Christmas Joy

Hello folks - hope you're all OK out there and keeping safe, warm and dry in this weather. 

I know that it's only been 2½ weeks since Christmas, but another one of my New Year goals is to try and make a Christmas card every couple of weeks. As with most things here at Casa Mia there is a story behind this. For the last couple of years, my youngest has helped me run a "Teddy Tombola" at our Church Summer Fete. Last year, we held a Christmas Fayre for the first time and the organiser phoned me and said "Right then Helen, what are you going to do?". I tentatively mentioned that I make cards at which point she nearly snapped my hand off down the phone and that was that ... I was running a hand-made card stall. I nervously went with a very small number of cards that were mostly made from CD-Roms as I didn't want to invest heavily in my time if my cards didn't sell. Well, I needn't have worried ... after a slightly shaky start, I had sold all the cards I took within the first hour! 

So, I'm thinking ahead here as I guess I'll be asked to do this again and it would be good to have slightly more stock to sell. Here is my first offering:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base -  is made using Kraft Cardstock to make a 10.5 cm square card.  My TIP for Top Tip Tuesday is that using this size of card base means that it will fit opened and flat in a regular DL sized envelope. This avoids extra thickness in the envelope and (depending on how heavily you embellish your card) a chance that you will avoid punitive postal costs.
• Image - is a sadly now retired stamp from the Humphrey's Corner Collection called "At
  
  Christmas". I think I got this stamp as part of a bundle during Crafter's Companion Birthday week a couple of years ago and, shame on me, this is the first time it's been inked up! I stamped Humphrey and his friends directly onto the Kraft cardstock using Black Memento Ink before bringing them to life with my Spectrum Noir Pencils (enjoying their third outing!) in the following shades:
• Humphrey's Hide - 001, 112, 117
• Duffle Coat - 024, 027, 033
• Scarf & Mittens - 058, 047, 084, 107
• Clothes - 096, 104, 117, 119
• Reindeer Sledge - 024, 027, 033, 088, 085, 008, 095, 104, 058, 047, 084, 107, 012, 014
• Snow - 001, White Gel Pen
• Sentiment - is from another stamp that I got as part of the Humphrey's Corner Collection bundle; this one is called "Christmas Joy" and I also stamped this directly onto the cardstock with Black Memento Ink. 
• Faux Stitching - Black Gel Pen

This is the first time I've used the pencil blending solution with my pencils and I'm pretty sure that I have never made a card by stamping/printing and then colouring directly onto the cardstock from which my card is made. A lot of firsts ... :o)


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Keep it Simple at Top Tip Tuesday - second entry
• A is for Anything Goes (with the optional extra of Antlers) at ABC Christmas
• Challenge #130 - Something Old, Something New at Crafty Cardmakers - Old is my Kraft cardstock which I've had since June 2014 and New is a new technique to me of stamping and colouring directly on kraft cardstock.
• January Challenge - Anything Goes at Spectrum Noir Facebook Page

I may be back to share another card a little later as I'm hoping to have a crafty afternoon. In the meantime, hope you have a great day!

Hugs, Helen x