Mistletoe Mischief!

Good morning friends! I cannot believe that it's already December 22...this time of year just flies by so quickly. I trust that all your holiday preparations are complete? On Christmas day, we'll be having dinner with my in-laws and we're hosting a boxing day dinner at our house for my side of the family. At my hubby's request, roast beef will be on the menu...and perhaps some spiral ham, which is more to my liking! My cousin always requests pumpkin pie...one of his own, and one for everybody else to share, lol. Following dinner, we'll be breaking out the games!! I LOVE playing games, and this year I was finally able to find Balderdash!! I've been looking for this game for years, and this was the first time I've been able to find it...although I think they've redone it, so I'm curious to see how it differs. We've also picked up Scribblish, which I'm looking forward to trying out.

Today is my turn to post over at Sundays With Crissy. This month, Crissy is giving us the choice of two challenge topics...Christmas is Coming or Winter is Here!! I thought I would sneak in one final Christmas Card this year. I chose to work with one of Crissy's images that she drew for Wags 'n Whiskers Stamps...this is "Steal a Kiss". I adore this cute image, and have been waiting for a chance to use it. It would obviously be perfect for Valentine's Day, but I thought it would also make a cute Christmas card with the addition of a little hand-drawn sprig of Mistletoe! You have to watch out for that stuff you know...people can be pretty sneaky hanging it throughout the house in order to sneak a little kiss! lol The design papers are from Bo Bunny. The "Meet Me Under The Mistletoe" tag is something I found in my stash while I was hunting for an embellishment to fill the upper corner of my layout...how perfect is it for this image?? I love it when that happens! I added some little jingle bells I recently picked up at the dollar store to the bow tied with my Bow-Easy. I thought the little snippets of red ribbon would be just right to tie in the red bow on the mistletoe I drew, as well as the lettering on the tag...now I'm second guessing that colour choice a bit. Red is not a colour I would normally put with purple. Hmmm. Probably won't put them together again. I'm now suffering a bit from that "hindsight is 20/20" syndrome. :) Anybody else ever afflicted with that?? lol



I printed the digital image "Steal a Kiss" on Neenah Smooth Cardstock and coloured it with Copic makers. I also did a little experimenting shading with some old Prismacolour pencils I've had kicking around since my high school years...and no, I'm not going to clarify how long that's been, lol. ;) I used some baby oil and a paper blending stump after I was finished using my markers...it's really important to colour with your markers first, as you will ruin the nibs if you try colouring over pencil crayon. (However, don't fret if you should happen to ruin a nib, as they are replaceable. It's just an extra expense that is nice to avoid if possible.) I sponged around the image with Bundled Sage and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. I also added some additional shading with a brown Prismacolour pencil, and blended it out with the baby oil.



We'd love to have you join in with our challenge this month! All projects can be submitted on Crissy' Post ...just look for the Blue Inlinkz frog at the bottom of her post. Crissy has changed a few things up this month in regards to prizes....here's what she had to say:

I'm going to do something a little different for blog candy with this month's challenge! In the spirit of Christmas and giving, I am going to give away one digital image to the first 12 players! AND I am opening up the contest to include EVERYONE (not just for those using one of my images)!! So if you are one of the first twelve players to link up your Christmas/winter card on here, you will get your choice of one of my digital images from either Whimsy or Squigglefly! How fun is that! Now to keep it fair, you must make a card specifically for this challenge. Any cards that are "back-linked" will not qualify. And, if you don't make it in the race for top twelve, you can still have a chance to win at the end of this month. I'll still draw a name (using Random.org) from the participants, and that lucky person will get to choose 2 images of their choice from my collection. So what are you waiting for!! Ready, set, get crafting!!

Being later in the month, we have of course far exceeded the first twelve entries, so the "earlybird" prize is no longer up for grabs. However, our lovely Crissy's Crew member Zoe, owner of Make It Crafty, has added an additional prize for the winner! She will be contributing her brand new digital image "Stairway to Heaven"...it is a gorgeous background digital stamp that would work beautifully with many of Crissy's images!

You can find Crissy's digital images at Wags 'n Whiskers Stamps, Squigglefly or Whimsy Stamps.

Well friends, this will likely be my last post before Christmas as I plan to spend the next several days with family and friends. (unless I can find a little pocket of crafty time!!) I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!! May you enjoy this time with loved ones, and create memories to treasure in the years to come as we celebrate this wonderful season...the day that we remember the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. As we remember His humble arrival in that stable so many years ago, may you experience the peace, hope and love this season brings.

God Bless!

Melanie

Stamps: "Steal a Kiss" digital stamp by Crissy Armstrong for Wags 'n Whiskers

Ink: Copics, Distress Ink

Paper: Neenah, Bo Bunny, Bazzill

Embellishments: Chipboard tag, ribbon, bells, machine stitching

Tools: Bow Easy