rich cream color. I paired it with Mossy Meadow - it really is a perfect green for Christmas.
I loved the simplicity and versatility of the sketch and am thinking I might try and play around with it a little more - unfortunately, it won't be before the challenge closes. I hope you will pop along to Case this Sketch and check out the fabulous design team inspiration cards and I know they would appreciate it if you played along, too :-)
On a personal note:
OK. Winter arrived. Seriously arrived. It got down to MINUS... yes, I said MINUS 25 this past couple of days. Seriously...... Thanksgiving has only just passed and we have snow on the ground and ridiculously cold temps. Oh, the joys of living in Minnesota :-)
I really don't know how the animals survive these drastic changes in temp. Oh... that reminds me... bless you, Colleen T for making homes for the feral cats in your area when the temps dropped into the 30s. That was such a wonderful thing to do. I know it meant you and hubby actually making places for them to curl up in.... what wonderful people you are!
As for us, we try to provide as much shelter as we can for the birds, along with food and water. The addition of the cedars last year really helped the birds during winter. This year, with the addition of the burlap skirts - we are hoping they will have an even cosier winter. By the looks of it, they are going to need warmer places to roost!
I did catch a photo of our mid-morning visitors. We have a rafter of turkey and some deer that visit regularly and sit in the area above Georgina's den. It's a sunny, sheltered spot. Here's a photo for you. Can you see a couple of the turkey roosting on the snow-covered log?
Normally, I go out onto the deck to take photos - but as it is covered in snow, I had to do it from the back door. You can see the turkey just above the deck rail on the left hand side.
I captured a photo of a couple of deer off to the side of the first photo. One of them had decided to take a little rest.
Well, I'll be back on Thursday with another project. In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight
Hugs
Jaydee
Card recipe:
- Card stock: SU Naturals Ivory
- Inks: Mossy Meadow
- Stamps: Layered PostMark (PTI). Sentiment - SU - retired
- Tools: holly die (PTI). Gold embossing powder - SU